ISTAC

Assalamua'alikum w.b.t

Salam persaudaraan ku hulurkan. Buat teman-teman yang sedang berpencak di medan peperiksaan, moga kalian menjadi jaguh pada pertarungan kali ini. Pencak saya masih lagi menanti buah dan bunganya di luar gelanggang. Masih bersisa masa untuk membina stamina dan langkah. Terkadang otak seolah membeku andai lama mata hanya menatap lembaran-lembaran kuliah. Orientasi peperiksaan memang hebat penangannya.

Tapi kedegilan untuk tidak memegang buku kuliah semata-mata bukanlah satu kerugian besar buat saya dan pasti anda juga begitu jika pucuk akal anda mampu menujah ke langit. Menilik-nilik hasil buah tangan Mohd Farid Mohd Shahran dan Prof Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud membuatkan imbasan minda saya lekas singgah ke wajah cerah bermisai berjanggut putih milik seorang intelektual yang cukup saya kagumi.



Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas. Bagi saya nama beliau cukup serasi dengan ISTAC di bumi tanah air saya. Terima kasih ayahanda kerana membuka mata anakanda ini untuk mengenal sosok tubuh sang hamba ini. Betapa besar kekuasaan Allah SWT menghadirkan insan yang cukup berjasa pada ummah. Moga lahir lagi seribu insan sepertinya. Dan Prof WNWD merupakan antara ribuan anak didik beliau yang sedikit sebanyak mewarisi keintelektual pemikiran beliau.Saya tidak punya masa yang enak dan kemampuan yang ampuh untuk mencatat segalanya di sini. Mungkin lebih menarik jika anda sendiri meninjau-ninjau siapa gerangannya nama-nama yang disebutkan tadi.

Prof Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud

Sekadar perkongsian beberapa pengenalan ringkas tentang ISTAC yang saya kira amat penting untuk diambil peduli oleh mereka yang ingin mengorak langkah dan mencorak arah dalam dunia intelektual muslim khususnya di bumi Malaysia. Mungkin anda bakal menjadi salah seorang daripadanya.

Antara hasil sentuhan Syed Muhammad Naquib AL-Attas

Historical background of ISTAC

The International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) was founded on 27th February, 1987. It was officially launched by then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed on 4th October, 1991 as a research and postgraduate institution offering degrees in Islamic civilization and Islamic science.

At its inception, ISTAC had only a director, a senior assistant librarian, a principal assistant registrar, an accountant and a support staff of five. A few years later, a Deputy Director and Registrar joined the group to assist with academic and administrative matters respectively.

The campus consists of a main administration and academic building, a library, a mosque and a conference hall. From 1991 to 2002, ISTAC was an autonomous body affiliated to the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). However, in 2002, it was made a Kulliyyah of IIUM.

Aims & Objectives

The aims and objectives of ISTAC are formulated to represent the hopes and wishes of the entire Muslim ummah. Therefore these aims and objectives are not new, but reflections of an existing reality.

ISTAC, as a graduate center of Islamic education, has the following aims and objectives:

1. To conduct and promote studies and research on Islamic thought and civilization involving conceptual analyses, clarifications, elaborations and definitions of Islamic key concepts relevant to the cultural, educational, scientific and epistemological problems encountered by Muslims in the present age.
2. To provide an Islamic response to the intellectual and cultural challenges of the modern world and various schools of thought, religion, and ideology.
3. To formulate an Islamic philosophy of education, including the definition, aims and objectives of Islamic education.
4. To formulate an Islamic philosophy of science.
5. To study the meaning and philosophy of Islamic art and architecture, and to provide guidance for the Islamization of the arts and art education.
6. To conduct research, studies and writings on the Islamic civilization in the Malay world.
7. To conduct research and studies leading to the formulation of the methods and contents of various disciplines and to the design of academic courses for implementation at the University with the objective of integrating the sciences in all faculties of the University.
8. To supervise and to provide for graduate and postgraduate studies and research with the objective of training scholars and intellectual leaders to play a creative role in the restoration of Islamic civilization to its rightful place in the modern world.
9. To publish the results of its researches and studies for dissemination in the Muslim world.
10. To establish a reference library reflecting the religious and intellectual traditions of both Islamic and Western civilizations as a means to attaining the above aims and objectives.

There is no doubt that these aims and objectives are tough challanges. Nevertheless, the bases for some of them either have been built or are being built.

*Catatan Kaki:

Saya sarankan sahabat-sahabat yang baharu berkenalan dengan nama Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas untuk cuba membaca salah satu air tangan beliau iaitu Risalah Kaum Muslimin. Pada perkiraan saya buku ini cukup menarik untuk ditatap dan dihadam bersama dan inilah buku pertama beliau yang ayahanda perkenalkan buat saya.