As a legatee of the rich intellectual tradition in Muslim history, Al-Mawrid is a unique institution of learning. A deep concern over the dearth of suitable approaches to Islamic learning in our times gave birth to this institution at the dawn of the fifteenth century. Lost in the maze of sectarian prejudices and political wrangling, the true message of Islam, based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah, has become alien to the Muslims. The Qur’an, which is the foundation of this religion, is rarely approached for purposes other than oral delivery or rote learning. In the madrasas, those disciplines of learning that were at best a possible means to understanding the Qur’an have become an end in themselves. The Hadith has been isolated from its foundations in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and the primary focus now is on the foundational principles and the emanating discourses of a particular school of thought and on the polemics to establish their superiority over those of others.
