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The Florida State University: DigiNole Commons
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 4-8-2010
The Need for an Islamic Pedagogy Mohammed Sabrin Florida State University Follow this and additional works at: http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/etd This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at DigiNole Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigiNole Commons. For more information, please contact.
[email protected]. Recommended Citation: Sabrin, Mohammed, "The Need for an Islamic Pedagogy" (2010). Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations, Paper 2140
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
THE NEED FOR AN ISLAMIC PEDAGOGY By: MOHAMMED SABRIN. A Thesis submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010 Copyright © 2009 Mohammed Sabrin All Rights Reserve
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The members of the committee approve the thesis of Mohammed Sabrin defended on April 8, 2010 _________________________________ Peter Easton Professor Directing Thesis _________________________________ Jeffrey Milligan Committee Member _________________________________ Tom Luschei Committee Member Approved: Patrice Iatarola, Chair, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members.
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ﺑﺴﻢ اﷲ و اﻟﺼﻠﻮة و اﻟﺴﻼم ﻋﻠﯽ رﺳﻮل اﷲ اﻟﻠﻬﻢ ﺗﻘﺒﻞ ﻣﻨﺎ اﻧﮏ اﻧﺖ اﻟﺴﻤﻴﻊ اﻟﻌﻠﻴﻢ In The Name Of Allah, And May The Peace And Blessings Of Allah Be Upon The Messenger of Allah. “Oh Allah Accept This From Us, Undoubtedly You Are The AllHearing, All-Knowing” (Qur'an 2:127)
Whatever is contained herein which is correct, then it is from the blessing of Allah, and whatever is contained herein which is wrong, then it is from me.
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Table Contents
ABSTRACT ..................................................................6 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................7 PURPOSE ................................................................ 10 Research questions........................................................ 10 LITERATURE REVIEW: WESTERN ANALOGUES TO ISLAMIC PEDAGOGY ............................................................... 12 Theory..................................................................... 12 Application................................................................ 14 METHODOLOGY ......................................................... 17 Evaluating Our Lenses.................................................... 18 PRESENTATION OF DATA ............................................. 24 Knowledge in Islam ...................................................... 24 Islamic Education: Content or Pedagogy? ............................... 32 Basis for Islamic Pedagogy in the English Sources ...................... 35 Medieval Methods ..................................................... 35 The Historical Context of Islamic Pedagogy ............................. 39 “Modern” Perspectives of Islamic Pedagogy ............................ 40 Islamic Pedagogy Directly from the Qur’an, Sunnah, and Contemporary Arabic Works on the Topic ............................................... 46 Scaffolding in Islam ...................................................... 47 Case-based learning, but what do we mean by cases? ................ 47 ANALYSIS OF DATA..................................................... 56 Reciprocity and Maintaining a Sincere Intention ........................ 59 Prioritizing Values Through One’s Demeanor and Composure ......... 60 CONCLUSION ............................................................. 64 Bibliography ................................................................ 67 Notes......................................................................... 73
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ABSTRACT
For the neo-colonized Muslim ummah1 (“nation”) without a place to fully practice Islam since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, there is pressing demand in the Muslim world for an Islamic pedagogy extracted from the Qur’an and Sunnah (and the rich scholarship that exists concerning them) that illustrates the Islamic perspective of knowledge and morality and how it could be practiced in the various disciplines of the educational system to promote human development (Cook 1999; Cook 2001). Re-newed identification of the general public of Muslims with pre-colonization identities has been particularly on the rise since the 1970s-which is commonly known as the beginning of the “Islamic Awakening” in the Muslim world (Cook, 2001, p.381; Haddad and Esposito, 1991, p.1). However, similar to many other institutions in most modern day Muslim countries, formal education mostly consists of teaching methods inherited from previous colonizers, like rote memorization (Gesink, 2006, pgs. 328329; Ofori- Attah, 2008, pgs.15, 18). This dissonance of values is perpetuated by corrupt authoritarian puppet regimes who seek to maintain their power by supporting Western hegemony in the region; hence, providing quality education that enhances critical thinking skills that might challenge the status quo is not an initiative that receives much support (Kincheloe and Steinberg, 2004, p.149). While teachers in the Muslim world, in places like Egypt, often teach Islamic and positivistic empirical sciences, both are taught through a banking theory approach that does little to develop critical thinking skills, let alone master basic conceptual knowledge. Aside from the ineffectiveness of such methods, such a teaching philosophy spreads a passive slave-like mentality to education which does not cultivate active citizens who will work for social justice2. How one teaches reflects their values. The following exemplar of an Islamic pedagogy hopes to offer a culturally relevant solution. The intent of this research is to develop an Islamic pedagogy that inspires an active approach to creating change in one’s society by changing oneself and working to be an active contribution to societal change simultaneously. This thesis focuses on Islamic Pedagogy as it relates to two branches-developing caring student/teacher relationships and utilizing these relationships to apply a case-based learning approach where students learn how to apply knowledge directly from the educator and from their peers. While this research is mostly theoretical and could possibly be valid for many parts of the Muslim world, the main geographical intent for application is Egypt.
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INTRODUCTION Egypt has a population of about 82 million; it is split into 26 governorates with about 90% of the people living on the 10% of the land around the Nile, and the currency is the Egyptian pound. Egypt is ruled by an authoritarian regime that has ruled by marshal law since 1981. This emergency law is the primary obstacle to change in Egypt, including in the field of education-not to mention that 1.3 of the 1.7 billion in American funding is spent on support of the military which upholds these policies (Boustany, 2008; Kelly, 2006; Zuhur, 2007, pgs. 2, 18 )3. Egypt has the largest educational system in the Middle East (Sadik, 2006, p. 87). This is mainly due to the tremendous population explosion over the last half a century, which has also caused a great decline in per student expenditure (at 40 percent per five years in the 1990s) and is getting worse (World Bank, 2009, p.12). Education in Egypt is very centralized and controlled by the Ministry of Education- with two “sub” ministries. The main educational system in Egypt is governed by a sub ministry called the Ministry of Education and Learning and is divided into two stages: the first compulsory stage, from ages six to fourteen, is split into two cycles, five then three years (only about ten percent of the population can afford any level of private education). At the end of the second preparatory cycle, students take a high-stakes national final exam which will essentially determine the rest of their life, whether they go to general or technical secondary education (Leavitt, 1992, pgs.96-97). If admitted to general education, the second stage is two years of general studies and one year specializing in a particular subject. The type of certificate granted at the end of the third year depends on the score achieved on the final national exam which will determine potential entrance into a university, and if admitted, the field qualified for out of the student’s list of preferences (i.e.: Arts, Engineering, Medicine, etc.). This final exam covers every course taken in high-school and is such a catastrophic event that some students commit suicide every year from sheer stress (Elhakeem, 2008)! “The Ministry of Education has repeatedly defeated efforts to change the national exam” (Leavitt, 1992, p.97). For the other half of the student population that get tracked into technical secondary education, about 1 percent get admitted to a university while the rest usually enter a trade or end up unemployed (Leavitt, 1992, pgs. 96-97). There is also the parallel Islamic educational system of Al-Azhar, which is administered by the sub ministry Al-Awqaaf, and was established 975 CE. Al-Azhar has a four year primary stage, a three year preparatory stage, a four year secondary stage, and higher education (Leavitt, 1992, p. 97). Both the main educational system and the parallel Al-Azhar system have public, private, and semi-private branches with the main difference between these being that the size of the classroom decreases and use of international languages such as English (for instruction) increases as one moves down the spectrum from public to private. Correspondingly, under both ministries public schools are free, semi-private at varying costs, and private rarely within reach except for the elite class-of course aside from tuition, there are
