Don Urges FG To Restore Islamic Studies As Core Subject In Schools
Lekan Paul
Posted On Nov 12, 2017
A Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Ilorin, Yahya Oyewole Imam, has appealed to the federal government to embark on legislation that will ensure that Islamic Studies is restored to its original status of being a core subject in schools across the country.
Imam said this while delivering the 175th Inaugural Lecture of the University, describing Islamic Studies as the subject of God and humanity.
The don who commended the federal government for giving Islamic studies a full-fledged status in the curriculum noted that, “this will go a long way in instilling appropriate morality in the youth and help them grow to become useful adults that will take the country out of the several immoralities that have enveloped it.”
While asserting that Islamic studies and those who study it have experienced one form of dislike, mockery or the other, the Inaugural Lecturer maintained that, “Quite a number of successful Islamists
today, yesterday had low estimation of themselves and felt inferior to their peers as we already stated.”
He further stressed that, “A few others have also relegated the subject to the background and treated those who choose it as a career with disdain. Despite this negative attitude, it has been demonstrated in this presentation that Islamic studies confers spiritual and mundane benefits to those who acquire it.
“Spiritually, it provides a correct understanding of Islam to those who acquire it and leads them to its proper practice. In the mundane sense, taking a career in Islamic studies provides meal ticket and helps to address numerous problems facing the society through researches that recommend Islamic solutions to those problems.
“Such competence has been acquired through critical and creative thinking skills that training in different subject areas of Islamic studies have inculcated in those who acquire it. Given these benefits that Islamic studies can confer on the individuals and the society, it will not be out of place to state that it is a discipline dedicated not only to the service of God but also to humanity.”
