The College of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has announced the winners of the undergraduate essay competition held by its Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization (CMCC). 

First held in 2017 and occurring biennially, the competition reflects a commitment by the College’s Center to creating and raising awareness among young people about the contributions Muslims have made to human civilization. In doing so, the competition is also designed to disseminate a culture of research and instil a greater sense of civilizational responsibility among undergraduate students. Awards of between USD 2,000 and USD 10,000 are given to the winning Arabic and English language submissions. 

The subject of this year’s competition was ‘Muslim Intellectual Life in 2nd Century Hijri/8th Century CE Baghdad.’ Participants were tasked with basing their submissions around a range of themes, including religion and ethics, literature and poetry, architecture, and political thought and governance. In response, the CMCC attracted submissions from across 10 countries, with the following participants receiving awards for their work: Samia Aissaoui (Algeria); Ian Greer (Canada); Zeinab Ghaedi (Iran); Remilekun Fasanya (Nigeria); Berke Cetinkaya (Turkey); Umran Khan and Edward Taylor (both United Kingdom).

Commenting after the announcement, Prof. Aisha al-Mannai, Director, CMCC, said: “We were delighted with the eclectic and international mix of submissions on this year’s theme. The caliber and quality of all essays were extremely high and selecting winning entries was by no means an easy task. However, what set our winners apart was the diversity of sources used to inform the style, structure and clarity of their submissions. The fact that some of our winners are non-Muslims also reflects that interest in Muslim contributions to civilization remains high in many parts of the world. 

“We are hopeful that such competitions and other academic activities of CMCC would enhance the realization of our primary objective of creating awareness about the contribution of Islam and Muslims to civilization among the youth and academics alike. Ultimately, we’d like to thank everyone who submitted essays for this year’s competition. Researching, developing and putting ideas to paper could not have been easy under the current circumstances. We look forward to holding our next competition under more favorable conditions.”

For more information on the work of the Center for Muslim Contributions to Civilization, CIS at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, please visit https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/cis/center/cmcc.