By reflecting on the remarks of Imam Khomeini, one can recount the strategies of Islamization of the university and the achievement of the Islamic university as follows:
Creating a Healthy and Moral Environment
Removing the barriers and challenges of Islamization is one of the most serious and fundamental issues that must be addressed in the concept of the Islamic university. Therefore, the issue of selection is of particular importance for the Islamization of universities. This process should be taken seriously for professors, students and staff.
The fortress of knowledge is sacred and the wealth of the Islamic state must be made available for the faithful and religious people, not those who easily question religious rites and Islamic values. Therefore, the presence of biased and corrupted individuals and in some cases the enemies in the universities are considered as serious and significant obstacles to the Islamization of the university. Imam Khomeini also points to the presence of corrupted and immoral people in educational institutions and seriously warns that such people should not be in the university or other educational centres and through conducting strict supervision should be prevented from entering the educational centres of the country. According to Imam Khomeini, “The dear students and teachers with all their power should try to identify the agents who spread corruption and remove them from the educational centres.”
He believes that such people would jeopardize the educational centres since they put obstacles in the way of making cultural reforms and Islamization of the university as well as accomplishing the goal of the creation of the ideal university, and divert it from its original and proper path. Moreover, according to Imam Khomeini, they only create a diversion, conflict, and dependence on others.
Helping Humankind to Gain Perfection and Observe Morality
Among the most important missions of the scientific and cultural centres in the view of the great founder of the Islamic Revolution, is helping humankind to gain perfection in which universities and academics can have a great impact. As the seminaries also have such a vital responsibility. Imam Khomeini says: “We (the clergy and the academics) should educate and nurture people. We need perfect people. Our country needs the people to be purified and to become faithful. According to Imam Khomeini, we want an academic man, not a teacher and a student. The university must help man to become a real human... a perfect man neither surrenders his country to others nor would be summited to captivity and humiliation. They are also afraid of perfect human beings. In Imam Khomeini’s words, if humankind gains perfection in the university, he will no longer be submitted to cruelty, nor he will accept humiliation and threats. Therefore, the most important responsibility of the lectures is helping people to gain perfection and become real human beings.”
Neglecting this great mission of the university means disgracing the mission of the prophets. “All of the prophets have come to make us a real human. The Holy Quran is a book for making us gain perfection. All the prophets have come to purify humankind. The university, as well as the seminary both, have the responsibility of making people becoming the perfect humankind. Their work is the noblest of things because it is the work of the prophets.”
From Imam Khomeini’s perspective, the development and changes in human beings, striving for the perfection of people, education along with nurturing humankind, helping the youth to confront the Westernization, nurturing people in accordance with the pure instinct of humankind and giving divine direction to works, all in all, are in line with the mission of the universities and academics to make people attain perfection and purification.
Employing Committed Managers
One of the strategic missions of the Islamic university, which has been the focus of the great leader of the Islamic Revolution, is the use of committed and pious individuals in the management and leadership of universities and the centres of higher educations. As the management in universities, like other institutions, plays an important role in the implementation of Islamic goals, so if the necessary criteria and programs for the Islamic university are provided according to the Islamic management, this management can have a significant contribution to the achievement of the Islamic university.
Therefore, in the management of universities, it is essential to employ revolutionary people who are faithful and committed to the Islamic Republic and have a sufficient level of knowledge and experience, social responsibility, and substantial commitment to the principles and goals of Islamization.
Imam Khomeini says: “The government should be aware that the principals of the universities, schools, as well as the teachers, should not be the same persons as they were before, and those who formerly served the foreigners or the illegitimate rulers, should not take this responsibility.”
Elsewhere he says: “Establish the university with committed people and of course the university should be opened, but this process must be in place. We should follow the path of the Islamization of the university... to do so, we should use committed individuals and if they are not available we may use the professionals provided that they do not oppose the Islamic Republic.”
