Intellectual crisis holding back Muslim Ummah – Prof Galadanci

The Regional Coordinator of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), West Africa, Prof. Bashir Galadanci, has identified an intellectual crisis as the root cause of the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah. Speaking at an academic course organised by the IIIT Central Nigeria Office, Galadanci said the perceived political, economic and social decline in Muslim […]

The Regional Coordinator of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), West Africa, Prof. Bashir Galadanci, has identified an intellectual crisis as the root cause of the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah.

Speaking at an academic course organised by the IIIT Central Nigeria Office, Galadanci said the perceived political, economic and social decline in Muslim societies reflects deeper structural weaknesses in their knowledge systems.

Delivering a lecture titled “The Integration of Knowledge Project: A Research Undertaking,” he stressed that meaningful progress would remain elusive without urgent reforms in the intellectual foundation of Muslim communities.

He described educational dualism—the separation between secular and religious education—as a major obstacle to development, noting that it has produced a divided leadership class.

“This dualism has created professionals who understand the modern world but lack ethical grounding, and religious scholars who understand the texts but are disconnected from contemporary realities. This gap is where progress stalls,” he said.

Galadanci proposed the Integration of Knowledge (IOK) initiative as a solution, explaining that it seeks to harmonise revealed knowledge with modern scientific disciplines.

He noted that since its establishment in 1981, IIIT has promoted reforms to reshape knowledge production in Muslim societies.

He highlighted efforts to make Islamic knowledge more relevant to modern realities and to develop scholars grounded in both Islamic and contemporary disciplines.

He cited Islamic economics as a successful model of such integration.

Galadanci urged academics and policymakers to pursue research-driven reforms to address the root causes of the Ummah’s challenges.

“The weakness of the Ummah is not a lack of resources or population, but an intellectual crisis,” he said.