“Azharisation” of ʿUlama Training in Malaysia

This chapter discusses the relationship between al Azhar and the government policy of ulama training in Malaysia. It traces how, during the twentieth century, a number of factors led to al Azhar becoming one of the most popular choices for Malaysian students wanting to major in Islamic Studies. Initially, ulama adopted al Azhar's reformed curriculum by choice, as the mixed curriculum introduced by al Azhar, starting with Muhammad Abduh's modernisation project, helped the religious schools in Malaysia to compete with the state run modern schools. However, to demonstrate its commitment to Islam, the Malaysian state eventually started to invest in al Azhar education. Under a series of policies intended to emphasise Islam, religious education and religious administration expanded rapidly, thus providing increased job opportunities for al Azhar graduates.

From Mecca to Cairo: Changing Influences on Fatwas in Southeast Asia

This chapter demonstrates how exposure to al Azhar led over time to the complete transformation of the methodology adopted by independent ulama and state religious platforms to issue fatwas in Southeast Asia. It examines the mainstreaming of Salafi methodology — inspired by the work of Muhammad Abduh — in place of the taqlīd of the traditional Shafi'i School in Southeast Asia for the issuing of fatwas. A number of factors, including the establishment of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, led to a shift to al Azhar as opposed to Mecca being the base for Southeast Asian Muslim scholars. By comparing Southeast Asia fatwas of the early twentieth century against those issued in the 1970s, the chapter shows how the transition from Mecca to Cairo led to the mainstreaming of Salafi methodology.

Islamic Modernism, Political Reform and the Arabisation of Education: The Relationship between Moroccan Nationalists and al-Azhar University

This chapter studies the impact of al Azhar University on the Moroccan nationalist movement and specifically its independence leader Allal al Fasi, whose ten-year exile in Egypt exposed him to the ideas of Muhammad Abduh and influenced the ideological position of the Moroccan independence party, Istiqlal. The chapter emphasises the impact that Abduh's ideas had on the educational policies of the independence party and their continued importance in Moroccan educational politics throughout the twentieth century. Graduates of the university, including Abdullah ibn Idris al Sanusi and Abu Shu'ayb al Dukkali, brought ideas of Islamic modernism back to Morocco. These ideas were shared with Moroccan religious students through lectures at the Qarawiyyin University in Fez and flourished into a movement for religious reform.

Protector of the “al-Wasatiyya” Islam: Cairo’s al-Azhar University

This chapter illustrates how al Azhar, established by the Shi'i Fatimid empire in 970, was eventually to become one of the most respected centres for Sunni Islamic learning around the globe. It shows how the emphasis on a “middle way,” as reflected in al Azhar's emphasis on teaching all four Sunni madhāhib, has been central to the rise of al Azhar as a global centre of learning. A number of factors led to the rise of the university to this prominent leadership position within Sunni Islam, including its location in Cairo, the exodus of scholars from places such as Andalusia due to political instability and their settlement in Cairo, the university's ability to harbour multiple discourses, and the controversial state led reforms enacted since the 1960s.

Introduction

This introductory chapter describes the working of the three most influential international centres of Islamic learning in contemporary times: al Azhar University in Egypt, the Islamic University of Medina (IUM) in Saudi Arabia, and al Mustafa International University in Iran. These three universities, located in the politically influential countries in the Middle East and Gulf region, attract students from across the globe. Their graduates carry the ideas acquired during their education back to their home communities, and some also bring with them a reformatory zeal. The significance of these universities is in their hybrid nature; they produce ulama through their curriculum, as inherited from the seminary tradition, while claiming a “modern” space by adapting the formal structures of the Western university.

Qom Alumni in Indonesia: Their Role in the Shiʿi Community

This chapter discusses how returnees from al Mustafa International University, including those from the International Centre for Islamic Studies, its preceding institution, have played a significant role in the development of the Shi'i community in Sunni dominated Indonesia. Pursuing Islamic education at Qom is a post-1979 phenomenon made popular by al Habsyi, an Indonesian scholar of Arab descent, who gained the trust of religious leaders in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following a detailed account of the educational background of Indonesian students who went to Qom, the chapter illustrates the activities of the graduates in their home towns, such as their creation of the Association of al Mustafa International University Alumni, missionary activities through various Shi'i institutions, and educational activities in religious schools, including the Islamic College Jakarta, a branch of the university.

Ahlussunnah: A Preaching Network from Kano to Medina and Back

This chapter describes a network of prominent preachers, the “Ahlussunnah” (People of the tradition of the Prophet) of contemporary Kano, northern Nigeria. Of these preachers, roughly half are graduates of the Islamic University of Medina (IUM). By looking at leading figures within the network, the chapter shows how exposure to new thinkers and texts at the university, as well as physical distance from the bitter struggles in northern Nigeria, launched a process of reflection that culminated in the Medina graduates' decision to break with the anti-Sufi movement, Izala. The students felt that Izala had become too rigid in its approach and was excluding non members. Moreover, study in Medina, the chapter argues, increased these preachers' intellectual self confidence and led them to seek models of leadership based more on individual reputation than on the backing of hierarchical organisations.

Making Qom a Centre of Shiʿi Scholarship: Al-Mustafa International University

This chapter presents an insight into the rise of al Mustafa International University, including its two preceding institutions and its globalisation agenda. Tracing the evolution of the university, it shows how the emergence of al Mustafa was a result of the rivalry among the marāji i taqlīd, the highest ranking Shi'i authorities, in post-revolutionary Iran. This university is a product of the complex internal political battles within Iran as well as the state's global agenda known as “the export of revolution,” whose mission is to propagate the Iranian version of Shi'ism which places special value on Khomeini's concept of vilāyat i faqīh. The uniqueness of al Mustafa is its strategies to reach out to youth in other countries through its numerous overseas branches, ensuring its uncontested dominance over its rivals, especially the seminaries in Najaf.

The Islamic University of Medina since 1961: The Politics of Religious Mission and the Making of a Modern Salafi Pedagogy1

This chapter offers an analysis of how the Islamic University of Medina (IUM) was from its very inception meant to function as a Saudi state-backed Salafi missionary project with global reach. The goal was for students to return to their home countries or to travel on elsewhere after graduation for du'a, or as missionaries, to promote spiritual commitment and “correct” religious knowledge and practice. As the university president and future Grand Mufti Abd al Aziz bin Baz wrote in a prospectus published in 1971, emphasising the sacred geography of Medina and suggesting a parallel between this Saudi-backed project and the Prophet's own mission, the university was to operate as a source of modern Islamic propagation from the source of the first Islamic propagation.