Cinta ku: A Metatheoretical Study of Malek Bennabi's Approach to Civilization

عقبة بن نافع

Uqba ibn Nafa el Fahri (Arabic: عقبة بن نافع‎ ‘Uqbah ibn Nāfi el fehri‘, also referred to as Oqba ibn Nafi, Uqba bin Nafe, Uqba ibn al Nafia, or Akbah bel okbi; 622–683) was an Arab hero and general who was serving the Umayyad dynasty, in Muawiyah and Yazid periods, who began the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb (North Africa), including present-day Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco in North Africa. He was the nephew of 'Amr ibn al-'As. Uqba is often surnamed al-Fihri in reference to the Banu Fihri, a clan connected to the Quraysh.

His descendants would be known as the 'Oqbids' like Okbi or 'Fihrids'. Uqba is the founder of the cultural city of Kairouan in Tunisia. Uqba accompanied Al-‘As in his initial raids and capture of cities in North Africa starting with Barca, then proceeding to Tripolitania in 644 AD. In 670 now the Emir or commander, Uqba led an Arab army to North Africa, crossing the Egyptian deserts, and setting up military posts at regular intervals along his route. In a region of what is now Tunisia, he established the town now called Kairouan (Kairwan or al Qayrawan, meaning "camp" or "caravanserai" in Persian) about 160 kilometres south of present-day Tunis, which he used as a base for further operations. According to one legend, one of Uqba's soldiers stumbled across a golden goblet buried in the sands. It was recognized as one that had disappeared from Mecca some years before, and when it was dug out of the sand a spring appeared, with waters said to come from the same source as those of the sacred Zamzam Well in Mecca. This story led to Biskra becoming a place of pilgrimage and then a holy city (the Mecca of the Maghreb) and the most important city in North Africa.

In 683 Uqba was ambushed and killed near Biskra by Kusaila. Ironically he died beside his hated rival Abu al-Muhajir Dinar, during the battle with Kusaila's troops. His armies evacuated Kairouan and withdrew to Barqa (though Kairouan was recaptured in 688). His descendants can be found in the area stretching from the Lake Chad region to Mauritania's coast. The trans-sahel Arab tribe of "Kounta" traces its origins to Uqba, in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya some of his descendants are known as Ouled Sidi Ukba.

Abstract

Malaysia under the administration of the fourth Prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed has been transformed from an agric based country into a modern industrial nation. For 22 years, from 1981 to 2003, Mahathir has attempted to make Malaysia a well known country to the world, and a model country to the Islamic world. In developing the country Mahathir has introduced a number of policies and programs such as “Look East Policy”, “Leadership by Example”, “Towards 70 Million Population”, “Inculcation of Islamic Values” and “Vision 2020”. These policies were implemented concurrently with the affirmative actions taken under the New Economic Policy (1970 to 1990) and the New Development Policy (1990 onwards), aiming at restructuring the people of different ethnics and eradicating poverty amongst the people. Mahathir has succeeded towards certain extent in bridging the economic gap between the sons of the soil (the Malays) and other ‘immigrants’. In doing so he has managed to transform the Malays from poor rural dwellers to middle class urban inhabitants. This paper explores what has been said by Mahathir in his speeches about his grand design in transforming and reforming his people to give birth to a new ethnic called the New Malays.

Objectives

Y needs us to specific result that you or system aims to achieve within a time frame and with available resources. In general, objectives are more specific and easier to measure than goals.

Objectives are basic tools that underlie all planning and strategic activities. We serve as the basis for creating policy and evaluating performance. Some examples of business objectives include minimizing expenses, expanding internationally or making a profit.

Neutral (bias free) relating to or based on verifiable evidence or facts instead of on attitude belief or opinion. Opposite of subjective.

Introduction/ Suite

A bloody racial riot erupted on May 13, 1969. The event has prompted the government of Malaysia to take affirmative actions in order to balance the economic situation in the country and to eradicate poverty amongst the population. Since the economic imbalance between the Malays as the sons of the soil and the immigrants (Chinese and Indians brought into the country by the British) has been identified as the main factor that caused the bloody riot, actions were taken by the government to grant the Malays with more economic opportunities. This move was considered as in line with the privileges of the Malays as provided in the constitution.

However to some, this attempt has added advantage to the Malay supremacy, stipulated in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.

The article grants the King of Malaysia responsibility for safeguarding the special position of the Malays and other indigenous peoples of Malaysia, collectively referred to as Bumiputra(sons of the soil) and also the legitimate interests of the other communities. The article specifies how the federal government may protect the interest of these groups by establishing quotasfor entry into thecivil service, publicscholarships andpublic education.

As a matter of fact the article is actually a continuation of previous laws made by the British to protect the indigenous peoples from being overwhelmed by the immigration ofChinese and Indianworkers intoMalaya. In the years after independence in 1957, the Chinese and Indians were generally rich urban dwellers, whilst the Malays were mostly poor farmers who live traditional lives in the villages in rural areas. This was the result of British’s “Divide and Rule” policy implemented in the then Malaya.

Nonetheless Article 153 is considered one of the most controversial articles in the Malaysian constitution. Critics especially from the oppositions consider it to create an unnecessary distinction between Malaysians of different races, because it has led to the implementation of affirmative actionpolicies such as the post-1969 New Economic Policy (NEP) which only benefit the Malays.

Eventually the NEP has been defended by the government as having successfully created a Malay middle class, change their culture and averting major social conflicts in this multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religious country.

Islam Universal

The first regards the religious sense of man as an original part of his nature—a fact which is recognized in many respects as an essential factor in all civilizations. The second treats religion as a mere historical accident of human culture.

The comparison of the two systems—one essentially physical, for which everything is determined by matter, and the other metaphysical, since it considers that matter itself is determined—can only be conclusive when one takes into consideration their similar and comparable components.

We should not lose sight of the fact that there is no question here of a comparison between two sciences, but a comparison between two credos: the credo that deifies matter and that which makes God intervene. It is perhaps not superfluous to say that a great scholar can be a perfectly true believer, while a miserable, ignorant man can be a real atheist—such as has often been the case. And when one encounters the rather surprising case of a scholar who would claim that man is a descendant of the ape, it is also necessary to just think of the fetishist on the banks of the Niger river, who seriously believes himself to be a descendant of the crocodile. The scholar and the primitive man both have a metaphysical idea, which each expresses in his own way.

Only periods of social troubles and disturbed morality would pit science against religion. But when this does occur because of unexpected turns of history, such as in Russia particularly during the last war, and in France after the revolution of 1789, the Goddess- science has crumbled pitifully to make room for science pure and simple: a humble servant of human progress.

Moreover, especially after the latest developments in astronomy, science has become more and more conscious of its limited domain. Indeed, beyond the distant nebulae, beyond the many millions, and perhaps billions, of light years, there extends the unfathomable chasm of infinity, far inaccessible and inconceivable to scientific thought because it is no longer within the scope of its subject of study: quantity, relations and state.

Quantity of what? State of what? Relation to what? These questions no longer have any meaning when applied to the realm beyond matter. Science no longer has any meaning beyond the last nebula, which borders the phenomenological world, at the threshold of the non-material infinite.

Beyond this limit, only religious thought can say something intelligible: Allah the great knows.