An understanding of raison d’etre of Islamic Research Institute will be helpful in appreciating its efforts at a profound and insightful study of Islam, both at the national and international levels.
Pakistan emerged as a new independent and sovereign nation in 1947. For a proper development of society in this leading Muslim country it was considered imperative that Islamic scholarship should engage itself in serious study and research in the fields of Qur’anic Sciences, Hadith, Islamic Law and Jurisprudence, History, Culture, Philosophy, Tasawwuf and various other Islamic subjects. It was important not only to study in depth their development in the past but also to draw a blueprint for future development of Muslim thought so as to be able to meet the requirements of the contemporary Muslim society in a rapidly changing world.
Established in 1960 under a constitutional provision, the Islamic Research Institute worked under the administrative umbrella of the Government until 1980 when it was made part of the newly-established Islamic University, Islamabad as its research arm. Subsequently in 1985 when the University received its new charter as International Islamic University, the Institute retained its position as one of its constituent units.
Objectives
The main objectives of the Institute are to develop a methodology for research in the various fields of Islamic learning; to study/interpret the teachings of Islam in the context of the intellectual and scientific progress of the modern world; to identify and study contemporary problems and interpret the teachings of Islam in order to assist not only the Pakistani society but also the whole Muslim Ummah to live according to the imperatives of Islam. The results of the work done at the Institute are published in books, monographs, research reports and quarterly journals published in the Arabic, Urdu and English languages. The Institute also organises seminars, conferences and workshops to achieve and promote its objectives.
In the course of years the Institute has been called upon to assist the Muslim Ummah, particularly the Government of Pakistan, in their effort to cast their institutions, especially their laws, into the Islamic mould. The Institute has, therefore, prepared and published books, translations, guide books and commentaries on Islamic legal texts for the use of lawyers, judges and decision makers. Some of these studies were made available in the form of summaries and reports to the country’s Council of Islamic Ideology, to the parliament and to other departments of the Government of Pakistan. Most of these studies have, however, been published by the Institute in the form of books or articles in its journals for wider circulation.
Organizational Structure
Islamic Research Institute is the research arm and one of the constituent units of International Islamic University, Islamabad. Its organizational structure is as follows:
Board of Trustees
International Islamic University
Board of Governors IIU
Rector IIU
President IIU
Islamic Research Institute Council
Islamic Research Institute
Director
IRI Council
The overall working of the Institute is monitored by a supervisory body which also lays down the broad framework for the Institute’s endeavors. This is the IRI Council, which is headed by President, International Islamic University and has eminent scholars as its members. The present composition of the IRI Council is as follows:
Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqi, President, IIUI (Chairman)
Dr Zafar Ishaq Ansari, Director General, IRI (Vice Chairman)
Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Dean Faculty of Management Sciences, IIUI
Mr Muhammad Suheyl Umar, Director Iqbal Academy, Lahore.
Dr. Jamila Shaukat, former Professor, Punjab University, Lahore.
Mr Justice Dr. Fida Muhammad Khan, Judge Federal Shariat Court, Islamabad.
Dr Jafar Ahmad, Director Centre for Pakistan Study, University of Karachi.
Dr Saleem Akhtar, National Institute of Cultural Studies, Islamabad.
Dr. Abdul Rahim Ashraf Baluch, Assistant Professor, IRI (Secretary).
IRI Directors
The Institute is headed by its Director , who is expected to provide leadership in all fields of its activities. The Institute has had the distinction of having a succession of scholars of international repute as its directors.
