Moving Towards Open Source Software
Panorama
Lessons on Islamic Banking
Mind Over Matter
College of Nursing Holds Oath-Taking Ceremony
News Update
Scope of Ecotourism
in Oman
Department of Public
Relations and Information
Sultan Qaboos University
Issue 205
View Point
Fulfilling the Aspirations
It is a real privilege for SQU community as His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said graced
the opening ceremony of the grand Cultural Centre at the university premises. From
that moment onwards, the prime responsibility of the students and staff at this seat
of learning is to ensure that the centre is utilized to enhance the value the edifice.
Khamis Rajab Al Busaidi
Editorial Supervision
Humaid Al Adwani
Editor -in-chief
M.K. Santhosh
Senior Editor
Younis Al Harrasi
Editor & Translator
Ahlam Al Wahaibi
Design & Layout
Rashad Al Wahaibi
& Photography Dept., CET
Photography
The opening of the cultural centre was a symbolic reference to the significance of the
edifice. His Majesty wants it to be a lighthouse for technological, scientific, cultural
and cognitive transformation. The centre, with its high-tech facilities, will greatly
contribute to the service of higher education in the Sultanate. The cultural centre
and Omani Studies Centre shoulder a great responsibility; backing the goals of the
university, its teaching staff and students in a way that serve the studies, researches
and different projects to ensure communication with the Omani, regional and
international community.
At this juncture, it should be noted that His Majesty’s strategic research fund has
played a major role in supporting research, enhancing its fields and focusing on
important sectors, such as energy, environment, health, industry, agriculture,
communications and fisheries. During the university’s development for the last
two decades, it did not ignore the element of community service. To this end, it
established a number of ventures with the private and public institutions.
The university has fostered constructive and fruitful cooperation with a number
of prestigious universities in different parts of the world. This resulted in opening
new horizons to benefit from their teaching and research expertise, providing
opportunities for scholarships and training for the university students and employees
and exchange of the teaching staff and students.
The cultural centre aims at spreading the national culture, making Oman-related
studies and supporting the research efforts in this regard. In line with the aspiration
of the leader of the nation, SQU envisages its cultural centre to become an
important centre for serving the Omani society and preserving the identity and
heritage throughout a research strategy connecting it with the relevant Arab and
international institutions.
Horizon invites contributions from SQU members of staff and faculty. Contributions in the form of articles, news, travelogues, stories of unique and interesting experiences, encounters, etc., are welcome. Contributions may be edited
for the sake of clarity and length. Please send your contributions to horizon@squ.edu.om preferably, as MSWord attachments. Authors will be suitably credited.
Horizon is published three times a month by the Department of Public Relations and Information,
Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 50, P.C. 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
Phone: +968 24141045
E-mail: horizon@squ.edu.om
10 January 2011
P2
Fax: +968 24413 391
Website: www.squ.edu.om
Conference on Numerical
Analysis Concludes
News Update
College of Nursing Holds OathTaking Ceremony
The Second International Conference on “Numerical Analysis &
Optimization: Theory, Algorithms, Applications, and Technology”,
organized by the Department of Mathematics & Statistics in the College
of Science at Sultan Qaboos University, was held from January 3 to 6,
2011. The conference featured the latest research in theory, algorithms,
and applications in Numerical Analysis and Optimization problems.
The event was successful in bringing together experts in these fields
for promoting scientific exchange and discuss possibilities of further
cooperation, networking and promotion of mobility of senior and
young researchers and research students. The participants presented
their results and discussed further developments concerning applicable
methods in their fields. The conference featured lectures by invited
prominent mathematicians and provided the opportunity for regional
researchers to present their latest works.
The topics of the conference included numerical analysis, optimization,
approximation theory, control theory, differential equations, system of
equations, numerical applications, algorithms and software, optimization
and programming models, challenging application in science and
engineering, and, technology and industry. 15 invited speakers from
different parts of the world made presentations during the conference
sessions.
The opening ceremony was held under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Hilal
bin Ali al Hinai, Secretary General of the Research Council who listened
to addresses of the Dr. Saif bin Nasser Al Bahri, Dean of the College
of Science and Head of the Conference Organizing Committee. During
the opening ceremony, a lecture on the Microsoft Technical Computing
Initiative was delivered by Alex Cyr from Microsoft Technical Computing,
Middle East and Africa.
