By Dr Phar Kim Beng

In his Inaugural lecture as the 7th Rector of the International Islamic University (IIUM) Malaysia, an institution built with the full backing of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Rabat Morrocco in 1983, Professor Osman Bakar has begun to lay down the framework to allow IIUM to bounce back better and stronger. How?

Kuliyyah of IRKHS Faculty will be the heart and strength of IIUM

Without mincing words, Professor Osman Bakar who is concurrently the Al-Ghazali Chair of Epistemology, Comparative Civilizations and Renewal in IIUM and the Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC) affirmed in his speech, without any reservation, that the Faculty of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Science (IRKHS) would be the "heart", indeed, soul and strength, of IIUM.

For an institution of learning that just turned 40 years old in 2023, the very fact that Professor Osman Bakar knows how to start his tenure in IIUM with such an opening salvo is nothing but acutely strategic. Why ?

To be sure, IIUM does have many other disciplines at its offing too. From Architecture to Engineering, not excluding Medical Sciences, even Nursing, IIUM is quite complete. While it is not the Harvard or Cambridge of the "East," IIUM has from its earliest inception in 1983, was able to get its graduates into these two institutions and more at University of Tokyo and University of Hong Kong by 1993.

There weren't many. But to be able to break into all these institutions within the first ten years of its existence especially during the second tenure of Professor Abdul Hamid Abusulayman, the second Rector of Malaysia, this was nothing but impressive.

PM Anwar and IIUM

Other junior faculty members of IIUM waltzed in and out of the top Islamic Studies programs in University of Edinburgh, Scotland effortlessly; one of whom was Dr Isham Pawan. The latter returned to IIUM to teach Competitive Philosophy at the Department of Usuluddin and Philosophy, both of which were the strongest suits of Professor Osman Bakar without a shadow of a doubt.

It is not a surprise that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the tenth Prime Minister of Malaysia, who has now consolidated his Coalition Government barely 2 years into its formation on November 24 2022, why Anwar has chosen Professor Osman Bakar to helm IIUM and ISTAC together.

First and foremost, the appointment is not as simple as Anwar, who is one year the senior of Professor Osman Bakar in the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) -- deservingly known as the Eaton of the East--during their early teens that solidified their professional relationships.

Rather, both Anwar and Professor Osman Bakar were ingrained with an autodidactic nature: that propelled the two to keep reading, almost over a span of 65 years, on anything ranging from mathematics, history of science, the basis of Islamic jurisprudence, the objectives of the Syariah, in turn the rise of Asia, especially based on the resilience of Islam and Confucianism, that equipped both of them to lead and teach.

While Professor Osman Bakar was for 5 years (2001-2006) the Professor of Georgetown University, based in the Center of Christian and Muslim Understanding, one of the strongest inter faith institutions of scholarly learning in the world bar none, Anwar had spent a stint teaching History of Southeast Asia at the same esteemed institution pioneered by the Jesuits.

Indeed, it is nothing but app that Anwar is not merely a Prime Minister but the Chair of ASEAN and East Asian Summit effective from October 11th 2024.

This appointment was less than four weeks after Professor Osman Bakar was anointed by the Palace of Pahang, which serves as the Royal Pro Chancellor of IIUM, to certify his role as the seventh Rector of IIUM on September 18th 2024.

Secondly, Anwar is a prudent Minister of Finance still; known often for his deep belief in balancing the budget in order to prevent Malaysia from being debt ridden.

Whether it was in his first iteration as the person holding the portfolio in the Ministry of Finance in the 1990s or now, Malaysia's fiscal deficit will continue to narrow to less than 4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) yearly.

It is this discipline that has hoisted the standing of Anwar as a leader capable of re-engineering the comeback of Malaysia as an "Asian Tiger." Not surprisingly, the Ringgit Malaysia is the strongest performing currency in Asia, if not the world, on a quarter to quarter basis since 1970; eclipsing the value of appreciation of Gold even, by clawing back its value viz the US Dollar by 14.7 percent. Whereas Gold grew at 14.3 percent all in the last six months.

