The Intellectual Role of Islamizing Librarianship
Mawlana Mawdudi (may Allah be pleased with him) has made a verythought-provoking remark in his introduction to “Al Jihad fd Islam7 He writes:“It is a natural weakness of human beings. If one is defeated in a battlefieldhe is also overwhelmed in the field of knowledge. He cannot contest inpenmanship with one by whose sword he has been defeated.”lThe inferiority of Muslims in the intellectual domain is well documentedand does not need any elaboration. Now it is the task of Muslim scholarsto take up the challenge of redressing the imbalance. One area of scholarshipoften neglected by scholars is library science.The task required to Islamize science calls for immense intellectualcapacity. One should be expert not only in the field of library science butshould also possess deep insight into the faith of Islam, its culture, andcivilization. It is only through the combination of these qualities that a newcreative discipline can be produced.Library science, as developed in the West, is bound to reflect the imageof Western civilization. Subject classification, the rules for cataloguing, listsof subject headings and other techniques employed to exploit literature allportray the Western way of life.Islam has its own world view of human affairs and Islamic literaturenaturally will reflect this world view. To restrict Islam under the heading“religion” following the Western conceptualization violates the very basicconcepts of Islamic principles. The response of librarians when faced withthis challenge is to adapt the existing classification. Though such adaptationsmay be useful they not only hopelessly fail to tackle the real problem, butdistort and disfigure the serene harmony of Islamic values. What is neededis totally new and radical approach by Muslim librarians to work out a new ...