Review - Desperately Seeking Paradise (Part 1)

This is the first part of a series of "review" on Ziauddin Sardar's book "Desperately Seeking Paradise." It is not going to be a sequential review but more of the parts which resonate with me.

This first part is on the chapter called "the Inquiry Years" where he talked about Al-Faruqi's idea on Islamization of knowledge and his opposition towards it. While the years he described were in the 80s, I do remember that such ideas were still big in the 90s when my friends and I were active in the Muslim Society on campus. The Muslim intellectuals, similar to those described by Sardar, were almost obsessed with the need to Islamize knowledge. I think I still have the book by Al-Faruqi that was quoted in Sardar's book. Now, I wonder what happened to this movement - have it been abandoned? Where did the energy and effort go to? Perhaps it is still there but now, things seemed to be hijacked by the issue of terrorism and extremism; the need for "moderate" Muslim voices.

Coming back to the book, I like how Sardar argues against Islamization of Knowledge. In his "discussion" with Al-Faruqi, he mentioned in the book:

"we must Islamize the disciplines...establish the specific relevance of Islam to each area...Al-Faruqi picked up the knife and fork lying in front of him..."Think of them as a discipline...Now in the West....People eat with their left hands...we Muslims eat with our right hands. So all we have to do is to switch....Certain disciplines would require that kind of transformation."

I was dumbfounded..."Forks and knives emerge out of a particular context....part and parcel of a certain etiquette of eating...disciplines are not, as you seem to think, made in heaven, they are not a priori given...Disciplines are born within the matrix of a particular worldview and are always hierarchically subordinated to that worldview...Islamizing disciplines already infused with a materialistic metaphysics and western, secularist ethics is tantamount to a cosmetic epistemological face-lift."


His description of his group's (the Ijmalis) idea to knowledge echoes within me - emphasizing on ethics and interconnectedness. That the pursuit of knowledge is a form of worship and that it must be pursued in the promotion of values that enhances the Muslim society and culture amongst others. These were some of the topics of discussions between my friends and I, if I recalled correctly. I believe the LKI 2 topics (part of FMSA leadership training) that we worked on in the late 1990s were geared towards this idea that the Ijmalis were promoting. That is the reason why I think I enjoyed this section of his book. If only the LKI 2 seminar series could have continued.

In my own experiences, having been a scholar and also a teacher, it is difficult to Islamize knowledge as propound by al-Faruqi. As Sardar mentioned, such effort only lent to a "cosmetic face-lift" especially in the subjects I was specializing in. However, Sardar's idea if ethics and promotion of values within the subject is quite reachable. For example, while I couldn't, for the life of me, think of how I could Islamize Operations Research (Optimization), I could utilize it in beneficial applications that would serve the society better, thus exercising the connectedness between knowledge and the Quranic value of public interest. I do hope that the younger generations of Muslims will build upon what the Muslim intellectuals of the past have started, especially in this challenging times. We truly need fresh ideas in creating a new worldview that is not defined by terrorism or extremism. Perhaps there are new works out there already...if so, that is very good and hopefully I will get to learn more. If not, then as Muslims, it is our duty to once again revive these Islamic intellectual works.

Another thing about this book is the funny yet almost brutally honest way Sardar has written it, an autobiography of his life so far. His description of people make most into caricatures (almost) and that makes the book easy to read while dealing with some pretty heavy issues such as discussed above. Next time, I'll touch on another topic that he brought up in his book, Insya Allah. Till then.

The Warren Buffett Way, part deux

The more I read the book and keep up with the current financial news, the more impressed I am with Warren Buffett. In the current banking turmoil, Wells Fargo has done better than expected as it is not as burdened by the subprime mortgage paper pitfall. Recently Coca-Cola registered a profitable third quarter as compared to its rival PepsiCo. Coke and WF are some of the companies Buffett has a stake in.


These two companies were also featured in the book. These two companies illustrates some of Warren Buffett's strategies which I really admire:


1. Know the companies very well; its assets and core business, its record of consistency, and favourable long term prospects - so do your research
2. Place importance on trustworthy, honest, rational, independent thinking, and exellent managers.
3. Value of the companies - whether buying at under the value or a fair price, you need to know the intrinsic value of the companies. This is where Williams' model come into practice.

And recently, he was quoted as saying, "Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful" and advising people to buy stocks now. The editorial in the Financial Times (dated 21/10/08) said that it is not so easy for investors to follow as they are not sure when is the lowest.

However, if you were to follow the book, Buffett does not just buy indiscriminately but buys undervalued companies at bargain prices. Even if the prices were to go lower, it will not matter as much as he believes that these undervalued companies will sooner or later realise their actual values. Also, since he invests mostly long term, the subsequent returns over the long term will not be much different.

Of course, the editorial comment had a point, which is why I especially liked Bloomberg's advice following Buffett's. He mentioned that for small investors, best to invest in mutual funds and do it over certain period of time. For example, say do it monthly over a period of six months. Your investment would most likely have an averaging effect.

