ISLAMIZATION AND STRATEGIES OF CHANGE —IN THE …€¦ · ISLAMIZATION AND STRATEGIES OF CHANGE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF EDUCATION S.U. ZAMAW A number of Islamic Universities emerged

ISLAMIZATION AND STRATEGIES OF CHANGE —IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF EDUCATIONAuthor(s): S.M. ZAMANSource: Islamic Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Winter 1988), pp. 339-353Published by: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, IslamabadStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20839914 .

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ISLAMIZATION AND STRATEGIES OF CHANGE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF EDUCATION

S.U. ZAMAW

A number of Islamic Universities emerged with the advent of the 15th century of Hijrah, in the wake of a series of International Conferences on Islamic Education held at Makkah (31

March?8 April, 1977), Islamabad (15?20 March, 1980), Dhaka (1981) and Jakarta (23-28 August, 1982). The patterns, however,

vary. In Malaysia the awareness that the Muslims had fallen behind in modern education caused the establishment of the Islamic

University at Kuala Lumpur, where departments of modern sciences such as Business Administration, Economics, Commerce etc., have been established to make these subjects accessible to a larger number of Muslims, who would not like to attend secular institutions or who may not otherwise be able to gain admission to these

disciplines. Apparently, while concentrating on modern subjects, additional courses in Islamic subjects (e.g. Shatifrah) are also

provided.

The general picture is not very different in Saudi Arabia either. With the exception of Islamic Universities, focus remains on modern subjects, and the Islamic courses, if any, are taught separately. The position is explained at length in the Appendix. At the general (other than 'Islamic') universities, the Islamic content is more conspicuous at the teachers training colleges.

The statement, however, needs to be partially modified in the light of the efforts being made at the Islamic Universities in the Kingdom to Islamize certain subjects in the field of social sciences and humanities in a comparatively comprehensive manner

(though Islamic element seems to have been introduced here and there in the secular faculties also at some other universities). Pre eminent among the areas which appear to have received special attention is the field of Economics. A Centre for research in Islamic Economics (previously designated as International Centre) has been in existence at the King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah for some years. More meaningfully a Department of Islamic Economics1 has emerged in the Imam Muhammad bin; Saud Islamic

University,2 Riyad.

Jami'ah Umm al-Qura presents another variant. This institution took its birth as Kulliyyat al-SharP ah in 1369/1949, and the Kulliyyat al-Tarbiyah followed it three years later, with a fairly



340 Islamic Studies, 27:4 (1988)

predominant Islamic content. The latter comprised the Department of Arabic, Department of Social Sciences and English. The

Department of Social Sciences had components of History and Islamic Civilization. Arabic Language and the History of Islamic Civilization were transferred to the Kulliyyat al-Shari'ah from the

Kulliyyat al-Tarbiyah and the former was re-designated as Kulliyyat al-Sharl'ah wa*l Dir?s?t al-Isl?miyyah. Before it became an

independent University in 1401/1981, the Kulliyyat al-Shari'ah and

Kulliyyat al-Tarbiyah existed there along with the 'Institute of

Teaching Arabic Language to those whose mother tongue was not Arabic* together constituting the Makkah Campus of King Abdul Aziz University. Four Faculties viz., the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering, Faculty of Arabic Language, Faculty of Da Van and U?ul al-DIn, and the Faculty of Education (Ta*if) were added in

1401, whereas two more faculties (viz. the Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Agricultural Sciences) were added in 1402 (1982). In addition ten Centres affiliated to the University are also in existence, of which four appear to deal exclusively with Islamic

subjects.

The problem of dichotomy, despite the apparent intermixture of Islamic and secular Faculties, has not been resolved here either. For example an independent specialization in Islamic Education does exist in the Faculty of Education (Makkah) but no step appears to have been taken towards Islamizing the other basic disciplines in this faculty (e.g. Social and Educational Psychology, Educational Administration and Planning etc.). A Department of Islamic Studies exists under the Faculty of Education (Ta'if), but no particular attempt appears to have been made for Islamizing the other

pedagogical disciplines. It is noteworthy, however, that a

Department of Islamic Architecture has also been added under the

Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering.3

As pointed out earlier, this model has preserved and perhaps heightened the dichotomy between secular and religious education and has consequently failed to produce an integrated Muslim

personality.

