Scholars Profile: (Prof.) (Dr.) Zainiy Uthman

Muhammad Zainiy Uthman obtained his B.Sc (1996) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). After having completed his M.A (1990) from the University of Chicago (USA), he joined ISTAC in 1991 as Junior Research Fellow at the invitation of Professor Al Attas. Upon completion of his Ph.D at ISTAC in 1997, he served as Research Fellow, then Senior Research Fellow.

He was Associate Professor and Curator of ISTAC Library from 2002-2003 and was awarded the British Chevening Fellowship (2003-2004) where he spent an academic year at the Oxford Centre as Visiting Fellow for Islamic Studies. In 2005-2006, he returned to Oxford as Visiting Fellow at the same centre.

He translated al-Attas’ “The Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islamic” into Malay (ISTAC 2002). He is now co-editor with Prof. Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud of the Knowledge, Language, Thought and the Civilization of Islam: essays in Honor of Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, which was launched this year.


Photo courtesy of Laskar Pujangga

Scholars Profile: (Prof.) (Dr.) Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud

Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud is director of Center for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science and Civilisation (CASIS), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. After obtaining his doctorate from the University of Chicago under the late Fazlur Rahman in 1988, he was invited by Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas to assist him at the newly established International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) in all the formal and non-formal academic development including library, publication and student affairs. From 1998-2002 he served as the Deputy Director of ISTAC.

From 2008 to February 2011 he served as Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Professor Wan Mohd Nor has written more than 13 books and monographs as well as more than 30 academic articles in local and international journals, of which the major ones are: The Concept of Knowledge in Islam: Its Implication for Education in a Developing Country (1989);  A Commentary on the Culture of Knowledge (Malay) (1990); The Educational Philosophy and Practice of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas: An Exposition of the Original Concept of Islamization (1998); Development in Malaysia: Towards a Holistic Understanding (Malay) (2000); 2 books of philosophical-mystical Malay poetry (2003 and 2004); Hadhari Muslim Society: An Epistemological and Educational Approach Towards National Unity (Malay) (2006); a book co-authored with Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, The ICLIF Leadership Competency Model: An Islamic Alternative (2007); a book co-edited with Muhammad Zainiy Uthman, Knowledge, Language, Thought and The Civilization of Islam: Essays in Honor of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas (UTM, 2010). Several of his books, articles and monographs have been translated into Malay, Indonesian, Turkish, Japanese, Persian, Russian, Bosnian and Macedonian.

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas

Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas (born September 5, 1931) is a prominent contemporary Muslim philosopher and thinker from Malaysia. He is one of the few contemporary scholars who is thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences and who is equally competent in theology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, and literature. He is considered to be the pioneer in proposing the idea of Islamization of Knowledge. Al-Attas' philosophy and methodology of education have one goal: Islamization of the mind, body and soul and its effects on the personal and collective life on Muslims as well as others, including the spiritual and physical non-human environment.