In other words, as long as Professor Osman Bakar can explain a strong and powerful plan on how to take IIUM forward -- most promisingly as the seat to look into ASEAN studies parallel to Malaysia's Chairmanship of this august institution -- well calibrated national and international financial support from Anwar would be firm and unstinting. Anwar has always believed in a strong education system.

In the most recent budget of Malaysia, while the development spending and capital expenditure of the government would come to RM 440 billion, RM 100 billion was set aside for the Ministry of Education alone.

Returning back IIUM into the heydays

While IIUM is not governed under the Ministry of Education of Malaysia, a strong focus to get the best undergraduates from the cross section of the Malaysian society, if not Southeast Asia, will prove instrumental: in returning IIUM back into the heydays of 1990s where it used to have 90 percent of international students with the remaining 10 per cent coming from Malaysia.

In other words, as and when Professor Osman Bakar focuses on creating an equitable balance of 50 percent of the total 7500 or more students in future to originate from Malaysia, with the rest from ASEAN, East Asia, even European Union (EU) and Latin America, IIUM can be the receptacle to help students both domestic and international to understand the nature of "Islamophobia," which is totally atavistic and uncalled for, as and when this subject is played up by the media in the East or West.

Professor Osman Bakar, incidentally, was living and teaching in Georgetown University when 911 happened. Hence, positioning him to explain the true nature of Islam and how the religion should be understood as a legacy of the great religious traditions of the Abrahamaic creed from Judaism and Christianity only that Islam is the seal of all prior revelations.

Secondly, due to the bibliographile predisposition of Anwar and Professor Osman Bakar, which have made the two of them extremely passionate about parsing out and understanding all the classics and ancient texts, for the second time running the Rector of IIUM can see eye-to-eye with a federal leader of serious intellectual and global standing.

The previous epoch was between Anwar and the late Professor Abdul Hamid Abusulayman, who was the second Rector of IIUM. The latter specialised in "Islamic International Relations," indeed, literally pioneered the field with a PhD on the same subject at University of Pennsylvania in 1972.

In his inaugural lecture on October 25th 2024, Professor Osman Bakar further attested to understanding the divide between the East and West. While Islamic civilisations have a "cyclic" nature of time and space---- which broadly corresponds with the scholarship of Ibn Khaldun in the late 14th century-----a towering figure often considered the real Father of Sociology (rather than Max Weber), the West tends to see social and natural sciences in a teleogical and linear manner.

The academic elan and spirit of these concepts, in turn, transformed the West into a civilizational polity that is constantly trying to change for the sake of change.

Producing an assemblage of ideas and products that verge on celebrating "trans-humanism," rather than "trans-scendalism," of which the latter is clearly about reflecting on one's inner nature and its relationship with the external realms.

Thus, "transcendentalism" comports, and is perennially consistent, with the original roots of Islamic, Buddhist, Confucian and other ancient traditions, including those marked by the edifying spirit of Socratic, Platonic and Aristotelian methods of learning, the contemporary West, especially since the 19th century has bought in totally into the ideology of Darwinism or even Social Darwinism -- marked by the survival of the fittest. A battle, when played out in the market, assumes an endless rat race in pursuit of material excesses and comfort.

To the degree that the West is able to keep developing, it has time and again, look into Artificial Intelligence, Algorithm, Apps Driven Economy, Automation and Autonomous Technology (5 As).

Nature of labour confined to cold intellect alone

However, as and when a society keeps burrowing into these 5 As, one can see the devastation of not knowing how to rein them back into a proper and appropriate balance too. Hence, the very nature of labour is confined to cold intellect alone -- without the need to delve into the importance of spiritual and sapiential traditions too.

Not surprisingly, there are societies in the West themselves that are afraid of the incremental losses of their jobs and social benefits. Leading to the fear of "the Other" arriving on their shores to further compete with them. Not surprisingly, Far Right and Ultra Left Political Movements have sprung back into action.

Thirdly, both Anwar and Professor Osman Bakar have a strong and intuitive understanding of how human civilizations need to be understood not merely from the epistemology of "change and more change," which are atypical of the works of Darwinism and Positivism of not just Darwin but Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim, but from the standpoint of a "return."

For instance, why do Homo Sapiens all over have the fear of aging and agesism, even triggering universities to remove older and wiser faculty members, when in fact these are scholars about to hit their prime.