The other model that appeared in the last two centuries may be called the Al-Azhar model. The Aznar model basically aimed at

up-dating the traditional religious education which has sometimes been called 'reform of traditional education1. These efforts were made on two planes: Firstly there were changes brought about in the traditional curriculum of religious sciences and secondly new

subjects were introduced. However, the new subjects were not introduced within the faiamdwoik o{ tho. t/iaditwna? cuA^uculum, but whole faculties or institutes for modern sciences were appended to the traditional structure.

The reforms introduced at al-Azhar during 1911-1939 aimed

chiefly at a re-organization of the University under three Faculties, viz. Kulliyyat al-Shari'ah, Kuliyyat Us?l al-D?n and



Islamic Studies, 27:4 (1988) 341

Kulliyyat al-Lughat al-'Arabiyyah, with the addition of some new elements like Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography and Mathema tics, but essentially the character of al-Azhar as a traditional Islamic University was hardly changed*. The new Azhar, with the often-talked-about dichotomy accentuated, came into existence with the addition of the Faculties of Engineering and Technology, Medicine, Agriculture,* Sciences, Education etc., in consequence of the radical change brought about by Nasserite reforms of 19615.

As a result of these reforms, schools of medicine, engineer ing, agriculture etc., were established at al-?zhar University. While the students at the faculties of 'religious sciences' were not

obliged to take courses in the faculties of modern sciences, the students of latter faculties were sometimes required to take one or two additional courses in the faculties of religious sciences. This model was also followed or evolved in other Muslim countries at various levels. In Pakistan for instance the subjects of Pakistan Studies and Islamic Studies are required as compulsory additional

subjects for all students of medicine, engineering and natural sciences. For obvious reasons this model has also not succeeded in

achieving the goal of integration.

PRESENT STRATEGIES

Present attempts towards the Islamization of education are

aiming at developing a new integrated model, in line with the Islamic wtffjLitechauung or a comprehensive view of Islam as a way of life. During the last decade emphasis on an analysis, apprecia tion and planning for the future strategies has increased. A number

of institutions like the World Centre for Islamic Education, Umm

al-Qura University, Makkah (since wound-up?), the Islamic Academy, Cambridge (U.K.), have been established to deal exclusively with the problem of education. Specialised journals like MuMm Educatwn have begun to present the problems of Islamization of education. Professional journals like the bi-annual Wamiz Science (Aligarh,. India) and Thd kman?zavi Journal & U?amic Social Science* (jointly published by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists and The International Institute of Islamic Thought) have emerged and have been making respectable contributions to this field in their respective disciplines. The Organization of Islamic Countries and other Muslim organization like the Rabitah have held conferences and seminars on these , problems. These conferences in Makkat al-Mukarramah, Islamabad, and elsewhere have specially been successful in not only highlighting the problems but also in

providing guide lines for the future strategies. While these Conferences did help stimulate the move for the establishment of Islamic Universities, the thinking, analyses and recommendations contained in their very comprehensive reports appear to have received scant attention of the policy makers in the establishment and development of their Faculty structure and curriculum content.




This new strategy can perhaps be understood in the context of attempts to Islamize knowledge. This model seeks to impart knowledge, not only about Hhe traditional religious sciences* but also about social and natural sciences within an Islamic framework. Unlike the Aligarh University where Religious sciences* were

peripheral to the modern sciences, the new model aims at teaching all the modern sciences in Islamic perspective. Unlike the Azhar model as well, it does not tag modern science departments on to the traditional sciences but rather aims at integrating the two in one homogeneous university.

