As the Founder and Chancellor of the International Open University, I am especially honored today to address you, our esteemed graduates, on the importance of building and maintaining global unity and human progress through education, a fundamental mandate of IOU. Education, my dear graduates, contains a unique ability to eliminate ignorance and provide essential guidance to human society. It serves as a catalyst for the advancement of communities and human civilization as a whole. Allah informed us in the Quran that “He taught Adam the names of all things.” (Surah al-Baqarah (2):31) However, without divine guidance, knowledge can easily become a great source of human tragedy and destruction, as in the case of the first two atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.

All humans are descendants of Adam and Eve, bound together in communities, countries, and continents. The only way to collectively advance human civilization through education is to keep moral values firmly embedded in everything which is taught in our educational institutions, from kindergarten to PhD. At IOU, we offer a distinctive educational experience, where the beauty of Islamic morals is deliberatily interwoven into every department and every course, emphasizing the great importance of character and virtue, above all else. This is according to the wellknown statement of the Prophet (ﷺ) that he was only sent to establish the pinnacle of moral character.

This Convocation Ceremony marks the momentous occasion of IOU’s 10th batch of graduates, celebrated both offline in The Gambia and online globally. To all the graduates, I wholeheartedly congratulate you, as you venture into the world equipped with the precious gift of Islamized education from IOU. I strongly encourage you to join hands with your class and batch mates from all corners of the globe in order to collectively strive for the betterment of human society and the advancement of the Muslim nation through education.

May Allah bless your future endeavors and put them on your scale of good deeds.