Ibn Haldun University (IHU) hosted the annual International Muslim Intellectual Forum (IMIF 2020), on February 22-23, 2020 under the theme of “Intellectual Independence Towards Measurement and Development. ”The IMIF 2020, organized in partnership between the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) and IHU, gathered Muslim academics and youth from across the world to discuss pressing issues concerning youth identity, development, civic engagement and peace building.
Giving welcoming remarks, Prof. Recep Şentürk, President of Ibn Haldun University, said “What brought us together today is the dream we have about the future of Muslim youth, Muslim world and all the humanity.” Reminding that the theme of the forum is “Intellectual Independence” prof. Şentürk underlined that as a complete independence cannot be attained in any field without intellectual independence, a strong suit in politics, economy or technology cannot be achieved as well in the lack of a power center of intellectual independence. Şentürk stated that many big and small societies in history were assimilated by other states which they came under their yokes, on the other hand Muslims could not be assimilated because they took their power from the Qur'an and maintained their lives primarily through their intellectual production.
Stating that the two most important problems facing Muslims today are the historicization and politicization of Islam, Prof. Şentürk said that Islam is a civilizing religion and with its solutions for the crisis of humanity is the only alternative to the existing hegemonic system. “The rise of Islam will be the rise of the humanity,” he added. He also stated that no society from Japan to China, from India to Latin America could offer an alternative to the world, that only Islamic civilization could face this great challenge and offer an alternative to humanity. Addressing the youth and saying “We should be the best in our line of work, not for our own ego but for Islam, for our civilization.” Şentürk stated that Islamic world should make the intellectual independence the ideal and the ultimate objective. “Today we see several generations together. This event will serve as an intergenerational bridge. In addition, sessions that bring together many disciplines will be held throughout this forum. Most importantly, this event will unite generations hearts, our hearts and hearts of all Muslims,” Şentürk concluded his speech.
Speaking at the opening of the forum, ICYF Director-General Yunus Sönmez said that there are many burning and important issues on the agenda of the Islamic world and Muslim youth to be evaluated in IMIF 2020. Sönmez underlined that Muslim youth in particular is facing an identity crisis which accompanied by many problems and questions that we should discuss and respond to before others deliver solutions to it. Ending his speech, Sönmez thanked IHU for hosting and organizing such an event.
The key note speaker of IMIF 2020 was the Minister in the Presidency of the Republic of Guinea Koutoub Moustapha Sano. In his speech on the subject of "Intellectual Independence in Theory and Reality," Sano indicated that one of the most basic needs of the Islamic world today is intellectual independence, but he stressed out that intellectual independence cannot be achieved without critical thinking, pragmatism, originality and creativity. Sano said that people can be free and live in a free state, but he said that such freedom would not make any sense after being intellectually dependent. Sano added that intellectual independence does not mean controlling others or being controlled by others. “For example, when we look at the history of Islam, ‘intellectually independent’ great scholars have learned from other great scholars from childhood, but they accepted them as teachers then they had developed their original thoughts and doctrines.” Indicating that today young people have a lot to learn from Islamic history, he stressed out that the changes in times and today’s practices should be taken into consideration. “The most important key to intellectual independence is critical thinking and questioning. There are big differences between the past conditions and possibilities and today's conditions and possibilities. Today, we have better opportunities in every respect. So a better Ibn Khaldun may come out today.”
The opening panel of IMIF 2020, which aims at bridging the gap between academic researches and young people's pursuits, is moderated by Enes Yalman, Head of IHU International Office, and the participation of our faculty members Assist. Prof. Heba Raouf and Assoc. Prof. Talha Köse, besides Noorihsan Mohamed from Department of Economics of Malaysia International Islamic University. In her speech, Raouf stated that the events are developing rapidly in the world and it is difficult to catch the pace of change, as a result the gap between generations is narrowing, and different generations share the same problems and troubles. In light of the Muslim youth’s identity crisis, Raouf stressed out that it should be handled with temporality and territoriality, she also stated that the problem with the identity definition is based on uncertainty and fear. “It is necessary to rethink and define the independence term. Instead, we should focus on internal independence, we must know ourselves, what to overcome and our limits of independence, taking into consideration ‘Tawakkul,’ reliance on Allah.” expressing that the main issue is knotted at the point of our social and economic future projections Raouf added, “We live in a certain system in the world, we act with the concepts, templates and methods of this system, and therefore we have difficulties in thinking outside this system, imagining something other than the system, and also having an alternative.” At the beginning of his speech, Assoc. Prof. Talha Köse, on the other hand, drew attention to the humanitarian crisis taking place in the Syrian Idlib. Similar dynamics are at the core of the state of war and conflict in many parts of the Islamic geography, from Syria to Libya, from Iraq to Yemen. He reminded that in these societies’ people raised their words in order to be effective in decision-making processes and to improve their economic conditions, but at the end of the process there was a situation where these demands were suppressed by bloody events. Mentioning that economic, cultural and social marginalization and stratification bring along radicalization, Köse stated that a healthy decision-making process can be achieved by building social institutions and policies that cover all social strata.
IMIF’20 discussed subjects such as “The Future of Muslim Youth Identity and Values in Digital Era”, “Morals and Pursuits in a Globalized World.” Over two days, issues drawing the youth intention such as islamophobia, youth migration and marginalization were explored during many workshops and sessions. The first panel of the first day, moderated by Assist. Prof. Taner Doğan, School of Communication of Ibn Haldun University, witnessed participation with presentations by each of Anis H. Bajrektarevic from IMC University of Austria, Nabeel Oudeh from Kadir Has University and Aisha Hamdulay from University College Dublin-Ireland. Gathering Muslim researchers from all over the world, IMIF 2020 ended with a closing program on Sunday, February 23, after two days of discussions on the agenda of today's Islamic world, especially Muslim youth.