The idea was propounded very succinctly and eloquently by the late Maulana Maududi in the following words:

The real cause of the decline of the Islamic Civilization and the decadence of Islamic Cultural System is precisely that for a long time we have been producing only these two

types of scholars. The link of religious knowledge ('Ilm-e Din) with worldly knowledge and action has snapped. Now if you want Islamic culture to be re-juvenated and lead the world instead of following it, this broken link will have to be restored. The way to re-establish this link, however, is not to wrap the curriculum of Din?y?t on the corpus of education as a yoke or to load it on its back. No, it should be imbibed into the system of education in such a way that it becomes its very spirit, its vision and audition, its feeling and gnosis, its awareness and perception and the very blood

circulating through its veins. At the same time it should assimilate the healthy components of western sciences and arts as an integral part of our own culture. In this way you will be able to produce Muslim pilosophers, Muslim scientists, Muslim economists, Muslim legists, Muslim statesmen?in short Muslim experts in all fields, who would solve the problems of life from the Islamic view-point. They would use the

developed resources of contemporary civilization as a handmaid for the Islamic civilization and would give new

shape to the Islamic ideas and code of life in consonance with the contemporary spirit, so that Islam once again occupies the position of leadership in the field of knowledge and action for which it is destined. This is the idea which should form the fundamental principle of any modern educational policy for Muslims.6

Referring to the attempts made in various Muslim lands at

modernizing the traditional system, the late Prof. Ismail Faruqi said:

In the past, many great Muslims have attempted to reform Islamic Education by adding to its curriculum the subjects constitutive of the alien view. Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Abduh were champions of this cause. Jamal Abd




al-Nasir brought its strategy to completion in 1961 when al-Azhar, the greatest fortress of Islamic education, was turned into a modern University,7

Inviting Muslim scholars to disown such facile and harmful methods of educational reform, he goes on to say:

For them the reform of education is the Islamization of modern knowledge itself, a task identical in character with, though greater in scope than, that undertaken by our ancestors who digested the knowledge of their time and produced the Islamic legacy of culture and civilization.8

Pointing to the onslaught of alien cultures in the

post-colonial era, he observed:

The prime agent disseminating the alien view has been the educational system, bifurcated as it is into two sub-systems, one "Modem" and the other "Islamic". This bifurcation is the epitome of Muslim decline.9

The problems faced in this awesome task are manifold.

Firstly, on theoretical level the theory of Islamization of

knowledge has been propounded in a fairly elaborate manner, but the attempted applied forms are often rudimentary and simplistic. Especially the attempts to develop model courses in natural sciences like zoology, chemistry etc., tend to exude superficiality. In our opinion, to begin chapters in Chemistry text books by citing the Qur'anic verses and sayings of the Prophet (S.A.W.) and to

sprinkle Allah's names here and there in various paragraphs does not fulfil the objective of Islamization. The basic conflict between the so-called value-free natural sciences and the value-committed Islamic education is still to be resolved. The secular formula of

separating faith from scientific facts has not been implicitly accepted. The materials produced as a model appear more or less a cosmetic touch up of the existing course-content of natural sciences.

For obvious reasons, social sciences deserve considerably more attention than the natural sciences. It is in social sciences

that the western scholarship has succeeded in making inroads into

the Muslim mind. Western treatment of history, anthropology,

political science, philosophy, psychology sociology, economics etc.,

have done much more damage to the Islamic identity and character

of Muslim society than other sciences. It is, however, unfortunate

that attempts by Muslim scholars to develop the Islamic

perspectives in social sciences have been even weaker than those

in the field of natural sciences.

1 would like to give examples of two recent booklets, which

can be regarded as pioneering attempts for laying down specific

guidelines to Islamize the curricula and content of Sociology and

Anthropology respectively. The book entitled Wxmin Sociology: An




introduction by llyas Ba-Yunus and Farid Ahmad18 is a commendable effort. In the first two chapters, the state of the contemporary discipline of sociology is succinctly presented with a brief

description of Muslim contribution to the discipline in the following chapter. The book then proceeds to develop a theoretical framework for Islamic Sociology. The problem however, is that the criticisms on contemporary trends in sociology are not upto date. The Islamic Sociology has been seen as a value-committed

discipline which is likened to the discipline of Fiqh rather than any other discipline. That is why Ibn Khaid?n's contribution has been somewhat berated as that of a pure sociologist. According to the authors, more valuable contributions in sociology were made by the

Fuqaha like Abu Hanifah and Im?m Malik.

The authors appear to define sociology as a science which

provides guidelines for leading a better life from the Islamic point of view, rather than one which studies and surveys society in

empirical and statistical framework, in order to determine prevailing behavioral patterns, and aberrant tendencies in various segments of

society, with a view to evolving reformative measures in the light of Islamic teachings.

