30/08/2026
🎓𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞, 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞
In Pakistan, we need to understand better that professorship is not a reward for work already completed. It is the moment at which a scholar becomes answerable, for the rest of their life, to themselves, to their students and colleagues, and to their institution and society.
My piece in The Express Tribune today argues that in Pakistani universities we have retained the private certification of competence and dropped the public declaration that gave the title its meaning.
The medieval universities knew the difference: the licentia docendi certified learning; while the inceptio, the inaugural lecture, made the promise in public.
Competence can be counted. Character cannot, and character is what makes a declaration credible.
Our own Islamic tradition settled this long ago: al-Sadiq al-Amin was said of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) years before he stood at Safa and asked whether they would believe him.
A professorial chair is held in trust, and in honour of being a teacher, and these are not the university's alone; Nations are built by people who have said it aloud and with the belief of service to Allah.
Here is the link for the full article in the e-paper:
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2625841/a-professorship-is-a-promise-publicly-made
