The Islamic Philosophy of Education

As mentioned earlier, the educational philosophy is a very important screen for selecting and eliminating educational objectives. During this section, 3 vital parts which can be found necessary ingredients within the whole formulation of the philosophy of islamic education - namely, learner, knowledge, and suggests that of instruction - will certainly be discussed briefly.

The learner, being human, is created up associated with a dual nature of spirit and body. The spiritual faculty is known just like the ruh (soul), ‘aql (mind or intellect), qalb (emotion), or nafs (self) i keeping with the purpose that’s ascribed to it. ‘Aql (the faculty of reason), unique to mortals, elevates them that beats all others of creation. [1] The sould can be elevated towards the noblest of positions however it may conjointly be debased to the bottom as to firmly the low. [2]. The body consist of many faculties correspoding towards the physical senses. The nature as to firmly the learners with regards to learning is the subject of study in psychology. Its common knowledge that the learner is inquisitive and flexible and could be molded particularly with a tender age. The learner has physical wants for food, activity, and sex; social wants for affection, belonging, and standing inside a social cluster; and spiritual wants relating to one thing larger and beyond one’s self, that’s, the would like to attain for god.

Islam believes within the whole risk of obtaining expertise in truth and reality. In islam there has not been a lot of debate for this matter, unlike within the whole western philosophical traditio where there has actually bee constant debate since greek philosophy, as demonstrated by plato’s theatetus. We think that man is equipped by having soul ad physical senses and ready by Allah to acquire knowledge. In keeping with al-attas, ‘ilm (knowledge) is that the arrival of one’s ma’na (that means) associated with an object within the whole soul and the arrival of one’s soul with the that means associated with an object of knowledge. [3] Therefore the soul isn’t merely passive however active too.

Wahy ( revelation ) and intuition are received by your soul. The 5 physical senses are classified as the windows on your mind, notably for obtaining empirical and of course the rational knowledge.

Within the whole islamic worldview, there exists a hierarchical structure to knowledge, and, only as there exists a dual nature in mankind, there exists 2 categories of knowledge, the ‘ilm alnaqliyah ( revealed )—some of that's fard ‘ayn, individual duty—and the ‘ilm alnaqliyah—which is fard kifayah, that's a communal duty. These correspond in the totally different degrees of certainty of knowledge and of course the suggests that of procuring it. Fard ‘ayn knowledge is finite, sure, and obligatory almost every individual muslim to acquire. It  includes the knowledge relating to actually the pillars of one's religion, the articles of religion, and of course the shari’ah. On one other hand, fard kifayah knowledge is obligatory upon the community. Every community ought to be certain that there are a handful of individuals that are knowledgeable within the whole acquired or intellectual knowledges essential regarding the survival of one's society, like drugs, mathematics, natural and applied sciences, and social sciences. During this manner, islam ensures that each individual is anchored to his religion whereas exploring new horizons. The analogy of flying a kite will be accustomed to explain the relationship between religion and reason, where religion is that the string and reason is that the kite itself. There is often tension between religion and reason only as there's connecting kite and of course the string ; if for a few reason the string is broken, the kite can fly off in any direction. Similarly, if reason isn't grounded in religion, then it may can wander altogether directions while not knowing its limit. [4]

Knowledge is integral or holistic as urged from the tawhidic worldview. There's no compartmentalization of knowledge into religious and secular spheres. Each fard ‘ayn and fard kifayah knowledge have the aim of strengthening religion, the previous through careful study on your words of allah within the whole holy qur’an and of course the latter against a meticulous, systematic study on your realm of man and nature.

Knowledge is integral to action, spirituality, and ethics. [5] The nature as out to the knowledge that provides the content of education will be the major concern as out to the curriculum, and these views of man and knowledge have a good bearing upon islamic education.

Education (ta’dib, disciplining ; a few still like tarbiyah, upbringing ) is adab (proper method or virtue), progressively instilled in man. [6] Adab refers in the discipline of body, mind, and spirit. It edows the possessor in the familiarity with the correct places of things or objects (hikmah) within the whole theme of creation and subsequently to act because we are part of a barely manner (‘adl).

Al attas defines “education” just like the progressive instilling of “the recognition and acknowledgment as to actually the proper spot where things within the whole order of creation, such so it leads towards the recognition and acknowledgment as to actually the proper spot where god within the whole order from being ad existence” of mankind.[7] Thus the primary goal of education usually is to lead man to recognize and acknowledge his creator. This acknowledge is manifested in obedience ad adherece to his commandmets. In different words, the primary goal of islamid education usually is to tur out the sensible being, who by developing all his/her potentials accordingly, ensures him or her to function as the servant ( `abd ) and of course the vicegerent ( khalifah ) of allah who has got undertaken the amanah (trust) of maintaining prosperity on this planet. For this result education should turn out the god-fearing (taqwa) servant of Allah who will be recoqniant of his individual vertical relations with Allah (hablun min allah) and his social horizontal relations with his fellow man (hablu min al-nas). So, in result the primary goals of education embrace spiritual, ethical, social, intellectual, and physical development with specific doals. There can be no conflict betwee societal and individual aims as a result of there’s unity of purpose.

Only as knowledge could be a reflection of man, ideally the curricular framework associated with a islamic educational institution, significantly for the tertiary level, ought to reflect knowledge. The figure below illustratesthe relationship between man, knowledge, and curriculum. Only as man is associated with a dual nature -  getting a body while a spirit – therefore conjointly the curriculum ought to possess a center or maybe a core consisting of revealed knowledge (‘ilm alnaqliyah), that fulfills the spiritual wants as to actually the individual, ad acquired knowledge (‘ilm alnaqliyah), that fulfills the physical and intellectual wants necessary for societal developmet radiating from it.

Each knowledges, fard ‘ayn and fard kifayah, are essential for happiness during thisworld and consequent. The balance between them needs to firmly be preserved. Being the core of one's curriculum, fard ‘ayn (revealed knowledge) will certainly be needed of all students. To fulfills the requirement of fard kifayah (acquired knowledge), in spite of this, students can elect to specialize in at very least one field of study.

[1]  The Qur'an (95:4).

[2] The Qur'an (89:25; 95:5).

[3] See S. M. Naquib Al-Attas, The Concept of Education in Islam. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1990, which explains lucidly the concepts of man, knowledge, and education.  

[4] I am indebted to Dr. Yedullah Kazmi, Department of Education, for this beautiful analogy.

[5] For a further discussion on the integral nature of knowledge, see Wan M. Nor Wan Daud, The Concept of Knowledge in Islam (London: Mansell, 1991), chapter 4.

[6] The Concept of Education in Islam.

[7] Ibid., 22.