ISLAMABAD: The government owned International Islamic University (IIUI) has been central to promoting the Arabic language in Pakistan, the varsity’s officials said, and credits itself for being the single largest institute responsible for the expansion of the language in South and Central Asian countries.

Since its establishment in 1980, the institute, which has separate campuses for men and women, has produced over 40,000 Pakistani and foreign graduates fluent in Arabic after training under Pakistani and Middle Eastearn faculty, said Najeeb Ahmed, secretary to the president of the IIUI.  

Dr. Muhammad Tahir Hakeem, the dean of the Shari’ah and Law Faculty, said the university was “unique” because it was compulsory for students to learn both Arabic and English in order to complete a degree program while applicants had to be fluent in at least one of the two languages.

The idea for IIUI was conceived by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at a conference in 1980 where it was agreed that several Islamic learning centers would be set up around the world, including in Pakistan.

IIUI thus started with only nine students as a single degree program inside Islamabad’s notable Quaid-i-Azam University, formerly Islamabad University. Since then, it has grown into a formidable center of Arabic learning where thousands of students from around the world come to learn the language for academic purposes or to help them secure employment in Gulf countries in the future.

Today, IIUI has nine faculties, six autonomous academies, institutes and centers, and 142 academic programs, informed Farooq Adil, spokesperson for the IIUI.

Of its 30,000 students, 14,000 are females, and 2,000 are foreigners from 43 countries studying at a massive campus that covers the entire H-10 sector in Islamabad.