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numerous indirect expenses like transportation, uniforms, books, and other materials. The demanding nature of the national exam at the end of secondary school combined with the poor quality of curriculum/ instruction cause millions of dollars to be wasted each year on private tutoring and bribes to get around the educational system. Ethnographic research from the Culture and Education in Egypt Working Group (CEEWG) of the Middle East Awards Program explicated how private lessons have become a market themselves due to the tremendous failure of the educational system. Linda Herrera’s work with teachers allowed for discussions that highlighted the importance of improving the regular learning experience so students would not have to purchase their education on their own--which of course condemns most of the poverty-stricken of Egypt. However, these conversations also highlighted the need to motivate teachers to put forth more effort and enthusiasm in their teaching (despite the institutional obstacles) and acknowledge their social responsibility towards their students (Herrera and Torres, 2006, pgs.100-118). In regard to teaching methods and content, Egyptian education has been reduced to rote memorization of dated textbooks. Students, from basic through secondary education, are lambasted with facts and figures with no guidance on how to practically apply such knowledge or its relevance (Herrera, 2006, p. 9). During basic education, students learn manners and some academic content (like language, communication, agriculture, and industrial skills) in this manner (Leavitt, 1992, p.97). In preparatory and secondary education, the curriculum changes little, aside from an increased workload and having the opportunity to specialize during the last year (in general secondary education). In Al-Azhar schools, curriculum consists of the same Ministry of Education and Learning curriculum with added Islamic sciences. The minute percentage that can afford Western private schools either receive a Western curriculum, usually in English or French, or a language acquisition curriculum; there are some special education schools as well (Leavitt, 1992, p.98). Regarding Universities, Said laments: “Universities in the Arab world are generally run according to some pattern inherited from, or once directly imposed by, a former colonial power…classes populated with hundreds of students, badly trained, overworked, and underpaid faculty, political appointments, the almost total absence of advanced research and of research facilities, and most important, the lack of a single decent library in the entire region…the few promising students who manage to make it through the system are encouraged to come to the United States to continue their advanced work…the patronage system in scholarship, business, and research makes the United States a virtual hegemonic commander of affairs…the Arabic and Islamic world remains a second-order power in terms of the production of culture, knowledge, and scholarship” (Said, 1979, pgs. 322-323). This is how Edward Said described Higher Education in the Middle East in 1979 and it has not particularly changed much except for the fact that all of these issues have only gotten worse, primarily due to authoritarian
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political regimes that hinder any possible change that might put their power at risk, lack of planning/organization in ministries of education, widespread corruption, lack of resources, and the population boom mentioned previously (Christina, 2003). There are many issues that need to be addressed in Egyptian education including curriculum (Herrera & Torres, 2006, p. 9), funding (Zuhur, 2007, p.19), teacher training (NCERD, 2000, p.7), and early childcare education (NCERD, 2000, pgs.7-14), but what has been seen over the last 2 decades to the common observer-and of course professionals in the field as well (AREME 2003; Birdsall, 1999, p.3; Herrera 2006; ; UNESCO, 2007)-to be the greatest problem in improving education in Egypt has been quality. Aside from the horrible economic prospects for employment, Egyptian education does not motivate students to intellectually grow and it produces citizens who have merely memorized and forgotten a lot of books. This pattern is quite ironic given that traditional4 (pre-colonization) Islamic pedagogy centers on a case-based learning approach where students practically apply knowledge through an apprentice-style relationship with their teachers and cooperative group work which allows them to participate in their own moral and cognitive growth. Due to the complexity of political constraints in improving many institutional aspects of Egyptian education, enhancing teachers’ abilities to teach will empower them to change what they can-their classroom.
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PURPOSE The objective of this research is to develop an Islamic pedagogy that inspires an active approach to creating change in one’s society by changing oneself and working to be an active contribution to societal change simultaneously. This thesis focuses on Islamic Pedagogy as it relates to two branchesdeveloping caring student/teacher relationships and utilizing these relationships to apply a case-based learning approach where students learn how to apply knowledge directly from the educator and from their peers. To stimulate such relationships, I have focused on utilizing metaphysical (Islamic) motivation in improving teacher effort/ability. Muslim teachers who practically live according to the belief that teaching is an act of worship-through the way proper education produces active citizens who improve society-are more effective teachers. Through such relationships, I have concentrated on utilizing case-based learning to stimulate critical thinking, which enhances the quality of education. Islamic pedagogy, with its high emphasis on caring apprenticeship relationships between teacher and student allows teachers to utilize their personal relationships with students to scaffold them to higher concepts. When teachers draw on classroom occurrences/ disturbances to model appropriate behavior and elaborate on various academic concepts, they will construct live learning experiences inside the classroom. I will provide specific examples of how to accomplish this. More generally put, every moment in the classroom is a learning experience. This is what I intend by case based learning. Through the aforementioned student-teacher relationships and teaching methods, educators set a certain example for students, thereby not only directly guiding students’ moral/cognitive development, but also creating “mini role models” among them to affect peer influence. Complimentary group activities in such an environment would allow students to help each other morally and cognitively develop. Given that family and peers have been two of the biggest indicators of children’s future academic and social achievement globally (Hanushek, 2007, p.277), empirical research appears to support an approach that does not neglect peer influence. A common theme on the parts of teachers and students I will highlight is Ihsaanworshipping God as if you see Him, and even though you don’t see Him you live according to the acknowledgment that He sees you. The potential of this concept in addressing motivation will be elaborated on. From my research and personal experience in Egypt, I have seen the potential for these aforementioned threads due to the very social nature of Egyptian society.
Research questions In order to craft a pedagogy such as what has been described above, it will have to be asked first and foremost, what is Islam and what are the epistemological definitions of knowledge and education within this belief system; are there different types of the former or latter? What is the purpose of seeking knowledge in Islam; how and with whom should it be done? What do we intend by pedagogy and has a particular Islamic pedagogy ever
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been outlined before by scholars in the past or present? Subsequently, these questions will lead us to a framework of what an Islamic pedagogy might look like.
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LITERATURE REVIEW: WESTERN ANALOGUES TO ISLAMIC PEDAGOGY Education involves the cultural patterns that determine how a people pass on their values and accumulated knowledge/experiences to future generations. I have consciously used as neutral a definition as possible for our purposes here of presenting varying conceptions of education in the East and West. Education involves two processes, official curriculum content and moral education; in other words while a particular subject matter is being taught, teachers also educate and socialize students into the accepted value system of their society either directly (through the curriculum) or indirectly (through their behavior and how they teach). How we teach is just as important as what we teach; undoubtedly they are intimately linked. Pedagogy has various usages in the field of education; a common definition used is the “study of teaching methods, including the aims of education and the ways in which such goals may be achieved” (Pedagogy, 2010). Accordingly, the main factors to be addressed when discussing pedagogy are the educator, student, and content; however, this research strives to provide a pedagogy that can be utilized for theological or empirical knowledge (irrespective of content). The pedagogical definition that will be used here is the teaching methods and corresponding relationship between teacher and student utilized to reach ones’ educational objectives. While much of the literature in the field of education has focused on the cognitive aspects of education, more recent research has highlighted the importance of discussing what kind of moral education goes on in the classroom (Lickona, 1991; Moore, 2007). In America, values are often derived from the liberal arts public education system, citizens’ various personal religious beliefs, or some combination of both (Moore, 2007; pgs.1-10). The focus of this study is on developing a pedagogy culturally relevant to one particular belief system-Islam; however, it will be analyzed in comparison to existing literature on Islamic pedagogy as well as some analogues from the Liberal Arts value system. I will present existing literature on Islamic pedagogy as background in the presentation of data section. This literature review will focus on Western literature regarding moral education and outline one of the closest analogues to Islamic pedagogy-the Ethic of Care-including the specific teaching methods that would logically accompany such a philosophy of teaching.
