Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, a Malaysian philosopher, died on March 8, 2026.
He was a Malaysian Muslim philosopher of Arab descent and was considered one of the few contemporary scholars thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences, with studies in theology, philosophy, metaphysics, history and literature. He pioneered the concept of Islamisation of knowledge and wrote 27 works on Islamic thought and civilisation, particularly on Sufism, cosmology, metaphysics, philosophy and Malay language and literature.
Al-Attas was the second Malaysian to receive the title of Royal Professor, after Ungku Abdul Aziz.
Syed Muhammad al Naquib bin Ali al-Attas (Arabic: سيد محمد نقيب العطاس Sayyid Muḥammad Naqīb al-ʿAṭṭās; 5 September 1931 – 8 March 2026) was a Malaysian Muslim philosopher of Arab descent. He was considered one of the few contemporary scholars who was thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences and studied theology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, and literature. He pioneered the concept of Islamisation of knowledge. Al-Attas’s philosophy and methodology of education have one goal: Islamisation of the mind, body, and soul and its effects on the personal and collective life of Muslims as well as others, including the spiritual and physical non-human environment. He was the second Malaysian to be awarded the title of Royal Professor (Profesor Diraja) after the late Ungku Abdul Aziz.