Quella che
pubblichiamo in questa pagina è la presentazione
dell'Università Islamica di Omdurman, così come esposta
in un opuscolo pubblicato dall'Università stessa. Il
documento non riporta alcuna data o elemento utile alla
sua datazione e attribuzione. Si tratta, comunque, della traduzione
ufficiale di un prospetto redatto dal Planning and
Information Office dell'Università, stampato
probabilmente nel 1975. Copia del documento è conservata
presso la biblioteca della Curia Generalizia dei
Missionari Comboniani di Roma, miscellanea Sudan,
cartella educazione.
The Omdurman Islamic University
This university had its roots in
the religious institute of Omdurman which was founded in
the year 1912 to propagate Islam, to disseminate
Islamic teachings, to preserve Islamic creed and to guard
the heritage of our country, in addition to its greater
message, which crystalised in spreading the Arabic
tradition and language in Africa and deepening the
doctrines of that heritage. Since then this institution
took upon itself to carry that message, in harmony with
its strategic position that characterizes Sudan
geographically. But it could not find the path paved
easlier [sic] during the colonial administration which
regarded this institution as a menace for its being a
source of Islamic enlightenment for the people of the
area. Hence, obstacles were put on its way and nothing
was offered to help it grow and develop.
Despite those unfavourable circumstances, the institution
continued to resist and carry its message, and on the
whole helped to graduate a group of learned men,
propagators, judges, men of letters and teachers of
language in dissmenting [sic, disseminate?] the doctrines
of Islam as well as establishing the fundamentals of
Arabic language inside and outside the Sudan.
At the dawn of the national rule, the institution
experienced a sense of release and went on the path of
growth and development until it took the shape of
university in 1965, and at last its new Act came into
force in accordance with the Provisional Order of 1975
dated November 1, 1975. The Republican Resolution
determines its message and functions according to the
following:
Objectives of the University
1. The university shall develop the Sudanese identity
and character on the basis of the study of Arabic and
Islamic heritage and shall thereby enrich the Sudanese
life by the characteristic spirit of Arabic and Islamic
civilization and implement the characteristic of the
civilization for the benefit of the Sudanese society.
2. The university shall teach its students in such a manner, to help them shoulder any responsibility concerning, Arabic language, religion, law and administration according to the role prescribed by the National council.
3. The university shall carry academic research and involve itself in the investigation and solutions of the social problems within the framework of the state policy and the Islamic spirit which caters for the needs of the society.
4. The university shall promote, within the programmes [sic] of the state, the movements for spreading and reviving the Islamic traditions in the African continent and shall cooperate with organizations with similar purposes.
All the colleges and the
departments of the university are estabilished on Islamic
foundations and the true Islamic spirit and teachings,
and work ro rectify the false concepts spread by the
enemies of Islam. All that will be accomplished in a
rigorous religious atmosphere and a solid basis clearly
and consciously open to contemporary cultures with
the objective of comparing and demonstrating the virtues
and positive merits of Islam and its ability to face the
challenges of the age in the fields of thought, faith,
legislation, law economics, politics, sociology,
education, communication and administration, and all
other challenges that face the Islamic society today. In
all this, the university aims at creating a cadre of
youths with a right sense of Islam, deeply believing in
his religion, confident of himself, fully related to his
land, respectful of his tradition, proud of his past and
working for his civilization and future...
In fact, Islam is a comprehensive way of life that can
face all the problems of humanity and can suggest the
ways and means for solving them. It encourages
intellectual pursuits, respects freedom of thought, lays
the solid foundation for justice, equality, freedom of
the individual and society so that the people may achieve
temporal and spiritual welfare.
It is a register of culture and civilization, comprising
manners and ethics and a reservoir of ideals and values
implementing all the afore mentioned principles and
functions, the university has established four Faculties
which are as follows:
It consists of the following departments
(A) Department of guidance and Islamic
education
It aims at preparing scholars specializing in creed and
the branches of Sharia so that they may carry the message
of Islam and teach Islamic subjects and spread the true
religious education among pupils and students in
different stages and general education. It also prepares
distinguished students for the pursuit of higher
education so that they may become the members of the
staff of different universities, and hence take part in
spreading and developing Islamic thought in its different
fields.
(B) Personal laws department
This is based on legislation concerning the Islamic
Personal Laws with comparative study in addition to other
Islamic studies. It qualifies its graduates to work in
the field of administration of Justice.
(C) Department of Islamic thought and
mission
This Department prepares students to carry the Islamic
mission in a highly scientific and technical standard
that may enable them to face the opposing intellectual
and ideological challanges of Islam. It also aims to
equipping its students with the modern ways and means of
arguments and pursuation and with an objective
methodology fo spread Islam.
