7.1 Goals of higher education

i) To focus and deepen the higher education students’ Islamic personality, that the stage of school education should have built completely, and raise this personality to become a leader who guards and serves the Ummah’s vital issues i.e. the issues that Islam requires Muslims to adopt as matters of life and death. In the absence of Islam’s application as a ruling system in life, the vital issue for Muslims is to establish the Khilafah and rule by what Allah revealed. Whereas when the Khilafah exists, the vital issue is preserving the Khilafah State, and to keep Islam alive and implemented in the Ummah, and to carry the Da’wah to the world, and confront threats to the Ummah’s unity and State. The Islamic culture that serves the vital issues must continuously be taught to higher education students irrespective of their chosen options, in order to preserve the vital issues’ vitality and focus within the Ummah’s mind and emotions (wojdaan). This is in addition to the depth and specialisation in studying Islamic culture in all its branches such as fiqh, tafseer, Usul etc in order to produce the required scholars, mujtahideen, leaders, intellectuals, judges, jurisprudents (fuqaha) etc until the Ummah exclusively flourishes, implements, preserves and carries Islam alone to the whole world via jihad. He (SAW) said:

صنفان من الناس إذا صلحا صلح الناس وإذا فسدا فسد الناس: العلماء «

» والأمراء

“Two types of people who, if they are righteous, the people are righteous and if they are corrupt, the people are corrupt: The scholars and rulers” (Narrated by Abu Nu’aim in ‘Al-Hulya’).

And he (SAW) said:

لا تَسْألَُونِي عَنِ الشَّ ر وَاسْألَُونِي عَنِ الْخَيْرِ يَقُولُهَا ثَلاثًا ثُمَّ ق الَ أَلا إِنَّ شَ رَّ «

» الشَّ  ر شِرَارُ الْعُلَمَاءِ وَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الْخَيْرِ خِيَارُ الْعُلَمَاءِ

“Do not ask me about evil but ask me about good’, saying it thrice. He said: ‘The worst of evil is the evil scholars, and the best of good is good scholars’” (Narrated by Ad-Darimi in the book ‘Al-Muqaddimah’).

Great care must be taken to produce the best of scholars.

ii) To produce a task force able to serve the Ummah’s vital interests, as well as a task force able to draw short-term and long-term (strategic) plans. Vital interests are those interests whose loss threatens the Ummah’s life e.g. a strong army able to protect the Ummah, defend its interests and pre-emptively attack the disbelievers in order to carry the Islamic message to them. Among the Ummah’s vital interests is securing essential needs like water, food, accommodation, security and health care. Higher education should produce researchers capable, both theoretically and practically, to innovate advanced means and styles in the fields of agriculture, water, security and other vital interests enabling the Ummah to continue to control its own affairs according to its own vision and self-sufficiently. This is done by avoiding falling under the influence of disbelieving state(s) because of an interest.

He Ta’ala said:

﴿وَلَنْ يََْعَلَ اللََُّّ ليلْكَافييرينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْيمنيينَ سَبييلَ ﴾

“never will Allah give the disbelievers over the believers a way [to overcome them].” [An-Nisa’: 141]

Higher education should also produce political and scientific personnel able to present special studies and proposals to take care of the Ummah’s vital interests, with particular emphasis on drawing long-term (strategic) plans necessary for the Khilafah State to serve these interests.

iii) Preparing the necessary task force to take care of the Ummah’s affairs with respect to judges, jurisprudents, doctors, engineers, teachers, translators, managers, accountants, nurses etc. Just as the State is obliged to properly implement the Islamic rules in transactions and the penal code (‘uqoobaat), it is similarly obliged to secure the Ummah’s daily needs with respect to roads, hospitals, schools etc. Studying these specializations is a duty of sufficiency (kifaya) upon the Ummah, and the State must achieve this according to the Shari’ah.

Superior Economic Model : Islamic System