ARC Editions · English
Putting Everything
in Its Proper Place
Reflections on belief, modern economics and the systems that shape our lives. A book of questions about authenticity, institutions and what it means to live with purpose.
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About the book
Questions worth
living with.
How do the systems we create shape the choices we make?
Putting Everything in Its Proper Place is the story of a working life spent inside the machinery of modern Malaysia. It is also the record of one man’s search for what that machinery leaves out.
Kamarudin Abu Bakar grew up in Kota Bharu, studied in Manchester and built a career across information technology, telecommunications and banking. He saw the boom years, the corporate deals and the cost of success from the inside. Over 42 short chapters he looks back on that journey and asks harder questions about it. Why did so much achievement feel out of place? What happens when money, institutions and even religion lose their sense of order? And what would it mean to put things back where they belong?
The answers lead him to philosophy, Sufism and the thought of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. Al-Attas’s idea of adab, the right ordering of things, gives the book its title and its final argument.
Candid, often funny and never preachy, the book is equal parts memoir and reflection. It is for readers interested in Islamic thought and ethics, Islamic banking and finance, Malaysian corporate history, and anyone who has wondered whether a successful career and a coherent life can be the same thing.
- Author
- ARC Editions, Archiater Studio, Kuala Lumpur
- Publisher
- Archiater Studio
- Language
- English
- Paperback
- 286 pages · ISBN 9786299461104
- Formats
- Paperback RM70 · EPUB RM30 · Hardcover (sold out)
Inside the book
Seven parts,
42 chapters.
- Roots & Formation: a childhood in Kelantan, a family business and the scenes from Malay College life that shaped him.
- Education & Early Exposure: life as a student in the UK and the Islamic revivalist movement there.
- Careers & Crossroads: breaking into the corporate world, the “golden years” and the moments that didn’t fit.
- Money, Morals & the Machinery: banking, belief, 1MDB and the Malaysian story.
- From Many Lenses to One Vision: Wharton, life beyond Keynesian economics and discovering al-Attas.
- Disorder in the Soul: judgmentalism, secularisation, the “Just Qur’an and Sunnah” debate and mental decolonisation.
- Putting Everything in Its Proper Place: Islamic banking as ethical banking, right livelihood and justice in a disordered world.
It closes with an epilogue and Reflections of a “Sufi Golfer”.
What readers say
Praise for
the book.
“Thought-provoking, iconoclastic, and full of wit and humor, this accessible and beautifully written book is a rare gem.”
“An engaging account of a modern pilgrim’s progress.”
“A beautiful maze of a book … an ordering, a taking into account.”
“A rare and profound contribution that speaks directly to our shared search for integrity.”
About the author
Kamarudin
Abu Bakar
Kamarudin Abu Bakar grew up in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. He studied Computer Science and Accounting at the University of Manchester, completed an MBA through the Ohio University–UiTM programme, and attended Wharton’s Advanced Management Program. His career spans IT, telecommunications and banking, with work in technology, finance and organisational transformation.
Bahasa Melayu
Ringkasan
buku.
Putting Everything in Its Proper Place ialah memoir dan renungan Kamarudin Abu Bakar, anak kelahiran Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Kerjaya beliau merentasi bidang teknologi maklumat, telekomunikasi dan perbankan. Melalui 42 bab ringkas, beliau menyingkap perjalanan kerjaya dan pencarian makna, daripada dunia korporat dan perbankan Islam hinggalah kepada pemikiran Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas tentang adab, iaitu meletakkan sesuatu pada tempatnya yang betul.
Buku ini ditulis dalam Bahasa Inggeris dan boleh didapati dalam edisi kulit lembut (RM70) dan EPUB (RM30).
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