Syed Farid Alatas - National University of Singapore

Syed Farid Alatas - National University of Singapore
About
Press
Papers
We're Hiring!
Syed Farid Alatas
National University of Singapore
Sociology
Faculty Member
Followers
854
Following
66
Public Views
Syed Farid Alatas, a Malaysian national, is Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He also headed the Department of Malay Studies at NUS from 2007 to 2013. He lectured at the University of Malaya in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies prior to joining NUS. His areas of interest are the sociology of Islam, social theory, religion and reform, and intra- and inter-religious dialogue. His most recent books are Ibn Khaldun (Oxford University Press, 2013 and Applying Ibn KhaldÉn (Routledge, 2014). He is currently researching on Salafism in the Malay world.
less
Related Authors
Fabian Hempel
Universität Bremen
Sylvia Bawa
York University
Nathan Andrews
McMaster University
Dr Seuty Sabur
BRAC University
João Maia
Getulio Vargas Foundation (Fundação Getulio Vargas)
Oliver Kozlarek
Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo
Shaikh Mohammad Kais
University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Ahmed W . Waheed
Air University, Islamabad
Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics
Oscar Salemink
Interests
View All (7)
Uploads
Papers by Syed Farid Alatas
The definition and types of alternative discourse
This paper examines the theory of academic dependency as a means of understanding the relationshi...
more
This paper examines the theory of academic dependency as a means of understanding the relationship between social science communities in the North and South. I suggest that we as scholars cannot do much at the structural or material level of academic dependency as we are neither in charge of institutions nor the state. However, there is more that can be done at the intellectual or theoretical level. At this level, non-Western knowledge traditions and cultural practices are all to be considered as potential sources of social
science theories and concepts, which would decrease academic dependence on the world social science powers. Therefore, it becomes clear that the emergence and augmentation of alternative discourses is identical to the process of universalizing and internationalizing the social science. It should also be clear that alternative discourses refer to good social science because they are more conscious of the relevance of the surroundings and the problems stemming from the discursive wielding of power by the social sciences.
Islam and Dialogue Among Civilizations: Prerequisites and Preparations
Islam is probably the most maligned religion in the world. Since the inception of Islam, it was r...
more
Islam is probably the most maligned religion in the world. Since the inception of Islam, it was regarded as a threat to the Christian West resulting in the formation of a centuries old tradition of the demonization and stereotyping of the various Muslim peoples and their religion. The current world dominance of Western and in particular American culture has meant that these misconceptions and attitudes towards Islam are global in their spread.So, what is this religion and civilization called Islam? How can it be that a religion with lofty ideals and that has made stunning advances in science, technology and the arts in the past only seems to make headlines today when something bad happens somewhere in the world? Also, how can dialogue between Muslims and other religious communities be established and facilitated? In order to begin to answer these questions, it is not enough that we simply list some of the basic beliefs and practices of Islam and quote a few versus of the Qur'an in order to show that Islam is a progressive and peaceful religion....
format_quote
Alatas emphasized that the crucial problem for Islam is forming educated elites versed in both religious and modern knowledge.
format_quote
Dialogue for Peace and Harmony: A Human Sciences Approach
This paper discusses the role of the human sciences in dialogue. The type of dialogue I am concer...
more
This paper discusses the role of the human sciences in dialogue. The type of dialogue I am concerned with that which concerns the relations between different religious and ethnic groups. The goal of such dialogue is to minimize conflicts between groups and to strive towards achieving peace and harmony among them. Dialogue can be defined in terms of a conversation on a subject of mutual interest between two or more individuals or groups whose beliefs are defined by differing and
even opposing worldviews. The most supreme aim of dialogue is to bring about interest, understanding, appreciation, and even compassion for the religions, cultures and worldviews of others. This paper deals with how the human sciences can have a role in developing such a dialogue. The role of the human sciences is essentially a preventive one. It involves engaging the other group continuously dialogue in order to both minimize the potential for confrontation and conflict as well as achieve understanding and appreciation.
Covering Islam: Challenges & Opportunities for Media in the Global Village
It cannot be denied that the events of the last few years in both the global and local arenas hav...
more
It cannot be denied that the events of the last few years in both the global and local arenas have had some impact on tensions between Muslims and non- Muslims. The 9-11 incident, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rise of global terrorism have all posed inevitable challenges. The media plays a very important role in analyzing and reporting these events given that they shape public opinion, which, subsequently, translates into reactions in the various sections of society. The media must, therefore, be sufficiently engaged so that biased reporting and prejudicial views are minimized as the realities of the day are presented to the public.
