AbdulHamid AbuSulayman

of humor and gives a feeling of present comfort.”

Thinker, Scholar, Educator

1936-2021

Dr. AbdulHamid Ahmad AbuSulayman, 85, co-founder of International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), and former rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), passed away on Aug. 18, 2021, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

He was laid to rest in his birthplace, Makkah al Mukarramah.

He was also a founding member of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS, 1972); secretary-general of World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY, 1973-82); and chairperson, department of political science at King Saud University (1982–84).

AbuSulayman obtained his college degrees in commerce and political science from Cairo University. Later, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1973 with a Ph.D. in international relations, writing his thesis on “Towards an Islamic Theory of International Relations: New Directions for Islamic Methodology and Thought.” Following a tenure at King Saud University, AbuSulayman moved to the U.S., where he led IIIT until his departure in 1989 to Malaysia to head IIUM as its second rector. He returned to IIIT in 1999.

Condolences and remembrances poured in from close colleagues and friends, near and far, professional and personal. Several memorial events and reflections captured the essence of his accomplishments and the quality of his character.

A PIONEER OF INSTITUTIONS Dr. Hisham Altalib, a fellow co-founder of IIIT and a longtime friend, remembers his initial meetings with AbuSulayman in 1969 and 971 where the latter “crystallized the need for reformation of Islamic thought, which sowed the seeds for the formation of IIIT.” AbuSulayman was always intent on analyzing the ills of the Muslim ummah and searching for a diagnosis and solutions. He was the “intellectual dynamo” behind AMSS and IIIT, focusing on renewal of Islamic thought, with acquired knowledge and wisdom, as Hisham Altalib saw it.

Dr. Ahmad Totonji, another co-founder of IIIT, and also co-founder of MSA that graduated to ISNA, traces his relationship with AbuSulayman to a 1964 meeting in Philadelphia, which transformed their

thinking from “proclaiming Islam is good to … why Islam is good and what is next.” Totonji credits AbuSulayman for transforming IIUM from a small college of some 600 students to an international university of some 15,000 students. AbuSulayman, says Totonji, was a man of principle, and one hundred percent of his commitment was non-partisan. He was exceptionally persuasive, cordial and generous, even putting his salary in an endowment for student scholarship. “I am proud,” says Ahmed Totonji, “to be associated with him”

According to Dr. Fathi Malkawi (Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics), a colleague and friend, AbuSulayman believed in the integration of effort, and that belief enabled him to “contribute to the establishment of many institutions in many countries over half a century.” Malkawi also remembers that, despite his high prestige, AbuSulayman displayed “extreme humility and a present intuition, which is accompanied by a sense AN ORIGINAL THINKER Dr. M. Yaqub Mirza, a colleague and friend, remembers him as “a unique person who believes in original thinking and creates new knowledge. He is a contemporary intellectual/thinker who focuses on Quran and Hadith and tries to interpret and understand the deeper meaning rather than just the literal or superficial. Most of the time he is contrarian with solid evidence. His views and understanding are often ahead of the time. and his opinions often take time to become the norm.” Mirza lauds AbuSulayman’s attention to the design of the unique mosque centered Gombak campus of

IIUM. Mirza admires AbuSulayman’s belief in “good governance and strong institutions as the foundation of free speech and creativity leading to a strong civilization.” Dr. John Esposito, founding director of Alwaleed Center for

Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, met

AbuSylayman in 1979 during an event for the book “Voices of Resurgent Islam” (1983), then stayed in touch with him at the University of Pennsylvania, where

AbuSulayman was doing “original and sophisticated piece of work.” Esposito met him often during AbuSulayman’s tenure at IIUM and remembers him as “very calm and centered and very relaxed.” He was “clearly intimately involved in developing campus plans,” while continuing to write on religious issues and reform. “I was honored to know him,” adds Esposito.

A RATIONAL THINKER Dr. Omar Kasule, secretary general of IIIT, remembers AbuSulayman as being generous with his time. “He expanded my intellectual horizons,” Kasule says, “Consistency in principle guided his thinking. He looked for Islamic solutions based on Qur’an and Sunnah, guided by his analysis and rational thinking, but dealing with modern realities. He was a rational thinker.” In personal affairs, he was flexible and easy going and when judging a person, he judged them as a whole person. “I have lost my teacher of 45 years,” says Kasule.

Dr. Ahmad Alwani, vice president of IIIT, reminisces about his interaction with

AbuSulayman from his pre-teen days. He knew him to be a very rational person who was also a visionary and an organizer. His interest in reform of education spread over all levels from developing school curriculum to leading a university.

Dr. Talat Sultan, then ISNA’s director of education, who accompanied him in a mid1980s visit to Brunei at the education minister’s invitation, recalls that “AbuSulayman was deeply committed to reshaping children’s education in an Islamic mold.” This commitment also led to his co-authored book “Parent-Child Relations: A Guide to Raising Children” (2013).

