It is with utmost pleasure that I announce the establishment of an academic institution of such stature at the premises of Jamia tur Rasheed. After much consideration, we kept the institution’s name, Al-Ghazali, as a tribute to the great Imam Al-Ghazali; Hujjat ul Islam (the Proof of Islam).

Over the centuries, aspiring Muslims have taken inspiration from the unparalleled legacy of the great Imam Al-Ghazali. He lived at a time when Islam faced great epistemological challenges with the rising tide of the mua’tazila and the Ashari school of thought.

Imam Al-Ghazali rose as a figure of enlightenment who was not only a master theologian but also a rhetorician and mastered most worldly disciplines of knowledge of the time. His writings paved the way for the Islamic World to restore the authenticity of the faith – the aqidah while quenching the onslaughts of intellectual detractors of the era.

Today, we encounter challenges and fitnas like never before. In the aftermath of World War I, the Ottoman Empire underwent a tumultuous disintegration, resulting in the emergence of separate nation-states and leaving the Muslim Ummah deeply fragmented. Even after a century, we continue to recover from the damage. Moreover, with the advent of the modern world and the takeover of the Western capitalist model, the reigning world order damaged the Islamic movement the most.

To combat the influence of modernity and the diminishing of Islamic values within Muslim societies, many educational, political, and social movements sprang up. Yet none of them were able to stand their ground due to the domino effect created by modernity.

Modernity and secularism are the two faces of the same coin. Human beings today embark on the epic journey promised by modernity but eventually face a dead end as secularism crosses their paths. Schools and universities in the West are designed to feed the modern, secular, capitalist model of living. Tarbiyah, which used to be a core discipline of the finest centres of learning in the Classical Islamic Era is no longer a part of the curriculum. This model prioritizes individual achievement and personal interests, while Islamic education emphasizes holistic learning for the community’s benefit.

Universities in the West focus on research and progress to produce enhanced technology that creates a better and more comfortable lifestyle for an individual. But if we look more closely at it, this lifestyle is akin to a utopia on earth, which is principally at odds with the Islamic nizam e hayat. Islam, on the contrary, teaches us to strive towards a lifestyle that might be arduous but temporary while promising a better afterlife that is perpetual.

Another major crisis we face as an ummah is civil wars, internal conflicts, corrupt institutions, and dishonest leadership. As a result, we face brain drain as students and professionals flock towards the West in hopes to find better opportunities. Our brightest minds are now proud servants of the West.

Educational institutions like Al-Ghazali are the need of the hour, where students develop the necessary character traits of a good Muslim. Our students will specialize in different disciplines of knowledge to compete on a global scale while keeping Islamic ideals at their core.

Furthermore, we feel that another great challenge we face today is propaganda: misleading, false, and untrue information that is capable of destroying young minds and damaging an entire generation. By combining knowledge and wisdom from traditional sources with contemporary research and technological advancement at Al-Ghazali, we aim to nurture a generation that can turn the tables for the Muslim Ummah.