IIUM PHILOSOPHY

We have decided to choose our blog’s name as the Catalyst towards Jannah. It reflects the concept of Islamization in the International Islamic University Malaysia’s philosophy. We have shared our knowledge in our blog so that other people can access and read to get additional information. According to MacMillan Dictionary, catalyst can be referred as something that causes something to happen or change. As we know, seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim and Allah will raise our ranks if we are knowledgeable. As Allah says:

"Allah will raise up, to (suitable) ranks and (degrees), those of you who believe and who have been granted knowledge. And Allah is well-acquainted with all you do." (Qur'an, Al-Mujadilah 58:11)

It is reported as well in Sunan Abu Dawood that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said:

"If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, God will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise. The angels will lower their wings in their great pleasure with one who seeks knowledge. The inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth and (even) the fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the learned man.”

When we have knowledge, we will appreciate Allah’s creations even more and we become more acquainted with Allah’s attributes and qualities. It can be regarded as well as the foundation of faith to Allah. Besides that, learning knowledge is an endless process and it is very important to develop human knowledge in accordance with Islamic principles and values. As the vicegerents and servants of Allah, we surely have to rule this universe in accordance to Allah’s will and not contradict to it. Then, we will live in the correct path as ordained by Allah SWT. Therefore, each day will be full of barakah and hasanah.

In this course, ENGL 4740, we get the chance to engage in technology. In other words, we learn new knowledge of computer application. For instance, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Computer Mediated Communication, Corpus Linguistics, Concordancer and many more. All these knowledge of computer application can be applied to develop Islamic knowledge. For example, Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) samples like Email, Facebook, Twitter, Blog and many more enable us to spread the Islamic knowledge worldwide. We can also produce and discuss about Islamic Literatures and Poets like Tariq Ali, MirzaGhalib, Daniel Moore and others to expose the people the Islamic Literatures rather than the Western Literatures only. In order to islamize the knowledge, we can look and discuss the Western literatures from the Islamic perspective and exchange our opinion with the people on that matter. People will read the Islamic knowledge that we have posted in our Facebook or blog for example and they will learn at least the gist of what we have posted.

In this era, technology plays a crucial role to spread the da’wah and also serves as a platform of sharing knowledge just by a click. Here, we have included our reflections and assignments regarding to the computer application knowledge and thus, we really hope that by sharing our knowledge in our blog, many people can benefit from it and apply it for the development of the society all over the world. In this perspective, it is inevitable that acquiring knowledge that follows Allah’s command will be the catalyst for us to be in Jannah Al-Firdaus.

InsyaAllah. If Allah’s will.