Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas was born in 1931 in the city of Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. He began his early education in Sukabumi and later continued in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Raised in a family with a noble Islamic heritage, he was surrounded by a multilingual and intellectually vibrant environment that shaped his future path as a thinker and scholar.

In the 1950s, Al-Attas traveled to the United Kingdom and studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. However, his intellectual aspirations soon led him to academia. He pursued Islamic studies in earnest and obtained his Master’s degree at McGill University in Canada, where he wrote his thesis on the Wujūdiyyah movement in 17th-century Acheh, focusing on the work of Nuruddin al-Raniri. Later, at the University of London, he earned his PhD with a dissertation on the mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri, a key figure in Southeast Asian Sufism.

Al-Attas’s academic focus centered on Islamic philosophy, metaphysics, and theology. He became a critic of the Western secular epistemological framework, arguing that it misrepresents the Islamic worldview and disrupts the integrated nature of traditional Islamic sciences. His response to this challenge was not merely critical; he developed an entire framework for the “Islamization of contemporary knowledge,” seeking to reorient modern education in the Muslim world back to the metaphysical and ethical foundations of Islam.

He taught and conducted research in Malaysia for many decades, establishing himself as a pivotal figure in the intellectual revival of Islamic thought in Southeast Asia. In 1973, he founded the Institute of Malay Language, Literature and Culture, contributing significantly to the scholarly understanding of Malay-Islamic identity.

In 1987, Al-Attas established the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), a world-renowned institution based in Kuala Lumpur that became a center for advanced research in Islamic philosophy, metaphysics, and civilization. Under his direction, ISTAC attracted scholars from around the world and emphasized a rigorous return to classical Islamic sources, without the distortion of modernist or secular paradigms.

Al-Attas’s thought is deeply rooted in classical Islamic scholarship. He emphasized that true knowledge in Islam is both a spiritual and intellectual pursuit, and that education must aim at producing the “insan adabi”—the man of adab—who embodies wisdom, justice, and upright moral character. His major works, such as “Islam and Secularism”, “Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam”, and “The Concept of Education in Islam”, continue to serve as foundational texts for scholars engaging with Islamic epistemology and civilization.

Throughout his career, he has received multiple accolades for his scholarly contributions, and his legacy continues through his students and institutions. His vision of an integrated Islamic worldview that resists secular fragmentation remains influential in contemporary debates on knowledge, education, and the future of Muslim societies.

Today, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas stands as one of the foremost Muslim thinkers of the modern era—a scholar who has not only preserved the intellectual treasures of the Islamic tradition but has also illuminated the path for their revival in a modern world desperately in need of spiritual and intellectual clarity.

Books and Monographs

• Rangkaian Ruba’iyat (in Malay). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 1959.
• Some Aspects of Sufism as Understood and Practised among the Malays. Singapore: Malaysian Sociological Research Institute. 1963.
• The Origin of The Malay Sha’ir. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 1968.
• Raniri and the Wujudiyyah of the 17th Century Acheh. Kuala Lumpur: Monographs of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1969.
• Preliminary Statement On A General Theory of The Islamization of The Malay-Indonesian Archipelago. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 1969.
• The Mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press. 1970.
• The Correct Date of the Terengganu Inscription. Kuala Lumpur: Museum Department. 1970.
• Concluding Postscript to The Origin of The Malay Sha’ir. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 1971.
• Islam dalam Sejarah dan Kebudayaan Melayu. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. 1972.
• Comments on the Re-Examination of Al-Raniri’s Hujjatu’l Siddiq: A Refutation. Kuala Lumpur: Museum Department. 1975.
• Islām: Faham Agama dan Asas Akhlak. Kuala Lumpur: ABIM. 1977.
• Islam and Secularism. Kuala Lumpur: ABIM; reprint ISTAC, 1993. 1978.
• The Concept of Education in Islam. Kuala Lumpur: ABIM; reprint ISTAC. 1980.
• A Commentary on the Hujjat al-Siddiq of Nur al-Din al-Raniri. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Ministry of Culture. 1986.
• The Oldest Known Malay Manuscript. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya. 1988.
• Islam and the Philosophy of Science. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. 1989.
• The Nature of Man and the Psychology of the Human Soul. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. 1990.
• On Quiddity and Essence. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. 1990.
• The Intuition of Existence. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. 1990.
• Islam: The Concept of Religion and the Foundation of Ethics and Morality. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. 1992.
• The Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islam. 1993.
• The Degrees of Existence. 1994.
• Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. 1995.
• Risalah untuk Kaum Muslimin (in Malay). Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC. 2001.
• Tinjauan Ringkas Peri Ilmu dan Pandangan Alam (in Malay). Pulau Pinang: Universiti Sains Malaysia. 2007.
• Historical Fact and Fiction. Kuala Lumpur: UTM Press. 2011.
• On Justice and the Nature of Man. Kuala Lumpur: IBFIM. 2015.
• Islam: The Covenants Fulfilled. Kuala Lumpur: Ta’dib International. 2023.

Institutions and Awards

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas played a key role in the conceptualization of the Islamic university model, first formulated at the First World Conference on Muslim Education in Makkah in 1977. In 1987, he founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), a globally respected academic institution based in Malaysia. He has inspired a new generation of Muslim scholars, including Professor Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, the current holder of the Distinguished Chair of Islamic Thought named after him at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He has received multiple honors, including the Malaysian title of “Tan Sri” for his outstanding contributions to education and Islamic thought.