A group of scholars and academicians from The Islamic Science University Of Malaysia (USIM) visited the IFSC to give a presentation on their project titled “Al-Quran, Education and the 4th Industrial Revolution”.
A group of scholars and academicians from The Islamic Science University Of Malaysia (USIM) visited the IFSC to give a presentation on their project titled “Al-Quran, Education and the 4th Industrial Revolution”.
USIM Prof Dr. Rosalina Abdul Salam told the participants that her group had worked for five years in formulating an education project that utilizes the latest technologies to help facilitate teaching the wisdom of the Qur’an and Sunnah to students in an interactive way. She explained that the educational approach was about exploring the deeper meanings of the words of the Qur'an and Hadith and connecting it with the latest scientific knowledge. Dr. Rosalina expressed the fact that they are learning Qur’an in their schools on the one hand, and on the other hand they are learning other subjects and sciences. Thus why indeed is the Qur’an not seen through the lens of these positive sciences? Her group also aims to address these questions.
After the presentation, IFSC Executive President Said Yuce gave the following concluding remarks:-
“Our experience in Turkey is similar to that experienced in other countries with respect to the issue of religious and scientific knowledge. For example, when somebody mentions something that is connected with the Qur’an or Islam it is usually met with a response stating that such a religious issue should be deemed as separate knowledge from the material sciences and humanities’ subjects. For this we need to adopt a very intelligent strategy. This involves using an intellectual approach that demonstrates the lack of conflict between religion and science. Because the biggest problem of this century is atheism and the weakness of faith we thus give weight to the consolidation and emphasis of the fundamentals of belief.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi demonstrated in several places and gave examples showing that whatever we look at, we can see in it the Signs of Allah. For example, in every task and profession, there is an expert and expertise. Scholars of the physical sciences and the social sciences may be experts in their own fields and it may not be necessary to give everybody a religious education, but think about how each creature, at every moment, from micro-organisms to the macro-scale universe can demonstrate to us the existence and providence of Allah and His Names. This is the perspective for which the Risale-i Nur invests its intellectual and spiritual focus. It is enough perhaps to nurture this sort of perspective rather than focus on giving people an education on all the possible meanings and nuances of every word and letter of verses from the Qur’an. We can share with you our experiences concerning this issue.
We here in Turkey have experienced some serious events during the Republican Period and over the course of the last century. Said Nursi illustrates the general negative outcome that arose over this period. Firstly, for centuries during the Ottoman Period the Islamic sciences were taught in the “medrese” schools. However, since the focus on the technicalities of Qur’anic Arabic soon failed to inculcate a strong general spirit of Iman (Belief) and since the modern sciences were kept at an intellectual distance, the result was a rise in bigotry amongst the people. On the other hand, when the modern sciences were taught and the religious sciences were neglected the result was the birth of excessive skepticism and materialism. Thus we have both extremes and imbalances. This problem does not just lie with us but also affects many Muslim countries. There needs to be a formula to bring these two disciplines together. For this, rather than focus on examining the multiple meanings of Arabic words, we should instead give more attention to the methodology of Said Nursi who adopted the principle of cultivating belief in God via “belief through investigation”. If we adopt and implement such a formula and methodology, we will have a real possibility of attaining genuine knowledge.”
Mr Said Yuce added that the Malaysian USIM scholars and their project had much potential to bear intellectual and spiritual fruit in the near future. After the meeting and presentation, he also awarded the guests with copies of “The Supreme Sign” from the Risale-i Nur Collection.
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