The College of Nursing at Sultan Qaboos University hosted the oath
taking ceremony for its fourth batch of baccalaureate nursing students on
Sunday, 19th December 2009 under the patronage of HE Saif Ahmed Al
Rawahi, Under Secretary for Administration and Financial Affairs at the
Ministry of Health. In the ceremony 43 baccalaureate nursing graduates
and 10 baccalaureate nursing for diploma (bridging) graduates took oath
to practice faithfully and cooperatively to ensure effective health services
to the Omani society.
The College of Nursing at SQU, credits itself for the preparation of 147
baccalaureate nursing graduates since its inception in 2002. This memorial
day brought to light the credentials of these graduates in the curricular
and extra-curricular fronts. The ceremony was honored by the presence
of the teaching and administrative staff of the university, delegates from
the Ministry of Health, executives from the hospitals affiliated for clinical
practice and guests from other nursing schools & colleges in Oman.
The College of Nursing at SQU is actively preparing to initiate masters
program in nursing by 2012. The baccalaureate nursing for diploma
(bridging) graduates program of the college has so far fashioned 25
graduates, which echoes this College’s facilitation in raising the educational
standards of diploma graduates in Oman.
Third SQU-JCCP Joint Symposium Held
The Third SQU-JCCP Joint Symposium on Environmental Challenges
& Mitigation Approaches for Sustainable Development in the Oil
& Gas Industry, was jointly organized by the Oil & Gas Research
Center and the Center for Environmental Studies and Research at
SQU, and the Japan Cooperation Center, Petroleum (JCCP) Technical
Cooperation Department.
The Forum was held from 19 to 21 December 2010, at Al-Faham
Hall of SQU Cultural Center. For the past 18 years, JCCP has been
organizing annual symposia related to the environment in Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The symposia provide forums
for exchanging views and information on multitudes of issues ranging
from water treatment, usage and management, to improvement of the
desert environment. The aim of these symposia is to present results
of research and innovative technologies related to environmental
problems. It is expected that the contribution from participants from
GCC countries as well as from Japan will be of valuable interest.
Themes covered during the symposium included environmental
issues in the oil and gas industry, alternative energy, oily water
treatment, wastewater and desalination, and environmental
management in selected industries. The opening ceremony of the
symposium was attended by H.E. Dr. Ali Al-Bemani, Vice-Chancellor
of SQU; Mr. Shinichi Yamanaka, Charge d’Affaires ad interim of
the Embassy of Japan in the Sultanate of Oman; and Mr. Morihiro
Yoshida, Managing Director of JCCP, and other distinguished guests
from Japan, GCC, and Oman.
A communiqué issued by the Oil & Gas Research Center and Center
for Environmental Studies and Research at SQU stated that the
university has enjoyed a close relationship with JCCP since 1996,
when its technical cooperation activities were initiated with the
Petroleum Energy Center, Japan. Several joint projects have been
carried out.
Most recently, on November 10 of this year, a new mobile produced
water treatment pilot plant was officially opened at Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO). The plant is based on an improved
flotation, filtration, and adsorption treatment system and has a
capacity of 50 cubic meters per day. This mobile plant is expected
to help identify suitable treatment systems for varied qualities of
produced water. The plant represents yet another step forward in
building on SQU’s close relationships with JCCP and PDO, and on
the friendly ties between Japan and the Sultanate in general.
10 January 2011
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Ec
ot
ou
r
ism
in O
m an
Insight
Sc
e
p
o
By: Dr. Galal Mohamed Hamza Afifi
Department of Tourism
College of Arts & Social Sciences, SQU
Despite the relative novelty of the term “ecotourism”, it is definitely clear now
that “ecotourism” is going to be a milestone in the business of tourism, especially
in Oman. The word ‘ecotourism’ first appeared in the English language as a
hyphenated term (eco-tourism) in an article by Romeril in 1985. However,
Romeril used the word in reference to an earlier paper by Budowski (1976)
which is usually referenced as one of the earliest articles, which mentioned ecotourism. The part “eco” is coming from either the word “Ecology” or “Ecological
Systems”. Ecological tourism is defined in as a type of travel to a natural area that
supports conservation activities, contributes to local community development
and leads to greater understanding and appreciation of the natural and cultural
environments. It must be carefully planned to avoid exploitation of places of such
natural beauty which will affect the sustainability of revenue from such resources
due to lack of preservation and controlled tourism.
