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By Spahic Omer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Islam is the religion of guidance and truth. It conveys truth to man and teaches him the ways how to grasp, actualise and apply it. Existence and truth are virtually synonymous. Islam thus teaches In Islam, man is created as an honourable being. He is\naccorded the meritorious title of Almighty Allahs vicegerent, or trustee, on\nearth. In order to succeed in his challenging tasks, attaining in the process\nhis Creators pleasure and happiness in both worlds, man is asked, among other\nthings, to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. Such is seen as a key\nto all goodness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Man is asked to awaken his consciousness and satiate\nhis inherent cognitive capabilities. This is so because man is born to learn\nand know, just as he is born to submit to the will of his Creator and worship\nhim. Knowledge is seen as the greatest asset, and ignorance as the ultimate\nliability and hindrance. While knowledge is a twin brother of guidance and\ntruth, ignorance, on the other hand, is a twin brother of falsehood, misguidance\nand scepticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Owing to that, the first revelation to Prophet\nMuhammad (pbuh) was to read (iqra!<\/em>). However, the reading was\nconditioned by \u0153in the name of your Lord Who created\u009d (al-\u02dcAlaq, 1). Hence, the\nculture of reading is to be tripartite. It is to encompass the reading as a\nuniversal and endless pursuit, to be in the name of and for the sake of Almighty\nAllah, and to incorporate the prerequisites of both the heavens and the earth\n(matter and spirit, body and soul). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the Prophet (pbuh) was an unlettered man, he\nwas asked to read because this was not like any of the established forms of\nreading. It was much more profound. It was about reading, comprehending and\napplying the revealed knowledge, together with the discovering, reading,\ncomprehending and applying the conventional knowledge attained from the\nphysical realm of existence. Not only were the five senses and their\nobservations and experimentations (empiricism), and reason (rationalism), to be\nutilized for the purpose, but also the heart and soul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The new reading paradigm furthermore was about reading\nand implementing the signs (ayat<\/em>) of the revelation, along with the\nsigns (ayat<\/em>) of the creation. It was about integrating and combining the\nrevealed book (al-Quran al-tadwini<\/em>) and the ontological or created \u0153book\u009d\n(al-Quran al-takwini<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This new and revolutionary type of reading and\nknowledge-acquiring engages the whole being. It involves in equal measure ones\nphysical, mental and spiritual dimensions. It comprises finding, comprehending,\nembracing, implementing and living truth. Established epistemological concepts\nand methods are just a part of this wide-ranging procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This new reading \u201c which could be termed a culture of iqra<\/em>\n(read!) – means reading the revealed Word, the universe, life, nature, society,\nhistory and self. It means approaching all physical and metaphysical aspects of\nlife with equal zeal and identical objectives. It means discovering and knowing\ntruth, which is deposited and manifested as much in the smallest and least\nsignificant as in the grandest and most consequential. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is on account of this that the learned men and\nwomen are the heirs of prophets; that as long as a person is on the path of\nseeking knowledge, he or she is on a path to Paradise (Jannah<\/em>) and Allah\nwill always make his or her task easy; and that the superiority of the learned men and women over the devout (but\nignorant) worshippers is like that of the full moon over the rest of the stars\n(i.e., in brightness) \u201c as explained by the Prophet (pbuh).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\ngoes without saying that Islam, life and knowledge are inextricable. Their\ncombination constitutes the core of the notion of tawhid<\/em> (Allahs\nOneness) and its manifold implications for life and thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike in the West and its liberal materialistic civilisation where science is employed as a vehicle for seeking truth and looking for answers to the most fundamental ontological questions, In Islam, conversely, science is used to elucidate, substantiate and espouse the revealed and all-pervading truth. In the former scenario, science, while on the face of it fascinating, assuring and enthusing, quickly turns disappointing, anticlimactic and even deluding. However, in the second scenario, Islamic science is truly fulfilling and intellectually, ethically and spiritually enriching an undertaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\npassing, science without revelation is fine as far as it goes. It can only lead\nto the threshold of truth, never to truth itself. It can only sense that\nsomething remarkable and mindboggling is going on, but can never answer what\nexactly is going on, why and how. That is the case because of the\nincompatibility of the nature of truth and the nature of Western science: its\nworldview, compass, methods and objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nrelationship between mosques and schools (educational institutions)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When the Prophet (pbuh) created his mosque in Madinah as a catalyst for the cultural and civilisational development of the Muslim nascent community, the mosque functioned as a community development centre. One of its most prominent functions revolved around it serving as a learning centre where every member of the community participated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the Prophets mosque was the first and most impactful learning institution in Islam. Whether an institution of learning is good, and how much, is measured by the impact its alumni generate on society and life in general. Fancy names of academic programmes and their syllabi, artificial designations, manipulated rating processes, plus some subjective criteria and methods of assessment, are inadequate and mislead more often than not. People end up living in the cocoons of their own academic arrogance, ignorance and self-deception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nthe case of the Prophets mosque, its earliest alumni, the Prophets companions\n(sahabah<\/em>), were so excellent and noble that they forever changed the course\nof human history, making the world a better place. Much of the goodness enjoyed\ntoday not only by Muslims, but also humankind at large, is due to their and\ntheir immediate successors genius and