Al Marhum Professor Ali Mazrui, a political scientist and renowned public intellectual said “It might be true that there is a law of oligarchy in all human organization of any substantial size. Elite formation becomes therefore inevitable. But the issue which still remains to be meaningfully discussed in a given society is what kind of elite the society is going to produce.”
According to Islamic finance development report of 2020, there are 972 Islamic finance education providers and total of 378 Islamic finance degree providers in 2019. This remarkable development to provide informed or even talented workforce to accelerate growth of Islamic finance globally. However, we need to ponder over the question on what kind of elites Islamic finance education providers are producing?
Whereas elites can be differentiated by different criteria, Prof. Ali Mazrui argue that one fundamental distinction which might be made is between an elite of leisure and an elite of labor. According to him elite of leisure “is usually one which minimizes social commitment and exertion and is placed in a situation in which it can pursue a life of comfort without worrying about social disapproval. Elite of labor, on the other hand, is one which finds it necessary to justify its elite status by providing effective leadership and by setting example of hard work through its own behavior and performance.”
A major criticism of any education system is warranted if it tends to promote elite of leisure rather than elite of labor. Mwalimu Nyerere refers to it as “Education for wanting a better life but not for making a better life.” Under such system, syllabus is often geared towards pursuit of leisure class and promote expectations of getting a degree on paper, white collar work, social detachment and minimal office hours.
It can be asserted that founders of Islamic financial institutions in 1960s and beyond belonged to the elite of labor. The likes of Late Dr. Ahmed Najjar who undertook the first experiment on Islamic banking in Egypt, Late Sheikh Saeed Lootah who founded Dubai Islamic Bank, Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali, Late Prince Muhammad bin Faisal Al Saud among many others. They worked hard for Muslims to have financial products and services that comply with Shari’ah in their respective countries. They overcame many obstacles on the way despite not having attended contemporary Islamic Finance courses to do what they did. They were purpose driven with strong focus on provision of practical alternative to the world interest financial system.
To stimulate further discussion, i add to the initial question; do our Islamic finance education providers and their syllabus geared towards pursuits of leisure or promote pursuits of continuous work in search of sustainable Islamic solution on financial problems facing the people in banking, business, insurance, microfinance, personal finance, pensions, capital markets, financial technology just to mention a few? Do the current and future graduates of Islamic finance and those within the Islamic financial institutions belong to the elite of leisure or elite of labor?
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Reference:
Mazrui, Ali (1978), Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa. Heinemann Education Books Ltd, London.