A Preliminary Note on the Impact of External Islamic Trends in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary discussion of the discourse on Islam and science in Malaysia. It attempts to contextualize this discourse in relation to external influences among academic circles. The essay points to the fact that the new proponents of Islamizing science are strongly linked with institutional Islam and serve the interests of the state. Whereas in the past, advocates of "Islamizing science" were regarded as radicals because some of them belonged to the student protest movement of the seventies, today they might more appropriately be regarded as part of the Islamic establishment.