selflessness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning as a means for achieving sets of high ontological goals became integral to the recognisable identity of Islamic culture and civilisation. It became embedded in the Muslim psyche and total being. For centuries, Muslims were the greatest torchbearers of human civilisation, enlightenment and progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since at first mosques as community centres were the\nonly institutions, learning fared high on the list of their priorities. So much\nso that certain mosques were identifiable with schools (colleges or madrasahs<\/em>),\nand when schools became independent institutions, they, in turn, bore a\nresemblance to mosques, both in terms of architectural appearance and core\nfunctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to accommodate the requirements of continuous\nsystematic learning \u201c and other social activities – the majority of mosques\nacross the Muslim world were of a hypostyle type, featuring vast open\ncourtyards that were surrounded firstly by arcades, and later by arcades as\nwell as iwans. In this fashion, it was easy for mosques to accommodate and\nfacilitate scores of diverse activities For instance, the Prophets mosque\nduring the Prophets time functioned as:\n1) a centre for religious activities; 2) a learning centre;\n3) the seat of the Prophets government; 4) a welfare and charity centre; 5) a\ndetention and rehabilitation centre; 6) a place for medical treatment and\nnursing; and 7) a place for some leisure activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later when schools became independent institutions,\nthey physically remained close to mosques and their multifunctional complexes.\nTheir layouts and architectural morphology were similar to those of mosques. It\nwas often hard to distinguish between the two. Their respective appearances and\nroles were as good as identical. Some mosques were called schools (madrasahs<\/em>),\nand some schools mosques. People are still confused as to the actual identities\nof some such institutions. Similarly, it is an endless and inconclusive debate\nas to when exactly the independent educational institutions in Islam started to\nemerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three examples<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, the\nUniversity of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco, is the oldest existing,\ncontinually operating higher\neducational<\/a> institution in\nthe world according to UNESCO<\/a> and Guinness World Records<\/a>. It was founded by Fatima\nal-Fihri<\/a> in 859. For well over twelve hundred years it has been one of the\nleading spiritual and educational centres of the Muslim World.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n However,<\/strong> the university was founded firstly as a mosque. The foundation of\nthe mosque was to provide, in addition to a space for worship, a learning\ncentre for the local community. Like any mosque, al-Qarawiyyin soon developed\ninto a place for religious instruction and political discussion, gradually\nextending its education to all subjects, particularly the natural sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nmosque of al-Azhar in Cairo, the second oldest continuously run university in\nthe world, after al-Qarawiyyin, was also initially a mosque-school, subsequently\nbecoming one of the most influential universities in the world. The same goes\nto the al-Zaytuna University in Tunis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These\nthree outstanding examples were no different from the majority of principal\nmosques across the Muslim world. However, they were better taken care of than\nthe others, were better managed and functioned better, and were yet more fortunate\nthan many others insofar as the prevalent local and international social,\npolitical and economic circumstances are concerned. That ensured their\ncontinuity, longevity, overall operation and appeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides,\nthe three universities never stopped functioning as mosques. Before the modern\ntimes when they became incorporated into their countries modern state\nuniversity systems, their being educational institutions rarely eclipsed their\nbeing mosques. For instance, it is still said about al-Zaytuna mosque\n(University) that it is the oldest mosque in Tunis, the capital of\nTunisia. \u0153The mosque is known to host\none of the first and greatest universities<\/a> in the history of Islam. Many Muslim<\/a> scholars<\/a> were graduated from the al-Zaytuna for over a thousand years\u009d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nthree examples are permanent epitomes of a trend. The trend could be best\ndescribed in terms of unity of mission and purpose, intellectual dynamism and\nfarsightedness, and integration of form and substance, and means and objectives.\nSimply put, the trend stands for Islams perception of knowledge and education\nand how the two should be elevated to the level of becoming the methods for\nchanging the world and empowering truth and its infinite ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, in Arabic, the word for a settlements principal mosque is jami<\/em>, and for university jamiah<\/em>. The two words are basically the same, except that the latter has ta marbutah<\/em> which gives original words a feminine meaning. The words jami <\/em>and jamiah<\/em> are derived from the root word jama<\/em>, which means \u0153to assemble, congregate and unify\u009d. Indeed, both mosques (jami<\/em>) and universities (jamiah<\/em>) in their own ways gather, congregate and unify people for a purpose. However, when they themselves get harmonised and united, then the notions of congregation, grouping and unification take on the imports of alliance and partnership of the highest order. It is then that exemplary societies are created. It is not a surprise, therefore, that society is called mujtama,<\/em> which is also a derivative of the same root word, jama<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nIslam, it follows, mosques are also schools (educational institutions), in the\nsense that they provide all the needed support and facilities for the purpose;\nand schools (educational institutions) are also mosques, in the sense that they\ncontinue advocating and disseminating the same philosophy, goals and values as\nthose of mosques, albeit on a different plane and with different means and\nmethods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Undeniably,\nthis is the noblest act of educational, as well as spiritual, integration. It\nis part of what could be called institutional ideological harmony, as opposed\nto institutional ideological dichotomy. This institutional integration\ntranslates itself into comprehensive integration of curricula, policies,\nphilosophies, values, worldviews and teaching methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n