Back to the Future

The book titled How Do You Know? Reading Ziauddin Sardar on Islam, Science and Cultural Relations is one of the several books selected for pre-Ramadan reading this year. Ehsan Masood introduced Sardar as a writer, thinker, scholar, theorist, broadcaster, critic, journalist and futurist; Muslim, British, Pakistani, South Asian. He has many occupations and more than one identity. Indeed, many of his critics complained that he deliberately cultivates "a carefully calculated ambiguity" projecting several things at once, yet none of them on their own. Sardar wants to be seen simultaneously as both traditionalist and modernist - while at the same time being a severe critic of both.

I stumbled upon Ziauddin Sardar's works during the literature review phase of my doctoral work more than a decade ago. He was (and still is) the editor of Futures and his papers on Islamic Futures were seminal and thought provoking. In some ways those papers sparked my interest in second-order cybernetics, syntegration, scenario planning, strategic analysis and open futures - crystal ball gazing stuff!

If my memory (still) serves me well, Sardar argued that Muslim societies have ignored the future-oriented message of their faith - the very source of the dynamism inherent in Islam. As a result, Muslim understanding of the worldview of Islam has been frozen in history. Muslims have (now) lost the capability for developing fresh insights, appreciations and interpretations of the fundamental sources of Islam: the Quran and the examples from the life of Prophet Muhammad (saw). Contemporary Muslim societies prefer to look back, wallow in nostalgia for their "golden past" rather than plan and work towards a vibrant future.

I share Sardar's assertion that Islam is intrinsically a future-orientated worldview. The Qur'an specifically asks the believers to be conscious of their history as well as their future: "Beware of what lies before and behind you, so that you may be given mercy" [Q 36:45]. The idea of the future and the notion of accountability in Islam are tied up in two fundamental concepts - akhirah (hereafter) and khilafah (trusteeship of humans over God's creation).

Our life do not end with our death and our deeds on Earth continue to impact on our life in the life to come. The concept of khilafah adds another dimension to the synthesis of accountability and future. Believers, as trustees of God's creation, are required to manage the trust (amanah) in an ethically and socially responsible way. This means that the planet and the well-being of its people must be delivered to future generations in at least as good, if not better, condition that they found it.

Islam does not only emphasise that we be aware of our future, it insists that we should actively shape our future. By the very nature of our faith, we are required both to engage with the world and change it. The Qur'an repeatedly asks us both to change ourselves and to constantly strive to change the world so that it could become a more just, equitable and peaceful abode for humanity.

Man will only have what he has worked towards, that his labour will be seen and in the end he will be paid in full for it. [Q 53:39-41]

The answer to the question "How Do You Know?" posed by the book depends on who "we" are: how we look at the world, how we shape our inquiry, the period and culture that shapes our outlook and the values that frame how we think.

Knowing is accompanied by shaping.