Towards Tawhidic Integral Ecological Health on Campus

The Rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia, Prof Emeritus Dato Dr Osman Bakar, has recently highlighted the essentiality of having a holistic agenda for well-being in the university campus. He introduced the agenda of Tawhidic Integral Ecological Health in Campus (TIEH) which represents a bold and timely response to the growing challenges facing university communities today.

As part of IIUM's core agenda for 2027, this initiative reflects the Rector's call to re-envision campus life through a Tawhidic worldview, where spiritual, psychological, social, and environmental dimensions of health are understood as deeply and meaningfully interconnected.

TIEH is not merely a programme but a civilisational idea, one that invites every member of the university to participate in nurturing a campus environment grounded in harmony, responsibility, and Islamic values. The following are the recapitulation of his vision on the agenda.

Ecological Health as an Integrated Reality

These environments are interdependent. What happens in one sphere inevitably affects the others. A stressful learning culture undermines mental health, poor digital habits affect social relationships, while unethical conduct weakens trust and institutional spirit. Ecological health, therefore, must be approached as a system, not in isolation.

At the heart of this system is the human environment, in that all of us form the living culture of the university. A healthy campus is not created only by policies or buildings, but by the daily conduct of students, academics, administrators, and leaders. Our working environment, learning environment, and social environment are inseparable, and all must reflect the ethical and spiritual spirit of Islam.

Mental Health as a Civilisational Concern

While therapy and professional intervention remain essential, the crisis cannot be addressed through clinical means alone. It raises deeper questions on the ways we understand human being, the place of spirituality in psychological well-being; and on the extent to which the dominant mental health frameworks are adequate for Muslim societies.

Much of contemporary mental health discourse originates from Western secular epistemology, where the human being is often reduced to mind and brain, and well-being is framed without reference to God, the soul, or metaphysical purpose. In such frameworks, God is absent from the narrative, the relationship between the Creator and the human being is ignored, spiritual reality is marginalised, and intellect is reduced to cognition rather than understood as a higher faculty guiding moral life. This creates a conceptual limitation. Mental health, when detached from spirituality, risks becoming a technical problem without moral depth, a clinical category without existential meaning.

Toward a Tawhidic Approach to Psychological Health

From this perspective, psychological distress is not merely a malfunction of cognition or emotion. It may reflect spiritual dissonance, moral conflict, loss of meaning, or weakened connection with Allah. Hence, mental health cannot be corrected in isolation but must be addressed within a larger ecological and spiritual context.

This is where TIEH becomes especially significant. It reframes mental health not as an individual pathology alone, but as a collective ecological responsibility, involving families, institutions, digital environments, and moral cultures.

The Digital Dimension of Ecological Health

The digital environment has become a central part of the campus ecology. It shapes attention, identity, relationships, and even faith practices. Recognising this, IIUM's agenda of Tawhidic Integral Ecological Health includes a strong digital dimension, supported by improving AI and technological infrastructure, not merely for efficiency, but for ethical and human-centred digital living.

Technology must serve human dignity, not erode it. A Tawhidic digital ecology seeks to cultivate digital responsibility, ethical online conduct, mindful engagement, and spiritually anchored use of technology.

Collective Responsibility and Institutional Collaboration

A Call to Popularise the Vision

In a time of ecological, psychological, and digital disruption, the Tawhidic vision offers more than management strategies. It offers meaning, coherence, and hope. Through this integral approach, the university moves beyond treating symptoms to nurturing wholeness, ensuring that both minds and souls are cared for in the journey of knowledge and service.

Shukran Abdul Rahman is a Professor at Department of Psychology, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).