Theory Lev Vygotsky, a psychologist by profession, was one of the earliest academics to comment on the importance of reconnecting the link between cognitive and affective factors when researching the human psyche (Goldstein, 1999, pg.648).Vygotsky defined a zone of proximal development as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (as cited in Goldstein, 1999, p.649 emphasis added). Therefore, using a customized student-centered
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pedagogy, an educator could scaffold a student along to higher, more intricate concepts (building on their previous knowledge) depending on the supportive guidance received either from the teacher or other peers who had comprehended the concept (Goldstein, 1999, pgs.649-654). Vygotsky realized that learning is not simply an individual activity (otherwise not much disciplinary analysis would be needed outside of a psychological lens), and that more insightful analysis of educational development needs to be discussed in relation to the social interactions that take place between the actors involved. Accordingly, by developing deeper relationships with their students, educators can consciously care for students in a way that provides a suitable environment for growth. Such deliberate attention to students’ needs on the part of the educator would also provide a role model for other students to help each other grow in cooperative learning settings. As will be highlighted, the quality of the student-teacher relationship is pivotal to Islamic pedagogy as well. Many academics5 have elaborated on the nature of this affective and caring relationship between teacher and student (Bailey, 2000; Noddings, 1984; Rogoff, 1990). At the time that Nel Noddings wrote Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education (1984), she was responding to a growing sentiment (as evident through the increasing moral education literature) that more attention should be paid to treating students like humans who need time, attention, and guidance to intellectually and emotionally develop (Lickona, 1991). Noddings took this concept a step further by clarifying that an educator has a moral obligation and responsibility to actively care for their students and embody the values they want to instill in them by virtue of the educator’s position as a role model (Noddings, 1984). She goes as far as to say that the one-caring (the educator) must “receive” the cared for (the student) into themself by being “engrossed” with their goals and needs; this motivational displacement involves temporarily preferring the student to one’s self (Goldstein, 1999, p.656). On the part of the cared for they are expected to somehow acknowledge or reciprocate this care in every caring encounter (Goldstein, 1999, p.657), but are not ordered to (Noddings, 1984, p. 72). In fact, this reciprocity could involve the teacher being directly acknowledged or simply witnessing the cared for’s “happy growth” Consequently, Noddings (1984) has differentiated between naturally caring and ethically caring for one’s students; the former is not a reliable form of care because the educator might simply not naturally care for or be drawn to a particular student, while the latter involves an active, professional choice to care acknowledging an ethical obligation. Ethical caring is an action, not a quality. A student/teacher relationship based on ethical caring is more important because naturally caring for all of one’s students may or may not occur. Also, people are naturally more drawn to those they are similar to in some way, in which case natural caring would not suffice for equitable guidance of students. Educators should choose to care in strategic ways, irrespective of whether natural caring develops over time or not. Ethical caring
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demonstrates a sincere dedication on the part of educators to help students grow, whether they are having a bad day or not, whether they “like” the students or not; this choice requires a genuine belief in children’s ability to succeed, which empowers the teacher and student throughout the learning process. Such a practical and tailored approach to each child helps students develop intellectually and morally. While this caring approach seems ideal in explaining what should be done, one question is left unanswered, how do we motivate practitioners to care? Why should they maintain a “concern for the ethical self” (Noddings, 1984, p.75,) in the unpredictable daily hustle and bustle of over-energized children, increasing discipline problems, and even occasionally violent behavior? This will be developed in the discussion of Islamic pedagogy, but first let’s look at practical examples of Noddings’ approach in the field.
Application Concerned about the moral state of youth in his time, Thomas Lickona undertakes the task of outlining a detailed stratagem for the practical application of a caring pedagogy. Lickona applies the concept of Vygotsky’s “ZPD” to not only demonstrate the importance of teachers taking active roles in helping their children cognitively and morally develop, but that the teachers themselves must embody the potential results of that development. He particularly goes a little further than Noddings by highlighting that one’s private life affects their public behavior (Lickona, 1991, p.49, 79). One has to become a role model of the behavior one wants to see in students; the caring relationship that will be developed is what will allow students to reach their potential development intellectually and emotionally. An artificial façade played out every time a teacher comes to class is easily seen through; Lickona states “we are coming to see that our societal moral problems reflect, in no small measure, our personal vices” (Lickona, 1991, p.49). On the issue of role models one could also add to this that on a macro level, the leaders of the nation should be the first exemplars in demonstrating these morals on the world stage for them to really have any effect and trickle their way down to the masses. However, the causal direction of social change is not predetermined and teachers are also in a decisive position to effect longterm societal change from the roots up-through the children that will inherit their legacy. Undoubtedly, one has to truly change oneself before one can hope to be a role model for others. Doing so will pragmatically show children how to identify when moral action/judgment is needed, how to reflect on it, and then act. By using daily occurrences, positive or negative, in the classroom as teaching moments instead of mere disruptions, Lickona shows how educators can act out the moral reflection process right in front of their students. Teachers can literally “think out loud” when a teaching moment occurs, about their primary reaction to it, the weighing of opportunities for possible further action, and then following through assertively to respond to the situation. This process could involve for example, teachers modeling composure as they pause to deliberate a situation requiring a moral decision, making value
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judgments in front of students as to the particular pros and cons of a particular course of action, and then acting (Lickona, 1991, pgs.54-57). This process of using classroom incidents as teaching moments is often called case-based learning. Modeling moral reflection in front of one’s students will pragmatically show them how to consciously represent the values they profess. Lickona also gives examples of how the lack of role models to model moral behavior cannot even be substituted for by any of the material recompense that is often offered to children for “good” behavior. Role models pass on their morals to others they interact with since moral behavior is a social act that is enacted publically and affects everyone involved. Ergo, the better students treat others socially, the better they will feel about themselves internally. Accordingly, lack of such role models leaves many students in despair, selfishness, and loneliness. Children without role models are often left undisciplined and only interested in material consumption (Lickona, 1991, p.50). Many people are slowly realizing that material pleasures will never substitute for beneficial human interaction. Given that Lickona has shown how moral behavior should be taught, He also gives suggestions for which values should be modeled. Lickona advises educators to start with the core values of respect and responsibility and then build upon these concepts a customized set of morals (such as honesty, tolerance, fairness, prudence, self-discipline, compassion, cooperation, and courage) according to contextual needs (Lickona, 1991. pgs.43-44). Lickona acknowledges that “getting agreement about shared values does not, of course, guarantee that people will agree about how to apply those values in every situation” (Lickona, 1991, p.47). This potential ambiguity illustrates once again the importance of using the case-based approach outlined above. By using the curriculum, “disturbances”, and other opportunities in the classroom to model good morals, ethical behavior is no longer as challenging (Lickona, 1991, pgs.62, 69, 72). Teachers who develop caring relationships with students can “help students to experience the world from the perspective of others” (Lickona, 1991, p.55), an ability essential for teaching respect. Becky Bailey, on a similar strand of ethical care, highlights the background disposition needed for teaching morals, the importance of maintaining composure at all times so that one maintains control and assertiveness no matter what the situation (Bailey, 2000, pgs.26-30). To actually maintain composure, given the hectic bustle of life in the classroom, one should differ between “management demands” and “moral demands” (Kohlberg & Selman, 1972, p.39); by stressing serious moral infractions much more than the usual spills and misunderstandings, educators can prioritize their demand of children’s short attention spans/ mental capabilities. Only with a composed demeanor can one act purposely, and not off mere emotion, a temperament essential for moral reflection. Also, the importance of acknowledging accomplishments through praise and other methods by the educator is crucial for encouraging students along throughout their moral growth (Bailey, 2000, pgs.82, 85, 92).
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Lickona describes the aforementioned procedure for exemplifying moral reflection by saying that “good character consists of knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good-habits of the mind, habits of the heart, and habits of action” (Lickona, 1991, p.51). A striking parallel will be seen to this method in Islam of how once someone has knowledge of a virtue, they purify their intention to do it, and then carry out the action. Some teachers even use “ethics journals” that helped students to critically reflect on their daily actions in the process of developing effective moral reflection skills (Lickona, 1991, p.56). Cooperative learning activities are also opportunities to develop bonds between students so that they can assist each other in modeling moral behavior (Lickona, 1991, p.74), while still allowing opportunities for teachers to interject their own moral feedback and guidance (Lickona, 1991, p.85). The feedback on behavior is recommended to be given in private, guiding students to understand why what they did was inappropriate, and is followed up on by the teacher to monitor progress (Lickona, 1991, p.86). Through cooperative learning, students experience “trial and error” opportunities with their peers to practice moral reflection and action, and are then scaffolded to the desired objective through caring educators’ guidance. Students’ participation in their own moral growth empowers them to begin to act independently, raises their self-esteem, and has longer effects on their long-term behavior. Accordingly, Lickona has outlined a framework for developing the caring student/teacher relationship and the process for utilizing this relationship to teach moral education, either directly between student and teacher or through “mini-role models” created in cooperative learning structures. Subsequently, Ethical Care pedagogy has been shown to focus on the importance of educators consciously caring for their students and developing the relationships needed to scaffold them from their existing level of cognitive/affective ability to the next. This process is accomplished through a casebased learning approach that takes advantage of every opportunity in the classroom as a teaching moment to apply knowledge practically. Such an approach creates transformative learning experiences in the classroom that help students grow. There are many such academics that use some version or another of what we could label Ethical Care pedagogy in Western literature (such as Gloria Ladson-Billings for example; see Dreamkeepers), but I have highlighted these particular authors to preserve space while simultaneously providing an in-depth analysis of such work. The aspects of Ethical Care mentioned here will be compared to similar traits found in Islamic pedagogy.
