Decolonizing the Muslim Mind: Returning to al-Attas’ Vision

The present-day Muslim world finds itself at a crossroads where crises of faith, identity, and governance converge. The political and intellectual paralysis that characterizes much of the Muslim reality is not only the result of external factors, but also stems from internal fragmentation: the erosion of intellectual confidence, the loss of an integrated vision of life, and the adoption of categories alien to Islam. At such a crucial time, the scholarship of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas—particularly his Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam and Islam and Secularism—stands out as a profound resource. His vision for the Islamization of knowledge was never about simply attaching Islamic references to Western constructs, but about reconstructing knowledge itself upon its authentic foundations: tawḥīd, adab, and the metaphysical primacy of God.

This essay argues that the challenges faced by the contemporary Muslim ummah cannot be resolved by political slogans, technical reforms, or cultural revivals alone. Instead, it calls for a deep decolonization of the Muslim intellect—an epistemological transformation that revives adab and re-establishes knowledge in its proper hierarchy. As al-Attas remarked, “Islam is a religion based upon knowledge, and a denial of the possibility and objectivity of knowledge would involve the destruction of the fundamental basis upon which not only the religion, but all the sciences are rooted.”¹ Neglecting this is like losing the guiding compass that orients both Muslim societies and individual souls.

Colonialism and the Intellectual Fracture

Colonialism was not limited to the reconfiguration of territorial boundaries or the exploitation of resources. Its most lasting impact was epistemic: enforcing Western frameworks, academic disciplines, and philosophies as universal norms, while confining Islam to the sphere of private worship. The emergence of the secular nation-state, the fragmentation of knowledge into isolated compartments, and the relegation of religion to a marker of identity became defining features of Muslim societies after colonialism.

This inheritance resulted in an unusual form of schizophrenia. While Muslim-majority societies retain strong symbolic and cultural ties to Islam, their institutions, educational frameworks, and political systems function according to paradigms based on foreign metaphysical premises. As a result, even when Muslims pursue reform, they often do so through borrowed perspectives. As al-Attas warned, “Confusion and error in knowledge inevitably lead to injustice in action.”² The outcome is the paradox of nations professing Islam as their bedrock, yet administering their societies based on secular rationalities that divide and fragment human existence.

The modern university stands as a symbol of this division. Rather than fostering a cohesive understanding of reality based on tawḥīd, it produces experts who are estranged from metaphysics, separated from ethics, and drawn into global networks of capital and influence. Studying economics without reference to God, politics without the guidance of revelation, or philosophy without the insights of prophecy perpetuates the colonization of Muslim consciousness. Thus, decolonization goes beyond political sovereignty—it is also about intellectual emancipation.

Numerous historical examples illustrate this point. After 1947, Pakistan inherited a bureaucratic and educational system heavily influenced by British colonial models. Its academic programs prioritized technical expertise while sidelining traditional Islamic learning. In North Africa, nations such as Egypt and Algeria established universities modeled after French institutions, resulting in a class that was professionally competent but spiritually unanchored. Across Southeast Asia, the adoption of Western educational models often led to graduates disconnected from their indigenous philosophical traditions, mirroring the epistemic dependency al-Attas critiqued.

The Loss of Adab

Central to al-Attas’ analysis is the concept of adab. He saw adab not simply as manners or courtesy, but as the recognition and affirmation of everything in its correct place, beginning with God. Adab brings order to the soul, knowledge, and society; it represents the harmony between understanding, existence, and action.

In his view, the crisis of the modern Muslim ummah was fundamentally “a loss of adab,” which led to the rise of false leaders, the corruption of institutions, and the confusion of knowledge. As he observed: “The greatest crisis of the Muslim ummah is not poverty or politics, but the loss of adab, for with it comes the loss of justice and the triumph of confusion in knowledge.”³ This loss is evident in Muslim societies where wealth replaces wisdom, power stands in for genuine authority, and rhetoric supplants truth.

