RISHARD NAJIMUDEEN
cOLOMBO :Naleemiah Institute of Islamic Studies (i.e. Jamiah Naleemiah), a pioneering Islamic religious educational institution in Sri Lanka, celebrates its Golden Jubilee this year and it officially announced this achievement in the event held in BMICH on 24th of June. It was established in 1973 by late Naleem Hajiar, who was a well-known businessman, and it has journeyed approximately five decades of academic excellence. The intellectual activism has produced more than thousands of graduates who have been rendering their services in state and private sectors in their capacity as Islamic scholars, heads of several national and international schools, trained teachers, lawyers and so on. The institution, from its early inception to this date, have adopted an integrated curriculum that combines Islamic religious subjects that are directly connected to Islamic primary sources like Qur’anic interpretation, Islamic jurisprudence, Prophetic traditions, Islamic legal maxim with subjects related to social sciences and humanities such as economy, geography, IT, philosophy, logic, religious dialog and political science.
This integrated system of education enables its graduates to pursue their post graduate studies in recognized universities locally and in abroad. It is worthy to note here that, more than fifteen graduates of this institute have successfully completed their PhD and no less than a hundred graduates have finished their Master degree programmes in various disciplines such as Islamic studies, education, politics and phycology. In this juncture, this article tries to articulate one of creative missions adopted by Naleemiah throughout its academic journey and the author argues that Naleemiah has been trying to inculcate “Moderate Islamic thought” into “Sri Lankan context”. In other words, it tries to formulate a “Sri Lankan Muslim” identity, in which a Muslim maintains a balanced perspective between being a faithful believer to Islamic religious sources and being a law-abiding Sri Lankan. Following paragraphs try to explain very briefly what ‘Sri Lankan Muslim’ means and how it reflects in the academic activism of this institute.
What does it mean by the concept of “Sri Lankan Muslim”? At the beginning, I wish to emphasize that it is not about colonization, domination or exclusive approach. Rather, it is all about contextualization, peace building and finding applicability of Islam in contemporary Sri Lankan context. In other words, the concept of Sri Lankan Muslim primarily tries to interconnect among triangle elements: firstly, primary sources of Islam, Quran and Prophetic traditions, secondly, evolving context and thirdly, Human interpretation. This term can be misinterpreted by two ways. On the one hand, some Muslim voices can arise, saying that the idea of Sri Lankan Muslim tries to bring a new version of interpretation that totally contradicts to the Islamic way of thinking, and it is a Bid’a (prohibited Innovation). On the other hand, some from neighboring communities can presume that this perception may aim to dominate, colonize and convert people to Islam and ultimately, the entire country will be a so-called Islamic country. None of these assumptions or understandings is what I meant to articulate. In contrast, the identity of ‘Sri Lankan Muslim’ has its roots purely from primary sources of Islam when taking both contexts of revelation and our time into consideration. Ultimately, it always aims to create a peaceful dialogue between communities and strengthen co-existence among them. This argument can be proven by looking at the discussions conducted by some contemporary Muslim scholars in Europe such as Bassam Tibi and Tariq Ramadan as they argue for a “European Muslim”. To put this idea into perspective, foundations, principles and values of Islam are always immutable and it has universalistic character. Meanwhile, there is another part in Islam which is mutable and changeable. Both contextual differences and divergent intellectual capacity enable to produce multiple interpretations in this particular sphere. In this backdrop, the concept of Sri Lankan Muslim predominantly takes the contextual reality of the country into its consideration when it comes to conceptualizing any legal doctrines in mutable sphere without imitating other understandings implemented in various countries.
