KUALA LUMPUR, 4 October 2012: UTM is pleased and proud to learn that YM. Tan Sri Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Centre for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science, and Civilization (CASIS), UTM Kuala Lumpur has been awarded the Merdeka Award for the year 2012.
The Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrih Shah who is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Merdeka Award made the announcement that the Outstanding Scholastic Achievement was awarded to Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib in recognition for his contributions to the Islamisation of Contemporary Knowledge and Muslim Education.
Tan Sri Prof. al-Attas, an original prominent and multi-faceted thinker, philosopher and educator in the Muslim World today, is singularly known for his incisive penetrating thought that provide insights into and solutions to the vexing problems besetting the Muslims today, particularly that of religion, thought, knowledge, history, language, and culture.
Among the most influential Muslim scholars today, his original idea of the university in Islam, based on his concept of education in Islam and the Islamization of contemporary knowledge led to the establishment of Islamic universities in various Muslim countries. He led new areas of research on Islam in the Malay Archipelago, the Malay history, language and literature, and its Jawi script. His incisive and contemplative work on the Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam has raised the intellectual acuity among serious like-minded scholars.
Prof. Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, Founder-Director of CASIS UTM-KL, and Prof. Muhammad Zainiy Uthman edited a festschrift of twenty-two articles by select scholars from around the world in honor of Prof. al-Attas’s contributions entitled Knowledge, Language, Thought and the Civilization of Islam: Essays in Honor of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, published by Penerbit UTM in 2010, and launched by Raja Nazrin.
In 2012, Tan Sri Prof. al-Attas published a book entitled Historical Fact and Fiction where he reexamined and the ways of spurious thinking and analytical reasoning among historians of the Malay Archipelago in their explanation and interpretation of historical events pertaining to the coming and spread of Islam in the Archipelago. This book was launched by Tuanku Raja Zarith Sofiah this year and also won the Academic Book of the year award.
Tan Sri al-Attas is a prodigious mind. His contemporary regard him a genius, a reviver of Islamic Thought along the great mind of al-Ghazali, the 12th century intellectual giant of Islam, and his intellectual output bears testimony to this. His depth of knowledge reflects his erudite learning, enlightened and incisive mind with penetrating insights and UTM academics, students and the community at large is fortunate to be in his company.
Tan Sri al-Attas has won many international recognitions: Fellow of the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy (1975), the Iqbal Medal by the Government of Pakistan (1979), member of the Royal Academy of Jordan (1994). He was conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Arts (D.Litt.) in 1995 by University of Khartoum, and in 2000 the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) through its subsidiary the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) conferred upon him the IRCICA Award. In 2001 the Russian Academy of Science through its Institute of Philosophy honored him in a Special Presentation to the Academicians, and the Iranian Government through its Society for the Appreciation of Cultural Works and Dignitaries conferred upon him a special Award of Recognition in 2002.