Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation (QF), and Chairperson of Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Board of Trustees, inaugurated the first edition of the International Symposium on Comparative Education series with a keynote speech.

Her Excellency welcomed participants and outlined the mission of the new symposium series, which aims to hold comparative discussions on classical Muslim scholars’ perspectives on education and contrast them with modern-day approaches.

Remarking on the symposium’s theme, Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani said: “We chose the great Islamic thinker Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali because his enduring ideas continue to resonate with generations until today.”

Her Excellency continued, emphasizing that “a good education is not just what the student, parent or even the country desires, but rather it should orient us all to what we should aspire for, by offering a holistic world view of how one ought to live in all domains of life.”

Organized by HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies (CIS), the first International Symposium on Comparative Education gathered Islamic academics and scholars from around the world to exchange insights on the influential Muslim scholar Ghazali and how his legacy could help transform the field of education today. The event’s discussions revolved around Ghazali’s educational philosophy, his views on holistic learning, and the high importance he placed on learning as part of his Muslim identity. Attendees also analyzed the foundations of Ghazalian education for the modern age, Ghazali’s ethics regarding education, and how his ideas could form the basis for contemporary pedagogical thought.

Commenting on the new lecture series, Dr. Recep Şentürk, Dean, CIS, said: “Through the International Symposium on Comparative Education series, we hope to develop a modern educational model that addresses current pedagogical challenges by drawing from the rich history and tradition of Islamic thought. It is fitting for its first edition to focus on Ghazali, as his intellectual legacy continues to hold invaluable insights for modern educators.”

In line with HBKU and the college’s innate dedication to dialogue, CIS overcomes intellectual fault lines to facilitate expertise and build capacity in Qatar and beyond. The College’s research output is rooted in carefully designed research clusters that together promote interdisciplinary research agendas and inject new contributions to the world of global Islamic scholarship.