It is clear that ecotourism existed as a concept and a practice long time before
the coining of the term in the mid-1980s. But, sooner the term was widely used
by academics and practitioners when describing tourism that is environmentally
focused and responsible. From the early start it was clear that there was a conflict
between two ideas. Is ecotourism a concept or a practice ?
Those who believe that ecotourism is a concept think that, healthy environmental
life is not a type of tourism, which should be separated from the other types of
tourism but ecotourism is a sort of life which tourist may practice while being
involved in any other type of tourism. For example, if you insist to live in an
environment-friend hotel while visiting a cultural destination. Can we call that
cultural tourism or environmental tourism? For those who believe in ecotourism
as a concept, ecotourism is a behavior and way of thinking while tourists are
practicing all their traditional types of tourism regardless of what that type they
are practicing. On the other hand, those who believe in ecotourism as a type by
its-own argue that tourists are traveling from a place to another for enjoying the
beautiful, unpolluted environment mainly. In that context, “ecotourism” as a type
of tourism can be described as natural-based tourism.
However, it could be claimed that Oman is perfectly fitting with the requirements
of ecotourism as either a type or a concept. On one hand, those who are looking
for unpolluted, uncontaminated and undisturbed destinations (ecotourism as a
type) will definitely find in Oman uncounted number of suitable sites, starting
from Musandam and Khasab in the north to Salalah in the south. On the other
hand, those who are looking for the eco-friendly facilities and overall atmosphere
while doing other traditional activities such as visiting historical sites (ecotourism
as a concept) will find what they are looking for everywhere in Oman.
10 January 2011
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of
In this context, one of the major eco-attractions in Oman is natural
conservations. In their modern form, natural conservations were firstly
established in 1870s. By 1997, there were more than 30,000 protected areas
all over the world, covering 8.8% of the world’s land. A fair percentage of those
natural conservations especially in developed countries are “paper protected
areas”, which means, they are recorded in official documents as protected
areas but in fact, little or no regulations are actually applied for protecting
these areas. Most of the natural conservations were concentrated in Europe
and Latin America; where the Middle East and North Africa are coming at the
bottom of the list.
In terms of natural conservations, Oman occupied the 19th rank in the world
with 16.1% of its land as natural conservations. Thus, Oman is occupied the
first rank all over the Arabic countries, and the third in Asia following Bhutan
(the 9th) and Cambodia (the 18th).
Oman is home for many varieties of wildlife. Thirteen different kinds of whales
and dolphins and over 400 species of birds are to be found in Oman during
different seasons of the year. Natural reserves for species such as leopards,
hyenas, oryx, gazelle, taher, ibex, desert fox, antelope, and wild cats are
already established. The Sultanate has taken great care in protecting and
promoting wildlife as a part of its tourist strategy. Coastal zone management
project by the ministry on ecological survey is highly useful for environmental
protection in the world for management purposes. Oman boasts a variety of
wildlife and strict laws are in place to prohibit hunting of animals and birds.
Ras al-Had beach natural reserve is a beach identified for turtle breeding. The
Daymaniyat islands, near Muscat, are designated a bird sanctuary. The Wadi
al-Sarin is home to the taher, a mountain goat unique to Oman.
Oman has already taken steps to protect endangered species such as the
Arabian oryx (a type of antelope) by establishing Jiddat al-Harasis reserve
a site that has been recognized on UNESCO’S World Natural and Cultural
Heritage Register. Similarly, the desert bird species, houbara is also saved
from the verge of extinction by Oman. Many endangered species of plants
and trees like cordia perrottetii, a rare tree that has survived from an age when
monsoon rains regularly covered Oman around 1,500 years ago are protected
from phase out. Different parts of Sultanate enjoy varied climate ranging from
hot and humid on the coast, mild in the mountains, to a regular monsoon in
some Southern areas.
