BOOK LAUNCH: EDUCATION OF THE INTERIOR: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF SYED ALI ASHRAF

Organised by Islamic Courses with the support of Ebrahim College:

BOOK LAUNCH: EDUCATION OF THE INTERIOR: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR SYED ALI ASHRAF

Edited by Professor Abdul Mabud

Foreword by Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Afterword by Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia

Date and time: Friday 26th September 2025, 7.15pm - 8.15pm [after maghrib]

Venue: Ebrahim College, 399-401 High Street, Stratford, London E15 4QZ

Published by Beacon Books, this illuminating volume honours the legacy of Professor Syed Ali Ashraf (1924–1998)—a pioneering educator, literary critic, and Sufi scholar whose ideas continue to shape the discourse on Islamic education around the world. Through over 40 deeply engaging chapters—including reflections by friends, former students, and globally respected scholars—this festschrift offers the first comprehensive English-language exploration of Professor Ashraf’s life, philosophy, and far-reaching impact. Professor Ashraf believed that true education must cultivate the “interior”—the heart and soul of the human being—as well as the intellect. He devoted his life to challenging the dominance of secularist models and instead developed a powerful, Qurʾān-based framework that integrates spiritual, moral, and intellectual development.

Contributors include Professor Osman Bakar, Rector of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC-IIUM), and Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, whose afterword highlights Ashraf’s enduring significance for the Muslim world and beyond. From his key role in organising the First World Conference on Muslim Education in Makkah (1977) to founding the Islamic Academy in Cambridge, Professor Ashraf’s work established the foundations of the global Islamic education movement—one that calls for a holistic model rooted in divine purpose and human dignity.

Why This Book Matters - The definitive source on a transformative figure: This is the first comprehensive English-language tribute to Professor Syed Ali Ashraf—an intellectual, educator, and spiritual guide whose influence has reached scholars and institutions across the Muslim world and the West. For educators, scholars, and seekers: Ideal for academics, curriculum developers, Muslim teachers, and anyone concerned with rethinking education through a spiritual and ethical lens. This book is both a tribute to a pioneer and a roadmap for transformative practice and work of enduring intellectual and spiritual depth: With contributions from world-class scholars and testimonials from those who walked alongside him, this book provides a rare blend of analytical rigour and heartfelt reflection—an invaluable addition to contemporary Islamic thought including:

Seyyed Hossein Nasr – Civilizational Dialogue and the Islamic World

Osman Bakar – The Aims of Education: The Forgotten Truths

Akbar S. Ahmed – Islam and the West in the Twenty-First Century

J. Mark Halstead – The Islamic Concept of Knowledge: Some Reflections on the Epistemological Assumptions in the Educational Thinking of Professor Syed Ali Ashraf

Abdullah Omar Nasseef – Islam and the West

Syed Farid Alatas – The Definition of Religion

Mujadad Zaman – Islamisation and Higher Education: Syed Ali Ashraf and the Secular Consequences of Religious Ideas

Nadeem A. Memon – Education of the Interior: Reflections on the Legacy of Syed Ali Ashraf

and others

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and book signing by Professor Abdul Mabud

Otherwise one can purchase the book online here: https://beaconbooks.net/products/education-interior

About the speaker: *Professor Abdul Mabud is the Director General of the Islamic Academy in Cambridge, set up in 1983. He completed his studies in 1970 from University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, then his doctorate at Cambridge University and a postdoctoral degree in education. His academic interests include Western educational philosophy and its influence on the curriculum of Muslim countries, and the philosophy of Islamic education and written several books on the subject. He is the editor of the Cambridge-based education journal Muslim Education Quarterly, which focuses on Muslim educational issues worldwide. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, a member of the Executive Committee of the Standing Committee on Peace Education (PESC), a division of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP); editor of the International Journal of Comparative Religious Education and Values; and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Islamic and Arab Education. A co-organizer of the Seventh and Eighth World Conferences on Muslim Education, Mabud values ​​the education of Muslim children and youth in Western societies and the extent to which one should embrace Western curricula. He is the director of a major research project on curriculum and textbooks at the primary and secondary levels in Bangladesh and has also worked with other Muslim organizations across the ummah. He has taught at the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City in the USA and recently was Professor at the Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Centre for Islamic Studies the University of Brunei.

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