ISLAMICISATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND ENGLISH LITERARY STUDIES by NOR FARIDAH ABDUL MANAF, AIMILLIA MOHD RAMLI

In a world where people are still being judge by their skin colour, what they wear and what language they speak, it becomes increasingly impossible to celebrate differences and the richness of living in diverse cultures and worldviews. the East accuses the West as being xenophobic and secular. The West accuses the East specially Islam and Muslims, as going against all forms of freedom - from freedom of expression to freedom of conscience to even sexual freedom. The common perception of Islam (or any religion for that matter) is that it fuels more hatred than love and collaboration between Muslims and others is impossible. The three Abrahamic religions in the past worked well together. A person cannot be religious if his/her heart is filled with hatred and lack compassion and does not observe justice. A truly enlightened religious person is always inclusive of others and respects their rights to think and believe differently. It is in this spirit that we celebrate this book because it provides that space to relook and reconsider common and shared grounds between “us” and “them”. In an age in which trust is fast diminishing and in its place is fear and a sense of insecurity, it is important that we retain some hope and bridge that gap between trusting and fearing. We applaud the effort given by Nor Faridah and Aimillia as editors of this book and their list of contributors who have provided us an insight of both worlds where English literature and its connections to Islamic worldview and world literature are concerned.