The Department of Comparative Religion (DCR) and the Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue (IRD), IIUI, have collaborated for a unique initiative to enable the Department’s faculty members to learn source languages of different world religions.
Under this program, six faculty members have already started learning source languages of different religions. Dr. Muhammad Akram and Dr. Munazza Batool have taken admission in the summer extensive courses of the Kathmandu University, Nepal, to learn the Sanskrit and Tibetan languages, respectively.
Similarly, a Korean national named Deokgil Ko, the former lecturer in Biblical Hebrew, Zarephath Bible Seminary, Rawalpindi, has consented to teach the Biblical Hebrew to the willing faculty members of the Department. Dr. Taimiya Sabeeha, Dr. Ayesha Qurat ul Ain, Dr. Maryam, and Dr. Siddique Ali Chishti have started learning Biblical Hebrew through this arrangement. Learning of Pali, Latin, Greek, and Aramaic are under consideration by the other faculty members.
After completing this program, the Department will offer courses in these languages for its students giving them access to the original academic materials of various religious traditions.
The Department of Comparative Religion (DCR) and the Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue (IRD) anticipate finding new opportunities for academic exchange with academics from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds through this program.
This initiative will ultimately prove to be a mark of distinction for the International Islamic University since no other university in the country teaches these ancient languages.