Al Maghrib - This is a partially mutilated text missing the section containing the name of the newspaper and the date it was published, but it is undoubtedly an article that appeared on the heels of articles written about the Karaouiyine University in March of 1939.
How about the Karaouiyine University? Moroccans have read with much interest the details reported in the "Al Maghrib" newspaper about the construction (to expand) the AL Azhar University (in Cairo) such as the information released by the financial commission in charge of evaluating the project that provided an an estimated expense of 608,000 Egyptian pounds. This estimated bill is equivalent to 100 million Francs or more than a tenth of the Moroccan national budget.
When Moroccans became aware of this budget, it was perfectly natural for them to ponder about the status of the Karaouiyine University which was founded well before Al Azhar and rivaled it with respect to the sciences for many years. They wondered if the portion of its funding must remain limited to the modest annual budget allocated by the religious 'Habous' fund.
Not a single dirham have been invested by the national government in this prestigious university which has provided a prestigious service to our cultural history. Meanwhile tens of millions of dirhams of the Moroccan budget are dispensed to finance to projects more or less in the interest of the nation. Enormous sums are gobbled up each year for the repair and maintenance of equipment for the French schools. If only of portion of these expenses were invested in Karaouiyine, this would alleviate the burdens of deprivation and poverty that occupy the minds of students who see the future through a somber lens. As long as the expenses of our university remain dependent on the Habous funds, Karaouiyine will not be able to fulfill its mission with respect to the current generation. The Habous budget has forever been a unique budget deriving its revenue no more and no less from rentals of its properties.
The national government therefore must participate in the university's expenses by taking charge of a portion of the fees incumbent on it as a contribution for raising the scientific level of the students. It is up to the national government and not to individuals and associations to assume the entire responsibility for (national) education, especially for a backward country as ours. It must grant special attention to this sector which allows the country to make progress and has a higher priority than road repair and avenue beautification.
Egypt deserves all the praise for its efforts to disseminate knowledge undertaken by the government and by the population at large. Beyond Egypt, the compliments extend to all countries with an Arabic culture and all those of the Islamic faith because Al Azhar serves as the greatest Islamic university (for all). It has blown away the dust gathered by stagnation and has begun to rival more modern universities. The Egyptian people, who are proud of their university, support all of the government's endeavors on its behalf so that it can become the University of Islam.
When will it be the turn for our university? When will our government expend its efforts, be they just a minimum, to ensure its evolution is commensurate with the spirit of our time and to restore the haloed prestige of its Islamic past? When will we see an open cooperation between the people and the government in this paramount mission so that Karaouiyine becomes the second university of Islam and competes with Al Azhar in the scientific arena?
Such are the questions raised by all Moroccans when they see the passion by the Egyptian people and their government for their university while the Moroccan people and their government show no interest for Karaouiyine University. May Allah grant us a different future and guide us on a path of true reforms of the structures of our university and its methods of instruction. That at least is our hope. That is the future we dream of.
