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By Fachri Mirza Muhammad

GOMBAK, 27 September 2018: Communication scholars, students and media practitioners were told that sa’adah (happiness) cannot be found in the material way of life alone where wealth can’t give people the real meaning of happiness. To attain real sa’adah, people should move for spiritual well-being that goes “beyond and above” and to “understand own-self”.

IIUM Rector, Tan Sri Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, was referring to high level of people’s dependency today on technology and media in his keynote address titled “Mapping Digital Humanities: Managing Variorum for Sa’adah” when officiating the International Seminar on Media and Communication (ISMEC2018) on Tuesday (25 September).

He said: “I am very sceptical on the use of social media. The latest research found that those in 10 countries, most of them, developed countries, questioned on their capability for leaving any device for a day, where it shows 70 per cent of Malaysians are unable to leave their smartphones for a day. This is the fact that people from technologically developed countries are less attached to technology than those in less developed countries.“

“We are still in a sceptical situation unless we are able to navigate the virtues,” he told the participants.

Tan Sri Dzulkifli therefore invited the audience to examine the concept of Spiritual Humanity. “Why Spiritual Humanity? The recognition in humanities are geared more towards research with quantifiable (tangible) rather than intangibles (covering religious aspects).”

Hence, he said, this would allow a shift of focus on Digital Humanities from technical processes to “non-technical ones” and to meet the needs of users with spiritual Islamic worldview.

Quoting core ideas of Al-Ghazali, he highlighted: “That ‘happiness’ consists in the transformation of the ‘Self’, and that this transformation consists in the realisation that one is primarily a spiritual being (and self-transcendence).”

“Sa’adah is a central concept in Islamic philosophy used to describe the highest aim of human striving… considered part of the ‘ultimate happiness’, namely that of the Hereafter.”

He further elaborated: “The ultimate ecstasy is not found in any physical thing, but rather in discovering through personal experience one’s identity with Ultimate Reality. He who knows himself is truly happy.”

He therefore called on participants to reflect and appreciate the knowledge as Quran said on the reflection of knowledge. “The world has become imbalance because of technology, it is always pushing technology until people can’t live without it,” he emphasised.

Themed “Global Media: the current and the future challenges”, the seminar was held at Conference Room, Kulliyyah of Information and Communication Technology (KICT), IIUM.

The seminar, organised by the Department of Communication, also brought three prominent speakers for a forum to discuss the theme surrounding issues and values of media industry, and exploring the role of media and communication in society.

They were Prof. Dato’ Sri Dr. Syed Arabi Idid, who is a senior professor from the Department of Communication, KIRKHS; Prof. Dr. Zahrom Nain, a professor in media and communication studies from University of Nottingham, Malaysia; and Suhaimi Sulaiman, the Chief Executive Officer and chief editor of ASTRO Awani. ***