Town and Gown

The Mayor, a patron to the local Interfaith Group, chose ‘town and gown’ as the theme for his year in office. As part of his commitment to the interfaith activities, the Mayor invites this group’s members to speak on his theme, yearly, according to their individual faith’s perspective.

I had the opportunity to talk to interfaith members, and other audience, in the Mayor’s parlour, on his theme from the perspective; ‘how Islam encourages learning and scholarship, in order to build a human civilization and explore God’s creation, enabling man to comprehend His majesty, power and wisdom’.

I always, in my talks, highlight the fact that the Islamic faith does not consist of blind belief or unrealistic dogma. On the contrary, its teachings require us to acquire knowledge through faith; learning to understand creation and by hopefully becoming wiser, to develop the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, before making any choice.

Islam does not encourage any doctrine which is static, or based on ignorance and prejudice. Faith is not forced on anyone, but the ultimate destinies of the doers of both good and wrong are explained.

From its beginning, Islam has tried to enlighten people with both the light of faith, and the light of Knowledge.

While Islam makes it absolutely clear that those who have knowledge are not equal to those who don’t, the Quran says: ‘Say ‘are those who know and those who do not know equal? It is those who are imbued with understanding that receive reminders.’ (S39/V9)

On a practical level, Islam has consistently encouraged people to seek knowledge and made provision for this. For example, when Makkan forces, in their first attack on the Muslims, lost the war and many were made war captives, the Prophet gave a choice to all those who were literate to ransom themselves from captivity, by teaching ten Muslim children to read and write. Some of the companions of the prophet who rose to the position of the Scribe of the Revelation, or learned other languages, were from this early batch of students.

Muslims, men and women, were obligated by the Prophet to learn. He, in one of his very famous directives to the believers, says: ‘Seeking knowledge is an obligation on every individual man and woman’.

He urged them to seek knowledge, even though it may necessitate travelling to China: ‘Seek knowledge even though you have to travel to China’.

He goes further than that when He says: ‘A Word of wisdom is the lost property of a believer. Wherever he may lay his hand on it, he is the most deserving of it’.

This seems to be the primary reason why the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun established the famously known ‘House of Wisdom’ or ‘Bait al-Hikmah’.
The House of Wisdom was a library and translation institute, as well as the major intellectual centre of the Islamic Golden Age. It was credited with bringing together most of the best known scholars from around the globe, to share information ideas and culture in Baghdad from the 9th to 13th centuries, and many of the most learned Muslim scholars were part of this excellent research and educational institute.

The great scholars of the House of Wisdom included Al-Khawarizmi, the "father" of algebra, which takes its name from his book Kitab al-Jabr.

The Quran, in this respect, directs people to travel all over the globe to explore how creation began: ‘say: travel through the earth and then see how Allah did originate creation’. (S29/V20)

When Islamic sciences took root, students were encouraged to study the creation in the light of this divine guidance. Millions of manuscripts were produced after intensive ‘research’, most of which are still preserved in libraries and learning centres worldwide. Modern sciences employ the same methodology of research by continuing to travel intensively to study the world.

Acquiring this combination of Faith (Imaan) and knowledge, as per the Quranic teachings, is, we are taught, a means of attaining a higher rank in the Sight of God.

Indeed, the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet started with the word: ‘Read’, and included the following words: reading, teaching, pen and delivering humans from ignorance. However, a further point to be noticed here is the one which directs the process of reading and learning ‘in the name of your Lord’.

Knowledge, according to the teachings of the Quran, should not be just secular, i.e. the mere process of learning the ‘cause and effect’ or about ‘law of nature’, without trying to comprehend the glory and majesty of the ‘All Knowing’. All knowledge flows from the source of eternal wisdom and the ultimate source of cause and effect.

This is why the Quran reminds both people of learning, and seekers of knowledge, by saying: ‘Indeed, among His servants, only those grasp the majesty of God, who are scholars.’ Surah 35/V27.

It is interesting to read the preceding part of this verse which says: ‘Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from above? With it, then, We bring out produce of various colours. And in the mountains are tracts white and red, of various shades of colour, and black intense in hue. And so amongst men and beasts and cattle are of various colours’.

Is it then any wonder that the Muslim world takes pride in having established the first university?

The University of Al Karaouine (Al-Qarawiyine) in Fez, Morocco is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest degree-granting university and continuously operating institution of higher learning in the world, founded in 859 by a well educated Muslim woman called Fatima al-Fihri.
The university produced great thinkers such as Abu Al-Abbas al-Zwawi, Abu Madhab Al-Fasi, a leading theorist of the Maliki School of Islamic jurisprudence and Leo Africanus, a renowned traveller and writer.

The university played a leading role in both the cultural and the academic relations between the Islamic world and Europe. A renowned Jewish philosopher and theologian Maimonides (Ibn Maimun) studied under Abdul Arab Ibn Muwashah. In addition, Ibn al-Arabi Ibn Khaldun and Al-Bitruji (Alpetragius) were both connected with the university, either as academicians or as students.
Alongside the Qur’an and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), other subjects, such as grammar, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, history, geography and music, were taught. Gradually, a broader range of subjects were introduced in the university, particularly natural sciences, physics and foreign languages.

Muslims also established another university in Cairo, Egypt in 975AD. Known as ‘Al-Azhar University’, it offered a variety of post-graduate degrees (Ijazah), and had individual faculties for a theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy, and logic in Islamic philosophy.

Some scholars, such as George Makdisi, John Makdisi and Hugh Goddard, argue that European medieval universities were influenced in many ways by the medieval university institutions in Islamic Spain (when it was part of the Islamic country between 711 and 1492 and called Al-Andalus), the Emirate of Sicily, and by the Middle East in general.

As a footnote, the degree system, known as ‘Ijazah’ was a tradition, well established among Muslim scholars, from the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Ijazah means authorisation, whereby the teacher authorises his students to narrate and spread the knowledge they gained from him, in its authentic and original form.