PERINTHALMANNA — The International academic conference, which began at Al-Jamia Al-Islamiya Santhapuram on Saturday as part of its convocation ceremony, called for the total reformation of Islamic higher education in India, by updating curricula, adopting modern textbooks and applying advanced teaching methods to meet the needs of new generation Muslim students and impress non-Muslims who want to imbibe the beauty of the Islamic faith. Dr. Ahmed Al-Raissouni, president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, emphasized the importance of developing and renovating curricula for Islamic higher education not only in India but also other parts of the world. "We should make continuous assessment of the performance of universities in achieving their objective of producing highly knowledgeable graduates." Delivering the keynote speech at the conference, Al-Raissouni said graduates of Islamic universities should play a leadership role in the society to bring about positive changes and resolve problems facing various sectors of the society. "If we don't see the necessary qualities in our graduates we should definitely change the curricula and the method of teaching," he explained. Al-Raissouni, who is a Moroccan Islamic scholar and expert on the objectives of Shariah, added: Teachers should energize the independent thinking power of students and encourage them to conduct research. "We should set out exemplary criteria to assess the capabilities of graduates." Dr. Khalifa Al-Kuwari, adviser to the Qatari minister of endowment and Islamic affairs, opened the conference and commended Al-Jamia for producing prominent authors like V.A. Kabeer who recently won the King Hamad Award for Translation from Arabic to Malayalam. "This is a great achievement," he said expressing optimism that Al-Jamia would make greater achievements in coming years. Sayed Munawarali Shihab Thangal, state president of Muslim Youth League, said graduates of Islamic universities should be able to engage in constructive dialogue with other communities and address contemporary issues. He praised Al-Jamia for passing out a large number of scholars capable of disseminating the message of Islam inside and outside India. Other leading speakers were: Dr. Mohammed Al-Musleh, Dr. Kunhi Mohammed Pulawath, Dr. Abdussalam Ahmed, Dr. Zubair Hudawi, Dr. Muhiyuddin Ghazi, Dr. Mohammed Badiuzzaman, Dr. Abdul Wasie Darmagiri, K.C. Abdullatif and Shaheen K. Moidunni. Abdullah Manham welcomed the guests while Dr. Nishad Kunnakkav gave a vote of thanks.
