CRUISING MENAM CHAO PHRAYA, AYUTTHAYA, THAILAND

Cruising and having dinner on the Menam Chao Phraya river, Ayutthaya, Thailand with participants of The 3rd International Conference on Islamic Studies - Islamic Values in a Changing World.

We flied from Hatyai to Bangkok this morning after the Conference was concluded yesterday, lunched at Kaewnimit Muslim village on our way to Ayutthaya from Bangkok, and arrived Ayutthaya at about 4.30 pm, Alhamdulillah.

CONTEMPORARY ISLAMIC VALUES REVISITED

Yesterday, Alhamdulillah, presented a paper entitled "Contemporary Islamic Values Revisited" at The 3rd International Conference on Islamic Values in a Changing World, at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani.

The paper attempts to revisit the state of contemporary Islamic values, especially in their present usage. The contemporary Islamic values seem to have been molded by the needs and trends of the changing world, while their usage seems to be meant more of worldly pursuit rather the pursuit of the world Hereafter, let alone the balance between the two. Based on a library research, this paper observes four factors that are attributable to the shaping of the contemporary Islamic values. They are the intentional or unintentional efforts of firstly universalizing, secondly realigning, thirdly accommodating, and fourthly ‘scientificing’ the Islamic values.

These are the factors that are believed to have entailed with the present form of the Islamic values. If this form of Islamic values were to be adopted in developing guidelines for a meaningful peace and harmony amongst various civilizations and mankind, it may mean an effort that is based on an incomprehensive meaning of the Islamic values, hence an imprecise diagnose and prescription of the problems of civilization.

EVOLVEMENT OF TIME AND AGE

How fast time, hence eras of one's life, has passed by.

My staff cards above are self-explanatory. They began with a long-haired just-registered young lecturer in 1981, followed by religiously-conscious don (1983-1994), and finally retired matured slave of Allah SWT in 2014.

Though trying to continously serve the University, the status is now no more permanent. It is instead on a three-year contract basis (2014-2017). What will happen next is full of uncertainty. Only Allah SWT knows best, but the service to Islam and the ummah, with the help of Allah SWT, should not have been ceased with this uncertainty.

The elder dons with thick spectacles, and sometimes helped with magnifiers and sticks, reading in the 'haunted' Bodlein Library of the Oxford University always remind me of how knowledge is oceanic, and one should not have stopped in digging and disseminating them.

ISDEV RUT WORKSHOP IS IN PROGRESS

Since yesterday Monday 2 March, a total of 40 ISDEV Researchers and Associate Researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), Universitas Medan Area (UMA), Universitas Islam Bandung (UNIBAS), and Islamic University Sultan of Sharif Ali (UNISSA, Brunei Darussalam, have gathered at the Centre for Islamic Development Management Studies (ISDEV) to present their respective research findings.

In this Workshop, a total of 38 papers have been prepared out of their findings from their respective researches. The research clusters include Istibdal Wakaf, Ethics and Monitoring System of Human Management, Quality Management of Islamic Development Institutions, Corporate Social Responsibility, the Politics of Islamic-Based Development, and the Policies of Islamic-Based Development in the Context of Negara Zikir in Brunei Darussalam.

The Workshop will end tomorrow, Tuesday 4 March 2015.