ADDRESS
Maulana
Dr. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Ansari al-Qaderi, M.A., B.Th.,Ph.D.,
President, World Federation of Islamic Missions, at the
Convocation
of the ALEEMIYAH INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES
on 29th August 1971
Your Excellency the Chief
Guest and distinguished brothers and sisters in Islam,
Assalam-o-Alaikum Wa
Rahmatullah!
It is my privilege and
very pleasant duty to express, on my behalf and on behalf of the Board of
Directors of the World Federation of Islamic Missions, sincerest thanks for
gracing this function, which relates to our struggle for the overall uplift of
humanity.
As we all know, the
present is the age of the ascendency of Materialism. It is the age of a sharply developing crisis in the life of humanity. It is the age of Sensate
Culture.
According to sociologists, there are three broad
types of Cultures: the Sensate, the Ideational and the Idealistic or the Intergalactic.
The Sensate and the Ideational— both of them are one-sided. The
emphasis of the former is on the physical. The emphasis of the latter is on the
spiritual in the sense of the
mystical. The Idealistic, on the other hand, aims at synthesising and
harmonising all the aspects of human activity: spiritual, aesthetic, moral,
social, intellectual and physical. Thus, while the Sensate and the Ideational
both lead to an unbalancing of human life and the consequent creation of an
unbalanced civilisation, the Idealistic Culture guarantees balance in human
life and creates a balanced civilisation.
The spiritual, moral and
social crisis of the modern age is directly the creation of the Sensate Culture
which arose in the West after the Industrial Revolution as a reaction against
the shortcomings of the Ideational Culture of the Middle Ages. It has been
nourished by both Capitalism and Communism and has spread to all parts of the
world, including the Muslim countries—bringing in its wake all the evils
that are its natural creation.
Humanity seems to be
doomed unless this crisis is resolved. The crisis cannot be resolved, however,
without the overthrow of the Sensate Culture and the adoption of the Idealistic
Culture by a major part of humanity.
This is the need of the
hour. This is the crying need of the hour. This is the only road to salvation,
safety and survival. Among all the religions and Ideologies of the world, Islam
and Islam alone represents the Idealistic type of Culture. Hence Islam
and Islam alone form the answer to the present ugly situation.
But, being deprived of
any proper knowledge of Islam, or, rather of any knowledge of Islam whatsoever,
non-Muslim humanity does not possess even an idea of this truth. Nay, a
non-Muslim may be inclined to disbelieve it if it is presented to him as a bare
declaration, more so because for some time past Muslims themselves have been
steadily drifting away from the Islamic Way of Life and have been increasingly
permitting themselves to be absorbed by the western Sensate Culture, with the
result that there is not a single Muslim country in the world today which may
be called truly Islamic.
Indeed, so far as the
Muslims are concerned, the situation is definitely perturbing. Their role,
according to the
Holy Qur'an, is to be
the teachers and leaders of mankind as the following verse says:
"You are the best
of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is
wrong, and believing in God". (Ill: 110).
But Muslims cannot act
as teachers and leaders without knowing Islam properly and without practising
it truly both as individuals and as a community.
Practice is more
important than knowledge. But knowledge precedes practice. Indeed, no
ideological community can thrive, or even survive, without proper
dissemination and absorption of the knowledge which forms the ideological
life-blood of that community.
In the case of the
Muslim world, its educational system is everywhere divorced from Islam. As
regards the other channels of dissemination of the knowledge of Islam, namely
the pulpit, the platform and the press, they are weak and poor and disorganised.
In any case, the efforts through these channels are qualitatively and
quantitatively far below the spiritual and intellectual needs of Muslim
humanity, while through divorcing the educational system from Islam and placing
it under the guidance and the tutelage of the materialistic civilisation of the
West the Muslim world itself has paved the way for the progressive
de-Islamisation of the Muslim youth all over the world.
