Don raises alarm on fate of Islamic, Arabic studies

Ustaz Misbahudeen Dosunmi, a lecturer at Al Hikmah University, Ilorin, stated this while speaking as guest lecturer at the 4th Waleemah (Qur’anic graduation ceremony) of An-Noor Islamic Centre at the National Mosque, Abuja last Sunday.He said: “For example in LASU, Lagos State University, the government has come out to say that they can no longer […]

Ustaz Misbahudeen Dosunmi, a lecturer at Al Hikmah University, Ilorin, stated this while speaking as guest lecturer at the 4th Waleemah (Qur’anic graduation ceremony) of An-Noor Islamic Centre at the National Mosque, Abuja last Sunday.
He said: “For example in LASU, Lagos State University, the government has come out to say that they can no longer fund Arabic and Islamic studies in Lagos State because they don’t have students enrolling for the two courses any longer.”
Parents on their part, he said, “don’t really give importance to this knowledge any longer. We have given preference to Western education over Islamic education. We are not saying that they should not go for Western education but not at the detriment of Islamic education.”
He noted that parents prefer to have their children read other courses while institutions charged exorbitant fees, stressing that “no parent will bring out N200,000 to N300,000 for his child to study Arabic and Islamic studies, they prefer other courses.”  
PTA chairman of the school, Malam Saidu Abdurrahman, said 24 pupils graduated after undergoing a study in general recitation of the Qur’an, the Hadith, Seerah and Fiqh which prepares them for the next level at which they would learn the Qur’an and its content as taught by the Prophet (SAW).  
He said An-Noor Islamic Centre is liaising with other Islamic organisations to come under one umbrella on the issue of sustaining Islamic studies at higher institutions of learning. “If this is not done now the future is bleak. No Muslim can claim to be a Muslim without knowing how to recite the  Al-Qur’an and understanding its content.”