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5 |
AKU as an Open Muslim University Devoted
to Free Inquiry |
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| Our survey of changes in the world in the last
ten years has made it patent that the needs for AKU as a Muslim
university have grown in the intervening years; and we expect
them to grow rather than diminish in the coming decades. The
strains manifest in Muslim countries are rooted in their urgent
need for self-respect, in disparities between resources and
the aspirations of burgeoning populations, and in disillusionment
with the capacities of governments to foster equitable development.
They will not soon subside, and until they do, these countries
will be prey to extremist movements, internal political crises,
and isolating hostilities toward the wider world. There are
certainly limitations on what universities can do amid these
huge social forces, but salvation will not be found without
the clarity and sanity of the enlightened and disciplined minds
that university education at its best can give to the Muslim
world. The certainty of need and opportunity for AKU does not
immediately say what it should aim to do and be, and the Commission
has been challenged to make these aims more explicit. |
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| AKU, by its Charter, is a university open, without
regard to race, sex, or religion, to all those properly qualified;
and it has established the traditions of academic freedom that
form the essential bedrock of an international university. At
the same time, it seeks to be a Muslim university in ways that
do not restrict these qualities of openness and freedom. We
recognise that AKU should have a Muslim ethos entering into
all of its programmes and activities. But since AKU is not a
university exclusively for Muslims nor concerned solely with
Islamic learning, we have tried to explore specific aspects
of its work which could reinforce its Muslim character. |
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| We believe the elements of a worthy mission for
AKU as a Muslim university are relatively easy to discern. It
should evidently seek to : |
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| - bring, through research and scholarship, a better
understanding of Islam as a culture and civilisation, of its
rich diversity, and of the problems of contemporary Muslim societies,
for the benefit of both Muslims and non-Muslims; |
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| - provide education for its own students, and
materials for the education of others, that will help them in
their personal and spiritual adjustment to life in the modern
world; |
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| - join with others, Muslim and non-Muslim, in
coping with the ills of modernity and bringing more helpful
perceptions of the relations of "Islam and the West" than as
a "clash of civilisations". |
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| We have, with particular help from the Institute
of Ismaili Studies, developed ideas on how these missions may
be pursued. They are set forth a little later, when we describe
the components we envisage for AKU. Suffice to say here that
we believe research and scholarship will be essential
to AKU's ability to contribute to a host of questions, from
understanding the diversity of tbe Islamic heritage to the conditions
for economic growth and improved governance of Muslim societies.
We also put emphasis on the contributions AKU can make to the
education of Muslims and non-Muslims, and on helping
Muslims take their part in the common human enterprise of
making modern life meaningful and rewarding. |
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| As we indicated in Section IV of our Report, we
have been impressed with the challenges young Muslims now experience
as they juxtapose predominately secular education with their
religious and cultural heritage; the prominence of university
graduates in the leadership of extremist movements suggests
that the encounter has often been a rough one, and that better
experiences should be sought. The process of education is, of
course, complex and mysterious. We shall be arguing that courses
in Islamic civilisations should be an important part of future
education in AKU to correct the "technocratic" bias of the University
by balancing it with a spiritual dimension in addition to education
in liberal arts. But any education is more than a set of courses
and classroom experiences. One of the challenges before AKU
is to highlight enlightened Islamic values in its educational
processes. We also think that there are now needs and opportunities,
greater than before, for Muslims to participate in the common
quests of modern humanity. If the phrase, the "Islamisation
of modernity" is to be more than a slogan, it must signal an
effort to use what Marshall Hodgson called the "Venture of
Islam" as essential "resources for new vision" in coping
with the problems of life in the modern world. [Hodgson, Venture
of Islam, V. 111. p.431] In the determinedly multi?cultural
world we now inhabit, the enterprise of shaping values and meaning
in the conditions of modernity must be a world-wide enterprise.
There is a great need for Muslim voices to participate in this
enterprise, and AKU should be exceptionally equipped to do so
actively. |
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