The problem of academic dependency: Latin America and the Malay world
The structural context of Orientalism in the social sciences today is academic dependency. Academ...
more
The structural context of Orientalism in the social sciences today is academic dependency. Academic dependency is a problem that exists at two levels. There is the structural level characterized by a certain division of labour in global social science which is maintained by policies and regulations enforced by bureaucrats and administrators. There is also the intellectual level of academic dependency. This has more to do with the realm of ideas. In this paper, I provide a general introduction to the problem of academic dependency, drawing upon some Latin American as well as Malay world works. Some remarks are also made on how we may make some progress in reducing academic dependency.
format_quote
Academic dependency consists of structural and intellectual levels, rooted in global social science governance and idea production.
format_quote
Dialogue for Peace and Harmony: A Human Sciences Approach
This paper discusses the role of the human sciences in dialogue. The type of dialogue I am concer...
more
This paper discusses the role of the human sciences in dialogue. The type of dialogue I am concerned with that which concerns the relations between different religious and ethnic groups. The goal of suchcdialogue is to minimize conflicts between groups and to strive towards achieving peace and harmony among them. Dialogue can be defined in terms of a conversation on a subject of mutual interest between two or more individuals or groups whose beliefs are defined by differing andceven opposing worldviews. The most supreme aim of dialogue is to bring about interest, understanding, appreciation, and even compassion for the religions, cultures and worldviews of others. This paper deals with how the human sciences can have a role in developing such a
dialogue. The role of the human sciences is essentially a preventive one. It involves engaging the other group continuously dialogue in order to both minimize the potential for confrontation and conflict as well as achieve understanding and appreciation.
Prophethood, the Ahl al-Bayt and the Ideal of Excellence in Nursi’s Thought
The thesis of this paper is that the role of prophethood for Nursi is expressed not only through ...
more
The thesis of this paper is that the role of prophethood for Nursi is expressed not only through the person of the Prophet Muĥammad (!) but also via the family of the Prophet, the ahl albayt. The paper applies a framework derived from Nursi’s approach to the problem of evil to examine the role of the ahl al-bayt in spiritual struggle and progress. The significance of the prophethood of Muĥammad (!) is given by the well-known tradition, the ÌadÇth al-Thaqalayn, which refers to “the two weighty things” that the Holy Prophet said he was leaving behind, that is, the Qur’Ån and the ahl al-bayt. The Prophet is reported to have said that the Muslim world would not go astray if they strictly adhered to these two weighty things. The role of prophethood in humanity is manifested in various ways, including through what the Prophet bequethed, that is, the ahl al-bayt. This paper focuses on the significance of prophethood in terms of the function of the ahl al-bayt as a prophetic legacy.
Notes On Various Theories Regarding The Islamization Of The Malay Archipelago
In the study of the history of the Islamization of the Malay Archipelago (present-day Malaysia an...
more
In the study of the history of the Islamization of the Malay Archipelago (present-day Malaysia and Indonesia) various theories and points of view have been presented and the issue of objectivity arises in this context as clearly as in any writing of history. Mannheim's thesis that "the greatest comprehensiveness and the greatest fruitfulness in dealing with empirical materials" are the criteria to be applied in the choice between various interpretations' would seem to be relevant also in this case.
REFLECTIONS ON THE IDEA OF ISLAMIC SOCIAL SCIENCE
When we refer to Islamic social science what do we mean? In what ways can the social sciences be ...
more
When we refer to Islamic social science what do we mean? In what ways can the social sciences be Islamic? There are two such ways. One involves approaching specifically Muslim problems, that is, problems found in Muslim society, in a social scientific manner. An example would be the issue of the relationship between religion and the state. Concepts developed in Western social science would be modified and applied to achieve this aim. The other way in which social science can be Islamic goes beyond the former and involves the idea that social scientific theories, concepts and methodologies can be derived from the history and thought of Islam in order that these social sciences may be based on the Islamic Weltanschauung.
A Khaldunian Perspective on the Dynamics of Asiatic Societies
During the last twenty years or so, scholars in the Third World began to become critical of what ...
more
During the last twenty years or so, scholars in the Third World began to become critical of what came to be known as the captive mind. The captive mind is uncritical and imitative in its approach to ideas and concepts from the West.' Discussions on the problem of mental captivity coincided with efforts to indigenise the social sciences in the post-war period when most of the Third World gained formal independence.