(2) Faculty of Social Sciences
This faculty includes:
(A) Department of Islamic law and legal
studies
This department equips its students with a number of
temporal laws for the papers of the comparative study of
sharia that may enable them to have a broader view of
Islamic law and the application of Sharia. This may lead
ultimately to the unification of laws on the basis of
Sharia as in the case of man [y?] Islamic countries. The
Department also qualifies its students to join the bar.
(B) Department of economic and
political science
Islam gives equal weight to the spiritual and material
aspects of life since it is an [?] maintains equilibrium
of the both between both sides.
For this reason, the Islamic university of Omdurman has
taken upon itself the task of satisfaying the spiritual
aspects of the students by offering wide range of
religious studies that reveal the mystries of the Sharia
and the Divine laws ordained for the benefit of humanity.
It also aims at students becoming aware of Islam's
concern with the material aspects of life in a way that
brings wellbeing and happiness to the individual and
society. In the study of the material aspect of life, the
university has decided not to confine itself merely to
the Islamic viewpoint but also to take into consideration
other intellectual trends which are adopted occured in
the East and the West so that the students may be able to
discriminate between what is right and what is wrong in
these trends. For this purpose, the Department of
Economics and political Science has been estabilished to
qualify students in this field. These students have
combined pure Islamic culture and modern economic system
and thus are able to develop Islamic thought and defend
objectively and logically the Islamic Economic system.
So, this Department will not be a duplication of the
traditional departments of economics in the universities
but will bear a special distinguishing Islamic character.
Its aim will be a deep study of Islamic Economic system
in comparison with other contemporary economic systems.
The Department of Political Science is basically
concerned with Islamic political system and an analysis
of the principles of politics and government in the light
of the Quran and Sunna. The students of this Department
study the different political theories and systems like
students of other universities beside their Islamic
political studies.
It is no doubt that politics and economics play a vital
role in human life regarding individual and society. The
university aims at producing Islamic elements in the
society that play a vital role in the various field of
the development and progress of the country.
(C) Department of administrative
sciences
This Department aims at qualifying students specializing
in Business Administration and Public Administration in a
new manner which is largely dictated by Islam so that
graduates are properly equipped for honest competition
and concientious [sic] direction and supervision of
corporations and factories that may help in the
provisions of enlightened leadership founded on knowledge
and Islamic morality.
(D) Department of social and
philosophical studies
This Department aims at acquianting students of Islamic
culture with the Preoccupations of human sociology and
its religious, moral, political, economic and educational
aspects and so on. Studies in this Department are largely
devoted to the classification of Islamic systems and
concepts with a comparative study of other systems and
revelaing its superiority, and it's better realization of
the requirements for positive achievements.
This Department qualifies its graduates for service in
the fields of social work and social guidance and in
schools, educational institutes, public hospitals,
factories, sporting clubs etc. In this manner it helps in
the solution of social problems of the individuals and
workers in the fields as well as the families that are
confronted with social and economic problems. All this is
accomplished within a framework of scientific study of
the present situations and circumstances.
The philosophical studies in this Department are largely
concerned with revealing the bright aspects of the
Islamic Philosophy and the originality of Islamic thought
in the light of ancient and modern philosophical systems
and theories.
(3) Faculty
of Arts
(A) Department of Arabic Language and
Literature
There is no doubt that language and literature are
organically connected with Islam and without them it
becomes difficult for the Muslims to have a proper
understanding of Islam because it is in Arabic that the
Holy Quran was revealed and the Sunna was formulated.
When Islam was spreading the Truth on earth the Arabic
language was its means and media. It superseded the
languages of the nations that Islam embraced, and Muslims
in different parts of the world with different tongues
had to learn Arabic and study its literature in order to
gain a better understanding of the spirit of Islam.
The Department of Arabic language and literature aims at
achieving these ends. It also aims at encouraging study
of and research in Arabic Islamic culture and classifying
the qualities of this culture and the positive human
traditions contained in the message of Islam.
It instils the spirit of the Islamic traditions in
its students so that they are able to lay the basis of
Islamic renaissance on scientific basis and deeprooted
knowledge.
(B) Department of history and Islamic
civilization
This Department is concerned with the study
of ancient and modern history in general but it gives
special concern to the study of Islamic History and
civilization in different ages ie from the the dawn of
Islam to the present time and reveals the bright aspects
of Arabic civilization.
