Third International Islamic Geographical Conference Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

Development and the MuslimsThe Department of Geography, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, hostedthe Third International Islamic Geographic Conference at Institute AminuddinBaki, Genting Highland, Malaysia Muharram 16-21, 1409/August28-September 2, 1988, to discuss the effects of development on Muslimcommunities. Sponsorship for the meeting was jointly provided by theInternational Islamic Geographical Society, the International Institute of IslamicThought, the Association of Muslim Social Scientists of the United Statesand Canada, the Malaysian Institute of Policy Research, and the UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia.Altogether twenty-four papers were presented during eight sessions tosome seventy participants from nine countries, including thirteen attendeesfrom outside Malaysia. The first session on “Muslims and Development”included three presentations. Mansur Ahmad Saman led the discussion byexploring the generic meanings of “Islam” and “development” in his paper“Islam and Development: the Region Within.” Mansur argued that becauseIslam sanctions peaceful living, it is a necessary condition for development,although the state of peace itself may not be a sufficient condition of thesame end. In the second paper, “Muslims and Economic Development,’’ A.H.MSadeq observes that although Islam provides all the incentives for economicdevelopment, and despite the fact that Muslim countries as a whole are wellendowedwith natural resources, they have continued to lag behind in economicdevelopment. Sadeq was hopeful that the future is bright for Muslim countries,if only there were more efforts towards economic cooperation among them.S. Parvez Manuror concluded the session with a deliberation an “Ideologyof Development: An Islamic Critique.” In this lengthy discourse on the conceptof “development,” the author asserted that the “The modern theory ofdevebpment aims .at the realization of certain societal values within a politicalframework, At worst, perpetuates the view of man and the universe which ...