Reviving adab is not about longing for the past or restoring medieval customs; rather, it is about reinstating the metaphysical structure that underpins human life. Without adab, knowledge deteriorates into mere data, politics becomes manipulation, and religion is reduced to hollow slogans. Al-Attas stresses that nurturing adab must begin with the individual and extend to institutions and communities. Someone educated in adab absorbs ethical judgment, humility, and discernment, which ultimately shapes leadership, scholarship, and social cohesion.

Islamization of Knowledge: Beyond Slogans

The concept of the “Islamization of knowledge” has often been misunderstood. Some have reduced it to simply adding Qur’anic citations to secular subjects, while others have dismissed it as unworkable idealism. For al-Attas, however, it was neither shallow Islamization nor escapism. Rather, it was an ontological and epistemological endeavor: to purify knowledge of influences foreign to the Islamic worldview and to restructure academic disciplines in alignment with truths revealed by God.

Al-Attas described this mission as “the liberation of man from magical, mythological, animistic, national-cultural tradition opposed to Islam, and from secular control over his reason and language.”¹ It is an appeal to release the Muslim intellect from frameworks that distort reality and to reestablish reason in its proper relationship with revelation.

This doesn’t mean rejecting all Western sciences or philosophies; instead, it calls for a critical engagement from within the Islamic metaphysical perspective. This approach demands discernment: embracing what is correct, refining what is incomplete, and dismissing what is untrue. Thus, Islamization is not a process of exclusion, but one of reordering—returning knowledge to the hierarchy of reality as revealed by God.

To elaborate further, Islamic epistemology stresses the integration of moral, spiritual, and practical forms of knowledge. For example, in economics, wealth is to be seen as a matter of trust and stewardship, not simply accumulation. In politics, power should be exercised with ‘adl (justice) and accountability. This comprehensive approach stands in stark contrast to fragmented Western models, which tend to value efficiency over ethical coherence.

The Secular Trap

A significant portion of the Muslim intelligentsia is ensnared in what can be called “the secular trap.” In their pursuit of modernization, they accept secular categories as neutral, believing that Islam can simply be fitted within them. As a result, Islam is presented as “Islamic democracy,” “Islamic feminism,” or “Islamic capitalism”—Islam as an adjective modifying a fundamentally Western concept. This subordinates revelation to external frameworks rather than allowing revelation to determine its own categories.

Al-Attas consistently warned against this danger: “The danger lies not in science or philosophy themselves, but in their interpretations rooted in worldviews that deny transcendence.”⁴ To accept secular reason as neutral is to surrender the ground of tawḥīd.

This explains why efforts at reform so often end up as imitations. Whether in political movements echoing Western ideologies, universities copying Western curricula, or cultural initiatives mimicking Western aesthetics, Muslims remain reactive rather than creative. Genuine independence demands an intellectual revolution that begins from within Islam itself.

Comparatively, while thinkers like Muhammad Iqbal highlighted the spiritual stagnation within Muslim societies, al-Attas offers a more systematic epistemological solution. Fanon and Edward Said investigated the psychological and cultural impacts of colonization, but al-Attas weaves these insights into a unified metaphysical framework, revealing how the loss of knowledge and adab leads to wider societal dysfunction.

Returning to Tawḥīd as Worldview

At the core of al-Attas’ vision is the belief that tawḥīd is not just a theological proposition but a worldview—the unifying principle of reality, knowledge, and life. Tawḥīd affirms the unity of truth, the integration of reason and revelation, and the inseparability of the sacred and the worldly.

Building societies upon tawḥīd requires rejecting the division of life into separate compartments—religion, politics, science, art—as if each is governed by a different ultimate truth. It means recognizing that all true knowledge ultimately points back to God.

This vision has deep implications for education. Rather than producing graduates merely trained to compete in global markets, Muslim institutions should cultivate individuals formed by adab, capable of perceiving the unity of truth and living accordingly. As al-Attas stated, “The aim of education in Islam is not the production of good citizens, but of good men… for the good man is he who possesses adab” (Islam and Secularism).

