How stakeholders converge on Kano over Islamic university
It was in view of these challenges that the International Institute of Islamic Thought, Nigeria office, recently organised a three-day international conference and a one day summit on Islamic Universities in Kano with the theme: Islamic Universities; Prospects and Challenges. Declaring the conference open at Mambayya House, the Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, said […]
It was in view of these challenges that the International Institute of Islamic Thought, Nigeria office, recently organised a three-day international conference and a one day summit on Islamic Universities in Kano with the theme: Islamic Universities; Prospects and Challenges.
Declaring the conference open at Mambayya House, the Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, said his administration is ready to partner the IIIT on the establishment of Islamic university in Kano. Represented by the commissioner for science and technology, Dr Bashir Galadanci, who doubled as the Director, IIIT, Nigeria office, Shekarau said the four Islamic universities are inadequate for the teeming Nigerian Muslims. He commended the institute for convening the conference, saying it was a timely event.
On the aim of the conference and summit, the keynote speaker, Professor Omar Hassan Kasule from King Fahd Medical City, Riyadh, said it was aimed at coming up with immediate, short and long term development plans and strategies which would ensure high academic standards and moral excellence in these universities. It is also aimed at initiating the formation and implementation of policies and programmes which would assist in the regulation, growth and development of Islamic universities, as well as initiate the process of developing an integrated curriculum for Islamic universities along appropriate methods and teaching materials for the achievement of moral as well as academic excellence.
It is also aimed at finding ways of talking of the challenges facing the Islamic universities which included problems of harmonizing courses being taught at the universities, recruitment and generating the required manpower and fund raising as well as adopting an Islamic epistemology at all levels of education.
On the rationale behind an Islamic University, Kasule said it was to close the education gap of Muslims as compared to other communities and to also solve the problems caused by dualistic dichotomous education system.
“Muslim education is suffering from the impact of incoherent and contradictory source of knowledge. There is a dichotomy in the education system, traditional Muslim vs. formal European graduates of the two systems speak different languages and use different terminologies. Graduates of the European system may not know Islam or its heritage and have little self-confidence in their Islamic identity. Graduates of the traditional system may not understand the contemporary world or the world of the next century,” he said.
He therefore noted that establishment of an Islamic university is the only means where such confusion and contradictions could be eradicated.
Proffering possible solutions to the financial constraints of establishing an Islamic university, Professor Munzali Jibril in his paper on funding of Islamic universities in Nigeria, suggested that every adult Muslim should be sensitized to make a weekly donation of N500 at the Friday mosque in which he prays. Such funds, according to him, could be used for the capital intensive project.
Resolutions passed at the end of the conference charged Muslims to mobiles all mobilise resources to establish many more Islamic universities in the country. These universities, according to the resolution, were to cater for the overwhelmingly large Muslim youth population in the country. It stressed that the universities must be broad in offering all branches of knowledge, in accommodating diverse views and in ensuring that graduates produced have the true Islamic personalities.
The resolution also tasked Muslim communities and organizations to establish thousands of Islamic schools at the primary and secondary levels to serve as feeder schools to the Islamic universities. Interaction of the university with the existing Islamiyya primary and secondary schools could be enhanced through the umbrella body of the Association of Model Islamic Schools, (AMIS).
It further suggested that the current Islamic universities should work and network closely together to address their common challenges and problems. An umbrella forum of the Islamic universities is being proposed that will have as its members, all licensed universities and those in the process of being established.
Furthermore, the resolution suggested that all Islamic universities in Nigeria should give particular attention to manpower development by training young lecturers and scholars in the different fields of study required, adding that the universities should cooperate with other Islamic universities, conventional universities and organizations in this important endeavor.
A change in the National Policy of Education that will recognize the traditional Islamic Education System was advocated. It said the Tsangaya, Tahfiz and Islamiyya system would be further developed from the lower levels all the way to the tertiary level.
The need for Muslim organizations, communities and universities to evolve viable funding mechanisms for sponsoring Islamic universities, including the establishment of Islamic banks, collecting donations from mosques and engaging in halal business ventures was also emphasized.
It further said Islamic universities must adopt new technologies, especially ICT in order to bring about greater efficiency in teaching, learning and research and also in bringing about experts in these areas. Evolving internal monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure their Islamic nature was suggested, just as external methods of monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the philosophy, curriculum, discipline, environment are in line with Islamic principles were also stressed.