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METHODOLOGY I have defined education and pedagogy thus far; therefore, we should define some other essential terms to be utilized before proceeding. Islam, as used in this paper, refers to Sunni Orthodox Islam (more specifically Ahl Al Sunnah wal Jamaa’a, ASWJ; lit: “the people of the Sunnah and the Community”); ASWJ Islam makes up roughly 90% of the Muslim world and includes the four major jurisprudence schools of thought: Hanafi, Maaliki, Shaafii, and Hanbali. ASWJ works are known for their clear reliance on the actual revelation as evidence when they write about anything regarding Islam; this is opposite of the methodology of Sunni Ahl AlKalaam (lit: “the people of talk”) who sometimes prefer their own personal reasoning over textual evidence by default and minimally cite Islamic scripture when theorizing about Islam (Ashqar, 2003; Phillips, 2006). Ironically, Ahl Al-Kalaam, who represent about 5% or less of Islamic scholarship and Muslims throughout history, are the sole perspectives formally acknowledged in Western discourses about Islam (except for minute exceptions sometimes in Islamic Studies departments)6. The other ten percent of the Muslim world consists of a mixture of various sects (Shiism, varieties of Sunni like Sufism, etc.) which generally have some different fundamental beliefs. Sunni Muslims follow the Qur’an (believed to be the literal word of God revealed to prophet Muhammad) and the Sunnah (the teachings, sayings, and way of prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him7, on how to practice the Qur’an). There is a lot of literature on Islam in general concerning almost every disciplinary lens; however, relatively little has been written on the development of a specific Islamic pedagogy. One must preface such a statement by clarifying that the author has had limited time to research in a Muslim country-where Islamic literature is expectedly much more accessible. There is particularly much more literature in Arab Muslim countries since Arabic is the language that the Qur’an and Sunnah were revealed in, and therefore the language used in most serious theological works written about them. This being said, one would normally be left with the limited English scholarship that exists on Islamic Education as a whole here in America. However, I have had the opportunity to research for a small period of time in Egypt searching for Arabic works on Islamic pedagogy. These combined with the Arabic Qur’an and Hadeeth (the individual narrations of the Sunnah; pl. ahadeeth) exegesis available here in America have been the primary sources for this research. For exegesis, I have relied the most heavily on those of Ibn Kathir (the most widely known exegesis in the Muslim world, compiled by the named 13th century alim), Al-Ashqar (which is an abridged version of the famous 18th century AlShawkaanee’s exegesis), and Arkahdaan (which is an abridged version of the widely respected Al-12th century Qaasimi exegesis). In regard to the Sunnah, I have relied mostly on the two most authentic collections of ahadeeth (the compilations of Al-Bukhari and Muslim). Other than my own scriptural reflections, I have also highlighted the educational perspectives of two of the most knowledgeable ulamaa in the past half century, Shaykhs Bin
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Baz and Uthaymeen, as well as educational specialist Dr. Ahmad Mutawalee. Qur’an and Hadeeth exegesis ulamaa have frequently highlighted pedagogical issues in their works although they did not usually dedicate specific treatises to the topic. The works that have been found specifically described as “Islamic pedagogy” actually dealt more with outlining a specific curriculum of Islamic values that promote social, psychological, academic, and moral development, but less on how to teach them. Paradoxically, what would normally be viewed as a dearth in the literature has a lot to do with what exactly Islamic pedagogy is as will be explicated. There are over 6,000 verses in the Qur’an and more than 20, 000 authentic ahadeeth; accordingly, to knowledgably speak about the Islamic stance on a topic is not just to mention one verse of the Qur’an or one hadeeth from the Sunnah as proof, but rather to present all pertinent revelation with the appropriate corresponding analysis. Understandably, such a task is more appropriate for an entire lifetime’s work than a Master’s thesis; ergo, what is presented here is a survey-natured textual analysis of the Qur’anic method of teaching in the Qur’an itself, the pedagogical wisdoms behind the fashion in which scripture was revealed, and the pedagogical techniques that prophet Muhammad used with his companions. Glimpses of how this pedagogy was utilized historically will be brought to light as well.
Evaluating Our Lenses Given the overtly politicized nature of scholarship related to Islam in Academia (see Orientalism and Covering Islam among others by Edward Said), a note of caution must be heeded. Most academic scholarship-here I do not intend the quality of the work, but merely that which is produced within the ivory tower of Western universities and other learning institutions)-on Islam is taught from a Modernistic lens-a belief system promoted through our Liberal Arts educational system that preaches that the only ultimate Truth is that there are no fixed Truths or constants, but rather everything is variable and based on opinion. This seems self-defeatist if pondered; but in any case this is a belief system that was borne out of the European Enlightenment of the 18th and 19th centuries mostly due to perceived contradictions between various aspects of Christianity and empirical science as well as the centuries old religious based conflicts between France and Britain. This rationalist school of thought could really be traced as far back as the Greek philosophy of scholars such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, but its current day revivers were European philosophers such as Descartes, Nietche, and Kant (Kayum, 2010; Zarabozo (2), 2010). Christian theologians called for “higher criticism” of the Bible and came to the conclusion that not all aspects were appropriate for all time; hence, followers of the faith could choose the aspects of the faith they personally deemed appropriate for their particular time and location. Such action was justified by a belief that religion is an evolutionary process (Zarabozo (2), 2010). Bible scholars acknowledged (then and now) that the Bible was written by more than 40 authors many years after the time Jesus is believed
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to have died in Christianity (Dirks, 2010); accordingly, the Bible was no longer treated as an ultimate Truth in official discourse. Some fruits of this movement were the reform movements that occurred, like various Christian reformations, and corresponding alternative belief systems being constructed to take the place of religion in many public institutions, like Darwinism. Due to the aforementioned reasons, many academics and politicians concluded that the ideal solution was to secularize society and simply accept the parts of religion that not only did not contradict existing scientific theories, but that which also didn’t contradict their own cultural preferences. Not only were human-based empirical sciences taken as a universal Truthwhich has its human faults/biases (see Cuvier’s work on the “Hottentot Venus” and The Origin of Species by Darwin for example)-but so were any Western philosophical theories that gained widespread acceptance…essentially those that agreed with Western European culture. Philosophers’ individual personal reasoning/opinions became a post-hoc response to justify society’s changing religious attitudes and new liberal culture in Western Europe (Zarabozo 2, 2010). Anything that was Western was presented as “Human” and “Universal” objective Truth, and everything else was subjective uncivilized notions of culture, bias, and savageness (Moore, 2007, pgs.36, 57-58,; Willinsky, 1998). One wonders if the maps of Chaucer’s time with Western Europe shown, and the rest of the globe shaded black are not still relevant. Ironically however, this culturally relativist belief system of Modernism was intolerantly forcefully spread throughout much of the Muslim worldeither through formal colonization or neocolonization through media and education-as the solution to the intolerance of certain peoples during the Medieval period (Zarabozo (2), 2010). Westernization of Muslim countries’ educational systems imposed not only epistemological frameworks, but entire Western value systems that were inconsistent with local values for the sake of cultural/political hegemony. Post colonization, many countries were trying to unyoke themselves of colonial cultural hegemony (imposed through remaining transplanted educational systems), while simultaneously trying to redesign relevant aspects of these systems to improve the perceived weaknesses that led to their colonization-mainly military and industrial expertise (Hussein, 2008, pgs.16, 21). Native attempts at such a task in the 20th century were Modernists such as Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani of Iran, Namik Kemal of Turkey, Sayyid Ahmad Khan of India, and Muhammad Abduh of Egypt (Spring, 2006, p.155,). While some of these Modernists had questionable intentions to begin with, most of them wanted to import the scientific and military expertise of the West while preserving the Islamic belief system; as Muhammad Abduh noted for example, “If one seeks to educate and improve the Egyptian nation without religion, it is as if a farmer would try to sow seed in unsuitable soil…his efforts will be in vain” (Spring, 2006, p.155). Later however, ulamaa like Abduh, particularly after traveling to study in Western educational institutions, soon tried to replicate Western culture as a whole (Hussein, 2008, pgs.19-20; Kincheloe and Steinberg, 2004, pgs.142-144).
