Resolution of the International Seminar on Religious Curricula in the Muslim World

DATE: 6TH-8TH SEPTEMBER 2005

1. Call upon Sincere and dedicated Researchers and Research Centres in the Muslim world to Undertaking serious studies to reform the religious curricula in the Muslim world, so as to achieve a comprehensive reform of the religious education.

2. Call upon Educational Institutions in the Muslim world to seriously Review the religious curricula in the schools, colleges, higher institutes and universities in the Muslim world in order to improve the quality of objectives, contents and methods to meet the challenges of the contemporary world.

3. Call upon Governments and Policy-makers in the Muslim to abolish the concept of duality in the educational system and the replace with a balanced and integrated educational system. This proposed system should be based on a conducive and comprehensive integration and marriage between religious knowledge and sciences and between sciences and values.

4. Call upon Governments and Private Institutions in the Muslim world to protect the contents and methods of teaching of religious teaching from all elements of extremisms, fanaticism, terrorism, thus these acts and all forms of violence are considered as un-Islamic and very inhuman in their nature.

5. The contents and methods of teaching religious curricula shall always be subject for improvement, reform, evaluation and comprehensive review in light of the changes in the world.

6. The primary sources of Islam such as Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet shall be well catered for in all levels of teachings, and there shall be no focus on differences of ideological and jurisprudential schools in the religious curricula.

7. Relentless efforts and continued campaigns through conferences, symposia and workshops must be exerted to correct the incorrect assumptions that claim necessary co-relation between religious curricula and international terrorism in the world. Thus the true teachings of Islam condemn all forms of violence and hatred among members of the world community.

8. Call upon Educational Institutions in the Muslim world to clean and exclude the religious curricula from all contents and methods that strengthen and lead to disunity and disharmony among Muslims.

9. Call upon Institutions of Learning and Education in the world to clean and exclude the methods of teaching the religious curricula from all methods that reject followers of other faiths and religions, oppose the freedom of expression, and promote hatred and divisiveness and acts of violence and terrorism against innocents, properties.

10. The methods of teaching the religious curricula should be based on promoting and respecting freedom of opinion and religion, freedom of express and right of disagreement, right of others in living in peace and security with their faiths and styles.

11. The contents of the religious curricula should include new concepts and issues such as human development, human rights, women’s rights, civilisational dialogue, freedom of express, freedom of religion and freedom of thinking positively.

12. There is a need to support all scientific and practical means leading to the closing the gabs between the contents of the religious curricula in the Muslim world so as to achieve a unified understanding and look at the basic issues of the Ummah.

13. The Muslim countries should share and emulate the experiences of sister countries that have successfully undertaken positive changes and reforms to their religious curricula.

14. All organizations and institutions engaged in the field of education or in attempts to spread the spirit of moderation, tolerance, cooperation, dialogue and acceptance of the other, must be supported and encouraged.

15. Educational institutions in the Muslim countries must make use of information and communication technology to assist and help in the diffusion of the spirit of moderation and peaceful coexistence between Muslim and the rest of the world.

16. The is a need to strengthen the status of the Quranic language in the religious curricula in order to equip the students with stronger and better understanding the primary sources of Islam and its essences.

17. The scientific miracles of the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet must be taught in order to show the strong relationship between scientific discoveries and contents of the Holy Qur’an so as this will encourage learning all branches of science.

18. Call upon religious educations institutions to teach modern languages to the students in order to enable to have better cooperation and communication between Muslim world and other world as well as the challenges and prospects of Globalisation, Modernity, and Post-Modernity.

19. Call upon Educational Institutions to have positive utilization of modern and advanced technology for teaching and imparting religious knowledge.

20. Putting forth a suggestion to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to hold an international conference on the issue of religious education.

21. The proceedings and resolutions of this Seminar must be circulated to all educational institutions in the Muslim world for further improvement and reform of religious curricula.