Naleemiah from its inception believed in contextualization of Islamic religious education. Accordingly, it has introduced an “Integrated system” or “Hybrid system” of religious education, as mentioned earlier. Then, the religious education been taught in so-called madrasa education were confined to teach subjects directly related to Islamic sources such as Tafsir (Quranic interpretation) and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The graduates of those institutions were employed in mosques and Maktabs. Establishment of Naleemiah with a creative design was a paradigm shift in Islamic religious education in Sri Lanka, and it aimed at producing not only religious leaders but also leaders who are capable to contribute to the society and the nation as a whole. In this sense, its curriculum went beyond the prevailed system of Islamic Studies. Students of Naleemiah were able to sit for Advanced level, GAQ and degree in Arts whereas they studied religious subjects. This combined system produced hundreds of dedicated teachers and school heads who contributed to disseminate knowledge in various place in the country. Besides, another handful of its graduates, who work in state-based institutions such as diplomatic missions, state institutions and so on without confining themselves in religious space are testimony for the remarkable contribution of this institute to the nation.
Apart from that, the curriculum and the extracurricular activities such as symposiums organized by Naleemiah aim to instill the idea of Sri Lankan Muslim into its students. Here, I can typically indicate subjects taught in the institution as well as symposiums held in the premises as testament for this unique idea. Throughout the history, Naleemiah has been insisting on Ijtihad, legal reasoning, by which Islamic guidance of Quran and Prophetic traditions and legal opinions of traditional scholars are constantly re-read, critically reviewed and freshly re-produced according to the evolving context. For instance, in early 90s, Naleemiah conducted a symposium under the theme of Ijtihad in order to enlighten and train its students to acquire profound knowledge in both Islamic sources and context where we live. In addition to that, it includes Ijtihad as one of its core subjects. By doing so, students are guided to act as a law-abiding citizen and contribute to the nation while preserving their Islamic faith and ethics without finding any contradiction between these two identities. The author’s article under the topic of “Two identities and two responsibilities”, which was published in Colombo Telegraph few years back, elaborates further on this view point.
Similarly, subjects taught in the institution like peace studies and religious dialogues are an exemplary move to foster the interpretive approach of Sri Lankan Muslim identity. Since Sri Lanka is a multi-religious country, the institute amalgamated those subjects of great significance to produce a generation of leaders who understood their brotherly communities well, know how to preserve unity in diversity and know how to mitigate their problems peacefully. In this sense, Naleemiah constantly emphasizes meaningful interfaith – dialogues as ideal way forward for mutual understanding. It never allows hatred or any form of violence deteriorating the peaceful coexistence, peace and harmony. I am confident that these kinds of academic programmes produce balance personalities who firstly accept others and then respect them. Naleemiah highly encourages pluralism. It reminds me some golden words of scholars which used to resonate inside the premises very often: “I am sure that my opinion is correct, but it will likely to be wrong, and the opinion of others is wrong and perhaps may be right” and “We cooperate in what we agreed upon and seek proper reason to each other in what we disagreed with”. This training has empowered its graduates to prioritize Islamic values, ethics and principles while ignoring petty issues which are likely harmful to the essence of unity.
“Fiqh of Minority” (Contextual understanding on Muslim Minority) has always been an area of concern in western countries, where Muslims are minority community. Due to contextual similarities and the concern raised in Sri Lanka over this discourse, Naleemiah had to focus on conceptualizing its core areas and accommodating into its core curriculum. It was able to impart the knowledge to its students about contextual understanding on Muslim as a minority community, widening the perspective on our living reality, context and the socio-political milieu. Besides, students are thoroughly trained to focus on “Objective-based approach” which is highly recommended to Muslim Minority context rather than “Literal approach”. This topic was profoundly discussed in a special forum organized in 90s. “Methodological approach to ambiguous verses” (Mushkil al-Ayat) is another subject Naleemiah teaches to its students, in which some misunderstood Qur’anic verses related to some controversial issues such as war and conflict are reinterpreted within the framework of “Primary objectives of Quran” like mercy, peace, and human dignity. Students are educated to integrate with neighboring communities, to respect human dignity and to protect human rights which are foundations of Quran, to tolerate in disagreements and to abandon the mentality of superiority. Hence, I am in view of that institute’s one of primary ideas is structuring the identity of Sri Lanka