Mind Over Matter
Lessons on Islamic Banking
Islamic banking refers to a system of banks and banking activity that is
consistent with the principles of Islamic law (Sharia) and its practical application
through the development of Islamic economics. Sharia prohibits the payment
or acceptance of interest (Riba, usury) on any and every financial transaction.
Besides the business and spending of all kinds including investments must
comply with Sharia permissibility. While these principles were used as the basis
for a flourishing economy in earlier times, it is only in the late 20th century that
a number of Islamic banks were formed to apply these principles to private or
semi-private commercial institutions within the Muslim community.
Sulaiman Humaid Salim Al Harthy, a student from the College of Commerce
& Economics at SQU, recently did his finance major internship in Indonesia to
learn more about the Islamic banking practices in that country. The internship
thesis that he submitted was titled “Lessons from Indonesia: the road for the
establishment of Islamic Banking in the Sultanate of Oman”. Prof. Dr. Sofyan Syafri
Harahap, Professor of Accounting in the Faculty of Economics and Director of
Postgraduate Program in Islamic Economics and Finance at Trisakti University
Jakarta, Indonesia, supervised his training in Indonesia.
Commenting on his internship experience, Sulaiman Al Harthy said that through
his work he aimed at exposing the concepts of Islamic banking that grows rapidly
in the global banking sector. “One has to realize that Islamic banking helps
countries that are aspiring to diversify their sources of Gross Domestic Product,
generate employment, and achieve price and stock-market stability, and social
directives of small enterprise development and poverty alleviation. All these
are along the lines of sustainable economic development. These objectives also
belong to the field of Maqasid as-Sharia (Purpose of the Shariah)”, he said.
The thesis submitted by Sulaiman Al Harthy consists of five chapters and explains
the Sharia principles used in Islamic banks, Sharia Board duty in the Islamic
banks and the deferments between Islamic banks and other type of banks. The
last chapter of his thesis addresses the Islamic Bank and Stakeholders in Oman.
The main recommendations are on establishing a Research Centre that would
have expert of Fiqah, law and business under one place who can work together
in providing and innovating methods on strong Islamic financial instrument
development that cover the Muslim needs. The objective would be to make
people aware bout the Islamic banking and business instruments that need
effort to develop as these are new financial opportunities for the public In the
long term the strategy for human resource development is essential for Islamic
bank to get the best input to provide the best output.
Islamic banking has the same purpose as conventional banking except that it
operates in accordance with the rules of Sharia, known as Fiqh al-Muamalat
(Islamic rules on transactions). The basic principle of Islamic banking is the sharing
of profit and loss and the prohibition of riba (usury). In an Islamic mortgage
transaction, instead of lending the buyer money to purchase the item, a bank
might buy the item itself from the seller, and re-sell it to the buyer at a profit,
while allowing the buyer to pay the bank in instalments. However, the bank’s
profit cannot be earned explicit and therefore there are no additional penalties
for late payment. In order to protect itself against default, the bank asks for strict
collateral. The goods or land is registered in the name of the buyer from the start
of the transaction. This arrangement is called Murabaha. Another approach is
EIjara wa EIqtina, which is similar to real estate leasing.
An innovative approach applied by some banks for home loans, called
Musharaka al-Mutanaqisa, allows for a floating rate in the form of rental. The
bank and borrower form a partnership entity, both providing capital at an
agreed percentage to purchase the property. The partnership entity then rents
out the property to the borrower and charges rent. The bank and the borrower
will then share the proceeds from this rent based on the current equity share of
the partnership. At the same time, the borrower in the partnership entity also
buys the bank’s share of the property at agreed instalments until the full equity
is transferred to the borrower and the partnership is ended. If default occurs,
both the bank and the borrower receive a proportion of the proceeds from the
sale of the property based on each party’s current equity. This method allows for
floating rates according to the current market rate such as the BLR (base lending
rate).
There are several other approaches used in business transactions. Islamic banks
lend their money to companies by issuing floating rate interest-free loans. The
floating rate is pegged to the company’s individual rate of return. Thus the bank’s
profit on the loan is equal to a certain percentage of the company’s profits. Once
the principal amount of the loan is repaid, the profit-sharing arrangement is
concluded. This practice is called Musharaka. Further, Mudaraba is venture capital
funding of an entrepreneur who provides labour while financing is provided by
the bank so that both profit and risk are shared. Such participatory arrangements
between capital and labour reflect the Islamic view that the borrower must not
bear all the risk/cost of a failure, resulting in a balanced distribution of income
and not allowing lender to monopolize the economy.