COMPASSIONATE, CARING, CONSISTENT Dr. Anas Sheikh-Ali, director of IIIT-London, who had met AbuSulayman on numerous occasions around the world, recalls a trip in the mid-nineties which opened a window to AbuSulayman’s character, and displayed the depth of his commitment, compassion and care for his students. On that occasion AbuSulayman felt deeply responsible for a problem faced by a student he had not even seen, showing that he was not only an educator but also a human being who genuinely cared for and about others. “I have not found a president or rector who was as involved in the well-being of his students,” opined Anas Sheikh-Ali.

Muna AbuSulayman remembers her father for his love of and belief in Islam, and as one for whom institutions and experts both mattered. His work and thought “didn’t not die because IIUM will keep on producing … (and) continue progressing,” says Muna. In her view, what made her father different was “his ability to deeply think about issues and put them in a modern and historical context and hold contradictory ideas together and bring them to a conclusion that makes sense.” Muna remembers her father as being consistent in his values, having high morals, exercising extreme politeness and consideration, even in sickness towards the end. She recalls him saying: “I always work with the strong points of somebody … it is only through inclusion that the ummah can rise.”

Ayman Abusulaiman admires his father’s dedication to the care of his family, which went beyond his children and grandchildren to his brothers, sisters, nephew and nieces. He was always there to give unconditional help and support to family, friends, and strangers. POPULAR ACCLAIM AbuSulayman left IIUM in 1999 after a ten-year tenure. On that occasion, Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister, who, as Malaysia’s education minister, had invited him to lead IIUM, wrote: “It is gratifying to note that there is such popular acclaim for you within the University, notably for your dedication, diligence and magnanimity. … Despite the limitations and constraints of the system, and with the help of selected colleagues, you have expanded its academic programme, initiated a new university culture (and caused some resentment in the process), advanced staff and academic training schemes, increased substantially the intake of both local and foreign students and embarked upon an ambitious and impressive physical development of the new campus.”

Ibrahim remembers his early experience with AbuSulayman as one who would expect us to do our best. “He asked very penetrating questions, spoke with deep reflection and critical thinking,” Ibrahim recalls. He presents his most articulate thesis in “Crisis of the Muslim Mind”, and later in “Qur’anic Worldview”, making a “compelling case about the challenge to underline, appreciate and actualize the ideals of Islam in the light of strong environmental pressures.” AbuSulayman”, says Ibrahim, was “singularly responsible for creating that marvellous institution (IIUM) and ensuring that … it is bound to be a center of excellence.”

THE CROWN JEWEL Undoubtedly, the growth of the IIUM was the crown jewel of AbuSulayman’s many accomplishments.

The current IIUM president, Dr. M. Daud Bakar, lauds AbuSulayman’s groundbreaking work on the mindset of the Muslim ummah. “He was a visionary leader, but very humble and reputable as a person (who) liked to work in a team and liked to consult with everyone in the ecosystem of the organization,” the president recalls.

IIUM’s current rector Dr. Dzulkifli Abdul Razzak acknowledges that IIUM owes a great deal to AbuSulayman “for what he has done, and this will be his legacy now that he is gone,” adding that we now stand at a threshold to move the university forward the way he has done. “AbuSulayman has taken the university out of this region in Malaysia into the world as a truly international university,’’ the rector notes.

Dr. Kamal Hassan, who succeeded AbuSulayman as IIUM’s third rector, remembers meeting him at an MSA regional conference in 1969, where AbuSulayman, still a doctoral student, delivered a paper on Islamic economics which marked him as a thought provoking, rationalistic and analytical scholar. Hassan considers “my experience with him a great privilege.” According to Hassan, AbuSulayman translated dreams and expectations into reality with his very practical approach to life, laid down the ideological and philosophical foundations of IIUM, and transformed the mindset by “desecularization, dewesternization, and Islamization of human knowledge and Muslim higher education.” Kamal Hassan credits AbuSulayman with working for the “reconstruction of an alternative civilization based on the worldview of tawhid.” Hassan points out that AbuSulayman was responsible for the creation of “a new kulliyah which brought together social sciences, humanities and theology”, and which will now be named AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (AHAS-KIRKHS). “KIRKHS is a great experiment in reunifying reason and revelation,” says Kamal Hassan. ***

AbuSulayman authored several influential books in English and Arabic, with some translated in other languages. A few of the outstanding titles are: “The Islamic Theory of International Relations: New Directions for Islamic Methodology and Thought” (1993); “Crisis in the Muslim Mind; Revitalizing Higher Education in the Muslim World” (1993); “Marital Discord: Recapturing the Full Islamic Spirit of Human Dignity” (2003), “Revitalizing Higher Education in the Muslim World” (2007), “The Qur’anic Worldview: A Springboard for Cultural Reform (2011), and Parent-Child Relations: A Guide to Raising Children” (2013). Dr. Nadia Mostafa, editor of a collection of AbdulHamid AbuSulayman’s writings, describes him as “a pioneer of an institution that carries a thought and works on implementing it through multi-dimensional projects. He is a pillar of an ‘idea’ that establishes an institution and that implements projects across the globe.”

Dr AbdulHamid AbuSulayman will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and colleagues. He is survived by his wife, Faika Salih Malaika, and children Hanan, Ayman, Yaser, Muna, Sheraz, and 19 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. ih