Muslims need to implement Islamic education system
Muslims need to implement Islamic education system
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The chairman of the Muhammadiyah Muslim
Organization, Ahmad Syafii Maarif, said here on Saturday Muslims
had yet to succeed in implementing an Islamic education based on
the Koran.
Speaking at the Second International Conference on Islamic
Education and Economic Institutions, held at the Natour Garuda
Hotel in Yogyakarta, he said Muslims around the world had not yet
been able to devise an education system that could produce human
resources as required by the Koran.
"The philosophy of the current education system looks as if it
is based on the Koran, but in actuality it is not," he said.
Inferior education among Muslims around the world has resulted
in inferior human resources, he said. "The Muslim population in
the world, about some 1.2 billion, is just big in the quantity,
not quality."
The most effective way to resolve this problem, he said, was
through education based on religion. "That way we could avoid
losing our originality (by using the Koran as the basis)," he
said.
Syafii also said Muslim intellectuals were badly needed to
deal with the challenges of the future.
He expressed his concern that Indonesia, with the largest
Muslim population in the world, had been too pliant in the face
of Western pressure. "Iraq, for example, with a much smaller
population, was able to say no to them (Western countries)
although they had to face an economic embargo because of it."
The conference opened on Saturday evening, attended by some
300 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and
Saudi Arabia.
The event ended on Sunday with a call for all Islamic
universities and institutions across Indonesia to help establish
more professional syariah banks in the country.
Participating delegations also recommended that Islamic
education and economic institutions strengthen cooperation and
network among themselves in developing an educational system
which is based on Islamic principles. (swa/edt)