Islamic banking in Indonesia is poised to be catalysis of growth for the banking
industry. Indonesian Islamic banking holds great opportunities for foreign
investors, as Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation today. Currently, Islamic
banking has only a 2% share of the banking sector in the country. There are
around 120 banks in Indonesia, South-East Asia’s largest economy, and now a
major foreign investment destination. Thus great untapped potential exists.
10 January 2011
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News Round Up
Recognition for Geography
Academician
Symposium Explores New Food
Processing Technologies
The Department of Food Science and Nutrition of the College of Agricultural
and Marine Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University, recently organized in
collaboration with La Rochelle University, France an international symposium
on new technologies for the food processing industries. The symposium
focused mainly on the innovation in food processing technologies, packaging,
quality assessment and food processing by products.
Dr.Saeed Al-Araimi from the Industrial Innovation Center explained the role
of the center in supporting the food industries through research channel in
which researchers from SQU and other universities in Oman are involved.
He explained the process of such financial aid and technical support. Prof.
Mohamed Shafiur Rahaman from the Department of Food Science at SQU
who was the chair of the symposium, briefed on the food stability and
criteria of food preservation. He explained the concept of glass transition
and the state diagram of processed foods.
Prof. Karim Allaf from the Universite’ de La Rochelle, France explained the
latest technologies in food processing including applications instantaneous
pressure drop technology in food processing and the extraction of oil from
food products. Prof. Eugene Vorbieve from Universite’ De Technologie
Compiegne, France explained the use of electro technology in food processing
and pulsed electric field assisted extraction from foods. Professor Gordon
Robertson from the University of Queensland, Australia explained in details
the innovations in food packaging and the environment.
Mohamed Al-Rizeiqi, from the department of Food science and Nutrition,
SQU, talked about the use of Omani Date cultivars in producing value added
products. More than 137 participants from industrial, governmental and
students attended the symposium and had the chances to share knowledge
with the local and international speakers.
Dr. Yassine Charabi, Assistant Professor in the Department of
Geography at the College of Arts & Social Sciences has been selected
by the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC, website:
www.ipcc.ch) as an International expert on climate change and lead
author for the Fifth Assessment report (Working Group 1) for 5 years
(2010-2014). IPCC is a United nations organizations, created in 1987.
This rigorous selection is mainly based on the quality of the scientific
publications of the researcher. As many as 3000 scientists was
nominated and organization has selected only 238 scientists from
all over the world. Sultan Qaboos University is the only university
from the region and the Arab world represented in this international
Panel.
IPCC was established under the auspices of the World Meteorological
Organization and the United Nations Environment Program in 1988
to provide regular assessments for policymakers of the scientific,
technical and socio-economic aspects relating to climate change.
Working
Group I deals with the assessment of the scientific
understanding of the physical climate system.
Dr. Charabi has been invited to serve as a lead author for chapter 2
titled “Observations: Atmosphere and Surface”. His main research
interests are in applied climatology and meteorology. He is the author
more than 20 scientific publications including the book Elements
de Climatologie Urbaine: cas de la ville de Sfax (2006, Centre de
Publication Universitaire, Tunisie).
Talk on Industry-University-Government Engagement
In his presentation, Dr. Virtapohja explained on the best practices in
innovation management and the deep industry –university –government
(IUG) engagement model originated in the city of Tampere, Finland. He
explained how this model could work in SQU and Oman. The goal of
the model is to benefit the country’s society, instead of benefiting a single
company, university or technology transfer office. To understand the
current model, Dr. Virtapohja elaborated on the transformation of the city
of Tampere from an agrarian city into an industrialized city.
The Innovation Affairs Department functioning under the
Deanship of Research at SQU recently organized a talk titled
“Deep Industry-University-Government Engagement; How to
Benefit SQU and Oman”. The speaker was Dr. Janne Virtapohja,
Asst Director for Industrial Membership and Technology Transfer
in the Solar and Alternative Energy Engineering Research Centre
at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia.
