Among the courses that I teach at International Islamic University Malaysia is Islamic Literature in English. As almost all students of this course are Muslim, they seem to have a greater sense of belonging to its content compared to that of other courses.

During the inaugural lecture of this course, I ask my students about their program selection and whether or not they make such choices with full awareness. Both my students and I agree that Islamic literature is very relevant to their life and taking this course is highly rewarding from a religious standpoint. But most of the modules in the Department of English Language and Literature are of British or Western origins. Is learning them Islamically inspired or religiously beneficial?

At times, I also ask them questions about studying subjects like history, philosophy, political science, medicine, engineering, law, economics, and other disciplines. My students and I agree that a branch of learning like Qur’an and Sunnah (Hadith) is religiously important. But what about the abovementioned, secular-sounding fields?

My students generally do not have answers to such questions, or they become highly confused. Is it only my students who become bewildered by such questions or do not have satisfactory answers to them? I believe this confusion and bewilderment reflects the doubts and uncertainties of most Muslim learners in the modern age.

The conventional system of education in Muslim societies and beyond has bifurcated knowledge into two broad streams: religious and secular. Students who choose subjects that are manifestly religious in orientation tend to have a feel-good attitude about their programs of study, thinking that their education brings them closer to the divine.

Conversely, those who pursue disciplines that are deemed to be non-religious or secular find it hard to relate their academic trajectories to their religious belief; therefore, they think that there is a disconnect between them and their studies.

While one group of students runs the risk of being complacent about their affiliation with their religion, the other senses a growing alienation between their educational backgrounds and their faith.

One possible reason for this intellectual crisis among Muslim students is their unfamiliarity or lack of clarity about tawhidic epistemology which Professor Osman Bakar regards as “central” to Muslim identity. Its absence among them or lack of understanding thereof creates a crisis in educated Muslims’ relationship with their religion.

In his book Islamic Civilisation and The Modern World: Thematic Essays (2014), Bakar states:

"A tawhidic epistemology or vision of knowledge affirms the view that all true human knowledge ought to be ultimately related to the unity of God, since all things are ontologically related to their Divine Origin. Unfortunately, Muslims today no longer possess the whole of tawhidic epistemology along with its accompanying exemplary thinking culture." (p. 41)

He argues that the identity crisis of contemporary Muslims is due to “the eclipse of tawhidic epistemology” among them. But what is tawhidic epistemology?

A quote from the poet-scholar Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi (1207–1273) may help us understand the meaning of tawhidic epistemology better. In one of his poems, Rumi says:

“With two forms and with two figures but with one soul, thou and I.”

Here Rumi perhaps refers to himself and his mentor Shams Tabrizi (1185–1248), or to himself and his reader. What Rumi suggests is that we human beings (or Muslims) may have different physical features or external manifestations, but we all have an undifferentiated goal or purpose in life, that is, obtaining the pleasure of God.

If we correlate Rumi’s analogy to tawhidic epistemology or the unity of knowledge, it may amount to this: Muslim learners may engage in different subject areas but have one goal. As long as they use their knowledge and skills for the pleasure of God – that is, in the service of fellow human beings and the environment – then their scholarly endeavours and accomplishments are Islamic and will be rewarded by God.

When a student learns a subject to promote good causes, protect human rights and the environment and prevent harms and injustices, then their pursuit of knowledge becomes an act of worship.

As regards skills in language and literature, if a student learns them to challenge epistemic wrongs, then their field of studies becomes very much Islamic and connected with the divine and has the potential to lift them to spiritual heights.

Here lies the unity of knowledge which surpasses the plurality of disciplines. All branches of knowledge are geared to one common purpose.

This Islamic concept of the unity of knowledge corresponds to what Professor J. Alan Robinson states in an essay that was published in Syracuse University Magazine in 1984. He stated:

"In [a] higher, institutional sense, knowledge is one, single whole. Just as the universe is by definition the whole of reality – everything that there is – so mankind’s entire knowledge, viewed collectively rather than from wherever each of us individually happens to have taken a stand, is a unity."

In this regard, it is perhaps worth mentioning that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not divide knowledge between religious and non-religious, rather between beneficial and non-beneficial. A common prayer to God that he often made reads: “O God, I seek refuge with You from knowledge that is of no benefit.”

That is to say, following in the footsteps of the Prophet, Muslims are required to seek knowledge that is beneficial for them and others and should avoid knowledge that is worthless or causes harm or leads to erroneous decisions or lifestyle choices.

As regards the responsibilities of Muslims, the Qur’an (3:110) states: “You are indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth for [the good of] humankind: you enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and you believe in God.”

In light of this Qur’anic verse, the objective of learning should be guided and driven by a desire to fulfil these responsibilities of serving humanity, promoting what is good and beneficial, preventing evils, and establishing connection with God. The Qur’an (33:72) regards such responsibilities as a trust that human beings have undertaken and are obligated to deliver.

It is the values that learners and experts bring to a subject that makes it Islamic or otherwise. For example, knowledge of science and technology S&T is value free, but its possessors are not. Unfortunately, as regards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), according to Bakar, “there is hardly any difference between [Muslims’] intellectual perspectives and the secular Western one.”

That is conceivably the reason why such subject areas are considered secular or Western and hence Muslim students find it hard to relate them to their religion and are not sure if learning such subjects are religiously mandated.

As opposed to the modern-day approach to STEM, as Bakar believes, earlier “Muslim scholars succeeded in harmonising the needs of religion with the needs of science [… and] were able to produce, use, and apply S&T without transgressing the moral-ethical bounds.”

Conversely, Western approaches to STEM are often antithetical to common good and have caused the gravest offences against moral rectitude. In the essay “Islamization of Knowledge: A Response” (1988), the late University of Chicago professor Fazlur Rahman maintains: “The atom was ‘split’ by scientists of the West but before they ever thought of making electricity from the discovery or to put its uses to other things beneficial, they made the Atom bomb.”

Because of the wrong use of knowledge and the absence of higher goals in its acquisition, Muslim practitioners and students – especially those who study apparently non-religious subjects – are unable to establish connections between their academic work and their religion.

The remedy lies in relating all knowledge to the unity of God and devoting it to servitude to Him and other good causes. That is the essence of tawhidic epistemology which has the potential to liberate especially Muslim students from uncertainties and misgivings about their programs of study.

The bottom line is that as long as the goal and purpose of knowledge seeking is the pleasure of God through righteousness, altruism, and beneficence, all branches of knowledge are good and Islamic. Thus, all academic fields are united and come under the purview of tawhidic epistemology.

Dr Md Mahmudul Hasan is Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, International Islamic University Malaysia. Email: mmhasan@iium.edu.my