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| September 2016
- Volume 14, Issue 7 |
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Muslim world’s
universities: Past, present and future
Mohsen Rezaeian
Correspondence:
Professor Mohsen Rezaeian, PhD, Epidemiologist
Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Occupational
Environmental Research Center
Rafsanjan Medical School, Rafsanjan University
of Medical Sciences
Rafsanjan, Iran
Email: moeygmr2@yahoo.co.uk
|
Abstract
Muslims
account for 1.7 billion of the world’s
population and Islam is now considered
as the fastest growing religion. Since
Islam hugely supports science, the Muslim
world’s universities and scholars
especially during the Islamic Golden Age
(IGA) have contributed to a large extent
to the progress of different branches
of science. Despite this Golden History,
the present situation of universities
in the Muslim world is not as it should
be. If universities within the Muslim
world wish to reach the position which
they deserve they should take into account
a number of strategic initiatives. Some
of these strategic initiatives are discussed
within the present paper.
Key words: Islam,
Universities, Higher Education, Scholars
|
Muslims account for 1.7 billion (23.4%) of
the world’s population; a preponderance
of them live in the Middle Eastern countries
(1). Furthermore, Islam is considered as the
fastest growing religion which makes it the
second most prevalent religion after Christianity
(2). At the moment there are 57 countries with
a Muslim-majority population which form the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) (3
& 4) (See below).
Since Islam hugely supports science, the Muslim
world’s scholars and then universities,
especially during the Islamic Golden Age (IGA),
have contributed in a large extent to the progress
of different branches of science. Despite this
Golden History, the present situation of universities
and scientific productivities within the Muslim
world are not as it should be (5-8).
The chief aim of the present article is therefore,
to take a look at the past and the present situation
of the Muslim world’s universities. The
article then goes on to provide some strategic
initiatives in order to promote the current
situations of these universities. However, let
us start by taking a fresh look at the geographical
distribution of the OIC countries.
| THE
GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION
OF
THE
OIC
COUNTRIES |
The
countries
that
shape
the
OIC
are
In
Africa:
Algeria,
Benin,
Burkina
Faso,
Cameroon,
Comoros,
Chad,
Djibouti,
Egypt,
Gabon,
Gambia,
Guinea-Bissau,
Guinea,
Ivory
Coast,
Libya,
Mali,
Mauritania,
Morocco,
Mozambique,
Niger,
Nigeria,
Senegal,
Sierra
Leone,
Somalia,
Sudan,
Togo,
Tunisia
and
Uganda.
In
Asia:
Afghanistan,
Azerbaijan,
Bahrain,
Bangladesh,
Brunei,
Indonesia,
Iran,
Iraq,
Jordan,
Kazakhstan,
Kuwait,
Kyrgyzstan,
Lebanon,
Malaysia,
Maldives,
Oman,
Pakistan,
Palestine,
Qatar,
Saudi
Arabia,
Syria,
Tajikistan,
Turkey,
Turkmenistan,
the
United
Arab
Emirates,
Uzbekistan
and
Yemen.
In
Europe:
Albania.
In
South
America:
Guyana
and
Suriname
(3
&
4).
| PAST
SITUATION
OF
THE
MUSLIM
WORLD'S
UNIVERSITIES |
It
is
worth
emphasizing
that
the
very
first
word
of
the
Quranic
revelation
to
Prophet
Muhammad
was
an
order
to
read.
Furthermore,
the
word
“‘Ilm”,
which
is
equivalent
to
“knowledge”,
and
its
derivatives
takes
place
880
times
in
the
Quran
(9).
As
a
result,
Prophet
Muhammad
by
stating
that:
“Seek
knowledge,
even
as
far
as
China”
has
established
a
strong
mandate
for
Muslims.
This
mandate
has
two
vital
components:
firstly,
the
responsibility
of
Muslims
to
look
for
knowledge
in
diverse
fields,
and
secondly
to
seek
knowledge
as
far
as
they
can
reach
(10).
Based
on
this
mandate,
gradually
Muslim
scholars
and
then
the
established
Muslim
world’s
universities,
especially
during
the
IGA,
have
contributed
to
a
large
extent
to
the
progress
of
sciences.
Muslim
scholars
established
empirical
inquiry,
by
precise
observation,
measurement
and
experiment,
and
before
drawing
any
conclusions
they
learnt
how
to
take
into
account
contradictory
views
(11).
It
is
no
surprise
that
at
the
beginning
of
the
IGA
in
859
AD
the
University
of
Qarawiyyin
i.e.
the
“world’s
oldest
continually
operational
university”
was
established
in
Morocco
(8).
And
even
500
years
earlier
than
that
and
during
the
reign
of
Shapur
II
(309
to
379
AD)
the
academy
of
Gondi-Shapur
was
founded
in
Iran
which
was
then
called
Persia.
This
academy
consisted
of
a
university,
a
library
with
more
than
400,000
books
and
a
teaching
hospital.
By
the
Islam
conquest
of
Iran
in
638
AD
the
academy
supports
the
foundation
of
the
Islamic
School
of
Medicine
(12).
This
clearly
explains
why
even
nowadays
the
works
of
top
Muslim
scholars
especially
within
the
field
of
medicine
such
as
Zakariya
Razi
or
Rhazes
(865
to
925
AD)
and
Avicenna
or
Ibn-Sina
(980
to
1037
AD)
are
still
remembered
and
respected
(12).
| PRESENT
SITUATION
OF
THE
MUSLIM
WORLD'S
UNIVERSITIES |
If
everything
had
gone
based
on
the
established
mandate
the
Muslim
world’s
universities
and
scholars
should
now
stand
on
top
of
today’s
academic
ranking.