The Warren Buffett Way (second edition)

This book is one of the five "optional" books that we've to read (and testable) for Financial Markets. I've just read the first four chapters and I'm already impressed! His strategy makes sense. If I may summarise the first four chapters:

Buffett's investment strategy is shaped by four men: Graham, Fisher, Williams, and Munger. From them, he synthesized the following - a need for margin of safety, control of his emotions and therefore use market fluctuations to his advantage, have as complete understanding and knowledge of the company as possible, investing in companies with above average potential and capable management, a good model for the intrinsic value of the business, and paying a fair price for quality companies.

Based on these, his strategy puts forward the following criteria:
1. Simple, undertandable business
2. Consistent earning power and possess good economics
3. Little debt as possible
4. Trustworthy managers/management team

And of course, the fundamental idea behind his strategy is basically that he is the owner of the business whether he buys a business or buy stocks in the business. Long term commitments instead of short term holding.

As I was reading, I recalled how my father lost a lot of his savings when he was playing the stock markets in the 80s. Part of the fault lies in the little understanding of the companies and dangerous strategy to make money from any arbitrage opportunities. I'm also wondering how I could apply to my own investment strategy. Given that my investments are mostly in mutual funds, it's definitely not easy to know who the managers of these funds are and my knowledge is limited to the prospectus and annual reports given out. Well, I've got more chapters to go. So, perhaps the answer will come along the way.

Model Risk - Illiquidity

Being Sunday and a brilliant day to boot, I decided to go to Holyrood Park. Climbed the first hill (well, midway) and because it was almost 1 pm, decided to have lunch and enjoy the sun there. With a view over the park, most of Edinburgh and the sea (well I think it is the sea), I finished lunch and started to enjoy my book on quantitative risk management. Amidst VaR and loss functions, the chapter I was reading discussed the importance of model risk in risk management. One of these is actually the ability (or inability) to capture the illiquidity of the situation. It gave the example of LTCM but I was thinking of the current situation of the bailout and the challenges the Fed face in pricing the bad assets when the market's liquidity is almost nil. The book gave a few references of works done to include this liquidity/illiquidity as a risk factor. Managed to get two of the papers and hopefully read them soon. Very interesting, indeed.

Book review: Archeron

Sizzling! What can I say? Sherrilyn Kenyon combined all the elements I love in this book: mythology, supernatural, romance, and adventure. Archeron is the latest in her Dark Hunters series and probably the best. It covers his early life in Greece and Atlantis, which was only hinted at in earlier books, and the present day events. However, you don't really need to read the earlier stories in order to enjoy this one.

I'm not sure how authentic are her Atlantean fantasy - probably the speculation that it is in the Aegian sea is true. As for the pantheon of Gods in Atlantis, I'm really not sure but I think she definitely took some creative licensing there. Anyway, good leisure reading.

The pleasure of reading

Reading is a pleasure...I can't remember a time when my parents didn't read. I started reading when I was 3 and my sister started about the same age too. Only my two brothers do not seem to have this love of reading in them.

So imagine my surprise yesterday when my nephew took out his Thomas books and started reading to me. At only 2 years old, he was able to read his books. Maybe, his diction is still not clear, but clearly, he loves the books and loves reading them. He made me follow him reading from the beginning to the end of one of the books. COOL!

Now, I wonder how to get my brother to read his books! After all, his oral exam is around the corner and yet, he is not making the effort to practise reading.

Selling my collection

I admit it! I am a bookworm and I used to dream of my own house with a dedicated room for library. Since I started reading at the age of 3, I've been collecting books. My collection of children books unfortunately did not survive my brothers...brothers can be a destructive force on books!

But my other book collections, including religious texts, science and mathematics, fantasy, science fiction, romance, etc, have grown so much that I've three big cabinets dedicated to them and I'm running out of space. I've decided that I will be selling some of these precious books since my parents are complaining about the space they take up. It is a painful feeling but I have no choice.

So for the next two weekends, I will have to catalogue my books and see which ones I will let go of and try selling on ebay.

Catherine Asaro's books

Hey, I just finished two of her books: Alpha and Phoenix Code. For those who like science fi, well these are not hard core but they deal with real issues that humanity might be confronted in the near future if we can make a breakthrough in AI technology. She's got another book on AI which I read earlier, "Veiled Web".

Dr Catherine Asaro does not shy away from the difficult issues of how we define humanity and cultural conflicts. The "veiled web" tackled both those issues when she presented us with the main characters; Lucia who is a Christian, her husband, Rashid, a Muslim, and Rashid's AI. Similarly, in Alpha and Phoenix Code, she touched upon the dilema of AI being sentient and having free will.

For those who like more fantasy slant, I recommend her Charmed Sphere universe. Brilliant writing.