A National Symposium to discuss how the study of Islam and Muslims is taught in higher education establishments throughout the UK will be held in Dundee today (Friday January 19 2007).
The event follows the publication last October of a two-year research project carried out by the Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, which is based in the city.
The study called “Time for Change: Report on the Future of the Study of Islam and Muslims in Universities and Colleges in Multicultural Britain” concluded that what was being taught was out of date and failing to meet the needs of a 21st-century multicultural Britain.
It was critical of the relevance of the courses currently on offer at university level, and perhaps more controversially the political links of many of the Muslim institutions in Britain.
At the time of publication the report’s authors, Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi and Professor Malory Nye, two of the UK’s leading experts in this field of study, made a number of recommendations for action including:
• Priority should be given to producing the next generation of young British nationals (of all background) as scholars in the study of Islam and Muslims
• Muslim institutions should focus on training British Muslim Imams and Muslim religious leaders who understand how to live in multicultural Britain
• Some Muslim institutions should be encouraged to integrate more actively into the British higher education system, particularly on issues of quality assurance and multicultural engagement with the wider society
• As a matter of urgency the Government should commission a study on Muslim institutions i.e. schools, colleges, and institutions, and their place in the development of Islam and Muslims as an integral part of multicultural British society.
Professor El-Awaisi said, “Since the publication of the Report in October 2006, we’ve been pleased to see that the debate has developed and there has been significant discussion of its findings and recommendations on the public level. In particular I would like to thank Mr. Jim McGovern, the MP for Dundee West, for putting down an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons in support of the Report, which by the end of December 2006 had received the backing of 22 MPs. I would also like to thank Richard Baker MSP, for putting forward a Motion in the Scottish Parliament in support of the Report. I think that both of these Motions demonstrate in a tangible way the considerable awareness and interest by politicians in this issue and its importance to the continuing debates on multiculturalism and education and particularly the development of the study of Islam and Muslims to meet the needs of today’s society”.
He went on, “A number of universities are sending scholars to the symposium but I am very disappointed that those we highlighted in our report for particular criticism have failed to take up the challenge to engage in the debate on the development of the Study of Islam and Muslims in higher education in Britain.
“It seems that they are deliberately ignoring the chance to argue their case or perhaps they have decided not to listen to our criticism just because we are based in Dundee.”
Professor El-Awaisi, who is Principal and Vice Chancellor of Al-Maktoum Institute added, ”I have been saying for a long time now that education is the way to defeat extremism and fundamentalism. We must engage in the battle for hearts and minds but using our brains and not bullets. It has been over 40 years since the Government commissioned a report related to Islamic Studies. The Government should set up an immediate inquiry into the future of Islamic Studies at the UK higher educational institutions. There is an urgent need for a complete re-examination of what is being taught about Islam and Muslims throughout the UK and a review of the relevance of the courses offered by these institutions. We called for a Commission to be established and when you hear Gordon Brown echoing our call for the need to win hearts and minds through education then clearly the time is right for Government action on this matter. I hope our Symposium will help to persuade the politicians that it is time to act.”
Academics from several universities will take part in the all-day event including speakers and participants from Exeter, Chester, Roehampton, Westminster, London, Aberdeen and Dundee.
