There is a vital omission in the higher centers of learning in all the Muslim countries, which has acutely distorted their system of education and needs to be rectified urgently. This brief article attempts to highlight the point.

While Judaic and Biblical studies have been part of the modern educational system of universities in the West for years, no university in the Muslim countries has cared to include Qur’anic Studies as an integral component of its educational system. The study of the Qur’an has remained confined to religious institutions which produce either Huffaz (those who commit the Qur’an to memory) or eminent scholars of Islamic jurisprudence. But the Qur’an has extremely wide perspective covering all facets of human life. The Qur’an encourages scientific research. It contains miraculous revelations pertaining to modern discoveries in diverse scientific fields, and its concepts of social justice, human welfare, equality and dignity of human beings, etc. were revolutionary in the 7th century A.D. and unparalleled in the annals of history.

Educational institutions in the Muslim countries, both secular and religious, have failed to visualize the integration of Qur’anic education with scientific education as it was in the early period of Islam which produced Muslim scientists of great brilliance.

This unnatural polarization of Qur’anic education from secular scientific education has markedly impeded the educational progress of the Islamic world. This has totally distorted the universality of the Qur’anic vision and confined it to a narrow highly restrictive dogmatic frame of rites and rituals. We must discard this narrow dogmatic and ritualistic outlook which breeds bigotry and fanaticism and restore to the Holy Qur’an, its liberal, compassionate, multidimensional and universal perspective as a divine source of guidance for the salvation of mankind till eternity. This is a most challenging task but extremely important if Islamic renaissance inspired by the Qur’anic vision has to be ushered in and if the Islamic world has to play a dynamic role in imparting a new vision and ethical perspective to the development of modem education in the 21st century.

The incorporation of the Qur’anic studies in the modem university system will impart new dynamism to modem education and give added impetus to scientific research in order to search for new resources as bounties of God for the benefit of mankind. It will temper the arrogance of science with divine touch which according to Dr. Leon Kass, chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics in USA, "has become so dangerous because it is a powerful force yet one that has been deliberately stripped of moral value by scientists who are trained to pursue the truth objectively — (as a result) science could threaten the human condition, both by undermining human self-esteem and by generating tools that might be misused, particularly by genetically reshaping the human mind and body" (New York Times-Science Times, March 19, 2002).

Modern education needs a strong dose of Qur’anic value system in order to stress the supreme authority of God, to stem "the undermining of human self-esteem" and to restore the primacy of human values so that science always stays as a tool for the progress and prosperity of mankind and prevent the enslavement of human beings from the tyranny of scientific tools in the name of objectivity. The sublimity of Qur’anic values will lend both sanity and sanctity to scientific research and will impart a profound human and ethical touch to modern education. This will correct the acute imbalance in our modern educational system.

The introduction of Qur’anic studies and the traditions of the Prophet (SAWS) in the modern schools, colleges and universities in the Muslim countries will produce a unique set of enlightened scholars who will be adequately equipped with modern, secular, scientific education and will be equally competent to appreciate the nuances of the Qur’anic injunctions, traditions of the Prophet (SAWS) and Islamic values. This dynamic Muslim intelligentsia that has fully imbibed the Qur’anic values and has received the best of modern, scientific and liberal education will provide a refreshing new perspective to the understanding of Islam in the modern context. These Muslim scholars coming out of the universities of the Muslim countries will present a realistic, liberal, tolerant, compassionate and peace-loving character of Islam as enjoined in the Qur’an. This compassionate and tolerant outlook of Islam was best exemplified by the Prophet (SAWS) and after him by the four rightly-guided caliphs. It is a historical fact that the second Caliph of Islam, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), by his generous implementation of the principles of Islam made it so attractive in the conquered lands in Persia, Iraq, Syria and Egypt that the people in these domains including the nobility voluntarily converted to Islam (see Thomas Arnold: Peaceful Spread of Islam; and Shibli Nomani: Al-Farooq (in Urdu) English translation by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan). It is this liberal, tolerant, compassionate Islam of Umar, which will firmly establish its relevance in the modern context while fully conforming to the basic values enjoined in the Qur’an. This intellectually vibrant Islam, which stands for peace, progress, prosperity and unity of mankind, equality of human rights and total justice without discrimination and which steadfastly eliminates corruption and exploitation of the meek by the mighty, will stand out prominently only if Qur’anic education is harmoniously blended with the modern scientific education and becomes an integral component of the modern educational system in all the Muslim countries.