THE SACRALIZATION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: A CRITIQUE OF AN EMERGING THEME IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE
This paper critically evaluates the idea of "Islamic social science" in terms of its expression i...
more
This paper critically evaluates the idea of "Islamic social science" in terms of its expression in Islamic economics and, more recently, in the Islamizatio of knowledge project. Islamic economics was conceived of in the 1930s while the beginnings of the Islamization of knowledge project can be traced to the 1970s. Islamic social science seeks to bring back religious experience and spirituality into knowledge by means of the sacralization of academic dis- course. The process of secularization in the West is seen to have rendered Muslim scholars incapable of comprehending the causes of the problems that beset Muslim society. The 1970s also witnessed the call to the indigenization of the social sciences in the Third World as a result of dissatisfaction with what was per- ceived as irrelevant social scientific theories and methods and faulty para- digms of development. What "Islamic social science" and the call to indigenization have in common is the critique of modernist discourses of man and society, and the rejection of the universality of social scientific concepts that originated in the West.
THE THEME OF "RELEVANCE" IN THIRD WORLD HUMAN SCIENCES
The fact that the humanities and social sciences in developing societies generally originated in ...
more
The fact that the humanities and social sciences in developing societies generally originated in the West has raised the issue of the relevance of these arts and sciences to the needs and problems of Third World societies. This questioning of relevance has led, in turn, to the call for the indigenisation of knowledge in developing societies. While there has been a great deal of discussion on indigenisation, there has been little practice of indigenised humanities and social science. As a result, there are few examples of what indigenous knowledge constitutes from theoretical, methodological and empirical points of view. This paper is directed towards arriving at some conception of what indigenised knowledge is, the various forms that it takes, and its rationale.
HADHRAMAUT AND THE HADHRAMI DIASPORA: PROBLEMS IN THEORETICAL HISTORY
If we understand history as a field constituted by a type of research and inquiry that concerns i...
more
If we understand history as a field constituted by a type of research and inquiry that concerns itself with human action in the past and is based on the interpretation of evidence, regardless of whether positivist or interpretive methods are used, then it can be said that historical works on Hadhramaut and its diaspora have been written. These works can be divided in broad terms into the two general categories of Arab and Western historiography. Nevertheless, in both cases, owing to certain theoret- ical problems that have beset these works, little progress has been made in the advancement of Hadhrami studies, particularly where the diaspora is concerned. Such theoretical problems include the lack of conceptualisation of Hadhrami emigration in terms of a "diaspora", and atheoretical approaches to the study of the history of Hadhrami political economy and society. The purpose of this chapter is to outline these theoretical problems and to suggest fresh approaches to the study of the history of Hadhramaut and its diaspora that are more theoretically self-conscious.
format_quote
Push factors such as famine and war led to Hadhrami emigration, significantly shaping cultural connections in trade networks.
format_quote
RELIGION, VALUES, AND CAPITALISM IN ASIA
The question of the relationship between religion and other phcnome n · that come within its conc...
more
The question of the relationship between religion and other phcnome n · that come within its conceptual and semantic field, such as values, the one hand, and modern economic development, the other,  occupied the minds of scholars since the last century.While the isswwas first dealt with theoretically and sociologically by lhn Khaldun in the fourteenth century AD, it was taken up again in systematic fashinn by European classical social theorists in the nineteenth century.
THE TARlQAT AL- 'ALAWIYYAH AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SHI'I SCHOOL IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA
The recent emergence and current development of the Imami Shi'i school in Indonesia and Malaysia ...
more
The recent emergence and current development of the Imami Shi'i school in Indonesia and Malaysia can only be understood against the backdrop of the early history of the Si 'ah, as well as that of the history of the Islamization of the Malay-Indonesian tor that binds these three historical processes together in a remarkable case of "conversion" within Islam is the 'olawiyyali sufi order (al-tariqah Archipelago. The common fac-al- 'alawiyyah). The tariqah al- 'alawiyyah is the path of the Siidat Bani 'alawiyyah. The Siidah al- 'alawiyyah (sing. sayyid), of the Shafi'i madhab (school of jurisprudence), originate from the Hadramawt, Yemen and played a major role in the Islamization of East Africa, Southern India, and the Malay- Indonesian Archipelago. The Sayyids of Hadramawt share a common his- tory with the Shi'i school and to some extent it is this commonality that caused Shi' i elements and tendencies among the descendants of Hadrami Siidat emigres in the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago to surface, particu- larly after the Iranian revolution of 1978. Today, the Hadrami Sayyids of the Malay-Indonesian world continue to playa role in the religious life of the region.
format_quote
The rise of Imami Shi'a coincided with the Iranian revolution, reflecting deeper political and philosophical questions beyond mere legal adherence.
format_quote
Academic Dependency in the Social Sciences: Reflections on India and Malaysia
Always. Various types of meta-analyses exist, and concerns range from the epistemological to the ...
more
Always. Various types of meta-analyses exist, and concerns range from the epistemological to the empirical. Metatheory, or the reflexive study of the social sciences, involves the study of the social, cultural and historical contexts of theories and theorists, and their philosophical roots. The particular variety of meta theory that I focus on in this essay is the political economy of the social sciences, with reference to the cases of India and Malaysia.
