KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today officiated the closing ceremony of the International Conference on AbdulHamid AbuSulayman: His Contributions to Intellectual and Education Reform at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in Gombak near here today.
His presence at the event was as an appreciation to the struggles of the late Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr AbdulHamid AbuSulayman in dignifying education and Muslim innovation and a recognition of his (AbdulHamid) role as IIUM’s second rector from 1988 to 1998.
“AbdulHamid, is of course known as a man with passion in wanting to affect change... That is why I popularised this ‘asmatul aqal’ because that is the crisis of the Muslim mind and it is considered to be together as ‘islah al-fiqh’,” he said during his closing speech at the event.
Also present were AbdulHamid’s daughter, Muna AbuSulayman, IIUM rector Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dzulkifli Abdul Razak and IIUM International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) president Dr Hisham Altalib.
The two-day conference that kicked off yesterday was attended by 300 participants from various countries and highlighted eight discussion themes related to issues in the world of Islamic-based education as well as AbdulHamid’s influence and character.
It was organised by IIUM’s International Institute for Muslim Unity in collaboration with IIIT and FairFax University of America.
At the same event, Anwar also launched four books covering matters related to transformation in the world of education, family and culture and a comparison of Eastern and Western thinkers on philosophies.
The books are “Bringing Higher Education to a Greater Height: A Festschrift in Honour of AbdulHamid AbuSulayman”; “Sixty Years between East and West: Planning, Perseverance and Implementation”; “Bias in Popular Culture: The Power of Visual and Linguistic Narratives” and “Parent-Child Relations a Guide to Raising Children”. - Bernama