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Modernism spread through the academic circles (and the elite sectors) of major centers of Islamic culture like Turkey, Egypt, and the sub-continent; however, particularly with the decreasing trust that laymen had in theologians connected to the authoritarian regimes controlling most of the Muslim world post-colonization, Modernism did not widely spread among the masses (Hussein, 2008, pgs.20-50). Many of these Modernists were viewed as foreign implants connected to the puppet regimes that were ruling the Muslim world at the time since many of them not only promoted the idea that Muslims’ only salvation after colonization was to Europeanize completely, but many even rejected the notion of fighting colonial armies8 (Hefner and Zaman, 2007, pgs. 108, 118; Hussein, pgs.22-24, 106, 2008; Kincehloe and Steinberg, 2004, pgs. 128, 149; Zarabozo 1, 2010). In short, Modernist philosophy was (and is today) to ‘reform’ the parts of Islam that were/are not compatible with Western culture/interests: the most popular being the criminal code, polygamy, belief in miracles/universal Truths, prohibition of interest in business transactions, prohibition on women being head of state, women wearing hijab, and much of the Sunnah in general since it specifies Qur’anic legislation (Modernists prefer to go by the “spirit” of the faith and not the specific commandments)9,10 (Hussein, 2008; Kayum, 2010; Zarabozo, 1, 2010). I merely highlight this phenomena lest readers presume that authors with “Islamic sounding” names necessarily offer a “native” perspective because usually only people with the cultural capital of a Modernistic worldview are admitted into Western-oriented academic institutions in Muslim or non- Muslim countries-I hope to be one of the few exceptions to this screening process. The Modernist movement, and it’s later sub-branches of post-modernism and the like, was not widely accepted among much of Western European laity in places like Britain, just officially conformed to in academia and government circles for purposes of promoting secularism and similar ideologies that served economic among other interests (Zarabozo 1, 2010). Part of the reason for this trend might be Western Europe’s long historical ties to religion as a source of identity and the fact that Darwinism as an alternative perspective on life has been arguably disproved by many scientists, particularly European ones-much of the evidence used to support the theory has even been found to be forged (Yahya, 2001). What concerns us however is that Modernism spread much wider among laity in America and is the lens through which knowledge is produced, particularly that concerning religion (Zarabozo 1, 2010). The Modernistic lens is antithetical to religion because it portrays religion as “tales of the ancients” (Qur’an, 16:24) (Wheeler, 2003, pgs.2223), irrational, and uncivilized (by European Enlightenment definitions) and Modernism as the opposite objective alternative-an us vs. them demonization of the “other” (Moore, 2007, pgs.36, 57-58). Modernism dons a cloak of supposed “scientific” precepts, which are much more based on culture than empirical proof, to try to promote a myth in academia that the “advancement of civilization” itself depends on Modernism as educational theorist James Carper has demonstrated (Moore, 2007, p. 57). However, it has been realized that it was never so much the empirical sciences advanced in the West, such as Chemistry and Biology (or even the technology), that
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were at odds with Islamic values as some have posited (Talbani, 1996, p.70), as much as it was the culture and value system (especially of Western philosophy) being transplanted along with them (Cook, 1999, p.11). As has been mentioned, Modernism views everything as a matter of opinion; religion does not have any constants but is merely a product of its environment and therefore inherently variable in all aspects. Due to Modernism’s secular nature, notions of providential guidance are not entertained. Subsequently, most American academics when speaking about Islam take their own prerogative on, and present their own opinions on what should be the “real” True interpretation of Islam since it coordinates with Western culture (despite the fact that it might contradict the belief and practice of millions of Muslims). Accordingly one finds a “wide diversity of opinions” (Moore, 2007, pgs. 35, 127-128,) as Moore and others (Sheridan and North, 2004, p.149; Barazangi; Bonakdarian 1998; Anscombe 2007; Sells 1999; Abou el-Fadl 2002; and Esposito 1999) have mentioned, but they are all from the default Modernistic perspective11 mistakenly applied as a universal Truth that all humans must follow. Many such authors often write about very advanced theological issues with little or no experience/knowledge of the Islamic sciences-like ilm Al rijaal (the science of authentication for chains of narrators of ahadeeth-the teachings and sayings of Prophet Muhammadthe science of Naskh (which verses or ahadeeth have been abrogated by others and how), which verses/ahadeeth are general and which are specific to the context they were revealed in or one similar to it, and many other fundamental principles which are inherently connected to the directives of the Qur’an and Sunnah12 (Kincheloe and Steinberg, 2004, p.165; Phillips, 2005). As Nasr notes, very few of these academics “with advanced degrees are actually able to read classical Arabic texts with full in-depth comprehension of their meaning” (Nasr, 2009, p. 21). Accordingly such academics would not be considered “Islamic scholars” as is usually understood when this term is translated into the language of many Muslim majority countries-usually alim, someone who has been deeply immersed in Islamic scholarship over 20-50 years. This is pivotal to keep in mind when discussing literature written on Islamic topics in the West and will be relevant to our discussion of “Modern” perspectives of Islamic pedagogy. Contrary to Modernist claims, the ulamaa of the Islamic sciences in the Muslim world have always taken the context of revelation into consideration when discussing scripture; hence, the emphasis on the Sunnah and Seerah (essentially the biography of prophet Muhammad which gives the context that he and his companions lived in while the Qur’an was being revealed) which are their own sciences (with sub branches within them) (Nadwi, 2005, p.115). But since the Qur’an commands Muslims to take prophet Muhammad’s interpretation of the Qur’an that he taught to his companions over anyone else’s (Phillips, 2005; Qadhi, 1999), there is no way to realistically force Islam to coincide with most current Western cultural practices despite the “wide diversity” of arguments that may be made. The aforementioned factors all contribute to the noteworthy disparity
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found between how lay Muslims in Muslim countries practice Islam and how Islam is “re-presented” in much of Western literature. One can see examples of this imposition of values explicitly in the bias representation of Middle Eastern educational systems of the Middle Ages and how most non-religious education that occurred in fields ranging from Medicine to Architecture is glossed over (in Western post-enlightenment literature); the result has been the confection of a revisionist history where the religious sphere of society was somehow divorced from the rest (Kincheloe and Steinberg, 2004, p.130), a re-written “secular” history of the Muslim world13. What academia has been silent about has been just as telling as what has been said. Such selective memory leads to an easily consumed myth for a progressive-minded audience: that such people, who supposedly have nothing but theological knowledge, would either be particularly unsuitable for the modern world, or –an even more extreme presumption –that maybe the Medieval Muslim world was even secular all along. Even with Harvard’s “international character”, they teach little about Islam as a religion aside from Sufi mysticism in India and Africa; “Sufis are to Islam what Quakers are to Christianity” (Kavulla, 2007, p. 56). Nonetheless, Modernist, extreme Sufi(there’s nothing wrong with moderate asceticism in Islam that is not related to actions of polytheism, but then it would not be considered Sufism as the term is used today) or “Mutazilite” (deviant philosophical sect that rationalizes not believing in destiny and many other parts of Islam) “versions” of Islam are what the American government promotes with added notions of no hijab, sharia, or any remotely social aspects of Islam (see Rand Report on “Civil Democratic Islam” and the works of John Esposito, Hamza Yusef, Fazlur Rahman, and Khaled Abou Al-Fadl). Only groups with Modernist related precepts are regarded as “normal” like the Murji’i (who believe faith is only in the heart)14 (Wheeler, 2003, p.114). A wellread Muslim can differentiate between these Sunni sects, who are only about 5% of the world population of Muslims, but the average reader in the West cannot, hence the long digress on this issue. The deliberate disregard to much of mainstream Islamic scholarship in the theological sciences and blind eye turned towards achievements in the empirical sciences have been integral factors of the Modernist discourse and the main causes behind the very distorted image of Islamic education as a whole in the West. “Why have certain orientalists wasted so many precious years of their lives trying to disprove the Qur’an and Sunnah? Such programs of research are not merely an offense to the consciences of millions of Muslims, but are also misleading and thus unworthy to be considered as scholarship” as Martin affirms (Martin, 1985, p.187). The politically charged attempts to forcefully re-write Islam into conformity with Western ideals merely serves to alienate and dehumanize the vast majority of Muslims on the planet15, while deliberately or not, selectively humanizing the elite authoritarian classes (with Western cultural capital) that dominate most Muslim countries (thereby implicitly justifying violence against “the other” as can be seen on the world stage). While such wishful thinking on the part of Western academics may fool the majority of Americans in the U.S. who are rarely
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exposed to the “average” experiences and perspectives of humans in the East, they don’t even pragmatically effect any change in the cultures/practices of the majority in the Muslim world aside from increasing a consciousness that their way of life is being attacked…hardly a platform for dialogue. Empirical evidence that the cultural invasion has had the opposite effect of its original intention is that recent studies of Muslim majority countries confirm that “the university experience actually engenders religious attachment; [for example], the growth of secular education in Egypt has encouraged rather than discouraged attachment to Islamic culture” (Cook, 2001, p.382). As Noam Chomsky often musingly argues, “democracy”, as it’s now practiced, only works if the people are persuaded to agree with what the people in power had already decided (Chomsky, 2002). If we truly wish to see coexistence between East and West, we must learn to be tolerant of others’ differences, even when they really are different.
