MINYA, Egypt, Sunday, March 6, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – A cohort of Muslim scholars, thinkers, professors, and intellectuals from 23 world countries will discuss during a three-day international conference different aspects of the renewal of Islamic and Arabic sciences.

“The conference will discuss a great number of papers and researches that deal with the issue of renewing methods of studying Arabic and Islamic sciences ,” Dr. Ja’far Abdel-Salam, the president of the conference and the secretary general of the Islamic Universities League, told IslamOnline.net.

He described the conference as a serious attempt to present the true image of Islam, which is able to deal with all aspects of modern life, encourages development and rejects all aspects of backwardness.

The 1st International Conference on Renewing the Methods of Studying Arabic and Islamic Sciences, inaugurated Saturday, March 5, at Minya University, is sponsored by the Islamic Universities League in association with the Egyptian university.

Abdel-Salam said the three-day event will be attended by presidents of Muslim and Arabic Universities from different parts of the world.

Participants will hold 18 sessions to debate the general concept of renewing methods of studying Islamic, Arabic and human sciences.

The Islamic Universities League consists of some 100 universities from different Arab and Muslim countries. However, its resolutions are not binding.

Addressing the opening session, Dr. Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world, welcomed the renewal of methods and approaches of studying Islamic and Arabic sciences.

He, however, stressed that change and renewal cannot be accepted in the basics and values that should not be changed such as the support of justice, faithfulness and trustworthiness, and the refusal of immorality, oppression, and injustice.

“What is important is the real change and results that come into existence,” Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayb, president of Al-Azhar University, told IOL.

“By renewing the methods of studying Arabic and Islamic sciences we don't aim at ignoring our heritage or past; rather we aim at developing it so as to meet the needs of our time.”

Asked whether renewing methods of study in the Muslim universities has come as a result of US pressures after the 9/11 attacks, Dr. Al-Tayb replied to the negative.

“We have been concerned about the renewal of studying methods of Arabic and Islamic sciences before 9/11, and we held a conference at Al-Azhar university calling to reconsideration of educational curricula five months prior to 9/11.”