The Arab Muslim scholars translated the ancient Greek
thought into Arabic and were pioneers in the fields of
medicine, chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics and
sociology, and added new rich strains and dimensions to
human thought that the modern civilization made the best
use of. The Arabic thought that was translated by the
Western scholars was the solid basis on which the modern
civilization and the modern theories, that developed
science, were based on.
The Department is also greatly concerned with the study
of the conditions of the Arabic and Islamic people in the
different ages and their political, economic, cultural
and social aspects. The Department aims by these studies
at inculcating a sense of pride and honour about the rich
heritage of the Arabic and Islamic nation in the students
of the university in general and the graduates of this
Department in particular. So, they may spread awareness
of Islamic history and civilization in youths by throwing
light on the grandeur of Arabic and Islamic nation and
showing the rare examples of sacrifice, heroism and
qualities of strength that have prevailed since the days
of the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.S.) and the rightly Guided
Caliphs and especially during the Abbasite period and the
Arab rule in the Andalus.
The Department is also concerned with the history of the
colonialism in the Arabic and Islamic lands and its
viciousness persecution and corruption of faith and
conscience especially in the African countries.
Thus the Black History of colonialism is always present
before the present and future generations of the Arabic
and Islamic nation after this nation has gained its
independence and freedom so that the nation is cautious
not to fall again in the trap of the Old colonialism in
its frankly ugly aspect or the new masked colonialism
that aims at stealthy infililtration [sic ]
and thus gaining economic and cultural power over
newly-liberated countries walking the path of economic
and social progress.
(C) Department of Journalism and
information
Means of communication have an immense role at the
present time in recreation, direction, enlightenment,
formation of public opinion expressing the attitudes of
people and their demands, and tackling of national and
international problems. Again the manner these means are
conducted in contacting the people has a marked influence
on public welfare, morals, international relations and
world peace. For this reason all modern countries and the
international organization the United Nations lay great
emphasis on the means of information so that it can carry
effectively its message on the national and international
fields and in a way that provides a sense of peace and
security among all people and preserve good relations
among nations.
The Department of Journalism and information in the
Omdurman Islamic University is the first of its kind in
the Sudan and third in the Arab World after the
department of Journalism in the Cairo University and its
counterpart in Baghdad.
The establishment of this Department is called for by the
necessity of developing Journalism, news agencies, mass
media in general, public relations and advertisement in
the Sudan and raising the cultural, technical and
professional standards of the workers in this field.
The students are provided with Islamic culture and guided
by a true and pure religious spirit so that they carry on
their sublime social message in the field of information.
The guidance and direction of public opinion and preserve
the moral and social values of their society and the good
Arabic and Islamic tradition and stands solidly against
enthusiasm and moral social corruption which are
spreading in the non Muslim societies and which are the
products of the materialist Western civilization and
submissive ideologies and the contact with and the
uncritical imitation of these societies.
The Department aims at acquainting its students with the
ethics of the profession of Journalism so that this
profession is always in the service of society, country
and international peace according to the journalistic
code of honour [sic] prescribed by the Freedom of
Information committee affliated [sic] to the committee of
Human Rights in the United Nations, so that the
profession of journalism is not used for personal profits
of illegal fortune - making at the dear cost of
forfeiting resonable [sic] moral and social standards in
disturbing peaceful relation among nations, thus paving
the way for war.
The establishment of the Department was also a result of
the recommendation of Arab and International conferences
that emphasize the need for providing a high, cultural,
technical and moral qualifications for those working in
the field of journalism and other mass media so that they
can carry efficiently and effectively their social,
national and humanistic message.
(D) Department of documentation and
libraries
The library plays a vital role in the field of education
and culture for all segments of society. The official
documentation centres [sic] also offer a great service to
researchers and historians.
Librarianship has become an independent science with its
rules and styles and it is taught in the great
universities of the world. Hence the Islamic university
of Omdurman has given this new science a spcial attention
and established a special department for it - the
Department of Documentation and librarianship - to be in
service of the Sudanese library. The Department qualifies
specialists in the management of national, public and
specialized libraries according to the modern library
rules. It also qualifies specialists in management of
national and historical documentation centres in a manner
that make them useful and of easy access to researchers.
The Department also aims at developing the Arabic and
Islamic library until it reaches the standard of the
public library in the developed countries.
It is important to note that the specialists in this
Department of the university are qualified in Islamic
culture and regard it their primary mission to guard and
disseminate it. It is also significant to learn that this
Department is the second of its kind in the Arab
countries being preceeded [sic] by the Department
of Documentation and libraries in the Faculty of Arts at
the University of Cairo.