The theoretical assumptions laid down for the Islamic

Sociology on pp. 36-41 are quite simplistic. The approach to

defining the critical and comparative nature of Islamic sociological theory in the following words, is also, in my view, fraught with considerable dangers:

Islamic theory has to follow a median course i.e., in order to encompass the extremes of human process, it must avoid

taking extreme positions.

It is feared that this quest for a median course may lead the Muslims astray from Stt?t MuAtaq?m (straight or right path) because it could relegate the immutable Islamic values to the status of

comparative and relative ones. This fear is substantiated further when the authors define Islamic ideology vis-a-vis the two extremes of capitalist democracy and socialism. Their analysis is worth quoting:

"A number of contemporary Islamic movements such as the ikkuo?n a?-Mu?&mtn, Jam?'at-i-lA?imZ, the MaAj?m? party and

many others, including several Muslim intellectuals, have tried to project Islam as an ideology. Their position is a

challenge to those who have come to see the world in terms of only two existing ideologies?capitalist democracy and socialism. The argument goes, and we agree with it, that it is too simplistic to reduce the whole world to two

ideological positions only. It is much more logical to see the

existing system as a continuum, with capitalist democracy at one end, socialism at the other. In between the two there

may be several different shades of both. Islam aims at




creating a system that lies midway along this continuum so that from the capitalist end it may look more like socialism and from the socialist end it may have the appearance of

being capitalist democracy.

It is obvious that further indepth studies of the problem shall have to be made before we are able to evolve firm foundations, on which respectable curricular and textual structures can be built. Whereas a Muslim sociologist mu?t learn the modern methods to

study and analyse the evolutionary cultural modes and behavioral

patterns of a given society, ht should not necessarily accept the western methodologies. To give a concrete example, he must learn and benefit from the methods of sample surveys, statistical surveys, door-to-door surveys, in fact field surveys of all kinds, to collect reliable data on any given problem but the criteria and

methodology to analyse the data and make deductions shall have to be evolved by the Muslim Sociologist in the light of the genius of the Muslim Ummah and the immutable values laid down by the Qur'?n and the Sunnah. The number of transistors, T.V. sets, Tape-recorders etc., in a given community, rural or urban, may be used as indication of a degree of affluence but not as a correct indicator of that community's progress and welfare in Islamic terms. He shall have to examine related issues flowing from this

prosperity and impinging on the moral dimensions of the community (e.g. honest behaviour, mutual help and cooperation, increase or

decrease of fellow-feeling, strength or weakness of family structure). Doubtless the Qur'?n does not believe in any discrimination in human society on the basis of ethnic, tribal or

linguistic differences. But it does accept them as realities existing in human societies and the formation of human groupings around these factors. A Muslim Sociologist would therefore, far from

hesitating to study these problems and their impact on the universal principle of Muslim brotherhood, feel a moral compulsion to undertake this task. Muslim sociologist would feel obliged to

study the causes of ethnic and linguistic conflicts which

unfortunately, shattered the peace of Karachi alongwith the spirit of Muslim brotherhood, which had not very long ago brought a new

country on the map of the world. However, he will not accept the realities contributing to these conflicts as natural and final but

regard them as temporary aberrations, impinging on the natural

principle of Muslim brotherhood and look for the removal of those causes to restore the natural status of a Muslim community.

Evidently, not being a sociologist myself, I am not in a

position to concretise and develop any clear postulates. But

perhaps these examples might have placed the task of the Muslim

Sociologist in a clearer perspective, from my angle.

The other example is Akbar S. Ahmed's book Towaid ?^anUc

knthKopoi?QU: Vt&?nt?wn, Dogma and V?xzctivz* (Lahore: Vanguard books, 1987). Out of 79 pages, the text consists of 56 pages, of which 37 pages contain a survey of western anthropology. The




chapter on Islamic Anthropology contains 11 pages; the remaining four pages are taken up by Recommendations and Conclusion.

Certainly the worth of a scholarly contribution is not necessarily measured in terms of its size but one would reasonably expect greater attention to be paid to the central theme of the work, rather than its background.

