Around 200 people crammed into the headquarters of the Madina Institute South Africa (MI) on Sunday, for the newly established learning institution’s first open day. The day was a means for prospective students to engage with lecturers on what the course entails. The programme included discussions with the academics as well as entertainment from international performers.
“It was a beautiful day, and we were really happy to have international guests present to greet and meet with our future leaders. The lecturers discussed the curriculum, shared the aim of curriculum and how it intends to bridge the gap between Islamic knowledge and academic studies,” MI public relations officers, Nabeweya Malick reported.
The institute was founded by Syrian-American scholar Sheik Muhammad bin-Yahya al-Ninowy. Mallick said the institute wanted to highlight that, living in a multicultural society, it was important for Muslims to have a good grounding of Islam. She said that Islamic education should have a relaxed environment where students could freely access Islamic knowledge.
“There were those who weren’t 100% sure what the institute was about, so after the lecturers spoke, there was a discussion to give them some understanding. Most of the students had the forms half filled out but they did the final filling out and signing off after the discussion. There was even one particular family from Australia who were now living in South Africa that had their son apply,” said Malick.
One of the speakers on the day was Sheik Siraj Hendricks, who is the dean of the faculty. Hendricks welcomed the guests and gave a talk on the particular module he would convene when the first term commenced next year. Other speakers were Sheik Fakhruddin Owaisi, Sheik Mukhtar Ahmed and Sheik Ismail Londt. Entertainment on the day came in the form of American comedian Omar Regan, SA nasheed star Zain Bhikha and Moroccean-French nasheed artist Khalid Belrhouzi. The performers were in Cape Town for Islamic Relief South Africa’s Evening of Inspiration tour and decided to meet some of their fans.
According to Malick, half of the 120 student quota had already been filled, and they would be keeping space for international students as well. “There’s been a lot of interest from the UK, US, Canada and Malaysia. We’d like the local students to fill the quota and then we will start accepting the international students,” she said. The institute will be hosting a number of open days in the next few months and Mallick has urged the community to watch the press for more details. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)
Article courtesy of Voice of the Cape – http://www.vocfm.co.za/index.php/news/general/item/10813-2013-10-07-16-06-53