10 January 2011
P6
Elaborating on the example of the Tampere University of Technology (TUT)
model, he said 350-400 new research projects are taken up by the university
every year where at any given time 1000 projects are up and running. He
said that not a single project is done without industry partnership in this
Finnish university. Intellectual property issues such as ownership and price
are negotiated in advance and industry is regularly involved in carrying
out projects.
“What industry needs is the outcome of the project. Out of the projects the
industry makes profits, pays taxes and contributes to society, this would in
turn benefit to the nation”, Dr. Vitrapohja said.
Panorama
Moving Towards Open Source Software
Prof. Hadj Bourdoucen
Philosophical and ethical reasons and practical issues are behind Oman’s
motivation for using and developing open source software. The first
perceived advantage of open source models is the fact that open source
software can be free, from Freedom, not freeware. In the case of open source
software, the availability of the source code and the right to modify it is very
important. It enables the unlimited tuning and improvement of a software
product. It also makes it possible to port the code to new hardware, to adapt
it to changing conditions, and to reach a detailed understanding of how the
system works.
Commenting on the quality of Open source software, Prof Hadj said that
open source software is mostly high-quality software. “When you use
the open source software, the source code is available. Most open source
software are well-designed. Open source software can also be efficiently
used in coding. These reasons make open source software an ideal choice
for organizations like SQU. When you use open source software, you would
no longer need to worry too much about licensing. Open source software
enables you to install it and modify it, several times as per your need and
also use it from any location”, he added.
Prof. Hadj Bourdoucen, Director of the Communication & Information
Research Centre at Sultan Qaboos University, said that to really extend the
lifetime of an application, any software must be available in source form.
This is the reason why the Communication & Information Research Centre at
SQU took the initiative to launch the Free and Open Source Software Society
at the University. It also joined hands with the Information Technology
Authority (ITA) of Oman to bring out the first Omani pilot computer system
based on GNU/Linux called Omanix Intillaqah.
Omanix Intillaqah, the first Omani pilot computer system based on GNU/
Linux, us supervised by SQU Communication & Information Research
Centre and supported by Information Technology Authority. Prof. Hadj is
quite satisfied with the enthusiasm of SQU students in developing on open
source systems and applications. “They are hardworking and this brings
excellent results as well. The activities of the Free and Open Source Software
Society is in line with the innovation culture that is an integral part of any
innovation based economy. The new society consists of members from all
science and humanities colleges in the university”, he added.
The right to redistribute modifications and improvements to the code,
and to reuse other open source code, permits all the advantages due to the
modifiability of the software to be shared by large communities. According
to Prof. Hadj this is usually the point that differentiates open source software
licences from freeware software. “Another advantage of free and open
source software is the right to use the software in any way. This ensures
a large population of users, which helps in turn to build up a platform for
support and customization of the software, which can only attract more and
more developers to work in the project. This, in turn helps to improve the
quality of the product, and to improve its functionality. This will cause more
and more users to give the product a try, and probably to use it regularly”,
Prof. Hadj said.
There is no single entity on which the future of the software depends. This
is a very common concern with proprietary software. A company uses a
software product, and relies on the software manufacturer for upgrades
and continued development. If the software manufacturer closes doors, or
decides to discontinue development of the product, no one has the right
to take the program and continue development on it, effectively killing its
usability in the market. Open source software effectively protects against
this, because if the group or company that originated the code decides to
stop development, it is always possible to fund another software group to
continue the maintenance and improvement, without legal nor practical
limitations.
In fact, SQU has signed an MoU with ITA with a view to build the culture of
free and open source software in the country. The MoU envisages capacity
building in this area and encouragement of technical solutions. It also foresees
educating the society on the importance of open source software. Workshops,
seminars, conferences and awareness programmes will be conducted at
frequent intervals to encourage students to use open source applications. A
specialised lab for free and open source software development has been set
up at SQU which will be supervised by the Information & Communication
Research Centre. The ITA will provide necessary equipment to the lab soon
before it becomes fully functional.
Prof. Hadj revealed that the Centre for Information Systems at SQU will
be housing very soon a Mirror Server that contains a big collection of
open source software to serve the community within and outside SQU.
