[^5] Alatas goes on to explain that he proposes that historians...

[^5] Alatas goes on to explain that he proposes that historians, sociologists, and other social scientists should look at work done by classical Muslim thinkers, such as Biruni, extract key ideas from them, "and undertake empirical historical research with these ideas." A rival approach to the Islamization of knowledge was initiated by Isma'il Faruqi in 1982.[^6] This approach was integrated with several other goals, including the reform of Islam, the salvation of the West, and a substantive view of how the modern sciences were to be Islamized.

In order to carry out this program, Faruqi participated in the establishment of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) in 1981. Faruqi proposed to adopt the best of Western science and technology, but to base it on Islamic principles and values that would guide the further development of the sciences.

He agreed with Salafi ideas of the need to return to a pristine original Islam, but he considered this original Islam to be fundamentally rational, and open to dialogue with non-Muslims. He found inspiration in both Abd al-Wahhab and in Muhammad Abduh.[^7] His program for the Islamization of knowledge was ideological and advocated the strengthening of Islamic identity. According to Faruqi, the Islamization of knowledge is to "recast knowledge as Islam relates to it., I.e.

to redefine and reorder the data, to rethink the reasoning and relating of the data, to reevaluate the conclusions, to reproject the goals-and to do so in such a way as to make the disciplines enrich the vision and serve the cause of Islam."[^8] At the heart of his vision was the Islamization of knowledge.

He regarded the political, economic, and religiocultural malaise of the Islamic community as primarily due to the bifurcated state of education in the Muslim world with a resultant lack of vision. He believed that the cure was twofold: the compulsory study of Islamic civilization and the Islamization of modern knowledge.

[^9] Faruqi's program of Islamization is summarized by Ibrahim Ragab as having three main components: Mastery of modern disciplines, and the critical assessment of their methodologies, research findings, and theories within the Islamic perspective. Mastery of the Islamic legacy, and the critical assessment of Islamic scholarship against : a) a pristine Revelational perspective b) current needs of the Ummah, and c) modern advances in human knowledge.