(4) Girl's
College
This is the first university college of its kind in the
Sudan. It was founded to cater for the needs of the
Sudanese Society and to graduate a generation of girls of
highly Islamic culture and who have received a high
degree of modern culture indispensable to the modern
woman who is to play a leading role in the Islamic
societies and the Islamic families in a way that
guarantee the bringing up of good youth of both sexes and
wards off the corruption resulting from the foreign
inlelluctual [sic] currents disagreeing with the
Righteous Religion.
The college consists of the following Departments.
1. Department of Islamic studies
2. Department of Arabic language and literature
3. Department of social service
4. Department of Education and home Economics
5. Department of journalism
6. Department of libraries
The first two departments are similar to the department
of sharia and law in the Faculty of Islamic studies, and
the Department of Arabic language and literature in the
Faculty of Arts, previously described.
The third department - the Department of social service -
is similar, too, to the department of Social studies in
the faculty of Arts but aims essentially to graduate
Muslim girls specialized in the field of social service,
childhood and old age care and generally the solution of
family and social problems. The Department is concerned
with practical as well as theoretical study.
The fourth department - Department of Home Economics -
aims at graduating the Muslim Girl that would be
the future good housewife who can give good care to her
family - and consequently to society - good happiness.
The other two departments are similar to their
counterparts in the Faculty of Arts, previously decribed.
Conditions for Admission to the
University
1) The applicant
to the Islamic University of Omdurman should have this
University as his first or at least second choice.
2) Considerable attention will be given to all reports
about student.
3) The University also interviews each applicant, before
completing the final requirements for admission, to
ensure the student's aptitude and capability for study in
it.
4) In general the applicant must meet one of the
following conditions:
a) The applicant must have
the Sudanese Certificate or its equivalent, with an
average of credit in five subjects taken in the same
year. Islamic religion and Arabic Language should be
among these subjects. The applicant should also have at
least a pass in the required European Language (English
or French).
b) If the applicant is a graduate of the Omdurman High
Secondary Religion Institute, he must have the Ahlia High
Secondary Certificate with an average of at least 50%.
c) If the applicant is one of those who has committed the
Quran at his memory, he must have a pass in either one of
the above mentioned Certificates as well as a pass in the
examination of the memory of the Quran.
Non Sudanese students
A non Sudanese
student wishing to join the Islamic University of
Omdurman must fulfil one of the following conditions:
(a) Having one of the
Certificates mentioned in 4 - (a) or its equivalent
subject to the condition that is evaluated by the joint
admission committee.
(b) Having one of the Certificate mentioned in 4 - (b)
condition that certificates are evaluated by a Committee
appointed by the Vice-Chancellor.
(c) If the applicant in one of those having committed the
Quran to his memory, he must have at least a pass in one
of the certificate mentioned in 4-(c) or its equivalent
as well as a pass in the examination of the memory of the
Quran.
Non Sudanese students
joining the University should have a scholarship from:
1) The applicant's Government.
2) Sudan Government.
3) Islamic University of Omdurman.
4) Any other foundation.
Conditions for admissions to
faculties
1. Faculty of Islamic Studies
Admission to this faculty depends on passing the
following competition:
1) Subject of competition in the Higher Secondary
Certificate
a) Islamic Education
b) Arabic Language
c) The European language - Elementary or Additional
Mathematics Geography - History
2. Subject of competition in the Ahlia Certificate:
a) Commentary of the Quran or Hadith
b) Islamic Law of Islamic Creed
c) Arabic Grammar or Rethorics
3. Subjects of competition in the Technical Certificate
a) Islamic Education
b) Arabic Language
c) Elementary or Additional Mathematics. The European
Language
2. Faculty of Social Studies
Admission to this faculty depends on passing the
following competition:
1) Subject of competition:
a) Islamic Education
b) Arabic Language
c) Elementary or Additional Mathematics, the European
Language
2. Subjects of competition in the Ahlia Certificate
a) Commentary or the Arabic Language (Grammar Etymology)
b) Monotheism or Islamic Law
c) Elementary Mathematics or History
3. Subjects of competition in the High Technical
Certificate
a) Islamic Education
b) Arabic Language
c) Elementary Mathematics - Economics or Commerce. The
European Language
3. Faculty of Arts
1. Subjects of competition in the High Secondary
Certificate
a) Arabic Language
b) Geography or History
c) Islamic Education - The European Language - Elementary
Mathematics.
2. Subjects of competition in the Ahlia Certificate
a) Arabic Grammar or Rethoric
b) Commentary or Montheism
c) Literature or History
3. Subjects of competition in the High Technical
Certificate
a) Islamic Education
b) Arabic Language
c) Elementary Science - Elementary Mathematics, History.