In terms of capacity building, SQU will tie up with Linux Professional
Institute (LPI), a non profit organization based in Canada advocating and
assisting in the professional use of Linux, Open Source, and Free Software.
“Resource persons form LPI will give training to selected SQU faculty and
staff. Thereafter, the panel of trainers can impart training to students and
technical staff”, he said.
By: M.K. Santhosh
10 January 2011
P7
Straight Talk
Horizon: How did you develop interest in Arabic and Islamic
Studies?
Prof. Saeed: I am originally from the Maldives, an island
nation in the Indian Ocean. As a Muslim I have always had an
interest in studying Islam. This led me to undertake extensive
training in Arabic and Islamic Studies in countries like Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and Australia over a period of around 15 years.
I completed my Masters and PhD in Islamic Studies at the
University of Melbourne, where I am currently working. Since
1993, I have been teaching and undertaking research in Islamic
Studies at this University.
Horizon: What are the factors that added value to your area of
specialisation in the Western countries?
Prof. Saeed: I have a special interest in how Muslims are
dealing with contemporary challenges that they are facing,
which requires ongoing engagement with current debates and
issues. When I started my PhD at the University of Melbourne in
the late 1980s, there was no particular concern about Muslims
or Islam in Australia, and Islamic Studies was largely an academic
pursuit. But all of that changed after 9/11. Islam is now at the
forefront of daily news and the demand for those who can
comment on, write or teach about Islam and Islamic culture has
increased significantly.
Horizon: Can we say that interest in Islam in the West has
developed considerably in the recent years?
Prof. Saeed: Yes. In Australia, the number of new institutions
and research centres that have been established to focus on Islam
or ‘Islamic’ areas of study has increased since 2001. Enrolments
in Islamic Studies courses at the University of Melbourne remain
strong and many students are taking their interest further by
pursuing postgraduate research. At the moment, I think that
it would be beneficial to have more suitably trained people
to provide information about Islam and many promising new
researchers are emerging.
Horizon: The endowment of the Sultan Qaboos Chair of Arab
and Islamic Studies at your university is part of Oman’s wider
mission to play a constructive role in the dialogue among
civilisations, to enrich cultural exchange and to develop enduring
ties of friendship and collaboration around the globe. To what
extend your Chair contributes to achieve these objectives?
Prof. Saeed: I believe my activities as Chair are contributing
significantly to this vision. The seminars and lectures I have
given to various audiences in Australia and internationally have
helped to promote Islamic studies worldwide and provided new
opportunities for relationship and collaboration. Friendships
with religious leaders around the world have been built through
the interfaith and multi-cultural activities I have participated in,
while these activities have helped to break down barriers and
misperceptions about the Islamic faith as well. Likewise the
community engagement programmes I have developed are
contributing to a constructive dialogue about Muslims and
Islam.
Horizon: Could you comment on your presentation ‘From
early Oriental Studies to contemporary scholarship: the case of
Australia’ that you delivered at the symposium?
Prof. Saeed: I chose this theme because I wanted to provide
a sense of how Oriental Studies and in particular Islamic Studies
have developed in a Western country. For some Muslims this
field is still misunderstood, as they see Islamic Studies in the West
as primarily an Oriental project. I wanted to show that Muslims
are actively participating and in fact leading the development
of Islamic Studies in a number of Western countries. Australia is
just one example of this phenomenon.
Prof. Abdullah Saeed
Professor Abdullah Saeed serves as Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab & Islamic Studies at the
University of Melbourne in Australia. He is the Director of National Centre of Excellence for
Islamic Studies and the Co-Director of the Centre for Islamic Law and Society, University of
Melbourne. He has taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at undergraduate and postgraduate
levels. Among the subjects he teaches are: Great Texts of Islam: Qur’an; Muslim Intellectuals
and Modernity; Great Empires of Islamic Civilization; Islamic Banking and Finance; Qur’anic
Hermeneutics; Methodologies of Hadith; Methods of Islamic Law; Religious Freedom in Asia;
Islam and Human Rights; and Islam and Muslims in Australia. He is involved in interfaith dialogue
between Christians and Muslims, and between Jews and Muslims, and is a frequent and popular
lecturer. He visited SQU to participate in the HM Chairs Symposium.