CHALLENGES OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
by Shaharom TM Sulaiman [View Writer's Profile]

Abstract
Information Revolution that is present nowadays is considered as a gift (rahmat) to human beings. It has also become a cliché that we are living in the so called information century. The discovery of the‘microchip’, the development of the microcomputer technology and the internet network have generated a strength which has made information easily obtained at the touch of a ‘button’. Information Revolution has also been said to radically transform our community to be more worldly wise and free from ignorance. The enormous dispersion of information technology will possibly bring us towards an electronic civilization.

Behind the reality of this sophisticated development, the question remains: whether all the advance information technology is capable in creating a better community. Could the strength of the 'micro-processor' improve our comprehension towards the surrounding world and of ourselves? With the widespread of information technology are we able to make decisions on our luck and future better?

A number of scholars like J.R.Raverts, Ziauddin Sardar and Donald Michaeal have realized the significance of community technology, but at the same time they are worried about its devastation. These days and the coming decades will witness the importance of information technology as the most important tool to manipulate and regulate. Dominating information would be a very determining factor among those who are going to devote themselves to real power and also among those who would be manipulated as an object. This situation could be seen more clearly in Third World countries where information transforms into a new kind of colonization. In the Islamic world, Information Revolution is going to create a new challenge that could profit and become a great significance to human beings. However, the question remains; would Islamic World have faith in a forceful and totalitarian technology and risk itself to the existence of this new form of dependence that could be more hazardous compared to the physical form of colonialism which was once experienced. In other words, within the new information century, our Islamic World will become too dependent to the West in obtaining all sorts of information be it Politics, Military, Economics and Cultural, Scientific and Technological, Social and Religious. Besides, we even have to depend on the information sources from the West to understand ourselves and the Muslim community.

According to Ziauddin Sardar, "We have to understand information technology and also consciously take advantage of it in order to achieve our objectives and not the objectives of the manufacturer and creator of that technology itself. Ideally, we should develop this specific proficiency to create and take advantage of this new technology. Although all kinds of technologies have a certain ideological and cultural 'traps' within the civilization that has created it, it can still be modified and amended as it can possibly benefit us".

Sardar adds, "We should develop and establish a comprehensive, mature and clear strategy to deal with the challenges of this information century. This form of strategy should cover the understanding of information features as well as the vision of community that we are trying to create within the mould of Islam. Besides, this strategy should be able to fulfill the aspiration of an Islamic state itself whether in the urban or rural community. Lastly this strategy should be able to offer a specific role among the professional intellectualists in the information world; especially those who might have a particular alliance to resolve the difficulty and challenges of information technology".

It is important for professional Muslim information specialists to understand the qualitative and quantitative aspects of information. Emphasis on quantitative aspects that is formed from a mechanistic and statistic approach would give negative effects and lastly separate the information aspect from the traditional connection which is between knowledge and 'hikmah'. In a different way, the concentration on quantitative information has forfeited quality control as well as some hazardous technologies such as nuclear and computerized weapon control. Even though information would be objective and neutral, it could not be free or separated from the system of values and cultures of its manufacturers.

Initial Muslim scholars like Al-Farabi and Ibnu Sina for instance have realized the dichotomy or information divider that disconnects information from knowledge and 'hikmah' which leads towards meaningless. This has been illustrated in a story of 'Teaching of Rumi': "The Mastanawi" where four acquaintances found money. The first man who is a Persian said, "With this money I will buy anggur , The second man, who is an Arab said reluctantly, ""No, we should buy inab". The third man who is a Turkish said, "I don't want inab, I want uzum". While the last man who was Yunani wanted stafili.

Al-Rumi described that all those four acquaintances do not understand the meaning and definition of what has been said by each person. So, they got involved in a quarrel. They have information but they do not have the knowledge to handle the information.

When the quarrel hit the highest point, one wise man came and tried to resolve the problem and said: "I could fulfill all those wishes with that amount of money that you have found, but on the condition that you must all be satisfied with it and be back in good terms".

Then the wise man walked off and bought some grapes. When he returned to the four acquaintances, they were satisfied and happy. It is clear that all of them wanted the same thing which are grapes but spoken in their different own languages. This story of Al-Rumi was actually an obvious attempt to differentiate the three concepts which are information, knowledge and 'hikmah'. In this story the 'information' presented here is the 'desire' of those four acquaintances to have anggur, inab, uzum and stafili. This 'desire' could be classified as unarranged facts. The knowledgeable man was able to arrange those facts into a form of 'united information' and because of his intelligence, he was able to establish the 'knowledge' from the 'united information' and both concepts were assimilated and thus, resulting in a fair and meaningful judgment (hikmah).