Nurturing the Specialized and Committed Individuals
One of the most important prerequisites for the accomplishment of the goals of the Islamic Revolution is training individuals who are wise, faithful, creative and full of love and motivation. Given the principle of the establishment and the endlessness of the Islamic Revolution, it is essential to educate people who can, with knowledge and commitment, move the revolution forward in the most difficult situations and make the prospects of revolution become closer to reach. One of the most fundamental areas of human training appropriate to the ideals of the revolution is nurturing an educated and Muslim generation so that it would be trained and educated in accordance with the particular values of the Islamic Revolution. This goal will only be achieved through a university adhering to the Islamic values and thoughts and more precisely, the Islamic university.
From Imam Khomeini’s perspective, “Those who are teachers are professors in universities, in high schools, in preschools should be responsible for the upbringing of children from the very first days. They should train the students with proper Islamic education. That is to say, if a Muslim grows up in an Islamic way, he would not betray his own country; his own brother, his neighbour, or a stranger. Betrayal is completely eliminated. We must strive to make people righteous. Understanding this, therefore, Imam Khomeini, in addition to striving for obtaining self-purification, also trained properly many disciples and students. Certainly, he was a practical role model of self-purification and Islamic ethics for his students and thus played the role of a positive role model in this regard.”
The Unity of the Seminaries and Universities
One of the key points in Imam Khomeini’s thought and policy was his emphasis on the unity of all strata, especially the seminary and university. Thus, contrary to the perception of the enemies, unity, in Imam Khomeini’s theoretical and practical school, was not an expedient or temporal tactic or tool to advance the political aims and purposes of the Islamic Revolution, rather, the continuation of unity was considered as the basis of his struggles. Reflecting on Imam Khomeini’s concern for the unity of the seminary and university shows his concern for the political and emotional unity as well as the correlation between the clergy and the academics, and warning about the external and internal conspiracies to break this unity.
Imam Khomeini knew rightly that if the clergy could not link their understanding of Islam to the demands of the time and failed to establish a rational and sympatric relationship with the arena of knowledge and science, for which most of the country’s universities were responsible, they would make the faith of the next generation to face a serious threat and will leave their mission unfinished. Accordingly, Imam Khomeini considered the seminaries and the universities to be the masterminds and driving forces of the society, both of which are subjected to the conspiracies planned by the enemies, and always emphasized the need for being vigilant and the purification of these two classes.
From his perspective: “The universities and the seminaries, together with the clergy, can constitute two centres for the country’s progress and development. They can also be two centres of all deviations and perversions. It is from the university that committed intellectuals graduate. If the university would be a university, if it is really a university and Islamic in nature; that is; together with the actual education, there is dedication and edification as well, then such people (the university graduates) will be able to lead the country to prosperity. Also, if the centres of theology are refined and committed, they will be able to save the country. Knowledge alone is of no use even if it is not detrimental. When we look extensively at the whole world and all the universities that are in it, we will find that the roots of all these misfortunes that have befallen humankind lie in the universities. The roots lie in the specialization courses of the universities. All these tools of humankind’s ruination and all these advances, which they think to lie in the implements of war, have been basically due to the scientists who graduated from the universities; universities that lacked the ethics and edification to go along with the education given. All the corruption that has been found in a nation, or nations, has sprung from the seminaries that lacked commitment to Islamic injunctions. All these fabricated religions have originated from the scholars and the ulama. The university where knowledge has not been accompanied by ethics, edification and commitment to Islam, has dragged the world into corruption. Likewise, the university can take the world towards betterment.”
Reflecting on Imam Khomeini’s remarks, it becomes clear that the purpose of the unity of the seminaries and the universities is the unity and independence of the Islamic society on which the provision of religious and worldly needs and the attainment of development and progress depend. Certainly, the unity of the seminaries and the universities is never meant to deny the independence of one of the two entities or to make one dominate over the other, but the central nature of this unity lies in the comprehensiveness of the Islamic religion which in terms of humankind needs has emphasized on their both material as well as spiritual aspects without which the freedom and progress of Islamic society would not be achieved.