However,
it
seems
that
after
the
IGA
and
by
the
birth
of
dictator
governments,
wars
and
armed
conflicts,
social
unrest
and
even
poverty
etc.
the
critical-minded
scholarship
gradually
has
been
restrained
(10
&
13).
Therefore,
it
is
no
surprise
that
as
of
2012
whilst
the
OIC
countries
have
nearly
a
quarter
of
the
world’s
population
they
have
only
2.4%
of
its
research
expenditure,
6%
of
its
publications,
and
1.6%
of
its
patents
(7).
It
is
also
not
astonishing
to
realize
that
there
are
only
three
Nobel
laureates
in
the
sciences
from
OIC
countries.
Furthermore,
OIC
countries
host
no
university
in
the
top
100
of
the
many
world
rankings
(8).
One
of
these
academic
rankings
is
called
Academic
Ranking
of
World
Universities
(ARWU)
or
Shanghai
ranking.
Within
the
2013
released
of
ARWU,
there
are
only
8
universities
from
OIC
countries
on
the
list
of
world
top
500
universities
with
the
best
position
i.e.
160th,
achieved
by
King
Saud
University
(KSU)
(14).
The
recent
“Report
of
Zakri
Task
Force
on
Science
at
Universities
of
the
Muslim
World”
has
also
revealed
that
during
the
recent
20
years
and
among
57
OIC
countries
there
are
only
20
countries
that
together
have
produced
more
than
90%
of
OIC
scientific
outputs.
From
the
period
1996-2005
to
2006-2015
some
of
these
20
countries
have
increased
their
scientific
productions
significantly
with
Qatar
and
Iran
on
top.
However,
for
2006-15
the
average
citations
per
paper
were
5.7
for
OIC
countries,
clearly
much
less
than
comparable
countries
such
as
South
Africa,
with
9.7
citations
per
paper
(15).
| STRATEGIC
INITIATIVES
FOR
THE
FUTURE
OF
THE
MUSLIM
WORLD'S
UNIVERSITIES |
If
universities
within
the
Muslim
world
wish
to
reach
the
position
which
they
deserve
there
are
a
number
of
strategic
initiatives
that
they
should
take
into
account.
The
most
important
of
them
may
include:
1.
There
is
no
doubt
that
Muslim
countries
should
shift
their
policy
on
to
increase
the
quality
of
the
existing
universities.
2.
One
way
to
fulfill
the
first
point
is
to
increase
universities’
budgets
especially
research
budgets
and
take
extreme
caution
that
the
budget
is
spent
in
a
proper
way
(16).
3.
The
other
way
to
fulfill
the
first
point
is
to
revise
universities’
curricula
to
make
teaching
more
up
to
date
and
relevant.
Continuing
education
plus
life
learning
initiatives
should
seriously
be
taken
into
account
(8
&
17).
4.
Paying
more
attention
to
female
scientists
considering
their
abilities
and
their
wishes.
It
has
been
estimated
that
throughout
the
IGA
there
were
more
than
8,000
female
scholars
(18).
5.
Collaboration
with
other
universities
in
the
Muslim
world
and
beyond
to
carry
out
ground
breaking
research
projects.
Similarly,
opening
the
door
of
the
universities
to
other
universities
in
the
Muslim
world
and
beyond
by
exchanging
students
and
scholars
at
the
very
least
for
a
short
period
of
time.
6.
Opening
the
door
of
the
universities
to
the
people,
especially
to
high
school
pupils.
This
helps
the
public
at
large
better
understand
how
science
is
taught
in
universities
and
also
high
school
pupils
will
make
more
informed
decisions
on
what
subjects
they
are
going
to
pursue
in
the
universities
(19).
7.
Similar
to
the
previous
point,
universities
in
the
Muslim
world
should
take
on
a
more
socially
accountable
mission
(20).
8.
Paying
more
attention
to
English
language
as
the
official
language
of
science
in
the
current
world
(16).
9.
Since
research
productivities
are
increasing
in
some
Muslim
countries
and
in
order
to
avoid
any
type
of
research
misconduct
(21)
paying
more
attention
to
the
ethics
of
research
and
publications
are
extremely
needed.
10.
Last
but
not
least,
Muslim
countries
should
take
a
critical
view
towards
their
primary
and
secondary
educational
systems.
They
do
need
to
revise
primary
and
high
school
curricula
to
allow
the
intake
of
their
universities,
more
fresh
and
open-minded
students.
All
this
may
not
happen
if
the
universities
within
the
Muslim
world
are
not
managed
in
a
meritocratic
way
(8).
More
importantly
having
meritocratic
universities
does
not
entirely
fulfill
the
needs
unless
more
democratic
governments
and
peaceful
circumstances
will
roll
over
the
Islamic
world
(13).
Despite
the
Islamic
Golden
Age,
the
present
situation
of
universities
within
the
Muslim
world
in
not
as
it
should
be.
If
universities
within
the
Muslim
world
wish
to
reach
the
position
which
they
deserve.
they
should
take
into
account
a
number
of
strategic
initiatives.
The
present
article
has
articulated
some
of
the
most
important
of
these
initiatives.
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