Such a vision stands in stark contrast to modern educational paradigms, which reduce humans to economic actors or political subjects. For al-Attas, education is not about utility, but about preparing the soul to fulfill its covenant with God.

Expanding the Civilizational Diagnosis

Al-Attas’ critique reaches beyond education and knowledge. He identifies four interconnected dimensions of civilizational malaise:

1. Governance and Leadership: Contemporary political systems often lack an ethical foundation. Western models transplanted wholesale may create technically efficient but morally deficient governance. Leadership devoid of adab is susceptible to corruption, authoritarianism, and the elevation of material over ethical aims.
2. Cultural Identity and Public Discourse: Western frameworks dominate public conversation, marginalizing Islamic perspectives. Cultural mimicry breeds inferiority complexes and fragmented identities. Al-Attas maintains that reclaiming Islamic narratives is essential for reconstructing a coherent civilizational self-understanding.
3. Social and Spiritual Alienation: Disconnection from Islamic intellectual traditions results in alienation. Wealth without meaning, freedom without responsibility, and education without wisdom create existential disorientation.
4. Economic and Technological Dependence: Societies may adopt advanced technologies and economic systems, but if these are rooted in frameworks foreign to Islam, such progress only strengthens dependence rather than fostering self-sufficiency.

Viewed through these lenses, al-Attas offers a comprehensive understanding of the civilizational crisis that surpasses political analysis by placing the problem squarely within epistemology and ethics.

Toward Intellectual and Spiritual Decolonization

The way forward entails multilayered reform:

1. Curriculum Reorientation: Universities should embed Islamic epistemology across all disciplines. Economics, political science, philosophy, and the sciences must include ethical and spiritual dimensions.
2. Ethical Formation: Both scholars and students must internalize adab. Knowledge without character cannot lead to just societies.
3. Institutional Reform: Creating universities and research centers rooted in Islamic traditions ensures systemic change rather than isolated improvements.
4. Cultural Revival: Muslims need to reclaim literature, arts, and public discourse from imitation of Western standards, generating culturally authentic expressions of Islamic thought.

Al-Attas reminds us, “The Islamization of knowledge is not the addition of Islamic elements to an alien body of concepts, but the liberation of knowledge from interpretations based on secular and materialistic worldviews” (Prolegomena). A first step towards renewal requires cognition of these principles rather than hyperfocusing on superficial phenomena.

Reflections and Implications

Implementing al-Attas’ vision calls for patience, creativity, and courage. It requires more than conferences, manifestos, or policy shifts; it needs the daily cultivation of minds and institutions aligned with tawḥīd. This project carries global significance. A Muslim society anchored in its own epistemology is better equipped to interact with the modern world from a place of confidence and originality. It can adopt beneficial innovations without falling into intellectual dependency, critique unjust systems without internalizing them, and produce leaders who integrate ethical, spiritual, and practical wisdom.

Conclusion: Reviving Intellectual Confidence

The crisis of the Muslim ummah is not a lack of material assets or political influence, but a loss of intellectual confidence. Colonialism deprived Muslims not only of territories but of conceptual frameworks, persuading them that modernity’s paradigms were universal and unavoidable. Al-Attas’ call for the Islamization of knowledge remains urgent because it addresses the core issue: reclaiming an Islamic vision of reality.

To heed his call is to believe once again that Islam is not just a cultural identity or a set of rituals, but a complete way of knowing and existing. It is to reject the fragmentation of life, restore adab, and reorder knowledge according to tawḥīd. This is not a denial of modernity but its transcendence—asserting that the Muslim mind must be set free to perceive reality as it truly is.

As al-Attas reminds us, “True freedom is freedom from error. And error arises when knowledge is taken from its proper place and given a place not its own” (Prolegomena). To decolonize the Muslim mind is to return knowledge to its rightful place, and in doing so, restore the ummah to its proper dignity.

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Works cited:

1. Prolegomena. [↩] [↩]
2. Islam and Secularism [↩]
3. Islam and Secularism. [↩]
4. Prolegomena to the metaphysics of Islam: An exposition of the fundamental elements of the worldview of Islam. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. [↩]