WHAT is the Makkah Pact and how can it help take the Muslim world towards a new height of destiny? A detailed dialogue on this subject brought back, with particular intensity, memories of my late and revered teacher, Professor Syed Mateen-ur-Rehman Murtaza. As students, we once approached him with a request that we be allowed to organize an event outside the university, at a hotel. Our teacher believed deeply in dialogue. Unlike some administrative heads who settle matters with a stern look and a simple yes or no, he would listen, engage and encourage discussion. He heard our request with affection. After sending Ghafur Baba out for tea, he turned to us and asked, “What is a university?” Whenever Mateen Sahib asked such a question, it was usually the prelude to something important. After a brief silence, he explained that a university is called a university because it is, in a sense, a separate world—a universe of its own. It stands apart from the hustle and bustle of cities and does not merely absorb their culture; rather, it gives society a culture founded on knowledge. Its other great responsibility is to provide the intellectual nourishment necessary for the building and advancement of nations. Last week, I witnessed precisely this spirit at the........

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