An icon for Malala

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Learning Curve: Perspective
New Sunday Times - 10-11-2013

MODEL: Malala Yousafzai will do well to follow in Fatima al-Fithri’s footsteps

IT is not often that one is allowed to set foot in Buckingham Palace. As one of the plenary speakers at the recent Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Centenary Conference (see Learning Curve, Oct 27), I had the honour of meeting Queen Elizabeth II at a Reception For Youth, Education And The Commonwealth.

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl and education activist who is making headlines all over the world, was also there with her father. The Commonwealth Young Orchestra and Children's Choir entertained us, with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in attendance.

The next day Malala, 16, was conferred a Master of Arts honorary degree by Edinburgh University in recognition of her role in promoting educational opportunities for girls around the world.

She then addressed the first public meeting of the Global Citizenship Commission, a body set up to re-examine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, propose revisions and explore ways of updating it for the 21st century.

As a determined youth who believes in education as the way to the future, Malala has inspired many, in particular her peers. She reportedly charmed her audience in Edinburgh when she said: "My studies are going well, I'm in Year 10 and have GCSEs coming up and hope I will get straight As."

Malala Yousafzal  poses for picture before an event launching her memoir I Am Malala in London.

In her book, I Am Malala (2013), she narrates her experiences in fighting for the right to education. The turning point was Oct 9, 2012 when she was shot in the head at point-blank by Taliban gunmen while she was going home in a bus from school. But that did not stop her. She will continue to capture our imagination.

Incidentally, some 1,200 years ago, another woman, who is little known to many, did something more to advance the world of education.

She invested her family fortune bequeathed to her to establish what is currently the University of Qarawiyyin. She was Fatima al-Fithri (800-880), born in Tunisia to the family of Muhammad 'Abd Allah al-Fihri al-Qarawiyyini, a successful businessman in the city of Qarawiyyin (Karaouine). They later moved to Fez, Morocco in search of greater fortune.

In 859, well-educated Fatima used the concept of waqf to create the world's first "model" of an academic degree-granting institution (albeit a mosque).

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (and the Guinness Book Of World Records), it is the world's oldest functioning tertiary institution. Her sister, Maryam al-Fihri, also built the al-Andalus mosque in Fez after Moorish Spain (711-1492).

Of the two, the university becomes one of the most important cultural and intellectual bridges for Muslim and European cultures. It produced great scholars such as Mohammed al Idriss and Ibn Khaldun whose influence contributed to a Golden Age of Learning.

The Erasmus Mundus Fatima Al Fihri Programme, an international exchange initiative named after Fatima, involves 20 North African and European universities. It has the support of associated institutions mainly in North Africa such as Ministries of Higher Education, governmental institutions, associations of universities and youth organisations.

Educational efforts must go beyond grandiose plans and grand-standing to make an impact. Education today is more than getting straight As or even a degree.

More so now as the world is engaged with setting the agenda for the post-2015 development where educational opportunities and disparities are identified as some of the issues.

It must encompass a broader vista and put the larger community before self as demonstrated by Fatima who dared to build a "model" that has rippling effects on education until today.

Our fervent hope is that Malala can transform into the iconic Fatima al Fihri of the new century and beyond. By then the Nobel Peace Prize will -- without a doubt -- be hers!