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PRESENTATION OF DATA Knowledge in Islam What is knowledge (‘ilm in Arabic) in Islam? The first words revealed of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century C.E. were, what means16, Read/Recite! In the name of your Lord, who has created all that exists…” (Qur’an, 96:1). The word ilm is mentioned 750 times in the Qur’an, ranking it third behind ‘Allah’ (2,800 references), and Rubb (which is usually translated as “Lord”, but has wider pedagogical connotations as will be explained) at 950 references (Boyle, 2006, p.484).This is the essence of Islam, knowledge; but what kind and for what purpose? Knowledge has been defined by Arab linguists as “the opposite of ignorance…anything that can be conceived of or known... [and] more obvious than to need to be defined” (Mutawalee, 2005, p.177). There are two types of knowledge in Islam, “that which is known”-what humans have the ability to comprehend in this worldly life-and “that which is hidden” (Al-Ghayb). Regarding both types there are also two subdivisions, that which benefits (helps one to worship God better) and that which does not (Uthaymeen, 2004, p.33). Regarding knowledge that which is hidden but mentioned by name in revelation, either in the Qur’an or Sunnah, (i.e.: the true nature of God, the angels, heaven, hellfire, etc.), Muslims are still obligated to believe in it-the first characteristic mentioned of the characteristics of the believers in the beginning of the Qur’an is that they believe in the hidden (Qur’an, 2:2). Some knowledge might be unbeneficial or could even harm humans. For example, when some polytheists from prophet Muhammad’s tribe came to ask him about when the “Final Hour” (Judgment day) would be, Allah (Arabic for God) told him to “say the knowledge thereof is with my Lord (alone). None but He can reveal as to when it will occur”-Allah goes on to explain that humans knowing when judgment day would be would be a huge burden on them (Qur’an, 7:187). Allah kept this knowledge hidden so that humans would keep competing in righteousness till death, because in reality it is unbeneficial knowledge since a person’s opportunity to perform good deeds will end at death and they won’t be resurrected till judgment day. Similar in meaning is when prophet Muhammad was asked by a Bedouin about the appointment of judgment day saying,” When will The Hour be ?" The prophet replied to him, "What have you prepared for it?” The man said, "The love of Allah and His Messenger." The Prophet replied, "You will be with those whom you love"" (Al-Qarnee, 2000, pgs.19-22). We’ll mention three points of benefit from this hadeeth: one of prophet Muhammad’s teaching techniques when responding to questions, was to direct the questioner to the more beneficial question they should be asking as seen here (Al-Shareef, 2010). The second point that the ulamaa have commented on, is that knowing how to ask the appropriate question at the appropriate time is “half of all knowledge” (not literally, but just to emphasize the point) (Mekki, personal correspondence, April 10, 2010). The third benefit that the ulamaa have highlighted is the importance of good company since one will be with those whom he loves in the afterlife, for good or bad (Mekki,
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personal correspondence, April 10, 2010); this is of importance for the discussion on peer influence to come. Nonetheless, the Islamic perspective of knowledge is that Allah has made available the two types of knowledge that can be of benefit to us (if we use them to improve society), revelation and the ability to use our senses to gain empirical knowledge. I’ll elaborate on the former, then the latter. In Islam, acquisition of knowledge (‘ilm)-the two types that can be known being that gained through revelation and that gained through the senses-is justified and directed by the provision that all knowledge gained be used in worship of the creator (Halstead, 2004, p.520) (worship being widely defined as anything that pleases God as outlined in the Qur’an and Sunnah, from fasting to sexual relations with one’s wife (Muslim vol. 2A, p.187). As God commands in the Qur’an, “Say (Oh Muhammad) undoubtedly, my Salat (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists) (Qur’an, 6:162). Accordingly, the most important type of knowledge in Islam is theological, meaning understanding the will and nature of Allah through the Qur’an and Sunnah so that one may live by it (Uthaymeen, 2004). Only after a theological foundation would an individual know how to live their life Islamically (meaning proper moral conduct) no matter what field or practice they went into professionally. Proper character ensures knowledge is used for the benefit of society; a chemical scientist with the intention to build the most dangerous weapons for the highest bidder (as has been often the case for some while)…doesn’t benefit us with his/her academic knowledge. Hence, character education in Islam is analogous to the role played by civic education in Western secular societies. Emphasizing the importance of moral education, prophet Muhammad said “I have only been sent to correct people’s manners” (Al-Shareef, 2010). In fact, it is through these proper “manners” (understood broadly from the original Arabic khuluq to mean proper interaction with one’s Lord, family, society, etc.), that God would teach humans that which would benefit them (Qur’an, 2:282). On the virtue of theological knowledge, Allah mentions in the Qur’an, “Allah and the angels, and those with knowledge bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but He and that He always sustains his creation in justice (Qur’an, 3:18). According to Arabic Balaagha (study of eloquent Arabic speech, particularly in the Qur’an), the subjects mentioned in such a verse are listed in descending order of importance (wa or “and” has different meanings depending on the context) (Umm Qataadah; personal communication, April 3, 2010). Therefore, Allah has placed the testimony of faith of those that have knowledge of Him, meaning his nature, will, and names and attributes, after that of the Testimony of Allah Himself and the angels. So great is having true faith in Allah, meaning with one’s heart, speech, and actions, that Allah chose the best of his creation, the angels, and then the best of mankind, the most knowledgeable of his worshippers, to testify to the most amazing thing possible, the whole reason that Allah created the universe…to be worshipped alone without any partners (AlKhattaabi, 2006, p.142; Mutawalee 2005, p.179). Al-Jawziyyah-a 13th
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century Hadeeth/Exegesis alim-commented on this verse saying, “undoubtedly this is a testimony to the uprightness of those with true knowledge because Allah will not use as a witness except those who are trustworthy” (Mutawalee 2005, p.179). Allah even commands his own prophet, considered the best of mankind, in the Qur'an, to ask Allah for even more knowledge (Qur’an, 20:114). Ibn Abbas, the companion of prophet Muhammad who prophet Muhammad named Turjamaan (“the explainer”) of the Qur’an for the entire ummah (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, 1997, p.100-102), narrated that when theological knowledge is mentioned in the Qur'an, that it refers to “beneficial knowledge of Islam”, meaning that which is lived by, and righteous deeds (Al-Jawziyyah, 2004, p. 58). In support of this, one will not find a verse in the Qur’an of those that start with “those who have true belief…” not immediately followed by the phrase “and do righteous good deeds” before delving into descriptions about them (going to paradise, etc.). Subsequently, prophet Muhammad described the “circles of knowledge” (this was the structure of the gatherings) as gardens of paradise (Al-Bukhari, vol. 4B, pgs.233-235). Regarding a hierarchy of importance for the individual, there are two broad categories of theological knowledge. The first type is that which is obligatory on every individual (fard ayn), the bare minimum of understanding one’s obligations as a Muslim: basically the 6 articles of faith, rights of Allah, then others’ rights over a person (like their family and community), and the 5 pillars of Islam so that he or she can worship Allah properly. This knowledge is obligatory and a person would sin by not learning it. The 2nd type of knowledge is that which is recommended but not obligatory as long as someone in the community attains it (fard kifaaya), like inheritance and business laws, where if some do it, then it is not required of the rest of the community-except if they specifically deal with the issue (like a family lawyer knowing inheritance laws for example). In sum, whatever knowledge one has, they should use it to please Allah by acting upon it, in which case it would be a proof that attests to their faith on judgment day; and if they did not act by it, then it would be a proof against them. As some ulamaa have commented, “Knowledge is the roots [of the tree of ‘truthfulness’17], its branches are truthfulness, and its fruits are righteous actions” (Mutawalee 2005, p.181). The references to the virtue of theological knowledge, due to its positive relationship with faith, in the Qur’an are numerous (Al-Zumur: 9, AlRa’d:19, Al-An’am:114, Al-Israa’:106-108, Al-Ankaboot: 49, Al-Room: 55-56, etc.); in the Sunnah, we also have numerous examples like the following: “Whoever treads a path to seek theological knowledge, Allah will make him18 tread one of the paths towards Paradise. The angels lower their wings out of contentment for the seeker of theological knowledge; the inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth, even the fish in the depths of the sea ask forgiveness for the learned person. The superiority of the alim over the worshipper is like the virtue of the moon on the night when it is full, over all of the stars. Indeed, the ulamaa are the inheritors of the Prophets, and the prophets do not leave behind dinar nor dirham [currency that was used in
