51社区

The Annual International Conference on Islam, Science and Society (AICIS+) 2025 at 51社区 (51社区) opened with a powerful keynote address by Prof. Farish A. Noor, a political historian from Malaysia and faculty member at 51社区, who challenged scholars to critically examine the historical and epistemological roots of Islamic Studies 鈥� a field he described as 鈥渂orn within the logic of empire.鈥�

鈥淟et us be clear,鈥� he began, 鈥渢here is an enormous difference between Muslims studying Islam, and Islam being studied.鈥�

Prof. Farish traced the genealogy of Islamic Studies as an academic field, arguing that its emergence was inseparable from colonial and Western epistemological frameworks. 鈥淚slamic Studies did not start in China, Africa, or India. It started in the West 鈥� as part of the West鈥檚 attempt to know, govern, and sometimes colonize the Muslim world,鈥� he asserted.

To illustrate this, he revisited texts such as The History of Java by Thomas Stamford Raffles, noting how early colonial scholarship framed Islam as the cause of 鈥渂ackwardness鈥� among Javanese society. 鈥淭he tools we use today 鈥� sociology, anthropology, political science 鈥� were once used to justify control and colonization. We cannot be blind to this legacy,鈥� he cautioned.

Throughout his speech, Prof. Farish used the striking 19th-century painting Muhammad II Entering Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro as a metaphor. He described it as 鈥渁n image of arrest鈥� 鈥� one that captures how the Muslim world has been historically frozen into a monolithic identity. 鈥淭he Muslim remains fixed, confined within Islamic Studies,鈥� he said, introducing the philosophical concept of 鈥渆pistemic arrest,鈥� where knowledge production perpetuates stereotypes rather than liberates understanding.

But the keynote was not merely a critique of the past; it was also a call to renewal. Prof. Farish urged scholars to push Islamic Studies beyond its traditional boundaries by engaging with pressing global realities 鈥� technology and the environment 鈥� which, he argued, profoundly shape the Muslim world today.

鈥淚t is not an accident that AICIS+ brings together Islamic Studies, environment, and technology,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese are our realities now. The South 鈥� the Muslim world 鈥� bears the heaviest cost of environmental destruction and technological domination.鈥�

He warned that Muslim societies risk being reduced to 鈥渁lgorithms鈥� in a world ruled by big tech and data capitalism, becoming 鈥渃ommodified objects of a virtual universe鈥� that profits from images of Muslim suffering. 鈥淭he Muslim world today is an algorithm,鈥� he remarked sharply. 鈥淎nd we must ask 鈥� who programs it?鈥�

On environmental challenges, Prof. Farish highlighted that climate change poses existential threats to Muslim-majority nations in the Global South 鈥� from Indonesia and the Maldives to Bangladesh. 鈥淣o foreign army can erase your islands, but climate change will,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese are not abstract issues. They are our lived realities.鈥�

While acknowledging that Islamic Studies has inherited 鈥渢ainted tools鈥� from colonial academia, he argued against abandoning them. Instead, he called for 鈥渉istorical literacy鈥� 鈥� a critical awareness of how knowledge systems were built 鈥� to repurpose these tools for emancipation and self-understanding.

鈥淲e need to study Islamic Studies itself,鈥� he urged. 鈥淭o ask how it started, why it took the shape it has, and how we might reimagine it 鈥� not as a fixed field, but as a dynamic space that interrogates power, history, and humanity.鈥�

Prof. Farish concluded with a hopeful vision for transformation: 鈥淎ICIS+ 2025 marks a rupture 鈥� a moment to recouple Islamic Studies with technology and environmental consciousness, to move from being mere subjects of study to active producers of knowledge.鈥�

As the conference continues, his keynote sets a reflective tone for scholars, inviting them to see Islamic Studies not just as a lens to examine Islam 鈥� but as a mirror to question the world and their own place within it.