International Islamic University Malaysia Explained

International Islamic University Malaysia
Native Name:Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (Malay)
اونيۏرسيتي اسلام انتارابڠسا مليسيا (Jawi)
الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية بماليزيا (Arabic)
Motto:Taman Ilmu dan Budi (Malay)
Mottoeng:Garden of Knowledge and Virtue
Endowment:RM400 million (2018)
Faculty:1,904 (2019)
Students:26,266 (2019)
Address:Jln Gombak, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Campus:Suburban, 700 acres (2.8 km²)
Nickname:Mustangs
Affiliations:ASAIHL,[1] ACU,[2] AUAP,[3] FUIW[4]

The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is a public university in Malaysia. Headquartered in Gombak, Selangor, IIUM has six other campuses all over Malaysia: two medical-centric campuses and a Centre for Foundation Studies in Gambang, Pahang, two city campuses in Kuala Lumpur, and a language and tourism campus in Pagoh, Johor.

The university is sponsored by eight governments and the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC). It is distinct from the International Islamic University, Indonesia and International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh.

The university was established on 23 May 1983 and founded upon Islamic principles.[5] Islamic values are inculcated into all disciplines. IIUM offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees courses at its 14 faculties or "Kulliyyah" ("Kulliyyat", in plural).

Since 1987, IIUM has produced more than 70,000 graduates and undergraduates from more than 100 countries around the world. Most of them were from Malaysia.[6]

History

The then-fourth Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad[7] [8] conceived the idea for an international institution of Islamic education in 1982 during a meeting between OIC leaders about the Islamization of knowledge. The idea was shared with the then-minister of education, Sulaiman Daud; the then-director-general of education, Murad Mohamed Nor; and two others. Mohamed Kamal Hassan, then of the National University of Malaysia, along with a senior academic official who attended the meeting, produced the first working paper on the concept of the university.

Ismail al-Faruqi, a prominent scholar, played a significant role in this movement. He advised political leaders in the Muslim world, including Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan and Mahathir Mohamad. During Zia-ul-Haq’s administration, al-Faruqi contributed to the establishment of the International Islamic University in Islamabad in 1980, which aimed to integrate Islamic values with contemporary academic disciplines. In Malaysia, al-Faruqi's advisory role was instrumental in the foundation of the university in 1983. These institutions were part of broader efforts to develop educational systems that combined religious and secular knowledge, fostering intellectual and cultural development in the Muslim world.[9]

The university would be the first Islamic university in the world to conceptualize the "integration of knowledge with morals," a concept adopted at the International Convention of Islamic Education in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1976.[10]

IIUM was once a private university. As the university's language of instruction was not to be Malay but instead English and Arabic, which was initially prohibited by Malaysian law, IIUM was initially incorporated under the currently repealed Companies Act 1965. However, IIUM was officially made a public university on 23 May 1983, by Section 5A (2) of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, when the university received its establishment order from the then King, Ahmad Shah of Pahang, after an exchange of diplomatic notes of co-sponsorship between the government of Malaysia, seven other governments and OIC.

A batch of 153 students from Malaysia and abroad were enrolled for the first academic session, which started on 8 July 1983. Courses were conducted under the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Laws, the Centre for Fundamental Knowledge, and the Centre for Languages. The members of this first batch received their degrees and diplomas during the first convocation held on 10 October 1987. 68 graduates were conferred the degree of Bachelor of Economics, 56 other graduates received the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and 29 Qadhis were conferred Diploma in Law and Administration of Islamic Judiciary.

Governance

Ahmad Shah of Pahang was the founding constitutional head since 1 July 1983. Before his death, he was replaced by his daughter-in-law, the current Queen, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah. She was made the constitutional head on 12 April 2019 for a five-year term, ending her father-in-law's chancellery in IIUM for 36 years, but the instrument of appointment was only presented to her by the federal government on 17 June 2019.

Mohd. Daud Bakar, an Islamic finance expert in Malaysia, sits as the eighth and current president since 1 July 2019.[11]

Leaders since 1983

NameTerm startTerm-end
Constitutional Head
1Ahmad Shah of Pahang1 July 198311 April 2019
2Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah12 April 2019[12] Present
President
1Hussein Onn19831987
2Anwar Ibrahim19881998
3Najib Razak19981999
4Sanusi JunidFebruary 20001 June 2008
5Mohd Sidek Hassan2 June 20081 June 2013
6Rais Yatim2 June 20131 June 2018
7Maszlee Malik5 September 20189 November 2018[13]
8Mohd Daud Bakar1 July 201930 June 2022
9Samsudin Osman1 July 2022Present
Rector
1Muhammad M. Abdul Rauf19841989
2Abdul Hamid AbuSulayman19891998
3Mohd Kamal Hassan5 April 199831 May 2006
4Syed Arabi Idid1 June 20061 June 2011
5Zaleha Kamarudin2 August 201131 July 2018
6Dzulkifli Abdul Razak1 August 2018Present

Campus

IIUM is headquartered at a 700-acre (2.8 km²) campus at Gombak, Selangor and has six other campuses. Three of campuses are in Kuantan, Pahang, with the Centre for Foundation Studies situated at Gambang, medical-centric campus situated at Bandar Indera Mahkota and clinical campus situated near Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital. Two city campuses are located at Persiaran Duta and Jalan Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, and another campus is located at Bandar Universiti Pagoh, Johor.