Chapter 5 may be considered the core of this booklet. It is in this chapter that Dr. Ahmad has made his original contribution

by attempting a definition of Islamic Anthropology and outlining five models of Muslim societies. His definition of Islamic

anthropology appears to limit its scope to study of Muslim groups by Muslim scholars, although Dr. Ahmad has added that his definition does not preclude non-Muslim scholars. Furthermore, his

limiting the discipline as a study of Muslim groups also needs revi

sion, especially in view of his own statement of al-Biruni's work (who was probably the first anthropologist to study the Hindu cultures of India), and of Nur Yalman of Turkey (who studied a Buddhist village in Sri Lanka) as an outstanding and unique example of Muslim anthropologists today.

In quoting these examples I mean only to stress that our

attempts at the Islamization of these disciplines must be made after a good deal of homework and serious thinking. In my view the very pertinent questions raised in Abdo A. Elkohly's thought-provoking essay entitled TOWARDS AN ISLAMIC ANTHROPOLOGY address the problem much more meaningfully and call for well-thoughtout answers to lay a firm scientific basis for the Islamization of this discipline.

My other feeling is that the Islamic direction of these

disciplines is being defined against the back-drop of Western Definitions and Developments of these disciplines. Instead, we should endeavour to bring out and evolve the principles of these

disciplines out of our own Islamic traditions, doubtless an awesome task but not an impossible one, considering the example of our ancestors in meeting the challenge of Greek, Persian and Indian

thought. Also it is a task which has to be undertaken inevitably, if we are serious about the business of Islamization.

As observed earlier in the context Of higher education in Saudi Arabia, Economics appears to be the only field where

comparatively speaking, really courageous and consistent efforts have been made to Islamize the discipline in its comprehensive sense. The International Institute of Islamic Economics, Islamabad, for example, has been undertaking course programmes leading to the B.Sc. (Hons.) M.Sc, M.Phil, and Ph.D. degrees in 'Islamic Economies'. Not only proficiency in Arabic has been made com

pulsory to facilitate the students* access to original Arabic sources, but a whole set of courses in Islamic Fiqh dealing with financial and economic affairs has been made a part of the curriculum. At the under-graduate level for example, eight courses




in Arabic language, eight in Islamic Studies and Fiqh, six in Islamic Economics, and two in Pakistan Studies and Study of Muslim Count ries have been introduced. At the graduate level such courses as

Fiqh al-Kitab wa'l-Sunnah, al-Fiqh al-Muq?rin, Nus?s min al-Fiqh al-Mali al-Muq?rin can be mentioned as examples. Much more Impor tantly, however, daring (though elementary) efforts have been made to integrate the Islamic concepts with modern Economics. A lot more work certainly needs to be done in this field. The one danger to which one_ might like to point one's finger, would be against the

acceptance of these elementary efforts as carrying a measure of

finality and thus making this nascent discipline fossilize.

However, a really meaningful integration between the

teaching of western and socialist systems on the one hand and the economic principles of Islam on the other, resulting in the

development of a comprehensive theoretical model of Islamic Economic system, has perhaps yet to take place. The Islamic

principles of economics and finance, especially Fiqh al-Mu'?mal?t, are being taught by teachers predominantly trained in the traditional fiqh (like the late Mufti Sayyahuddin Kakakhel, an eminent jurisconsult trained exclusively in the traditional madrasah system), or teachers concentrating on Islamic Studies but also possessing some knowledge of modern economics. Advanced economics is taught to a very large extent on a level and pattern not essentially different from those followed in western universities, by teachers with doctorates from western universities, claiming no great profundity in the Arabic sources of Islamic law.

The perpetually nagging problem of dichotomy has to be paid particular attention. I may have misunderstood the position as a

layman, but to me courses like "Qur'?n and Economics" and "Hadith and Economics" (being offered as graduate courses) appear as indi cators of the continuity of this problem. What Qur'an and Hadith have to say on various economic issues need not be taught in

separate courses but requires to be merged appropriately with the content of the courses on various aspects/concepts of economics, thus achieving complete integration and preventing the students from developing split thinking. It is also to be noted that the element of Islamic Economics still remains comparatively weaker and the bibliographies for various courses are pretty heavily dominated

by Western works. All this is understandable in view of the

emerging nature of the discipline (i.e. Islamic Economics) but nevertheless, it may be worthwhile to point out this weakness.