Side by side with the
factors that constitute this very ugly and most dangerous universal situation,
there is one more factor that is of vital importance. Muslim humanity may be
regarded as divisible into two distinct groups from the point of view of
facilities for the dissemination of Islamic knowledge, namely (1) those Muslims
who belong to Muslim countries, (2) those Muslims who reside in non-Muslim
countries. The former enjoy the benefits of having qualified Islamic scholars
and theological institutions, of whatever calibre they might be; while the
latter suffer, in most cases, from the virtual absence of those benefits. The
religious life of the latter type of Muslim communities is thus beset with
grave clangers. Indeed, these dangers have assumed very evil forms in several
parts of the world. Different types of anti-Islamic religious forces, as also
the forces of the modern materialistic philosophy, have been hitting them hard.
Islamic scholars and
workers have been active everywhere in accordance with their resources, and
every Muslim must be thankful to them and to Allah for all their genuine
achievements. But the results have been far from satisfactory, and there has
been a genuine and pressing need since long concerning the creation of an
Islamic missionary organisation on a world-basis which might have a comprehensive
programme of service for the Muslim communities of the world as well as for
non-Muslim humanity.
That is the background
of the establishment of our international missionary organisation, known as the
World Federation of Islamic Missions.
The tasks which this organisation
has undertaken are as follows:—
(1) Link up and development of Islamic activity
all over the world with a view to forge a powerful united
Islamic front;
(2) Organisation and promotion of religious life
of the world's scattered and far-flung Muslim communities;
(3) Organisation of missionary tours of Islamic
scholars inside as well as outside Pakistan;
(4) Organisation of a proper Effort for the
Islamisation of the secular educational system prevalent in the Muslim world;
(5) Dissemination of inspiration and knowledge
of Islam among the Muslim youth of the world through a special youth
organisation;
(6) Dissemination of inspiration and knowledge of Islam among the Muslim women of
the world through a special women's organisation;
(7) Organisation of Research with a view to
provide the guidance of Islam in the background of modern problems and on a
high level of thought;
(8)
Publication and Circulation of Islamic literature in
the form of pamphlets, books and periodicals in different languages of the
world;
(9) Education and
training of such 'Ulama who might be capable, in respect of their
comprehensive and deep knowledge as well as genuine Islamic character, of
guiding all sections of humanity with dignity and grace.
Tasks Nos. 1 and 2 are
handled directly by the World Federation of Islamic Missions through the
cooperation of such Islamic organisations of the world as have joined the
Federation. The number of these MEMBER ORGANISATIONS is at present about 40.
Task No. 3 has so
far been accomplished mostly by this humble servant of Islam who has performed
ROUND-THE-WORLD TOURS five times upto 1969 and has thus rendered missionary
service on a world-scale.
Task No. 4 has been
inaugurated through my book: "The Present Crisis in the Muslim World
and Our Future Educational Programme", which forms a clarion call, and
further work in this direction is to proceed with the help and cooperation of
Muslim educationists and philanthropists. The target is the establishment of
an ideal ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY where all human knowledge may be cultivated and
taught in the light of the Divine Knowledge imparted by the Holy Qur'an.
For task No. 5, the
Federation has created the INTERNATIONAL MUSLIM YOUTH ORGANISATION with its
headquarters at Karachi and member-organisations in different parts of the
world.
For task No. 6, the
Federation has formed the INTERNATIONAL MUSLIM WOMEN'S ORGANISATION with its
headquarters at Karachi and member-organisations in different parts of the
world.
Tasks Nos. 7 and 8 have
been undertaken by the Federation through its project, the "ISLAMIC
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS BUREAU". Twenty-six books—
20 in English and 6 in Urdu—have been already published, translated into certain Asian and European
languages, and circulated internationally as part of the "Aleemiyah
Memorial Series", while a voluminous research work entitled: the
"QUR'ANIC EXPOSITION OF THE FOUNDATIONS
AND STRUCTURE OF
ISLAMIC . SOCIETY" is underprint, and several books, compiled in > English and Urdu and based on deep
research relating to • such topics as "Philosophy
of Science", Philosophy of '' Religion", "Philosophy of
History", "Moral Philosophy", "Sociology",
"Developmental Psychology", "Mental Hygiene and
Character-building", etc.,—all in the light of the Qur'an and the
Hadith—are ready for the press. Besides these a monthly English magazine, named
"the Minaret" has been regularly in publication since May 1964.