The Study of Social Sciences in Developing Societies: Towards An Adequate Conceptualization Of Relevance
Since the 19th century, there has been a strong awareness of a lack of fit between the western1 s...
more
Since the 19th century, there has been a strong awareness of a lack of fit between the western1 social sciences and non-western realities. Many examples of the irrelevance of western concepts, theories and assumptions have been noted in the literature. The fact that the social sciences emerged in the West, were initially practised in the Third World by colonialists and other European scholars, and then finally implanted among the locals during and after formal independence, had raised the question of the relevance of these bodies of knowledge to Third World societies and their problems. Some nonwestern scholars in the 19th century and more during the postcolonial period recognized that the social sciences cannot be transplanted to a different historical and socioeconomic setting  without doing injustice and violence to their respective realities. In short, there was recognition of the problem of irrelevance of western social science and of the need to generate relevant alternatives. For the most part, those who made these observations do not regard the entire western social science tradition as irrelevant and do not reject knowledge on the grounds of origin. The general idea was that the western social sciences are indigenous to their own settings and that the call for relevance is meant to contribute to the universalization of the social sciences. However, what is meant at a conceptual level by irrelevance and relevance has rarely been the subject of discussion. This conceptualization is vital because it lies at the heart of the projects to make social science relevant.
Alternative Discourses in Southeast Asia
This article brings into focus the question of alternative discourses in the social sciences. Alt...
more
This article brings into focus the question of alternative discourses in the social sciences. Alternative discourses are works that attempt to debunk ideas that have become entrenched in the social sciences, partly as a result of colonialism and the continuing Eurocentrism in the social sciences. In the context of Southeast Asia as well as much of the non-Western world, alternative discourses in the social sciences could also be referred to collectively as counter- Eurocentric social science. This paper discusses the emergence of alternative discourses in Southeast Asia, the defintion of alternative discourse, and the future of these discourses in our region.
format_quote
Indocentric history reframes Indonesia's past, emphasizing indigenous perspectives over colonial viewpoints while acknowledging foreign sources.
format_quote
Eurcentrism and the Role of the Human Sciences in the Dialogue among Civilization
In public discourse and formal education, human sciences need to facilitate the dialogue among ci...
more
In public discourse and formal education, human sciences need to facilitate the dialogue among civilizations to inculcate an attitude founded on appreciation, understanding, interest, and compassion for the cultures and worldviews of the other. All belief sys- tems are corruptible and can be perverted, and there are specific social and historical conditions that result in these perversions. Human sciences must go beyond merely correcting the fallacies and distortions of public discourse. They must attack the root of the problem, which is the problem of Eurocentrism in social science education that ulti- mately informs public discourse. The problem has to be dealt with at the level of knowl- edge production in teaching and research. This in turn would mean a greater need for interaction among scholarly communities in the various civilizations.
Pengkajian Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial: Menu juke Pembentukan Konsep Relevan
While there has been awareness of the problems of the relevance of Western concepts, theories and...
more
While there has been awareness of the problems of the relevance of Western concepts, theories and assumptions in critical works on the state of the social sciences in the Third World, what is meant as a conceptual level by relevance and irrelevance has rarely been the subject of discussion. The conceptualization of relevance is important because it lies at the basis of efforts to make the social sciences more relevant to conditions in the Third World.
Nevertheless, the calls for greater relevance have generally been made in vague terms owing to the less than systematic manner in which "irrelevance" was discussed. The result was that calls for more relevant social sciences were equally unclear. This paper aims to advance our understanding of the problem of relevance by way of providing a preliminary conceptualization of relevance.
or
or
reset password
Need an account?
Click here to sign up
About
Press
Papers
Topics
Academia.edu Journals
work
We're Hiring!
help
Find new research papers in:
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Health Sciences
Ecology
Earth Sciences
Cognitive Science
Mathematics
Computer Science
Content Policy
Academia ©2026