SYED MUHAMMAD NAQUIB AL-ATTAS’ SEMANTIC READING OF ISLAM AS DIN

• Main Author: Aris Widodo
• Format: Article
• Language: Arabic
• Published: State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga 2009-02-01
• Series: Al-Jami'ah: Journal of Islamic Studies
• Online Access: http://journal.aljamiah.org/index.php/AJ/article/view/45

<p>This article presents Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas’ opinion on the scope of Islam—a discourse that has become a hot issue among Muslim scholars since fourteen centuries ago and strongly reappeared along with the presence of a work of an orientalist, H.A.R. Gibb. According to Al-Attas, semantic approach is the best way to figure out whether Islam only touches upon religious matters or also includes a notion of civilization, because it is through this approach that the connotation of Islam will become clearer. As Islam is explicitly mentioned in the Qur’an as <em>din</em>, so the best way to identify the scope of Islam is to study the word-focus of di&gt;n from semantic approach. From this approach, Al-Attas concludes that Islam as di&gt;n includes the connotation of civilization, as the word di&gt;n is closely related to the word <em>madinah</em>, a word that is also closely related to the word <em>tamaddun </em>(civilization). In addition to presenting Al-Attas’ ideas, the writer of this article also gives a critical remark on Al-Attas’ contention that <em>din </em>(religion) and <em>dayn </em>(debt) are closely related as the two words have the same root: dana. According to the writer, this opinion is not even supported by Qur’anic verses, which become the basis for Al- Attas’ semantic construction. Qur’an itself speaks of the two words, <em>din </em>and <em>dayn</em>, in clearly two different connotations.</p><p> </p>