GRADUATES from Middle Eastern institutions should not be discriminated against and labelled a divisive force in society, say Muslim scholars.

Selangor Al-Quran Tahfiz Institutes Association (Pitas) president Muhamad Hafiz Muhamad Haneefa said it was unfair to lump all graduates from Middle Eastern institutions as problematic because they purportedly brought over the ideologies of Arab politics into the country.

“We can’t tar all of them with the same brush. Professor Jasser is a respected academic and we can’t discount his opinion, but his perspective maybe skewed towards the United States,” Hafiz told The Malaysian Insight, referring to Professor Dr Jasser Auda, chairman of London-based think tank Maqasid Institute.

“He studied Islam in the US and the Middle East. He might have seen American students changing when they returned from the Middle East.”

Hafiz was commenting on Jasser’s claim that students who returned from the Middle East divided their communities and “caused all sorts of problems”.

The scholar also said at a recent forum organised by Institut Darul Ehsan in Shah Alam that these students were unable to make a distinction between Arab culture and the religion of Islam.

Hafiz said Malaysia managed its students in the Middle East to ensure they were not influenced by negative ideologies.

“Our students in the Middle East, regardless of their fields of study, are monitored by the embassies and Higher Education Ministry officers.

“I don’t think the doctrines that these graduates bring back are a negative thing for our country.

“We don’t know how the US, which is not an Islamic country, monitors its students in the Middle East, but in Malaysia’s case, I don’t think it’s an issue,” said Hafiz, who graduated from Egypt’s Al-Azhar Univesity.

Political analyst Dr Maszlee Malik of the International Islamic University Malaysia also thinks graduates from the Middle East should not be labelled as problematic.

“Conservatism and Arabisation do not come exclusively from graduates of Middle Eastern institutions. Some graduates of Western and local institutions are not only Arabicised in their approach to religion, but are also ‘Pakistanicised’ and ‘Iranicised’.”

He said there were many countries in the Middle East, and each of them was different.

Maszlee said the more important issue was the quality of the institution and the graduates they produce.

“What is the academic level and achievement of the university? What is the sytem they use? Do the lecturers and professors at the university have good reputations in the academic world and in Islamic studies?

“Another issue that deserves attention is the academic performance of the students. If the student does not perform, is it worth his parents’ effort to send him there in the first place?”

Tahfiz school advocate Asri Lateh said he did not agree with Jasser.

“We go there (the Middle East) not to study Arab culture. Most of us who return do not have such problems.

“Even if there are one or two who are not quite right, that’s on the individual and not the fault of the religion. We go there to study religion, not the culture.” – November 22, 2017.