Benito said some of their students took the Shari’ah bar examinations and are now lawyers while others are imams and teachers.

By Rexcel John Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, Philippines, July 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The premier Islamic studies school in Mindanao has been registering an increasing number of students since the 9/11 attacks on the United States, its dean told IslamOnline.net on Tuesday, July 26.

Dr. Hamid Barra, dean of Mindanao State University ’s King Faisal Center for Islamic, Arabic and Asian Studies, said they have enrolled this semester 318 students, 58 more than the last semester.

He said the average enrollment for Islamic Studies in the past years is 290 students.

Barra noted that the whole Center currently has some 700 students, half of them Christians, compared to their average of 400 enrollees in the past years.

The Center offers four-year undergraduate degrees in Islamic history, Shari'ah, Islamic laws and jurisprudence, international relations, and teaching Arabic.

Being an Islamic institution the Center "aspires to serve as the soul and conscience" of the Mindanao State University and "lead in pursuing and attaining academic excellence and moral uprightness in order to achieve the goal of the total development of man through instruction, research and extension programs."

9/11 Impact

Barra said 9/11 "had no impact" on the Center save for the "look at the curriculum" to check if there was a need to explain the concept of Islam and terrorism.

Dr. Talib Benito, who served as acting dean of the Center last year when Barra took a leave of absence, emphasized he could not say whether 9/11 had an impact on the enrollment trend because they have yet to conduct a study about it.

He said the introduction of a new course, "Islam and Terrorism," in 2002 was to underscore Islamic teachings against terrorism.

A range of job opportunities awaits students after graduation, Benito said.

"Many of our students now work in embassies as interpreters, others took the Shari’ah bar examinations and are now lawyers. Many are now imams and teachers."

He added that two of the students have become Shari’ah court judges.

Curious

Soo kyu-Woo, a South Korean national, said he enrolled in the Center because he "was curious about Islam."

Barra said they "explain the difference between ‘terrorism’ and ‘fundamentalism’, which are now usually interchanged."

He added that they also "join public forums, out of school lectures, and even cable television shows to explain what Islam really is."

The King Faisal Center for Islamic, Arabic and Asian Studies was created in 1971 as an academic unit of the state-run Mindanao State University "to serve as a vehicle for promoting Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Muslim areas of Southern Philippines," the birthplace of Islam in this Southeast Asian state.

It initially belonged to the College of Liberal Arts in 1971.

In October 1973, it became a separate college named Institute of Asian and Islamic (Arabic) Studies.

The institute was mandated to offer a bachelor's degree in Islamic (Arabic) Studies.

The separation was significant as it marked the existence of the Institute as the first government institution in the largely Christian populated Philippines .

In 1974, the college was renamed as King Faisal Institute of Islamic (Arabic) Studies in recognition of late King Faisal bin Abdel Aziz of Saudi Arabia .

Two years after, the Institute was elevated into a center and was renamed King Faisal Center for Islamic, Arabic and Asian Studies to develop and offer academic programs relevant to the social, economic and cultural betterment of the Muslims and other cultural minorities.

It also aims to undertake researches on Islamic culture in and out of the Philippines to broaden the understanding of Muslim culture and way of life.

This is apart from doing outreach community service in the form of functional literacy in order to take part in attacking illiteracy as a root-cause of poverty in Muslim communities.

It also aims to encourage growing consciousness in Asia and the Middle East for regional cooperation.