By Iylia Marsya Iskandar
GOMBAK, 1 June 2020: The Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS) carries the mandate of strengthening the university’s role in producing, preserving as well as systemising and transmitting knowledge to benefit society, its Dean, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shukran Abdul Rahman said today.
In his special report titled “Nurturing Community-Oriented Holistic Scholars and Students for Sustainable Future” to mark the 30th anniversary of its founding, Dr. Shukran said, “The Kuliyyah’s mission has been translated into activities which are in line with the university’s mission and current direction which is to integrate IRKHS, Islamise human sciences, relevantise Islamic revealed knowledge to the current context and contemporary issues, and conduct genuinely impactful research and innovation activities in the discipline of IRKHS.”
Furthermore, he emphasised that academics in the Kulliyyah had embarked on various activities to support and substantiate the development of the society, nation and the ummah. “Many of the activities conducted have been engaging in various levels and types of publics,” he said.
Dr. Shukran highlighted that the Kulliyyah is currently championing community engagement through a number of flagship projects under the Kulliyyah and the university community engagement initiatives known as “The Gombak Project”.
“In this project, many organisations and community groups have become our important partners. If not due to the movement control order (MCO), we would have had a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signing ceremony with the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP), the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), Yayasan Restu, Pejabat Orang Besar Daerah Gombak, Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) and five traditional villages in the Gombak area to formalise this relationship,” Dr. Shukran further said.
The agreement would have explained how IIUM and the Kulliyyah would engage and collaborate with the professionals, the learned and the learning community, to enhance IIUM and the Kulliyyah’s educational and social responsibilities. “The Kulliyyah has started to extend this initiative to the Gombak project, befitting the recent roles of IIUM through the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) platform by forming a network of mosques.
He further said that the Kulliyyah is putting various strategic interventions to attain the vision set by the founders for it to be the centre for educational excellence and research.
Currently, IRKHS houses 15 Kulliyyah-level centres of excellence:
- Social issues and Development unit
- Policy and Area Studies research unit
- Psychology Services unit (lead mental health professional training)
- Abu Hamid Sulayman centre
- Nursi research and training centre (In collaboration with Hayrat foundation from Turkey)
- Raising dual-language children
- Sheikh Ismail Shahabuddin Centre (in collaboration with a foundation from India)
- Centre for Family Affairs (in collaboration with Qatar Foundation)
- Chair of Rahmatan Lil Alamin (to collaborate with MAIWP)
- Industrial chair for waqf and humanitarian through the OIL office
Five centres of excellence are linked to the Research Management Centre (RMC):
- Graduate research unit
- Women progress research unit
- Electoral research unit
- Computer assistance of learning language unit
- Contemporary research unit
Dr. Shukran added that the Kulliyyah’s way forward is through the university’s mission and vision to undertake the greatly needed task of reforming the society in a constructive manner by applying the knowledge, principles and theories in the field of IRKHS with the knowledge in other disciplines, hence supporting the tasks to develop a sejahtera community.
The Kulliyyah is currently embarking on a project entitled “‘Creating Preferable Future for KIRKHS down the road to 2030” which involves active participation of all Kulliyyah management team and all departments under the Kulliyyah.
Dr. Shukran presented his report at the “Virtual Takrim-al-Akadimiyyin 2020” live from the Senate Hall, Muhammad Abdul Rauf Building in Gombak campus here.
The event was held to recognise the contributions of the Kulliyyah’s academic community in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities towards knowledge generation and to honour its administrative staff who have contributed significantly in carrying out the missions of the Kulliyyah. ***