EDUCATION AND SCIENCE IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

In seeking to live successfully in the modern world, in independence and

according to Islamic principles, Muslim countries have been emphasizing a

great deal the significance of the role of education and the importance of

mastering Western science and technology. Already in the 19th century,

certain Muslim countries such as Egypt, Ottoman Turkey and Persia

established institutions of higher learning where the modern sciences and

especially medicine were taught. During this century educational

institutions at all levels have poliferated throughout the Islamic world.

Nearly every science ranging from mathematics to biology as well as

various fields of modern technology are taught in these institutions and

some notable scientists have been produced by the Islamic world, men and

women who have often combined education in these institutions with

training in the West.

In various part of the Islamic world there is, however, a sense that

educational institutions must be expanded and also have their standards

improved to the level of the best institutions in the world in various fields

of learning especially science and technology. At the same time there is an

awareness that the educational system must be based totally on Islamic

principles and the influence of alien cultural and ethical values and norms,

to the extent that they are negative, be diminished. To remedy this problem

a number of international Islamic educational conferences have been held,

the first one in Makkah in 19tt, and the foremost thinkers of the Islamic

world have been brought together to study and ponder over the question of

the relation between Islam and modern science. This is an ongoing process

which is at the center of attention in many part of the Islamic world and

which indicates the significance of educational questions in the Islamic

world today.