4. Islamic College for Girls
Admission to this college depends on passing the
competition in the following subjects:
a) Islamic Education
b) Arabic Language
c) English Language
Chemistry
Biology
Mathematics
History
Geography or one of the following subjects of the female
Technical Certificate
Costumes and Technological
Textile
Artistic Design of clothes
Costume Design
Service offered by the University
to students
The Omdurman
Islamic University takes care of the social, educational,
health, and sports affairs of the students on scientific
basis and applying the recent theories appropriate to
their society and making use of local and external
experience subjecting each experience to a careful study
in order to remove what is negative and preserve the
positive. The University pays special care to Muslim
students from Arab, African, Asian, European and American
countries in order to alleviate the feeling of
homesickness.
It also arranges for them orientation programms that
acquaint them with the Sudanese Societies and give them
the idea of the development the country is undergoing.
The student's affairs, welfare and training is supervised
by a member of the staff of the university appointed by
the Dean of students whose primary task is to provide
students with all the possible means of comfort that
enable them to pursue their studies with ease and care.
1. Accomodation
In order to provide the proper atmosphere for study the
university rents for its students proper houses and
provide transportation from the house to the university
and vice versa...
It spends much money and exerts great effort to provide
comfort for the Students. It takes special account of the
hygienic and social aspects of housing providing each
house with the furniture the students need.
Women students receive no less attention if not more. The
university accomodates all regular women students in one
housing compound (hostels) supervised by resident female
supervisors whose primary task is to provide comfort and
care for the students and the necessary atmosphere for
study. The university also provide these hostels with
necessary furniture, means of recreation and a special
library.
The women student's hostels are distinguished from the
men student's houses by its position of free food in all
meals.
2. Student financial aid
The university grants its students a monthly financial
aid. The Sudanese student receives twenty pounds monthly,
the non - Sudanese twenty two pounds. Two woman student
does not receive financial aid but the university
provides for all her needs though some women students
receive financial aid to help them meet individual needs.
3. Health service
The University has a developed health unit supervised by
a specialist doctor, a medical assistant, orderlies and
nurses. The unit provides free health care and
medical needs. Student's medical care is not restricted
to this unit but the unit makes it possible for the
student to make use of all the medical services suitable
in the country.
4. Sport activities
Sports activities form an organic part of the university
curriculum. Hence they are given special care by the
university and great effort is made to establish sports
relations between the university and all the people and
organisations [sic] concerned with sports inside and
outside the country. Sports delegations are sent to take
part in sports festivals and conferences in Arab,
Islamic, African and other countries. The university also
organises [sic] internal competitions in all sorts of
sports to discover the talented and the gifted sportsman
that can represent the university in national and
international competitions. Examples of sports activities
practised currently in the university are:
Football, Basketball, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Swimming,
Racing and body building.
All these activities are conducted by male and female
coaches supervised by the university staff members.
The University Library
The university is
currently supplying its library with a great number of
Arabic and foreign scholarly references in different
specialization connected with studies in the university
in addition to scholarly peridicals and encyclopedias.
The university library contains at present 70000 volumes
in different specialization. There is also a
special library for the Girl's college situated in an
appropriate place in the buildings of the college and
hostels so that women students may have a chance of using
it in the evening as well as during class hours. This
library contains at present about 2000 volumes in all
branches of knowledge in Arabic and foreign language and
will expand in the future. The libraries are classified
according tot he modified numerical system. The
university is making effort to establish a visual and
auditory library as well as a language laboratory. It is
also making effort to supply the library with recordings
of the Holy Quran, lessons in European and African
languages, lectures as well as educational films and
microfilms. All these will be added to both the men's and
women's student central libraries.
The library is currently being organised [sic] according
to the most recent scientific and technical style under
the supervision of an expert in librarianship of a high
university standing.
The project of the university
building
Maps of the University buildings were made by an
international architect ten years ago but they have been
re-evaluated and reorganised [sic] in accordance with the
new circumstances of the university. The university
administration has chosen a suitable site for a
university city south of Omdurman by the Bank of the
white Nile. This city contains the administration,
faculties, library, sports compound, the hostels and
staff quarters. A large area has been reserved for the
eminent expansion of the university that will enable the
university to carry on its sublime message.
The University is determined to make this project a
reality which costs thirteen million pounds - huge sum
that requires concentrated efforts between official and
popular authority and the Arabic and Islamic people to
make available. It is unfortunate that the problem of
buildings should stand as an obstacle in realizing the
university aims and effectiveness nationally and
internationally. The details of the cost of the buildings
which will be created with God's help, are as follows: