“Did you know the concept of knowledge societies in Islam dates back to the 9th century with the establishment of Bayt-al-Hikmah in Baghdad?”
If we judge from Islamic history, there is much to encourage us. For century after century, the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks and many other Islamic societies achieved powerful leadership roles in the world—not only politically and economically but also intellectually. Some ill-informed historians and biased commentators have tried to argue that these successes were essentially produced by military power, but this view is profoundly incorrect. The fundamental reason for the pre-eminence of Islamic civilizations lay neither in accidents of history nor in acts of war, but rather in their ability to discover new knowledge, to make it their own, and to build constructively upon it. They became the Knowledge Societies of their time.
Address by Mawlana Hazar Imam to the 2006 Convocation of the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan (2 December 2006)
What is a knowledge society? Why will they be important in the future?
A Knowledge society’s primary resource is knowledge instead of capital and labour. It a society that creates, shares, and uses knowledge for the prosperity and well-being of its people. The World Bank and other international organizations expect that the future will increasingly be driven by the knowledge, skills, and resourcefulness of people rather than factories, land or machinery.
These organizations recommend investment in the higher education of talented men and women as a top priority in the national plans of every developing society. They have gone on to share that those societies that ignore this call will find themselves marginalized, and in an increasingly vulnerable position in the world. In contrast, those societies that work to use knowledge as a means to improve their quality of life will be influential members of what is commonly known as the “Knowledge Society”.
What knowledge societies existed in the Muslim world in the past?
The notion of a knowledge society is not new to Muslim cultures and societies. Bayt al-Hikmah, one of the first influential research centres, was established in Baghdad in the 9th century and served a similar purpose. Its main task was to gather and study the best available sources of knowledge of the time, so that they could be used for the benefit of the state and the Ummah. Scholars gathered in Bayt al-Hikmah to study and translate philosophical and scientific works of the Greek, Roman, Persian, and Indian heritage. However, their job was not only to translate these works but also, by relating them to their Islamic heritage, to produce new knowledge.
This new knowledge was then advanced and furthered in new directions by scholarship in many institutions across the Muslim empires. One of the most distinguished was Dar al-Ilm, which was founded by Imam al-Hakim Bi’Amrillah,‘alayhi-s-salam, (Fatimid Caliph) in Cairo in 1005 and served as an academy where a variety of subjects were taught, including mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, logic, grammar, and history, as well as religious subjects such as Qur’an, the hadith, and jurisprudence. The Dar al-Ilm was equipped with a large library that included hundreds of thousands of volumes and was open to people from different religious persuasions, who were also provided with free paper, pens, ink, and inkstands for their scholarly pursuits. Mawlana Imam al-Hakim Bi’Amrillah used to attend some of the lectures himself. These examples show that knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge was central to the way Muslims across history lived and connected to the world around them.
How can we prepare for the future knowledge society?
Today, the need to become an active part of the contemporary knowledge society is urgent and critical for Muslims. Access to good education, the capacity to carry out cutting-edge research in various fields and to develop ‘New Knowledge’ is vital. To strive for knowledge and be part of the knowledge society is a responsibility that we as Muslims have inherited from our faith and our history. It is a responsibility that we must fulfil to ensure a better future for the generations to come.
How does Mawlana Hazar Imam believe Ismailis and the larger Muslim Ummah can recapture our tradition of knowledge societies?
Speech By Mawlana Hazar Imam to the 2006 Convocation of the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan (2 December 2006):
“…one answer which can be shared across the whole of the Ummah is that we must become full and even leading participants in the Knowledge Society of the 21st Century.
That will mean embracing the values of collaboration and coordination, openness and partnership, choice and diversity—which will under-gird the Knowledge Society, learning constantly to review and revise and renew what we think we know - learning how to go on learning.
The spirit of the Knowledge Society is the spirit of Pluralism—a readiness to accept the other, indeed to learn from him, to see difference as an opportunity rather than a threat.”
To learn more about Knowledge Societies visit:
1. “12 Recommendations for Building Media and Information Literate Knowledge Societies”
2. Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Convocation Speech, Aga Khan University, 2006
http://www.akdn.org/speech/his-highness-aga-khan/aga-khan-university-convocation-karachi-2006
3. Heinz, H. (1997). The Fatimids and their Traditions of Learning. Published by I.B. Tauris in Association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
