CONCEPTUAL AND PRACTICAL DIMENSIONS OF ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE A CASE STUDY OF THE ECONOMICS PROGRAM AT THE IIUM By Mohamed Aslam Mohamed Haneef & Ruzita Muhammad Amin

Abstract

Introduction
In the 1980s, the understanding and practice of Islam in Malaysia
entered a new phase. The global Islamic resurgence coupled with local
Malaysian factors saw numerous important events talcing place. First, in
1981 Dr. Mahathir Mohamed became Malaysia's fourth prime minister.
Second, in 1982 the opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) was
taken over by new leadership that claimed total commitment to setting
up an Islamic state and rejecting nationalism and ethnic politics. Also, in
the same year, Anwar Ibrahim, then the president of the Malaysian
Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM), joined Dr. Mohamed's government,
winning the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) youth
movement's presidency and joining the UMNO-led cabinet as a junior
minister.
The Mohamed administration, unlike its predecessors, openly supported
Islamic reform at all levels of society. Islam's role became more than
ceremonial; it became a source of values for development, facilitated
through the Inculcation of Islamic Values Policy (in 1981) and the estab­
lishment of numerous Islamic institutions such as the Islamic Bank of
Malaysia and the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) in
1983. Although many see these developments as being merely politically
motivated to counter the influence of PAS, it is without doubt that Dr.
Mohamed was quite consistent with his earlier Views which he expressed
in The Malay Dilemma. In his book he described Islam as the “greatest
single influence on Malay value concepts and ethical codes,” thus being
a positive factor to develop the Malays ...