Centres of studies

IIUM has 14 following faculties. Each of them is, in Arabic, called "Kulliyyah" ("Kulliyyat" in plural):

Academics

Usrah

IIUM is the only public university in Malaysia that requires all of its foundation and undergraduate students to attend Usrah, i.e. Islamic study circle held weekly for the purpose of social, spiritual and intellectual enhancement. Since the establishment of IIUM, Usrah has been a requirement for students to graduate from IIUM. Since 2014, a separate Usrah has been held at residential colleges in addition to centralised Usrah, which is also compulsory to intermediate undergraduate students living in campus.[14]

Achievements

Awards and recognition

In 2014, IIUM was ranked tenth out of 440 teams participated in the 35th World Universities Debating Championship.[15] In 2016, IIUM won the United Asian Debating Championship, the Australasian Intervarsity Debate Championship, and the Asian British Parliamentary Championship. In 2017, IIUM was made the runner-up of World Universities Arabic Debating Championship.[16]

In the field of research, IIUM have received recognition at regional and international level by winning gold, silver and bronze medals at exhibitions and expos, including PENCIPTA, INPEX, ITEX Geneva and KIPA.[17] IIUM entered the inaugural Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 (PGMC) when the University's entry, an electric powered Proton Saga BLM named "Smart Mobility" became the overall champion and also took "Farthest Distance" and "Fastest Two Laps Challenge" award.[18]

IIUM was involved in the creation of the Malaysian Shariah Index with collaboration from JAKIM and YADIM which Malaysia will be the first country in the world to adopt it.[19] The index will measure the compliance of eight fields – judiciary, politics, economics, health, education, culture, infrastructure and environment, and social – with “maqasid syariah”, or the intentions of Shariah. The Malaysian Shariah Index was officially launched by the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 10 February 2015.[20]

Notable alumni

See main article: article and List of International Islamic University Malaysia alumni.

IIUM has been known to be the most influential Islamic tertiary education institute in the country as well as one of the leading Islamic universities in the Muslim world.

Notable faculty members

Current faculty members

Former faculty members

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning . Seameo.org . 3 August 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150704033005/http://www.seameo.org/asaihl/ . 4 July 2015 . dmy-all .
  2. Web site: Member Search . 16 April 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121018102311/http://www.acu.ac.uk/institutions/search?code=MY . 18 October 2012 . dead .
  3. Web site: Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific - List of the Members Universities . Auap.sut.ac.th . 13 October 2008 . 3 August 2012 . 9 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110709220313/http://auap.sut.ac.th/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=82 . dead .
  4. http://www.fuiw.org/universities.php?l=1&p=1&cc=my
  5. Web site: Aiming to be premier Islamic university. https://web.archive.org/web/20110608150614/http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2007%2F11%2F30%2Fnation%2F19579717&sec=nation. dead. 8 June 2011. 30 November 2007. 7 December 2009. thestar.com.my. dmy-all.
  6. Ahmed . Muhammad . Ali . Syed Ahmad . 2020-06-30 . Establishing Brand Personality of an Islamic Institution: An Empirical Study on International Islamic University Malaysia . Jihat Ul Islam . en . 13 . 1 . 15–30 . 10.51506/jihat-ul-islam.v13i2.126 . 31 January 2024 . 2521-425X.
  7. Web site: History of International Islamic University Malaysia. 3 August 2014.
  8. News: Ibrahim. Ismail. UIAM lambang kecemerlangan Malaysia. 3 August 2014. Utusan Malaysia. 12 April 2001.
  9. Encyclopedia: Yusuf . Imtiyaz . Ismail Al Faruqi . Encyclopaedia of Islam . Fleet . Kate . Krämer . Gudrun . Matringe . Denis . Nawas . John . Rowson . Everett . 3 . Koninklijke Brill NV . 2022.
  10. News: Islamic university is first to practise new concept. The Straits Times. 2 January 1983. 5 March 2019. 6.
  11. News: Dr Mohd Daud Presiden Baharu UIAM. Md Khairudin. Mohd Khairul Anam. 11 July 2019. Berita Harian. 11 July 2019. ms-my.
  12. News: Raja Permaisuri Agong Ketua Perlembagaan UIAM baharu. 17 June 2019. Berita Harian. 17 June 2019. ms-my.
  13. News: After Maszlee, Islamic finance expert Daud Bakar is IIUM's new president. Choong. Jerry. 11 July 2019. Yahoo! News Singapore. 11 July 2019.
  14. Awang Marusin. Awang Abdul Muizz. 2018. The Practice of Usrah in Teaching and Learning: Case Study at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Proceedings of International Conference on the Future of Education 2018. Institute of Teacher Education, Tuanku Bainun Campus. Bukit Mertajam. 1–14. 30 July 2018. 30 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180730202652/http://www.ipgktb.edu.my/iconfed/Compilation%20of%20Paper%20IConFEd2018/FULL%20PAPER/BI/THEMES%20A/A01_Awang%20Abdul%20Muizz%20Awang%20Marusin.pdf. dead.
  15. Web site: IIUM debate team ranked 10th in World championship - Nation - The Star Online. www.thestar.com.my.
  16. News: UIAM Naib Juara Debat Bahasa Arab. Yop. Ridzuan. 13 April 2017. Berita Harian. 31 July 2018.
  17. Web site: Indah Water Konsortium ~ IWK . Web6.bernama.com . 3 August 2012 . 26 February 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120226103614/http://web6.bernama.com/client/iwk/news.php?id=241440 . dead .
  18. Web site: Proton Green Mobility Challenge: IIUM is overall champion, UMP and UTeM are runners-up. 10 October 2012.
  19. Web site: Shariah index proves Umno empowers Islam, says Najib – Bernama - the Malaysian Insider . 2015-02-10 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150210123340/http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/shariah-index-proves-umno-empowers-islam-says-najib-bernama . 10 February 2015 . dmy-all .
  20. Web site: Shariah Index good for non-Muslims too, PM says. 10 February 2015.