Friend and religion

As Confucius once said, "Only at 60 (years of age), do I understand the nature of Heaven and Earth and all that is in between.

" Not to be morbid, but it was Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. who explained in the early part of the 7th century that "one is awake when death has dawned." In this sense, Islam and Confucianism take time as a friend. Not a rival.

Again an idea that resonates very well with Buddhism, Hinduism and other Axial Civilizations, that have always focused on understanding the "cyclic" nature of the human character and social political make up.

Aside from Professor Osman Bakar, there are three other outstanding, literally, world class scholars, that comprehend these delicate dynamics and thought-trajectory very well.

MADANI studies

Namely Professor Khairudin Al Junied, Professor Jasser Auda, potentially, with more to come. At any rate, at the Inaugural lecture, Professor Osman Bakar explained that IIIUM's Department of Political Science would be also known with the appendage of "Madani Studies." In other words, the Department of Political Science and Madani Studies.

This is not necessarily a big departure from the norm in leading institutions in the East and West. Harvard University has a Department of Government. Meanwhile, Princeton University insisted that theirs must be known as the Department of Politics. MIT has a Department of Political Science by a different designation.

In University of Hong Kong, it has the Department of Politics and Public Administration; whereas in University of Tokyo, Political Science is basically offered through the Faculty of Law in the main; although the Komaba campus of the University of Tokyo, it has what is known as the Department of International Social Science. Starting April 2026, University of Tokyo will offer a combined BA and MA in Future Studies in 4 years, of which 75 of the 150 students must come from the rest of world, especially ASEAN.

Madani Studies is immensely relevant not merely in the Malaysian context. In his successful trip to India in early September 2024, an Indian student from Jawaharlal Nehru University, who had been a Visiting Student at University of Malaya stood up to ask a question to Anwar, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi beside him in a Q and A session.

The question in a room teeming with journalists and scholars too was simple: Mr Prime Minister Anwar, given your emphasis on a Madani Government, how is the principle applicable and consistent with Malaysia's efforts to engage the Global South?

To which Anwar gave a superbly lucid answer: "In any attempts at reforms, indeed, to promote good governance, one must be mindful of the importance of compassion and excellence too." For the lack of better expression, Anwar was focused on giving the student and the audience around him the idea of " Tawhid"; a sense of unity.

In a world where austerity measures, whether imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or sheer market forces can be heartless, almost cruel, Anwar was harking at the importance of strategic gradience and all round incrementalism. As and when certain reforms are too far, the state must rein back the forces that have been unleashed; to rein them back.

In politics or international economics, Madani Studies calls for the attempt to understand the spirit of "Wasatiyah," (Moderation).

Yet as can be seen from the history of the early Ummah, when the community of believers have understood the basic essence of Islam after the demise of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., Khalifah Abu Bakar, compassionate and genteel as he was, inspired the early Muslims to fan out to come face to face with the Eastern Roman Empire in the Levant and also the Sassanid Empire in Persia. Not alone.

But with the collective backing of other companions of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.. Namely Khalifah Umar, Osman and Ali, but also with the help of Aisha, Fatima, Saad Ibn Waqqas, Bilal, Khalid Ibn Al Walid and many more.

Including non-Muslim communities who have become comfortable with the rule of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and other leaders whom he has assigned.

Not even the plants and animals can have their rights violated. It is on such note that Professor Osman Bakar has invited all the academic staff and students to understand the "epistemology" basis of knowledge, indeed, of practice and statecraft and sciences.

Learn from the other civilizations, not excluding China, Japan and South Korea, for that matter, European Union (EU) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) or BRICS.

Powerful journey of internationalisation

In this sense, IIUM is about to embark on a powerful journey of internationalisation and regionalisation; all while Anwar is the Chairman of ASEAN and East Asian Summit. One must remember as the chair of ASEAN, Anwar has to attend the G 20 Summits too. Professor Osman Bakar has kept abreast of these developments, which makes him the perfect strategic companion with the Madani Government.

--BERNAMA

Dr Phar Kim Beng is the founder and CEO of Strategic Pan Indo-Pacific Arena.