AICIS: the closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was quite similar to the opening event. It was more modest, but there were again local dances, choirs. There was no minister, but Dr Kamaruddin Amin, head of the directorate for Islamic Higher education delivered the formal speech, besides some other. One vice-rector of the Jakarta UIN had a sublime comic performance switching easily between Indonesian, Arabic and English.

Above a very lively and joyful dance of men and women around a spectacular attractive leading lady. Below a more sober (so also more 'Islamic') dance. New clothes, good harmony between the members of the group.

Only a restricted number of visitors received reimbursement of travel cost and hotel lodging from the ministry. Quite a few received support from their local institutions. The fifteen best presentations in the panels received 15 million (about € 1000), a nice sum for these young scholars.
The tallest man in the row below , on the right side of me, is Madjid Fauzi Abu Gazali from Jordan, where he is the representative, leader of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). He spoke only few English, but he had the habit of speaking very clear and slow Arabic with the participants. At various moments there was a debate about the proper method to renew Islamic thinking. The IIIT method was considered by many as contra-productive. It states that in the Qur'an already psychology., medicine, natural science is found. This is not creative, but rather apologetic. Two names were mentioned as the authors of another way: Tariq Ramadan and his Radical Reform of Islam and the Egyptian Jasser Auda (now in USA). They want a serious study of social and other sciences and their application on the reality of Muslim life. Fiqh should no longer be a matter of individual life, but must be made applicable to social life through these sciences. IAIN has developed into a UIN, a full university. But how Islamic will it be? This is the duty for the next decade. IIIT has proved to be not really productive and Islamic science needs a more radical reform, in dialogue with the development of science in Western countries.