Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Islamic schools need to include more scientific and research studies, rather than trying to revive the glory of past Islamic civilization by focusing solely on theology, a seminar here heard Thursday.

M. Ridwan Lubis, of the Religious Affairs Ministry's research, development, education and training center, said there had been little teaching of "rational sciences" at Indonesia's Islamic schools, which were initially designed as centers for "normative disciplines and spiritual enrichment".

Some traditional Islamic schools viewed the sciences suspiciously as a kind of foreign infiltration into Islamic teachings, Ridwan said at the seminar on research for students at Islamic schools.

This mind-set is a legacy of the colonial period, during which the religious orientation of "the early generation of such schools" was intended to combat colonization, he added.

As most Islamic schools are in rural areas, their interaction with the sciences and research is limited, said Ridwan, a professor at Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University and deputy chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization.

He said the attitude ran counter to the principles of Islam, which encourages the use of logic, as demonstrated by the long history of Islamic civilization during the Umayyah, Abbasiyah, Fatimiah and Andalusia dynasties in the Middle Ages.

"Muslim scientists (in those periods) had in fact established scientific and research traditions. Their works, such as Ibnu Sina (Avicenna)'s Al Qanun fi 'Ilm Al Thibb, or Canon in the Western literature, are still used as references by modern scientists," Ridwan said.

He said Indonesian Muslims had developed the opposite mind-set because they and others in Southeast Asian nations had inherited their understanding of Islam from the "retreat era" of the 13th century, which was marked by the collapse of the Abbasiyah dynasty following a Mongolian invasion.

"Indonesian Islamic schools should integrate religious teachings and the sciences," Ridwan said.

The seminar followed an award ceremony for a social research writing competition for students from a number of Islamic junior high schools in Java. The competition was organized by the Institute of Research, Education and Information for Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES) in partnership with the Learning Assistance Program for Islamic Schools (LAPIS).

LP3ES deputy director Sudar Dwi Atmanto said the competition aimed to stimulate research activities among students. The LP3ES chose to make the competition exclusive for students of Islamic schools because they "lack attention from the government", he said.

Ridwan said the poor quality of Islamic schools was also the result of the government's "discriminatory treatment" of them. While ordinary public schools receive official support from the Education Ministry and regional administrations, Islamic schools come under the supervision of the Religious Affairs Ministry, he said.

Students at Islamic schools make up 20 percent of students currently undertaking the nine-year basic compulsory education program.