I was invited to an international Conference at Islamic University of Malaysia in the beginning of October 2018, to present a paper. The theme of the Conference was ” Religion, Culture and Governance in the Contemporary World ” (ICRCG2018) and was organised by the University through its Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS).
On the first day of the Conference, the Dean Kulliyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Science, Prof. Abdul Qayyum, spoke about the conference and he called the present conference “an interdisciplinary one, which is inclusive and encyclopaedic” in that it harnesses and integrates themes associated with religion with those related to culture and good governance”. But his claim that this conference has generated considerable interest among specialists in different fields seemed to me a hollow bubble, as there was no internationally recognised scholar present in the conference belonging to the discipline.
Mr. SM Abdul Qaddus, the Convenor of the conference in his remarks said that: “For over fifty years the global emphasis on development, especially in the developing world, has adopted the capitalist models excluded religion and indigenous characteristics of traditional societies”. But looking to the organisation of the conference, from top to bottom a hotch potch of many things having no common orientation was arranged without any academic perspective and a definite conclusion. The scores of teachers students and researcher scholars in bulk were invited from Bangladesh and the organisers were more interested in keeping them in good mood and hardly caring what is being discussed during the conference. But one refreshing aspect of the conference was that among the keynote speakers was the Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia Her Excellency Dr. Merve Kavakci. The Ambassador of Turkey spoke boldly about the new challenges faced by Turkey and Islamic approach of the new government in Turkey. She said that the ‘Secular fundamentalists’ of Turkey had put people to many trials and tribulations in Turkey prior to Erdogan. She remarked further that had been many coups to topple Islamic Government in recent years, the most recent among these being ‘the economic coup’ imposed on Turkey by US and its allies”.
With this rich background, there was much expectation that the Kulliyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, would have attracted world renowned scholars for its conference. But to my total disappointment there were scores of scholars from Bangladesh that too having no or remote background in any aspect of Islamic studies or cultural studies, and most of them had come there because some of the organisers and the convenor of the Conference and the dean of the faculty also happened to be Bangladeshi and I saw some very ordinary disoriented students coming from semi–modern educational seminaries from Kerala or researchers from various Muslim countries who need certificates for their APR score, to attend this conference. Thus it was a flop show and no substantial academic discussion took place, as a result.
Moreover, I was not impressed by the level of the academic discourses here and the impractical approach of the presenters and researchers who have not been able to make any mark internationally. As was expected, that the University where the great Muslim intellectuals like Prof. Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman and Prof Kamal Hassan have served as Rectors, Prof. Malik Badri, Prof. Mumtaz Ali, Prof Zinat Kounsar, Prof. Usamah Thameem and Prof. Zain Ibrahim and Prof Dato Osman Jamil have had been working as professors, there was no life in intellectual terms and everything was going on in a very ordinary and shabby manner. The participants were also disinterested in the proceedings and very thin participation could be seen in almost all sessions except the inauguration session.
Getting disappointed, I went to the Masjid adjacent to the University. Scores of students of the University use to take rest in the Masjid and also study in it and discus in their free time. The Masjid has been very great source of relaxation to the students after they come out of their classes. They offer prayers in this gigantic Masjid and I saw many students busy in reciting the Quran and others discussing various issues. Even the teachers have this Masjid as the meeting point.
However, there were other lectures on these burning subjects but overall emphasis was on good governance and deliverance of justice. One good outcome of this participation in the conference was that I had the honour of meeting Prof. Dato Jamil Osman, Dr Shahran Kasim, Prof Mumtaz Ali, Prof Usamah, Prof. Fitmir, Prof S Younis Gilani and many other scholars on the periphery of the conference and had detailed discussions on various academics. I presented my paper on Revisiting Contribution of Islamic Civilisation to Science Education and Technology- Some Fresh Insights! My focus was on new educational policy to be adopted by the Universities and Governments of Muslim world and integration of Knowledge on the basis of four models of education provided by Sir Syed, Maulana Mawdudi, Syed Nursi and Ismail Raji al-Faruqi .Technology and science education should become the main concern of the universities of Muslim world apart from Islamic instructions from very beginning was my final recommendation..
Prof Hamid Naseem Rafiabadi is Head Dept. of Religious Studies, Central University of Kashmir