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the Arabian peninsula], but rather, they leave behind knowledge. So whoever takes it, has acquired an abundant portion" (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, 1997, pgs.103-104; Muslim, vol. 1B, 1990, pgs. 708-7110). This hadeeth alone has the essence for teachers to promote a culture of knowledge in their classrooms. The first benefit of seeking Islamic knowledge is that it has the highest reward, paradise. The second is that the angels themselves acknowledge this human being and lower their wings in approval of his/her actions. The third fruit of seeking knowledge is that everything between the heavens and earth, even the fish in the sea, are asking forgiveness for this person seeking Islamic knowledge; and if the reader has noticed, all of this has not been just specifically for major ulamaa of Islam. This is simply a person trying their best with a sincere intention to please God by learning more about their Lord and messenger and what they have commanded from him or her so that they can live by it. Only the fifth and sixth characteristics mentioned in the hadeeth are in regard to the tremendously high status of one who actually becomes a alim of Islam, their status over the average worshipper; the alim who has gained this tremendous wisdom and God-consciousness in his actions due to his knowledge and teaches it to others, is like the moon compared to the rest of the stars. This is an analogy that prophet Muhammad uses (use of analogies will be elaborated on); we know how amazing the moon is because PM has mentioned in another hadeeth (Muslim, vol.1B, 1990, p.708-710) that the people of paradise are going to see Allah as clear as we see the moon in this life. He specifically highlighted the moon because of its high status compared to the rest of the stars. Then he said that the ulamaa are the inheritors of the prophets, and the prophets did not leave behind dirham nor dinar, but rather they left behind knowledge, so whomever obtains it, has surely obtained a tremendous thing. This is a tremendous status as Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, the companion of prophet Muhammad, explained whoever attains Islamic knowledge, it is as if he has acquired prophethood between his shoulders, except that he was not directly revealed to (Al- Jawziyya, 2004, p.58). It should be noticed here also, that Ibn Mas'ud described the knowledge being between the shoulders, referring to the heart, and not the mind like some would assume, because the heart is the king of the body and soul (Al-Ghazali, 2009, p. 36).The focus on utilizing knowledge to purify the heart is particularly because it is what motivates a person to be the best or worst of people irrespective of what empirical knowledge one has. If students and teachers view seeking knowledge as an act of worship, then this is a powerful motivation given the harsh socio-economic conditions in Muslim countries. Once, teachers and students have this appropriate intention, then it becomes obvious that once one has theological knowledge they will need other types of knowledge (like empirical knowledge) to develop the institutions needed to develop their society. This is not anything particularly innovative to state, since as will be shown this was how most of Islamic Higher Education functioned historically. In any case, it is suffice to mention that Allah declared that having true knowledge of the testimony of faith is one of the seven conditions for its
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acceptance19; that is how extremely critical theological knowledge is in Islam. As mentioned in chapter Muhammad, Allah commands “know, have true knowledge, that no one has the right to be worshipped except Allah and seek forgiveness for your sins” (Qur’an, 47:19). The ulamaa have highlighted here how true knowledge was presented as a command before the command of doing actions (seeking forgiveness) (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, 1997, pgs.96-97; Al-Qarnee, 2000, p.6)-this affirms what was mentioned shortly regarding the importance of knowledge for doing actions. In Modernist discourse, belief is an opinion or point of view, but in Islam, Allah describes true belief as having certain knowledge of something, just as certain as one would be of any other knowledge attained by the senses (if not more). Because if one knows there is a paradise and hellfire for example, they will act correspondingly; as Allah commands the family of prophet David, He says “Do [not say] thanks/ praise (Qur’an, 34:13). If teachers can relay to students that knowledge is to be lived by, then they will carry this belief on to the study of empirical knowledge as well and both types of knowledge would engage students to participate in their education, creating transformative learning experiences in the classroom. The Qur’an has also praised knowledge that is attained through the senses, empirical knowledge. Allah has made this type of knowledge even capable of raising the status of animals; Allah says, “Lawful for you is what is caught by those animals and birds which you have taught and trained as Allah has commanded you, so eat from what they catch for you, but pronounce the name of Allah as you command them, and be conscious of Allah. Most definitely, Allah is swift in holding accountable” (Qur’an, 5: 4.). Accordingly, Tafseer ulamaa20 have highlighted how this verse shows the valuable status of knowledge. The prey that this trained and taught animal catches for a person is permissible to eat; but if it were untaught and had just killed the prey on its own, this meat would be impermissible to eat. The only difference between the two cases here was that the animal has been taught and trained to catch prey in a specific way (Ibn Kathir, vol. 3, 2000, pgs.97-101). We can add here that this knowledge was knowledge gained through the senses, since this animal was taught by a human to perform a certain task in a specific manner. This knowledge is not directly related to paradise and hellfire for example, but this knowledge has made a certain type of human activity more easily accessible, attaining food. As long as this human utilizes this food for some beneficial reason, like to feed himself or someone else so that they can fulfill their daily responsibilities, then this has been a positive use of empirical knowledge. On the other hand, if this knowledge was used to simply hunt for sport, killing animals with no pragmatic need to, then this knowledge would be blameworthy. Subsequently, Allah has made permissible the use of empirical knowledge-the dog using its senses to learn from the human-to facilitate permissible human needs. However, the most obvious example on the importance of empirical knowledge in Islam is that in the Qur’an, Allah describes things that are supposed to prove God’s existence to humans as ayaat.
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These ayaat (lit: signs, proofs, verses [of the Qur’an], evidences) that are mentioned in the Qur’an and are supposed to lead humans to acknowledge God are of two types: things that can be sensed (i.e.: empirical science) and textual revelation itself. The Qur’an that exists today, and matches all known manuscripts around the world dating as far back as the seventh century, describes with intricate detail: human embryonic development (stage by stage), how the mountains serve as pegs in the earth so that it doesn’t shake, the origins of the universe, functions of the cerebrum, the “zone of separation” between fresh and salt water in the pacific ocean, the “internal waves” of the ocean, and the precipitation process-details and processes that we did not discover or fully comprehend until the modern science of the 20th century (Ibrahim, 1997, pgs. 5-27). This raises an important question; why would such things be mentioned which no one would be able to prove till hundreds of years later? At the same time, there are countless Qur’anic injunctions rhetorically questioning humans, after mentions of Allah’s signs, “do they not listen/ ponder/see/reflect” (yasma’oon, yatafakuroon, yubsiroon, yatadabbaroon) on these signs? One cannot go more than five pages without coming across such verses. In one chapter, Allah mentions that some of his signs are in AlAfaaq (depths of space) (Qur’an, 41:53), which we haven’t been able to even get a glimpse of till modern technology was developed. Without a doubt, if humans were not to use their senses to discover the world around them, they would never have realized these amazing miracles/signs all around them. Throughout most of history since the Qur’an’s revelation, most of the aforementioned scientific phenomena would have been taken at face value to be true as part of believing in the Qur’an, but not empirically “proven” until the work of various Muslim scientists much later. No one would have benefited from these particular signs of God’s existence (and for Muslims, additional scientific evidence of the Qur’an’s divine origin) without empirical research. Evidence that Muslim ulamaa responded to the aforementioned exhortations to research, inquire, and examine the universe is seen in the many scientific contributions in Muslim societies throughout history. Empirical science was never a shunned endeavor in the Muslim world. One could cite numerous cases in the fields of History like that of Ibn Athir and Ibn Kathir, in Ophthalmology like Ibn Al-Haytham, in Sociology like Ibn Khaldun (who is considered the founder of modern Sociology), in Medicine, like Al-Nafisi, or Al-Jabbar, who invented Algebra. In fact, ulamaa would rarely specialize in just one field of the empirical sciences, but rather many, unlike the “Renaissance Man” of the Renaissance. A perfect example is Abu Biruni who specialized in Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy (and was one of the leading ulamaa to invent the scientific method)-Muslim ulamaa even constructed the first public hospitals during the Baghdad caliphate (Berkey 1992; Najeebabadi, vol.1, 2000). However, in general, the Qur’an and Sunnah are not particularly worried with ensuring humans seek empirical knowledge because it is taken for granted that humans will not forget or neglect worldly issues since they are all around them. As prophet Muhammad mentioned, I don’t fear for you
