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INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY AT KUALA LUMPUR

Batoota — Fri, 16 May 2014 09:17:49 +0000

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY AT KUALA LUMPUR. Founded in 1983, the International Islamic University, Malaysia, seeks to permeate the teaching of all knowledge with Islamic values. The idea of establishing the International Islamic University (IIU) was first discussed on 12 January 1982 by the prime minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamed at a meeting with the minister of education, the director general of education, and a few senior academicians. An amendment bill of the Universities and University Colleges Act of 19’71 (Laws of Malaysia) was passed by Parliament, and given the Royal Assent in February 1983. This amendment allowed the International Islamic University, Malaysia, to be established outside the restrictions of the Rules and Regulations of the Universities and University Colleges Act of 1971 and to become international in nature with international cosponsorship and with ownership vested in a Board of Governors. The University is presently cosponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference and seven other Muslim countries in addition to Malaysia: Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

The university’s objectives, among others, are:
To re-establish, with Allah’s help, the primacy of Islam in all fields of knowledge consistent with the Islamic tradition of the pursuit of knowledge and truth, as reflected by those pioneering works of early Islamic scholars and thinkers that began with the teachings of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
To revive the ancient Islamic tradition of learning where knowledge was propagated and sought after in the spirit of submission to God (Tawhid).
Its philosophy of the integration of religious knowledge and worldly sciences, together with the vision of Islamization of human knowledge, were inspired by the recommendations of the first World Conference on Muslim Education held in Mecca in 1977.
As such, the university is not limited to Islamic theological studies but is a comprehensive professional institution of higher learning in which the teaching of all fields of knowledge is infused with Islamic values and the Islamic philosophy of knowledge. When it opened in 1983 with 153 students, it had two faculties, Laws and Economics, offering undergraduate degrees and two services centers, the Centre for Fundamental Knowledge and the Centre for Languages.
Dr. Abdul Rauf of Egypt served as rector for the first five years. In 1989 Dr. AbdulHamid A. AbuSulayman, former president of the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Washington, D.C., was appointed rector. With the support of the president of IIU, Anwar Ibrahim, who was then minister of education, he established a new faculty under the name of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences and departments covering Islamic studies, most of the social sciences, and the humanities. He also introduced the full credit-hour system in July 1990. Under this system, the class size has been kept small (averaging thirty-five students per class) to enable a more creative interaction between the instructor and students. Evaluation of the academic performance of students is based on regular tests and assignments, midterm examinations, and end-of-semester examinations. Students evaluate the academic staff at the end of each semester through the teacher efficiency rating system.
As of July 1992, the university offers a choice of undergraduate courses in law, business, accounting, economics, psychology, political science, history and civilization, philosophy, mass communications, English as a second language, Arabic as a second language, Islamic revealed knowledge and heritage, and sociology/anthropology. There are also masters and diploma courses available in various areas of Education as well as in English and Arabic as Second Languages. Masters’ programs are offered in library and information science, economics, and revealed knowledge and heritage. The Faculty of Laws offers programs leading up to the Ph.D level. The university is expanding postgraduate courses to cover all disciplines available in its undergraduate program in order to develop the intellectual Islamic capacity of the students.
The next phase in the development of the university’s undergraduate academic programs will see the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering, which will open in 1994, followed by one in architecture and one in the applied and basic sciences in 1995. The university also plans to establish a medical school, covering all the medical sciences including dentistry and nursing in Kuantan, Pahang, by 1998.
The original student body of 153 students grew to more than six thousand students in January 1992
3,071 undergraduate and 2,461 matriculation (pre-university) students. Postgraduate students now number 848 with 419 of this number enrolled in the Diploma of Education program. The university plans to increase gradually the number of international students to approximately 25 percent of the total student population. By July 1995, IIU will move to its permanent campus in Gombak, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, which will have the capacity to accommodate a total of fourteen thousand students.
All professional courses are taught in English, but students are required to reach the level of advanced Arabic proficiency. Students taking the Shari’ah, Arabic, and Revealed Knowledge courses must, of course, take them in Arabic, but their minor courses are offered in English.
The university has introduced a unique system of “double major”: every student specializing in human and social science courses must take a minor concentration in a Revealed Knowledge discipline related to the major area of concentration. After receiving the first degree in the major discipline, it is possible for students to obtain another bachelor’s degree in the minor area if they extend their studies another two semesters into a fifth year.
The staff of the university are committed to the goal of developing young men and women who are not only aware of contemporary problems and perceive the drawbacks of both the modern and the traditional approaches, but are also able to examine issues from Islamic perspectives founded on the principle of unity of revelation and reason, matter and spirit, the here and the hereafter.
[See also Education, articles on Educational Institutions and The Islamization of Knowledge; Universities.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
International Islamic University. University Handbook 1984/85. Kuala Lumpur, 1984.
International Islamic University. University Prospectus 1985/86. Kuala Lumpur, 1985.
International Islamic University. University Campus Master Plan Report. Kuala Lumpur, 1991.
International Islamic University. Undergraduate Prospectus 1993194 Kuala Lumpur, 1993
Memorandum and Articles of Association of International Islamic University, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, 1983.
M. KAMAL HASSAN

