‘Decolonisation of knowledge needs broader, creative push’

Islamabad : Colonialism is an ongoing phenomenon in the form of the dominance of colonial powers on our ideas, philosophies, and theories, whose effects are visible in our incapacity to devise, define, and understand questions even in Islamic studies, insisted international political expert Dr Humeira Iqtidar.

During a seminar on ‘Decolonising Islamic Studies’ at the Institute of Policy Studies here, Dr Humeira, a reader in politics at the King’s College, London, said many political theories and philosophies, which were based on limited historical experience and European quests, had been universalised.

“Even though the decolonising movement originally started in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and other African states when they questioned the prevalent educational structure and curriculum as the legacy of colonialism, it is the European centricity that is pervasive in the context of understanding decolonialism across the globe. No one questions the universality of these philosophies as they are inculcated in society through knowledge and educational institutes,” she said.

The expert said the colonisation of knowledge and industrial-scale education system stopped people from wondering about the purpose of producing and consuming knowledge, the kind of knowledge being produced and consumed, and the producers of that knowledge. She said the questions devised under Islamic studies were themselves deeply entrenched in colonial influence.

“These questions are developed in such a way that all the burden of violence falls on Muslims by making Islam appear violent and something that needs a compatibility check, while leaving no space for further questions. The educational institutes are also established in link with these colonialism-entrenched questions. It is an effect of that educational training and colonial legacy that we have no capacity to raise the right questions,” she said.

Presenting the critique of leading Islamic scholar Maulana Sayyid Abul A‘la Mawdudi on nationalism that it is un-Islamic and a problem for democracy as it pushes humans towards racialism, Dr Humeira identified the limitations of the solution presented to this as colonial-inflicted. She said decolonising knowledge was a very difficult task as it didn’t mean eliminating it.

“The total rejection of colonial influence is not possible as we live with such institutions based on this influence and ideas,” she said.

About the possible solution to the issue, the expert called for combining different approaches and ideas creatively and understanding problems with a broader outlook. She also said there was a need to define questions based on our ideas and practices and find answers to them ourselves along with taking the curriculum into our own hands.

Dr Humeira said the true meaning of decolonisation was not about bringing the influence of colonialism to an end.

“Decolonisation of Islamic studies and knowledge requires the understanding of our history along with its mistakes, past experiences, lacking, and problems. Only then, it would shift the mindset of people from the colonial influence,” she said.

Dr Humaira said Islamic studies, as a discipline, was itself a project of colonialism and whose decolonisation needed to be done at two levels – the discipline of Islamic studies and within the discipline itself.

She identified the differences between madrassah and university students, as a product of knowledge being imparted to them in different ways.

“The differences and problems of knowledge must be looked into through different aspects and at different levels, i.e. research, academia, etc. She also asserted that this task of decolonising knowledge and Eurocentric approaches is huge and requires defined and trained people, who are unfortunately not there,” she said.

Endorsing the ideas of Dr Humeira, former rector of the International Islamic University Professor Dr Fateh Muhammad Malik highlighted how the colonial powers, especially the British, considered the strength of Islam as the biggest threat to them.

He upheld the notion by mentioning how the creation of Pakistan – evidence of the strength of Islam, Muslim ideology, and united Muslims – was hindered several times by the colonial rulers.

“The British are still afraid that Pakistan would become a true realization of its founder’s ideology and that’s why they have devised various means to maintain their colonial influence in the form of colonialization of knowledge,” he said.

Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman agreed to the notion of the colonisation of knowledge in Pakistan and the role of British institutions and people like Thomas Macaulay, who introduced the current education system in the subcontinent, in pushing the subcontinent into the pit of colonialism-inflicted knowledge and education structure.

He highlighted the role of youth in pushing the decolonial effort, the need for indigenised syllabus, and the requirement to decolonise other disciplines as well.

IPS chairman Khalid Rahman, who chaired the event, advocated a knowledge movement and work on decolonisation, which, he said, was multi-layered and multidimensional.

He also underscored the need for including more and more disciplines in decolonising efforts to achieve desired progress towards it.