Ending the dependency on foreigners and ensuring the country’s independence
The most important step in ridding of the dependency on East and West is self-belief and self-confidence. Therefore, another strategic mission of the Islamic university is the attempt to end the dependency on foreigners and helping the Islamic government gain independence; as the university should foster self-belief in the students, pave the way for the independence of the Islamic country and rely on the domestic as well as Islamic culture. From Imam Khomeini’s perspective: “We want our universities to liberate our nation from the domination of the East and the West instead of dragging it toward them — an independent nation, with an independent ideology, with independent universities because it is the independence of the universities that ensures the independence of a country. The universities that hold hands with the seminaries and sidetrack the Eastern and Western blocs and instead work in the interests of their own country and beloved Islam and bring up our children in a way that they no longer need to look toward Moscow, London, or Washington as their Makkah. Let them look toward the Ka’bah and focus upon God Almighty and welcome Islam with open arms because only Islam guarantees their independence and dignity. “As long as there is so much intellectual attachment in us that we all think we must bring everything from the West and whenever we find anything wrong, the West must cure it, so that dependency, we can’t find independence. No independence at all.”
Accountability and Working in Accordance with Islamic Teachings
Another strategic mission of the Islamic university, from Imam Khomeini’s perspective, is to be accountable and serve the Islamic community, that is, to meet the needs.
Studies over the past decades clearly show that different programs concerning the accountability of universities have been particularly highlighted and incorporated into the curriculum of the higher education system. Undoubtedly, Imam Khomeini’s view regarding the accountability of the university, rooted in religious teachings according to which science must be beneficial. Imam Khomeini expected the university to pave the way for the Islamic community’s independence from foreigners.
“Our point here is that the universities we have are not useful to our students. It is more than fifty years that we are having universities and they run on budget heavy which is the cost of the hard labour of this nation. In a span of fifty years, we could not become self-sufficient in the sciences that are the product of these universities. We have universities yet we are in need of the West.”
“Gaining knowledge and proficiency in different disciplines should be the basis of the activities of our dear students, who will meet the needs of the country and make our country self-sufficient with their efforts. When we say the Islamic university, it means that we want a university addressing the needs of the country and serving the nation.”
Imam Khomeini has made it clear that merely calling the university by the title of Islamic does not suffice. Also, the process of Islamization of the university should include all aspects of the university activities. The fact is that the Islamic university can be seen through its meaning, content and functions.
Accordingly, he places two basic responsibilities in the hands of the Islamic university; first, the Islamic university itself completely and with maximum power should be Islamic, and second, it should make a comprehensive effort to implement Islam.
Therefore, he states that: “It is a commitment that for the sake of Islam you are committed to being Islamic and practicing Islam, wherever you are, throughout the country and in all places where there is Islam. Therefore, you have two obligations: one to be Islamic... and two, Islamization.”
Efficiency and Having a Relationship with the Community
Another strategy for achieving the goal of having an Islamic university from Imam Khomeini’s perspective is the efficiency of the university and establishing good relations with society. The university’s relationship with the community and the efficiency of the university would be reflected in academics treating people with compassion and sympathy, touching the realities of their lives, and being aware of their problems. A university that is not aware of the suffering of the people does not benefit the people. Imam Khomeini addresses this intellectual illness: “Had we practiced principled teaching in the colleges and universities, today we would not have had any open-minded elements. In the most fatal moments of Iran, they are in disagreement among themselves. They are isolated from the people. They take the sufferings of the people nothing as if they do not live in Iran. We lag behind. The reason is that the open-minded class of the universities did not grasp the correct knowledge nor were they truly aware of the Islamic society of Iran. Most regrettably they are still so. The fatal blow the society has suffered is the one from the side of those open-minded ones of the universities. They have always looked at themselves as superior over the others. They only utter what their friends, the open-minded ones, could only understand. The people if do not understand, let them not understand, no matter what. Here people are not counted. They themselves are important. During the period of the ruling of Shah, the annual training brought up the students in such a way that the so-called open-minded ones did not take the oppressed people into account.”
Therefore, the university as the most important intellectual-cultural institution that has the intellectual power of society and provides the country with human resources, should be aligned with the needs of the society.