Again understandably this weakness is noticeable more in courses for the graduate programme than those prescribed for the under

graduate level.

I may refer to another course at the graduate level, viz. "classics in Islamic Economics." An indepth study of any three of the following 'classics' in the Islamic literature from the point of view of their contribution to Islamic Economics, is required in this course;



3?8 Islamic Studies, 27:4 (1988)

1. Ab? Isb?q al-Sh?tib?: a -Muw?iaq?? 2. Ab? Y?suf: K?t?b al-Khat?j. 3. Yahya b. 'Adam: Kit?b al-Kha/i?j. 4. Ibn Taymiyyah: Fai?wa ibn TaynUyyak. 5. Ibn Khald?n: aZ-MuqaddUmah. 6. al-M?ward?: al-Ahkdm al-Sut(?n?yyah. 7. Ab? Yala al-Hanbali: a?-Aftfe?m af-Sv^niyyah. 8. Shah Waliyy Allah: HujjatuXZah al-B?&ghah.

In the first place a majority of these titles can not be

regarded as classics in 'Islamic Economics/ Perhaps the titles at Sr. Nos 2 and 3 have the greatest claim to this description, while the other contain elements of economic thought here and there, like many other works including TAFAS?R and A collections, (more notably 'Ali al-Muttaqi al-Hindfs Kanz af Umm?l) and such

works on Islamic Fiqh as Ibn Rushd's Biddy at t?-Muftahid. An impor tant omission on the other hand is KitBb al-Amw?t. of Ab? 'Ubayd al-Q?sim bin Sall?m. Perhaps we need to give greater attention and achieve greater coordination in such matters.

Before concluding let me state emphatically that the Islamization of education environment is even more important than the curriculum and text books. Th? Prophet (S.A.W.) himself set the

examples of an ideal teacher with his words and precepts as much as his actions. He sanctified the teaching profession with his oft-quoted saying "L-J^ i?Ji ".n The station of a seeker of

knowledge was similarly raised to great heights. The aspect of

tarbiyah must therefore receive the foremost attention in our educational institutions, which should provide the atmosphere and

opportunities for living a true Islamic life. The extra-curricular activities should be oriented to the full realization of every student's potential as a good Muslim and therefore a good human

being. The environment of the institutions should be fully conducive to the inculcation and assimilation of Islamic values. Here I would like to make two specific suggestions.

The late Prof. Ism?'il F?r?qi, remarked in the Preface to ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE: "The madrasah observed the schedule of Islam whose day begins with safdt at-faj* and ends with ?afdt at-'ibha. Its teaching activity was a live-in process where teacher and students constantly lived and worked together, with one

objective in view namely the articulation of the patterns of Allah in creation. Its pedagogy rested on the impeccable character of the Shaykh whom the student was to emulate."12

The reference to the time-schedule observed by traditional Madrasah deserves some serious thinking on the part of our educators. I realize the difficulties of transport, meals and other

attending problems in following this schedule in the general stream of our educational institutions, particularly for day-scholars, but the tremendous psychological impact and practical attuning of habit and behaviour patterns with the Islamic way of life, that can be




achieved through this simple step calls for a serious examination of this proposition.

This also brings out the important point that more and more institutions in the Muslim world should be developed as residential seminaries.

Secondly the scarce resources earmarked for Education in

many Muslim countries are being wasted away due to the politici sation of educational institutions, students and teachers alike.

Discipline has broken down and the standards of education have been registering sharp decline. In the process, Islamic values of brotherhood, respect for the teachers on the part of students, and paternal affection on the part of teachers have become worst victims. Unless our institutions are completely cured of this cancer little headway will be made either in the attainment of academic

objectives or the moral and spiritual dvelopment of students.