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY AT ISLAMABAD

Batoota — Mon, 12 May 2014 10:28:19 +0000

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY AT ISLAMABAD. In the wake of the islamization policy in Pakistan, a central institution for the coordination of this policy and for higher learning, the International Islamic University at Islamabad, was established. A SharI’ah Faculty at Qa’id-i A’zam University was founded in 1979, but it could not meet the needs felt during islamization. In 198o, therefore, the Shari’ah Faculty was upgraded into an Islamic University, functioning at first as a custodian of the Faisal mosque and mainly financed by the Saudi government. By moving into the cultural complex around the mosque, it became financially solvent. After the incorporation of several institutes and academies, the university acquired the status of a full-fledged International Islamic University (IIU) in 1985.

The IIU soon became a focal point for the dissemination of Islamic thought for Muslims in Pakistan, Central and Southeast Asia, and Muslim minority areas. Explicitly open to all classes and creeds, it aims to provide an intellectual base for and guidance in the process of islamization and the development of solutions to problems arising therefrom. It hopes to bring various existing Islamic identities into one common ideological platform for joint political and religious action and to eliminate the obstacles responsible for Muslims’ schismatic differences.
This undertaking is, however, only possible with the moral and financial support of other Muslim countries and international organizations. Close academic collaboration with Egyptian, Saudi, and Malaysian governments and universities underlines the transnational character of the IIU. In 1990, cultural ties with the former Soviet Muslim Religious Board of Central Asia and Kazakhstan were established as well. The composition of its leadership, teaching staff, and student body reflects this implicit “ummah-ization,” which finds expression in international workshops and exchanges, scholarships, and a network of academic institutions. As an ideological body the university is formally exempt from state jurisdiction.
A conglomerate of different, already existing institutes, the IIU offers courses in Islamic law, shad `ah, Islamic economics, da’wah, usul al-din, and Arabic. These institutes are as follows:
The Faculty of Usul al-Din (general Islamic studies) The Faculty of Shari`ah, which conducts Shari`ah, courses at the national level for in-service judicial officers and public prosecutors, as well as for readers of the Friday sermons (khutbah), leaders of prayers (a’immah; sg., imdm), and teachers in religious schools (mudarrisun)
The Islamic Research Institute, in existence since 196o and merged into the Islamic University in 1980. It is the research wing, and interprets the teachings of Islam within the context of the intellectual and scientific progress of the modern world
The Institute for Social Studies, which soon became the International Institute of Islamic Economics. In its beginning stages, it is developing a body of Ph.D. graduates, with the help of the United States Agency for International Development, among others. It also organizes senior officers’ training programs
The Institute for Linguistics and Languages (Departments of Arabic and English). Arabic is taught in order to avoid the confusion and disunity in the Muslim world that arises from erroneous interpretations of the language of the Qur’an; English is considered important for transnational communication
The Institute of Da’wah and Qira’at, now the Da’wah Academy, which conducts Islamic leadership training camps for Muslims from Pakistan and other countries, (e.g., a’immah, community leaders, students, and army officers). It offers pre-university training to overseas candidates from Muslim minority countries and collaborates with the Regional Islamic Da’wah Council for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, based in Malaysia. It also conducts correspondence courses, prepares area studies and literature for children, and has established translation and media sections.
As a federal corporation, the IIU is hierarchically structured, headed by the president of Pakistan, who appoints the rector and vice-chancellor. Administratively, the IIU is governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of Muslim scholars, technocrats, and educators primarily from Pakistan, but also from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and international Islamic organizations. All academic matters are supervised by the respective Boards of Studies and the Academic Council, which in 1992 was chaired by an Egyptian.
