Civilisation and Society

This programme examines the dominant global society, arguing, in our first module, that it has emerged from out of the French Revolution. The analysis is undertaken in five parts: first, the history of power including the emergence of banking and ‘market forces’; second, the picture of technique, technology, method and science and how they have arisen, and how they relate to power, including examination of some of the more exciting recent developments; third, an examination of the structure of its personal, familiar and societal forms and institutions as seen through the eyes of its writers and artists; fourth, an investigation of economics drawing on a number of disciplines including philosophy and psychology as well as on absolutely traditional perspectives from the Sunna and Shari‘a; fifth, we look at the means by which a society sustains itself through time by means of education, pedagogy and tarbiya, with a view to looking practically at our genuine needs today. The programme comprises five modules:

Table of Modules

1. Autumnal Module - September/October/November 2012: Module II - Politics of Power
2. Vernal Module - February/March/April 2013: Module IV - Technique and Science
3. Autumnal Module - September/October/November 2013: Module VI - Society through Literature
4. Autumnal Module - October/December 2014: Module VII - The Question concerning Economics
5. Vernal Module – February/March/May 2015: Module VIII - The Question concerning Education