PERINTHALMANNA, Kerala: An International Academic Conference will be held at Al-Jamia Al-Islamiya Santhapuram as part of its convocation ceremony on Dec. 21, 22 to discuss the current situation of Islamic higher education in India and present proposals to strengthen this vital sector that has been lagging behind for the past several years. "This academic conference is one of the highlights of our convocation ceremony that begins Saturday," said Dr. Abdussalam Ahmed, rector of the Islamic university, which has been playing a big role in promoting discourse on various contemporary topics in light of the Qur'an and Sunnah and passing out scholars well-versed in both Islamic and other subjects. "Islam is the fastest spreading religion across the world, especially in the West, being a divine religion that resolves the various problems facing human beings. At the same time, it's the most misunderstood religion due to smear campaigns by enemies. Our university tries to spread the peaceful message of Islam and remove misconceptions about it," he added. Ahmed said the university was promoting specialized studies to produce scholars having in-depth knowledge on different subjects. Al-Jamia has faculties for Shariah and Usuluddin (basics of the religion) in addition to postgraduate courses in dawa or preaching, Qur'an, Hadith and Islamic finance, language and translation with experienced professors running the show. The convocation includes a milli conference on the manifesto of Indian Muslims, a cultural conference on restoring India's values, Urdu milli and literary conferences and mushaira, a women empowerment conference, an alumni conference and cultural programs. Speaking about the Faculty of Language and Translation, which was started about 10 years ago, the rector said it was instrumental in passing out graduates capable of translating from Arabic to English and vice versa. "Many of its graduates have got jobs in Gulf countries," he added. The faculty has plans to give language classes to hospital workers in the Gulf. Al-Jamia intends to expand its services to students in other parts of India. "At present several students from other Indian states have been enrolled with the university. Moreover, we have established an off campus in Mewat, Hariyana," he added. He said the university's syllabus prepared by prominent scholars from within India and abroad has been approved by many foreign universities. "This has helped Al-Jamia graduates get admission at universities in Turkey, Qatar, Malaysia and Britain," he explained. It receives visiting professors from foreign universities who give lectures on various topics. After the formation of Al-Jamia in 2003, 23 graduates have obtained doctorate from Indian and foreign universities. "Most of our graduates continue their higher education at reputable Indian universities to obtain integrated postgraduate degrees. Currently, 20 graduates study for Ph.D. while 30 graduates do postgraduate courses in foreign universities. "We provide a good learning atmosphere for students to become capable scholars. Our library, which has a large number of reference books in English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and other languages plays an important role in this respect," he explained. Al-Jamia graduates having different tastes pursue their higher studies in different areas such as journalism, Islamic finance, film production and direction and corporate management. It's alumni includes such prominent personalities like O. Abdurrahman, group editor of Madhyamam daily and Mediaone channel, Hamza Abbas, editor in chief of Gulf Madhyamam, T.K. Ubaid, a leading Qur'an commentator, V.A. Kabeer, a well-known author, and Ashraf Kizhuparamba, executive editor of Prabhodanam weekly and author of several books. Referring to students from other states, the rector said: "We have admitted these students as part of our mission to empower north Indian Muslims educationally. All our courses are open to these students. I am sure these students will be able to make remarkable changes in their native places after completing their studies. Some of them work for Urdu newspapers while others run various institutions and pursue higher studies at other Indian universities." Al-Jamia plays a significant role for empowerment of women. "All our courses are open to girls. We can see huge presence of Muslim girls at institutes of higher learning all over India. This is a good sign. We receive brilliant girl students who have obtained A+ in all subjects. As a result most of them bag first ranks in all faculties. Unfortunately many of these girls are unable to continue their studies because of different social, family and economic reasons," Ahmed explained. "Muslim girls should be allowed to pursue their higher studies after marriage. This is essential for strengthening social and community development," he pointed out. Al-Jamia is open to all students irrespective of Muslim groups, the rector said. "Because of organizational bias, the number of students belong to different Muslim groups is small. We have made a deliberate attempt to overcome this organizational barrier and appointed teachers belong to other groups. We should consider scholars of different Muslim groups as a common asset as people should be able to make use of their knowledge," he said. Like other universities, Al-Jamia is also focusing on research. "We want to nurture a culture of research among our students in different faculties. We want to promote research studies on topics that concern the Muslim community. We make use of foreign scholars to conduct workshops and seminars when they visit the university," he added.
