His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), delivered the first annual memorial lecture on Monday, 02 Safar 1444H, corresponding to 29 August 2022G, at the Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman College for Revelation Knowledge and Human Sciences at the International Islamic University in Malaysia, on the late great Islamic thinker, the late Prof. Dato’ Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman, in order to perpetuate his distinguished intellectual legacy, and in recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions and valuable intellectual contributions in order to advance Islamic thought, correct concepts, and enable the Ummah to restore its civilizational position and its knowledge leadership.

The university’s organization of this first scientific occasion comes one year after the death of the late, as part of its endeavor to celebrate and recognize the immortal contributions of the late in the process of developing and upgrading the university through his distinguished management and direct supervision of the construction of the attractive integrated university city in the valley of the village of Gombak in the suburb of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over the span of a decade. The university and the International Institute of Islamic Thought have also been seeking to organize a series of lectures, seminars and scientific conferences on the contributions of the late in order to perpetuate his good memory, introduce him, and disseminate his enlightening ideas as widely as possible in order to benefit from them at the level of the Muslim world and beyond.

The university and the institute chose His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy to be the first eminent scholarly figure to launch this annual series for several objective considerations, the most important of which is the distinguished international scientific position of His Excellency in the field of intellectual reform, the call for moderation, and the dissemination of a culture of moderation, tolerance and coexistence, and the fact that His Excellency is one of the contemporary of the late, worked with him for years, was close to him, and had great confidence in him.

The ceremony began with a welcoming speech by Prof. Shukran Abdel Rahman, Dean of the Abdul Hamid Abu Suleiman College of Revelation Knowledge and Human Sciences at the university, in which he spoke about the merits of the deceased and the importance of reviving his rich intellectual heritage and spreading it continuously so that future generations who did not have the opportunity to meet and get to know him benefit from it. He also made it clear that the university and institute’s selection of His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy to be the main speaker today is the most appropriate decision because of his abundance of thought, depth of intellect, and a wide international reputation in addition to his good personal knowledge of the late and his ideas, as he was one of those people who were close to him during his tenure. Then His Excellency Prof. Jamil Othman, Director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought for East and Southeast Asia, spoke praising the late and the Ummah’s condolences on his loss and his passing, noting the importance of this occasion as a special academic event during which the International Institute of Islamic Thought seeks to spread the ideas of the late. He also expressed his great pleasure that His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy is the main speaker in this lecture because of his great stature and reputation, and accurate and broad knowledge of the late, as he was one of those people who were close to the late and knew him extensively and hoping that more lectures and meetings would follow to introduce the ideas of the late.

Then His Excellency delivered his lecture, which he began by expressing his great thanks and gratitude to the university leadership and the International Institute of Islamic Thought for honoring him by giving the first memorial lecture of the annual lectures’ series on the personality and ideas of the great late Professor Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman. His Excellency also expressed his great happiness to be again in this great scientific edifice, in which he taught for nearly two decades, during which he experienced a distinguished elite of academics and a good group of researchers and students and witnessed with the development of the university from a humble institution to a scientific pole and a prominent academic edifice in Malaysia, Southeast Asia region, and the world.

His Excellency explained that the distinguished intellectual and management contributions of the late were one of the pillars of the development and progress witnessed by the university throughout his tenure and management, praising the naming of this college after the deceased in appreciation of the clear imprints he left on all aspects of academic and intellectual life at the university, and as an expression of gratitude from the administrative and academic management of the university for this loyal and persevering thinker. His Excellency expressed his thanks, appreciation, and gratitude to the Malaysian government and people for the hospitality, honor and care they extended to the late, as they provided him with a calm atmosphere and great support in order to enable him to carry out the reforms and radical changes he made during the period of his tenure at the university. His Excellency also commended the mission of the International Institute of Islamic Thought as a leading intellectual institution that has contributed and continues to contribute to reshaping the Muslim mind and its founders did not change their commitment and fulfilled their pledge to Allah, in accordance with God’s saying in the Holy Quran: ((Among the believers are men who have proven true to what they pledged to Allah. Some of them have fulfilled their pledge ˹with their lives˺, others are waiting ˹their turn˺. They have never changed ˹their commitment˺ in the least)) Al-Ahzab: 23. Indeed they did not change, they were not affected by the turn of events, and they are still on the right path carrying the torch.

Then His Excellency spoke about the academic life of the deceased in all its details, highlighting in particular his pioneering role in developing this university and strengthening its position among the most prominent universities in Malaysia and Asia in general. He also presented and analyzed during the lecture, the most important ideas of the deceased, which focused on an unprecedented accurate diagnosis of the crisis that afflicted the Ummah a long time ago, and represented in the acute intellectual crisis, which is the basis and responsible for the rest of the political, social, economic and cultural crises. His Excellency also shed light on the clear vision presented by the deceased for the treatment of the intellectual crisis, represented in addressing the roots of the crisis that created a precarious conflict between revelation and reason and between cause and effect, and caused a schizophrenia between sciences by dividing them into religious sciences and worldly sciences, which today requires strengthening awareness of the importance of Islamic knowledge and the integration of sciences and values, to enable the nation to rise and to contribute seriously to building the faltering human civilization as a result of the Ummah’s absence, backwardness and withdrawal. Then His Excellency explained what was distinguished by the deceased’s presentation of educational reform, and its great impact on achieving the desired comprehensive renaissance for the Muslim nation and humanity in general, pointing out that the deceased considered education reform as the cornerstone and solid foundation from which all other reform projects should start, aiming to treat the intellectual crisis that stands as a valid reason for the Ummah’s backwardness. The deceased believed that the correct parental upbringing of the child emanating from instilling the values ​​of love, honesty, sincerity and courage in the child’s soul at an early age as a substitute for fear and intimidation is the basic factor for preparing a confident, strong, working generation capable of positive contribution to the making of civilization and nation building. His Excellency pointed out the reasons for the deceased’s focus in his intellectual propositions on reforming Islamic thought, treating the crisis of the Muslim mind, reforming education, as well as the need to stay away from domestic violence, the failure of imported solutions from outside the Muslim environment, the need to enhance awareness of the integration of sciences while avoiding separation between them, and the necessity of believing that there is no dissonance and opposition between correct transfer of knowledge and sound reason.

His Excellency concluded his lecture by praising the great human side and the deep sincerity that distinguished the deceased, as he was a kind and generous father, loving to the Ummah, its youth and its people, and was always optimistic about a prosperous future for the Ummah, and that humanity’s need for the message of Islam is increasing day by day, which dictates on us the duty of reform, guidance and direction.

At the end of the lecture, His Excellency prayed for the companions of the deceased who preceded him to the heavens, and those who are still alive, praying to God to accept the deceased in the gardens of eternity, and to bless the living with health and wellness.

The attendees enjoyed the accurate information contained in the lecture about the thought and vision of the deceased and requested that His Excellency repeat the experience by visiting the university in the future to deliver more lectures and lessons on this and other subject.