Task No. 9 has taken the
form of the ALEEMIYAH INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES, of which we are holding the
First Convocation today.
The Aleemiyah Institute
of Islamic Studies originated in 1958 when I, as President of the World
Federation of Islamic Missions, founded it on the basis of short Courses on
Islam through the medium of the English language for the instruction of
students who had started coming to me from Africa, U.K., Canada and the West
Indies, with a good number of Pakistani students joining them. The Courses
continued to progress until the Institute assumed a formal shape at the campus
of the Islamic Centre in July 1964, with students from Pakistan, East Africa,
South Africa, West Indies and South America forming the first batch for
pursuing full-fledged Courses in Islamic Theology and Modern Thought. Later on,
students from Fiji, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand,
Singapore, Ceylon. Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Ghana. Yemen, Germany and
Canada enrolled themselves.
The present buildings of
the Institute, which form only one-fifth of the entire project of buildings,
were completed in the middle of 1965, and since then the Institute has been
functioning there with full facilities of teaching, lodging and boarding.
The Institute carries
the name of His Eminence Muhammad Abdul Aleem as-Siddiqui al-Qaderi (R.A.) in
recognition of his distinguished services to Islam and humanity.
The ideal of this
institute is to educate and produce such 'Ulama who, through their
comprehensive education and training, may be capable of inspiring and guiding effectively
the humanity of the 20th and the 21st centuries.
This ideal has made the
Aleemiyah Institute a unique institution in the world of Islam. It has met the
challenge of understanding and interpreting orthodox Islam in the light of the
latest advances in human thought through the establishment of a scheme of
education wherein:
The proper qualification
for admission to its standard basic gradational course, i.e., the Darajah
al-Ijazah al-Aliyah, is the Senior Cambridge, the G.C.E. of London, or the B.A.
degree of Pakistan.
Those who do not possess
such qualifications, but are admitted to the Institute only to meet the
spiritual needs of certain Muslim communities of the world, cover only the
Courses in Arabic Language and Literature and Islamic theological subjects, as
in other standard theological Institutions of Pakistan, and obtain the Shahadah
al-Fadil. But they are the exceptions and not the rule.
Indeed, the Institute is
actually meant for those who can pursue the Courses in Islam and Modern Thought
simultaneously and can qualify themselves both from the Institute and the
University of Karachi.
For them, the first
stage is to complete the Five Years' Course lor Darajah al-Ija~ah al-Aliyah wherein
they cover Arabic Language and Literature, Tafsir, Hadith, Islamic
Jurisprudence, Islamic History and Comparative Religion, together with such
modern subjects as Modern Logic, Metaphysics, Moral Philosophy, Psychology,
Mental Hygiene and Character Building, Sociology, Civics—and
from the coming academic year. Economics and Political Science also.
The next stage is that of Darajah al-Kamil. wherein
a student covers either advanced studies in Tafsir, or Hadith, or Fiqh. or
Islamic History, or Comparative Religion, or the five subjects relating to the
'orientation of Islam in Modern Thought, i.e., Philosophy of Religion,
Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of History, Psychology of Religion, Sociology.
The last stage of
education at the Institute is the Darajah al-Takhassus, wherein
the candidate pursues extensive research of the Doctoral level and compiles a book
on a specified topic.
It is apparent that the
ideal set by the Institute for itself is a difficult one. We need very capable
students—highly
intelligent and dedicated, very learned scholars who may teach and execute
research, and enormous financial resources.
However, we have made a
beginning—a beginning that is, in our estimation, in the right direction,
and we are deeply grateful to Allah, to our donors and supporters, and to our
functionaries and teachers for the achievement, which, though quantitatively
small, is qualitatively highly promising.
Let us pray that Allah
may enable the Aleemiyah Institute to produce in large numbers such dynamic,
highly intellectual, superbly spiritual and intensely practical luminaries of
Islam who may illumine the whole world with the Light of Divine Guidance and
fulfil the mission of piety, peace and progress entrusted to the Muslim
community by its Supreme Leader, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon
him!). Amen!
Ferozsons, Karachi
Post a Comment