ABIM urges the government to recognise the late Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas as a national civilisation figure for his global intellectual contributions
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM) has proposed the government grant national recognition to the late Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas.
ABIM president Ahmad Fahmi Mohd Samsudin said the proposed ‘Tokoh Peradaban Negara’ award would be the highest recognition of the scholar’s global contributions to knowledge and Islamic civilisation.
“Such recognition is not merely to commemorate a great scholar, but an appreciation of the intellectual tradition that forms the foundation of the nation’s civilisation,” he said in a statement.
Ahmad Fahmi stated the late scholar’s contributions to Islamic thought, education, and Malay-Islamic civilisation are too significant to be confined to academia.
He described Syed Muhammad Naquib as a captain who charted contemporary Islamic thought through ideas like the Islamisation of knowledge.
Through his works, institutions, and students, the scholar laid a foundation for an academic tradition combining scientific rigour with spiritual depth.
His explanation of Malay-Islamic history and culture also placed the nation’s identity in a dignified global position.
Among his influential major works are ‘Islam and Secularism’ (1978) and ‘The Concept of Education in Islam’ (1980).
“His legacy of thought reminds us that the revival of civilisation does not begin with power alone, but with the restoration of manners and the cultivation of knowledgeable and ethical individuals,” Ahmad Fahmi added.
Syed Muhammad Naquib, founder of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC), passed away yesterday.