The late Mr. Brohi concluded his brief foreword to Prof. Ismail Raji al-Faruqi's admirable synthesis of the problem, entitled ISLAMIZATION Of KNOWLEDGE (Washington D.C., 1982) saying;

"it also suggests the practical steps that have to be taken for securing what has been described as Islamization of

Knowledge. This report is addressed particularly to Islamic scholars and educators to elicit their considered views so that a general consensus becomes available for further action".13

Much has been written since then on the subject, but the consensus which that illustrious scholar and thinker of the Muslim Ummah had

hoped for, appears nowhere in sight. A number of Islamic Universities have emerged in Muslim states with varying complexions of constitutional commitment to Islam, but there is hardly a vestige of systematic communication among them to promote, a scientific

study of the phenomena in the light of their diverse experiences to evolve a general consensus on the direction, that Islamization of education should take. On the eve of the completion of 25 years of its existence, one would be justified in looking to the Rabitah to focus its efforts on the education sector in working for and

helping to bring about this consensus and the consequential

cooperation in the achievement of common objectives. Nominally a

Union of these organization does exist under the name of R?bitat al-J?mi'?t al-Isl?miyyah (Islamic Universities League) with its

headquarters at Rabat (Morrocco), but any effective rapport for

exchange of experience and devising common strategies, where it can be done, is almost totally non-existent.

At this moment each member of the fraternity of Islamic Universities seems to be going its own way.



350 Islande Studies, 27:4 (1988)

And I have no quarrel with this. Local variations, dictated

by economics, linguistic and demographic factors for example, are inevitable, perhaps even desirable. However, this diversity can be made to work creatively to the entire advantage of the Ummah, if a general consensus is evolved on the broad objectives and a

general outline of the methodology.

I claim no originality for putting forth this suggestion. A

proposal mooted at the First World Conference on Muslim Education (Makkah, March 31-April 8, 1977) visualised the following function, inter alia, for the contemplated constitution of an Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural council (which subsequently came into existence as ISESCO):

"To encourage growth of a distinctive Islamic system of education of uniform enforcement in all the Muslim countries and to ensure that this system preserves all the essential values of Islam and is applicable in the present-day clobal frame".1*

Let me conclude with a fervent appeal to the R?bitat al 'Alam al-Isl?m? and its Secretary General, Dr. Abdullah Omer Naseef, to consider organizing another International Conference on Islamic Education, with the special objective of analysing the approaches being followed by various Islamic Universities in depth and detail and to help devise a common strategy for the realization of the

objectives visualized in the recommendations of the earlier

Conference/Hopefully, the ISESCO would join hands in making this effort a success.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. Islamic Economics is also mentioned as a discipline in which higher degrees (Master's as well as Ph.D.) are awarded at the Islamic University, Madinah [VcM J?mi'?t Vwal al-Khaltj al 'knabi, Jeddah, Jami'at al-Malik 'Abd'l-Aziz, 1985) but strangely the subject is not mentioned under any of the Kulliyyat.

2. Under Kulliyyat al-Shar?'ah at Riyad, though in other faculties of social sciences at other campuses of the University only 'Economics" is being taught.

3. J?mi'?t al-Malik 'Abd al-'Az?z, Valli J?mi'?t al-Vwal al-Khaltj al. 'Atabiyy, 1985, p. 28.

4? Al-Kit?b alrTadhk?Al hi MundUabat IhtH?l?t al 'Id al-Mf? lil-kzkaK (Cairo, al-Azhar, 1403/1983), p. 213.

5. Ibid. 6. Ta'ttm?t, Vol. 4, Nos. 4-5 (Sept-Oct. 1981-Sayyid MaudOd? issue)

p. 15. 7. Ism?*fl R. Faruqi, Uiamizatbn o? knowtedgo. (Washington, D.C.:

International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1982; Reprinted: Islamabad, Hijra Centenary Committee of Pakistan, 1983), p. X (Preface).

8. Ibid. P. xi. 9. Ibid. P. .



Isl&nic Studies, 27:4 (1988) 351

10. Hodder & Stoughton/The Islamic Academy, Cambridge (U.K.) 1985; X1X+80 pp. See also its review by M.K. Masud in the Infamie Studine XXIV, 4(1985), 516-519.

11. Ibn Majan, Sanan (Muqaddimah, Lucknow, Asaljh al-Mat?bi', 1315 A.B., p. 21: B?b Fagli al Ulama wa'l Hathth 'ala Talab al-'ilm).

12. F?r?qi, op. t?L p. xii. 13. Void, p. 11. 14. Hakim Muhammad Said, 'Understanding and cooperation in Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Fields among Muslim Countries'?-Paper presented at the First World Conference on Muslim Education (Karachi: Hamdard Foundation, n.d.)




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