In 1989-1990, the ten degree programs offered by the IIU, including economics, law, comparative religion, usul al-din, Arabic, and the pre-university course at the Da’wah Academy, were accredited and recognized by the University Grants Commission. The al-Azhar University has recognized the university’s B.A. (Hons.) Usul al-Din (Islamic Studies) only. [See Azhar, al-.]
Formally, the appointment of teachers is based on merit and commitment to Islam. Nearly half of the more than three hundred teachers and researchers originate in the Middle East, primarily Egypt. The majority of native teachers are not traditional scholars but possess Ph. Ds from foreign universities. They are paid from the university budget; overseas teachers are paid by the Egyptian government, the Rabitat al-`Alam al-Islam! (Muslim World League), Saudi universities, and from income accruing from endowments.
The composition of the student body is multinational as well. In 1991, out of more than a thousand students, approximately half were Pakistanis; the rest came from more than forty countries, chiefly from Muslim minority areas, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia (China, Indonesia, Thailand), Africa (Somalia, Kenya, Sudan), and the Middle East (Jordan, Turkey). Female students comprised about 7 percent of the total. Students are selected on merit and prior qualifications, which, in some cases, includes their traditional education. Places are reserved for foreigners, students belonging to deprived areas or low-income groups, and members of the armed forces. Self-sufficient students have better chances for admission; those with limited incomes are eligible for stipends. Residence is provided to all foreign students and to most Pakistanis for a nominal fee as is free medical care and transportation. More than half of the student body receives scholarships, approximately 6o percent of which are provided from abroad. A major portion of the stipends comes from the International Islamic Charitable Foundation (Kuwait), Zakat House Kuwait, and the International Scientific, Educational, Social and Cultural Organization. The majority of students are enrolled in law and shad `ah; the next largest number study usul al-din, Arabic, and economics. Female students are enrolled in LL.B (shari’ah and law) and in usul aldin only. If students do not complete their final examinations, they must repay all scholarship money received.
Since the IIU is considered an ideological production center, the conduct of its students and teachers is subject to rigorous supervision. They must follow accurately Islamic rituals, and participation in any political action or membership in any political party is strictly prohibited. Regular conduct reports are intended to guarantee the Islamic, apolitical and nonsectarian character of the institution. The introduction of required academic dress is in preparation as well. Thus, the university can be considered a custodian of the knowledge that produces ideologically sound Muslim leadership, in line with its universalizing salafi worldview.
In this context, the use of media is most important for the dissemination of Islamic learning, and several publication units publish contributions in different languages, for example, Urdu, Arabic, and English. A central library, comprised of the libraries of the different institutes and academies that have been incorporated, has a collection of more than 150,000 volumes as well as periodicals.
The IIU receives a regular grant from the government of Pakistan and also accepts donations from trusts and endowments; all capital held by any faculty or institute has been transferred to the university. Recently, the government allocated more than 700 acres of land for the university’s permanent campus in Islamabad to meet growing demands.
[See also Universities.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
No scholarly work on the IIU exists to date. All sources used for the article are, therefore, of an official nature:
Brohi, A. K. “Islamic University of Islamabad: Principles and Purposes.” Pakistan Studies 1.2 (1982).
Government of Pakistan. Islamic University, Islamabad: Annual Report, 1982-83. Islamabad, 1984.
Government of Pakistan. Islamic University, Islamabad: Vice Chancellor’s Annual Report, 1982-83. Islamabad, 1984.
Government of Pakistan. Islamic University Calendar, 1985. Vol. 1. Islamabad, 1985.
Government of Pakistan. Islamic University Handbook, 1985-1986. Islamabad, 1985.
Government of Pakistan. International Islamic University Ordinance, 1985. Islamabad, 1985.
Government of Pakistan. Annual Report 198919o Session, International Islamic University. Islamabad, 1991 (mimeo).
“The International Islamic University.” Pakistan Times, Special Supplement, February 1992, pp. 6ff.
JAMAL. MALIK