Revitalizing Higher Education in the Muslim World

Abstract

AdbulHamid A. AbuSulayman’s book is an important and much-neededpublication in the field of Islamic social and educational sciences. In a verydirect, easy-to-read, and simple language, the book introduces the currentproblematic situation of Islamic higher education and offers a practical solution.The presented solution is not based on theoretical insights and analysisonly, as it offers the example of the International Islamic University Malaysia(IIUM) as a live, practical model. Through the extended metaphor of asick person, the author, a prestigious Islamic educator and thinker, picturesthe Muslim ummah as an ailing body that needs immediate treatment.Through his professionalism and expertise, he prescribes the remedy.The book’s first half provides the reader with a general overview of thecurrent situation of theMuslim ummah’s retarded position and explains howeducation and developing cognitive modules are particularly needed for therescue mission.A “nation” that contains about one-fifth of the world’s population, coversan area extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and has an illustriouspast of scientific discoveries now has a combined GNP (Gross National Product)less than that of France or Germany. This humiliating fact, accordingto AbuSulayman, speaks of the ummah’s current ailment. The author pointsto underdevelopment, division, tyranny, oppression, and education assome of the maladies. Yet instead of treating the symptoms of such maladies,as many scholars tend to do, he calls attention to the need to search forthe causes in order to devise a permanent treatment. One of the main causesthat AbuSulayman discusses is the imitation and replication of western education,which is alien to the ummah’s consciousness and cultural goals ...