Institute of Islamic Culture desperate for funding

Court battle over land added burden on limited resources, say officials.

LAHORE:

The Institute of Islamic Culture, a non-governmental organisation which publishes some of the most respected works on the history and philosophy of Islam, is desperately short of funds.

The institute gets grants of Rs0.5 million each from the Punjab and federal governments, and generates about Rs1.2 million from book sales. But with staff salaries of Rs1.6 million a year, plus the cost of publishing a quarterly journal, Al-Mua’araf, and an expensive legal battle underway over property, budgets are tight.

“You cannot run an institution of this calibre on such meagre resources,” said IIC director Qazi Javed.

The IIC management has often had to pay out of pocket for budget over-runs. Syed Shahid Ali Shah, the head of the IIC board of directors, has helped the institution in a personal capacity.

Javed said that in the last two years since he had taken charge as director, the institute had published or reprinted 60 books and seven more were in the pipeline. He said that lack of funding was threatening the quality of its output.

“We have a very good reputation. Internationally, our books and researches are quoted far more than any other institution in Pakistan,” he said. “But right now we cant’ afford a single researcher. We have no resources even to arrange seminars or call scholars from Islamabad other parts of the country. Without proper funds, serious academic research is not an easy task,” Javed said.

The funding troubles began seven years ago when the institute got into a legal battle over seven kanals of land. The institute believes the land was illegally occupied with the connivance of government officials at the time and has moved court. The expense of that case, said Javed, is an added financial burden.

The IIC was established 61 years ago by former finance minister Syed Babar Ali and its first director was philosopher, art critic, writer and poet Khalifa Abdul Hakeem. He was succeeded by Professor MM Sharif, former president of the All India Philosophical Congress, Professor Saeed Sheikh, Siraj Munir and Dr Rasheed Jalandhri.

Maulana Hanif Nadvi, Raees Ahmed Jafari and Maulana Jafar Phulvarvi have served the IIC as researchers.

The institute has seven employees director, accountant, two composers, a driver, sweeper and two peons.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2011.