By Md. Mahmudul Hasan
Years ago, former Rector of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Dr. Mohd. Kamal Hassan, used the metaphor of a ship to describe the university. Specifically, he compared it to a ship and its top management led by the Rector, to its captain.
The ship metaphor has precedence in Western literature. In “Donne and the Ship Metaphor” (1961), D. C. Allen of John Hopkins University states: “The image of a ship caught in a storm and struggling to make harbour was to the fathers of poetry a superb way of expressing the life course of a hero or the political fate of a state.” He adds: “St. Augustine saw the great middle sea as the World where good rowers are required.”
As a society or community, all of us are on a journey on a ship. From a religious point of view, the harbour (destination) that we aspire to reach is heaven. As English metaphysical poet John Donne (1572-1631), who was also renowned as a Christian preacher, said in one of his sermons: “For though this world be a sea, yet (which is most strange) our harbour is larger than the sea: heaven infinitely larger than this world.”
In this journey, our leaders are the captains and rowers, and our smooth arrival at our destination depends on their integrity, efficiency, and trustworthiness. Even those who prefer to distance themselves from religion can still embrace this ship metaphor, as we all seek to attain a happy and prosperous life with the guidance of honest and capable leaders.
Importantly, the ship metaphor resonates with a Prophetic tradition. Often referred to as the ship hadith, it reports Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) saying:
The example of the person abiding by God’s orders and restrictions in comparison to those who violate them is like the example of those persons who drew lots for their seats in a ship. Some of them got seats in the upper part, and the others in the lower. When the latter needed water, they had to go up to bring water (and that troubled the upper deck passengers), so they said, ‘Let’s make a hole in our share (lower deck) of the ship (and get water) so that we don’t trouble the upper deck passengers.’ If the upper deck people left the lower deck ones to do what they had suggested, then all in the ship would be destroyed; but if they had prevented them, then both parties would be safe. (Bukhari)
The ship metaphor is relevant to the role of a university. As the Prophet describes two groups of people, the upper deck passengers and the lower deck ones, in society we have the enlightened and the general population. It is the responsibility of the former to guide the latter to truth and justice.
In this sense, the upper deck passengers are university academics, graduates, and affiliates and the lower deck passengers, the wider community beyond campus boundaries. University communities have an obligation to guide the wider society towards honesty, fairness, and morality – in both direct and indirect ways. Otherwise, evils in society will creep in and eventually destroy the moral fabric of universities as well as the nation.
If the upper deck people neglect this moral/educational/religious responsibility, they will be complicit in the collective failure to establish justice and peace and to maintain harmony and order in society.
The ship metaphor and ship hadith are also pertinent to the renewed emphasis that IIUM’s current Rector, Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, has put on community engagement. That is to say, a university has a responsibility to the wider community and cannot remain in an ivory tower isolated from its surroundings.
Universities must train students in such a way that they would be equipped with the right abilities, skillsets, and mindsets to lead their communities to holistic welfare – often denoted by the Malay word ‘sejahtera’. They are obligated to produce morally upright, responsible, competent, and compassionate graduates who will promote truth and justice and will act as positive change-makers.
In order to materialise this, universities need to be places of excellence and best practices. If university academics and graduates are no different from those who favour hedonistic pleasures and are immersed in self-interested, worldly pursuits without any concern for others in society, then they may not be the people of the upper deck of a ship.
Graduates and those affiliated with universities should be role models to those beyond the campus, but not vice versa. They must provide a panacea for many evils, corruptions, and injustices that exist in society. The best way to do that is through producing graduates equipped with ethical/religious values, and through demonstrating competence and a greater sense of responsibility in teaching students and in running universities.
I believe universities around the world should transcend religious and ideological differences and embrace the ship metaphor and ship hadith. If they can produce competent, responsible, and morally upright graduates, all of us can dream of a better world free of corruption, oppression, and injustices. ***
(Dr. Md. Mahmudul Hasan is an academic in the Department of English Language and Literature, AHAS KIRKHS)