Producing and Using the Appropriate and Islamic Texts
The Islamic university is not formed with non-Islamic texts and resources. Therefore, making reforms in the textbooks of all courses has been emphasized by Imam Khomeini since the beginning of the revolution and he insisted that the textbooks should be in line with the needs of the country. Therefore, he suggests that the curricula and scientific texts should conform to the Islamic values , national needs and proper education: “The people who are committed should bring and create a university — a place of education, knowledge and learning. Such a university is the need of our country. A university that is the source of corruption and deviation for our youths, is neither necessary nor a need. Many things under the head or title of education are the most undesired ones because they seduce the youths and pave the way for their perversion. There must be people to chart out a program, which should contain the extent of catering to the needs of the country. The students should be taught what they need. The program must cover the things that reform our country. The things that existed previously, which were not to the advantage of the country, must be deleted and rescinded.”
Therefore, they can teach all the useful lessons. Islam accepts all lessons except some of them. Therefore, academics and scholars should set up programs that address the needs of the country, not something that doesn’t relate to or benefit our country. Hence, evaluating the textbooks, especially the books of the humanities to see whether or not they conform to revolutionary values and Islamic principles, and making the educational programs to meet the country’s social and cultural needs are necessary. Accordingly, it is necessary that groups of dedicated and professional thinkers and scholars critically revise and review the Western books seeking to produce Islamic scientific texts in accordance with Islamic values. Therefore, one of the most important strategies for achieving Islamic university is the modification of the existing academic resources and the production of Islamic scientific texts.
As Imam Khomeini puts it: “Textbooks, whether in elementary schools, high school or university, should be fundamentally changed and reviewed so that the contents that favour colonialism and tyranny within them being replaced by the revolutionary and Islamic lessons that awaken our children and make our youth independent.”
The Monotheistic and Spiritual Orientation of the Content of the Sciences
Imam Khomeini considers the main purpose of the university to be addressing God:
“Man should think about the things that are useful in training and teaching people and should orient his actions accordingly. If the universities are not given direction, they will be the same as the ones existing for the people, and which produce destructive forces. But if they are given (the necessary) direction they will accomplish what the machine guns cannot. They can render service to humanity, which no one can do to that extent. The main thing is the direction and moving in it. The Holy Quran says: ‘Read: In the name of thy Lord who created...’ Read, but not for its own sake. Learn, but not just for the sake of learning. Acquire knowledge, but not knowledge for its own sake nor its acquisition for its own sake. Knowledge and education must have a purpose, a direction. The direction is the name of the Lord. God is the object of attention. It is for Him and His creatures. If the pens of the world start writing to serve God and His creatures, the machine guns will be kept away. Otherwise, they will become machine guns.”
According to Imam Khomeini, the difference between the Western and Islamic universities lies in the plan that Islam has devised for the universities: “Whatever status the universities in the West attain, they only understand nature. They do not master it for the sake of spiritualties. Islam does not view the natural sciences independently. All the natural sciences, whatever their status, do not meet the requirements of Islam. Islam masters nature to make it meaningful. It leads the natural sciences toward unity and monotheism... The difference between Islam and the other schools; not the monotheist ones, is that in this natural world, Islam looks for a different meaning with regard to medical science, geometry, astronomy, etc.”
Islam’s purpose is to take all perceptibility and the entire world to the level of tawhid. Islamic teachings are not about nature or mathematics; they are about everything. They are not about medical science. They have all of it but moored to tawhid. Islam takes nature in its entirety and all the dark shadows to that station of holiness which is the ultimate one of divinity. Therefore, though we, too, commend and praise all the natural and physical sciences — notwithstanding there is no sign in the West of that virtue that Islam wants them to have, and even if it is there, it is only to a small extent — what we seek in the sciences taught in our universities and the ones taught in the old madrassahs [schools of theology] is not that as appears outwardly now and with which our scholars are busy... What Islam wants and aims for is that all the sciences, whether the natural sciences or the other ones, be moored to the divine sciences and to move on to tawhid. It wants every field of science to possess the aspect of divinity.
That is to say that when we observe nature when we observe the physical world and all the things that exist, we should perceive God in them. Islam has come to take all the things that exist in nature to the position of divinity, and all the natural sciences to the divine science. And this is desired of the universities; not merely in the matter of medicine. Of course, medical science, natural science and curing physical ailments are all necessary. But the important thing is the centre of gravity which is tawhid. All these (sciences) must proceed to that divine aspect.”
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