From 7th to 8th November 2025, IIIT East and Southeast Asia had organized a Teaching Materials Project (TMP) Workshop for lecturers of IIUM at The Chateau Spa & Wellness, Bukit Tinggi, Pahang. These lecturers from various Kuliyyahs in IIUM had been working on their Teaching Materials to be used in the classes in the future. The speaker for the 2-days workshop is Prof Dr Dawood Abdelyahya al-Hidabi from Kuliyyah of Education. He is an important resource person in helping lecturers managing and constructing the best content for the teaching materials that will be in line with the concept and ideas of integrating Islamic principles. This workshop also allowed more interaction and exchanges of ideas between lecturers in writing the best TMP.

Prof. Dawood open the workshop with a foundational hadith:

“Indeed, there is a piece of flesh in the body; if it is sound, the whole body is sound. If it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Verily, it is the heart.”
— Sahih al-Bukhari & Muslim

This message captures the essence of the workshop: the heart is the starting point of knowledge, identity, purpose, and transformation.

Across difference academic disciplines, education, psychology, design, engineering, and economics, Western epistemologies have dominated. Concepts like Bandura’s learning theory and Bloom’s taxonomy shape how knowledge is interpreted, measured, and applied.

This question reflects a broader challenge in Muslim academia: we have mastered importing knowledge but rarely contextualize or originate it. Prof. Dawood emphasized that Muslim scholars, institutions, and researchers must shift from consumers to contributors, grounded in tawhid, purpose, and akhlaq.

The workshop reinforced IIUM’s aspiration toward Ummatic excellence, where education is not merely for exams but for life, service, and the pleasure of Allah (mardhatillah). Islamic civilization, history, and scholarship—both classical and contemporary—should be integrated meaningfully, not just symbolically.

Prof. Dawood emphasized that only when knowledge, faith, and action are harmoniously integrated can the Ummah truly reclaim its role as a source of guidance, justice, and mercy in the world. Every lesson learned and every skill developed should therefore aim not merely for academic achievement, but for life, leadership, and meaningful service.