Editorial

Abstract

Editorial Ilham Nasser and Nuraan Davids Human development is about people, their interactions and dreams, as well as their beliefs, worldviews, and identities. It is also about the emotions and insights of being human, our sense of hope and fear, and our collective vulnerability as we continually strive to look for a better future. For some this means the right to be who they are, to live where they were born. For others, it means breaking from cycles of poverty and despair. Our privileges as the coeditors of this journal extend beyond access to an array of textual submissions from around the globe to a state of enrichment and hope in education. With each submission comes profound research endeavors toward new considerations and reimagined possibilities for those who are visible and invisible. Each submission confirms our belief in people's potential to transform their lives as individuals and groups. And to do so, we emphasize the intersection between human development and education as critical for improving lives, nourishing well-rounded individuals, and creating caring societies and communities. This issue takes a broad human development view on life, from the early years all the way to adulthood and death. More specifically we emphasize the legacy people leave behind when they dedicate their lives to improving the human development trajectory, especially in Muslim societies, as in the case of the late professor Dr. Abdul Hamid AbuSulayman, who left us toward the end of last year. In this issue we celebrate his life and accomplishments. This issue also is the first that includes articles prepared through a mentoring program that the editorial team initiated to support junior scholars whose English is not their academic language and to raise their voices through sharing their work in mainstream academic journals such as JEMS. We consider our mentoring program as a necessary enactment of our responsibility to human development. Too many voices are left silent, too many lives are unknown because of barriers, which are easily removable if we are prepared to step into the unknown. The editors determine the quality of the manuscripts submitted and select those that align with the journal's mission and areas of focus and share innovative and unique perspectives. This mentoring model empowers rising scholars to contribute their work and share it widely. Along with this, we have provided some guidelines including a detailed manual and a videorecording, prepared by [End Page 1] Anastasia Khawaja, to help scholars prepare their manuscripts for submission (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSuhiCczArM). This is part of our commitment to the human development theme, in general, and the scholarly exchanges needed to reform education and improve scientific inquiries in Muslim academic circles and research circles. We do continue our exploration of topics such as policy, pedagogy, and the best learning processes specific to Muslim youth and education. These as well as a discussion of educational approaches, such as a holistic curriculum and its manifestation in Islamic education, are critical for reform of education and for strengthening a sense of identity and belonging among Muslim educators and students in secondary and higher education. Questions such as how do we teach youth about coping mechanisms in conflict situations, and what are the impacts of learning modalities on young students, are of interest in this issue. We also keep searching for ways to advance high-quality studies and share them with our readership. This issue commemorates the late Dr. Abdul Hamid AbuSulayman, one of the founders of IIIT, by sharing a review of Dr. AbuSulayman's major scholarly contributions as a researcher and educator and by conducting an interview with Dr. Hisham Altalib, the President of IIIT and a close colleague of the late professor. In the special article, Professor Abdelaziz Berghout, the Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), names AbuSulayman's books and major accomplishments, especially his work during the many years he spent at IIUM on enhancing the integration of Islamic revealed knowledge and human sciences and the Islamization of disciplines. In the interview, conducted by our book reviews editor, Alyaa Ebbiary, Dr. Altalib provides meaningful insights and a lot of history...