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poverty, but rather I fear for you that worldly issues would overwhelm you (Muslim, vol.4B, 1990, pgs. 738-740). Hence, the Qur’an and Sunnah focus on teaching proper moral conduct as a universal constant, so that humans will use any other types of knowledge they acquire throughout time for societal benefit. As supportive evidence to the aforementioned perspective toward the empirical and scriptural forms of knowledge is the principle in Islamic Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) known as maa laa ya tim Al waajib illaa bihi fahuwa waajib (lit: “whatever obligatory deed cannot be accomplished except through a particular method, then that method also becomes obligatory”21There is no way to establish rule of law and the social services that Islam guarantees to people in Muslim societies-like for example free education and healthcare, Zakah (an obligatory form of charity for the poor), etc.-without Muslims who care about these moral issues and then take the means to develop them. This would not contradict the research previously cited on Higher Education today in the Muslim world which showed that students become more Islamically oriented upon entering Higher education (which is almost universally secular), the complete opposite pattern of what happens in the West (Cook, 2001, p. 382). One hypothesizes that the deliberate and obvious removal of Islamic theology and any other related material by most authoritarian regimes in the Muslim world, particularly over the last 20 years, forces students to have to learn Islam on their own, while still pursuing the societal capital of a university education to achieve their professional objectives and social reform efforts. It would seem cognizance of the inherent complimentary nature between theological and empirical knowledge in Islam is already evident to many youth in the Muslim world, and accordingly would not be difficult to employ in motivating students to utilize both in working towards social reform in Muslim countries. While we are on the point of motivations for seeking knowledge in Islam, it would be opportune to highlight to teachers and students the importance that Islam puts on “Commanding the Good and Forbidding the Evil”-the Islamic analogue to “social activism.” Allah says “You Muslims are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin goodness and forbid evil, and you believe in Allah” (Qur’an, 3:110). Linguistically, according to the science of Balaagha mentioned earlier, by citing the commanding of good and forbidding of evil as the first characteristics of such Muslims, these become the defining characteristics of Muslims who can earn the title of “best of peoples ever raised up for mankind.” God doesn’t have a chosen people according to Islam by virtue of the mere name they ascribe to themselves, color or ethnicity (Qur’an, 49:13). Muslims only earn the mercy of God, which allows them to enter paradise, through their actions. For example, even Muslims can be punished through billions of years in hellfire to be purified of their sins before eventually entering paradise, if they sincerely believed in the testimony of faith (the belief that no one has the right to be worshipped except Allah and Muhammad is His messenger). Proving one’s sincerity to God requires action. Exegesis ulamaa have highlighted how this characteristic is so important that Allah has
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mentioned it before faith itself, not because it is more important, but because Allah structures some verses like this in the Qur’an to stress a particular concept. In another verse, Allah specifically commands “Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining goodness, and forbidding all evil. And it is they who are successful” (Qur’an, 3:104). But as we have discussed, there is no beneficial action without proper knowledge. It is not hard for some people to be saalihoon (righteous people; sg. saalih), but Allah praises even more in the Qur’an the Muslihoon (those who call to righteousness in the society; sg. Muslih). In many verses Allah enumerates accounts of evil and righteous people in the past and how they received their due recompense; however, despite the existence of large amounts of evil people at a particular time, Allah vows to not destroy an area as long as there are still some Muslihoon among them (Qur’an, 11:117). Once we have established the importance of both types of knowledge and how they must be used to meet Muslims’ societal objectives, who are the ones that will teach the power of education to our youth? The Muslihoon in the field of education are the teachers. Through the motivation that they are engaging in a tremendous act of worship such as commanding the good and forbidding the evil as Muslihoon, teachers will be able to engage their students to participate in actively working for social justice. Spiritual motivation is a powerful stimulus in causing social change, particularly if it already exists as a visible force in the society. One last example of the active nature of Islamic pedagogy can be brought to light in the story of Maryam. Even Jesus’s own mother, Maryam (Mary), who is considered one of the best four women in Islam and has a chapter named after her in the Qur’an, was not merely provided relief and sustenance by asking Allah for it. When Mary was forging through the pains of child birth (and was horrified of what people might assume of her pregnancy, since she was not wed), she did not lose hope. After wearily collapsing under a palm tree for shade, Mary supplicated to her Lord, but God did not help her immediately. Rather, God told Mary, at the apex of her pain, to stand up and shake the palm tree for it to bring down dates for her sustenance. Only then did God cause the fruits to fall down (Qur’an, 19:16-26). This is a very powerful event, because even if one gathered a whole crowd of people they would not be able to manually budge a palm tree. This event exemplifies the principle that God only helps those who help themselves. Allah says, “Allah will not change a people’s condition until they change that which is within themselves” (Qur’an, 13:11). Islamic pedagogy stresses an assiduous work ethic of doing one’s part and then relying on God for the results. Who will teach our children proper moral conduct and how to effectively contribute to society? Who can cultivate children’s critical thinking skills so that they can grow up to develop innovative local solutions for local problems except teachers? Parents spend limited time with their children globally. Egypt is an excellent case study for discussing educational issues of the Middle East since it provides a motley of the North African and Gulf socio-economic/ cultural contexts. After school, most students in Egypt for example, spend the rest of their day with private tutors. During school,
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children spend the most time with teachers and peers at school. We are lacking role models and leaders all around the world, and as is being argued here, teachers are one of the most direct opportunities to establish such role models who will offer students practical examples of not only academic content and morals, but how to utilize them to be an active participant in society. Muslim societies will not change by themselves, and teachers are in a pivotal position to be Muslihoon and create others who will change society through their education as well. Now that we have discussed the different types of knowledge in Islam and their purpose, let’s see how some scholars have proposed to teach that knowledge; what is Islamic pedagogy?
Islamic Education: Content or Pedagogy? I have actually discovered very different findings on Islamic pedagogy dependent on whether the language of publication was English or Arabic, so I’ll start with the English literature since this would be more likely to be familiar to the reader. When Islamic pedagogy is mentioned in the West, the most common research recalled is usually the work of The International Institute for Islamic Thought. The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) was established in 1981 as a private, non-profit, academic and cultural institution dedicated to promoting research related to Islamic thought and contemporary social sciences; it has branches all around the world. The International Institute for Islamic Thought started the Islamization of Knowledge project during the 1980s with two main objectives: to “reconcile the Muslim identity through Islamization of the Social Sciences and thought” [and] rejuvenate the study of Islamic history as a legacy” and foundation for developing Islamic thought and methodology” (IIIT, 1989, pg. xiv). The founders yearned a system that enlightens students with practical “knowledge in light of Islamic values” (IIIT, 1989, pg. xiii), suggesting reconciliation of the secular and Islamic branches of education in the Muslim world as one of the pivotal steps in constructing such a system; they even made some suggestions on how to go about obtaining such funding (IIIT, 1989, pg.14). But what does it mean to Islamize knowledge? Can all knowledge be Islamized and if so, what would be the pragmatic benefits of doing so? And lastly, what concerns us the most; does such a system include specific teaching methods derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah? In attempting to answer these questions, Ishaq Farhan provides a typical IIIT response (Al-Attas, 1980; IIIT, 1989; IIIT, 2000) to these questions: secularization is responsible for the decline of Islamic thought in the Muslim world since the fall of the Khilafa (caliphate) at WWI and the holistic (which doesn’t differentiate between revelation and empirical knowledge) Islamic perspective of life must be revived by being superimposed on the content of all academic disciplines (particularly the social sciences, which are highly based on Western philosophy) to tackle intellectual stagnation (in a culturally relevant manner) (Farhan, 1989). First of all we must address the incompleteness of the above presuppositions. If we analyze the quality of scholarship in the Islamic as well as empirical sciences in the Muslim world, they have been on the decline since at least the initial political decline of the Islamic empire, which
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we could roughly date as starting way before colonization in the early 15th century-with major setbacks occurring at pivotal moments like the loss of the final part of Spain in 1492 and the colonization of most parts of the Muslim world in the 18th and 19th centuries (particularly cultural/political centers like the subcontinent and Egypt), by Western European powers. Although the Ottoman caliphate still preserved some remnants of Muslim identity up until the formal collapse at WWI, the power and influence of the Islamic world was waning much before this. With the loss of political and military power in the region (for various reasons outside the scope of this paper), the Muslim empire had also long since begun to decline in academic scholarship (Daly, 1998). However, Farhan is correct in asserting that the more official secularization process that took hold after WWI severely intensified this process. There’s no concept of secularism in Islam; the longest verse in the Qur’an for example (an entire page long), details the conditions for conducting business transactions (Qur’an, 2:282). Secularism did add an identity crisis to an already worsening situation. As Al-Ghazali notes, education starts at “home-with the mother at its foundation-the school, the mosque, the street, and the state…” (Al-Ghazali, 2010, p.44). Contemporary ulamaa such as Shaykh Bin Baz have outlined similar visions of Islamic pedagogy (Al-Khattaabi, 2006, p.229). Regarding the notion of Islamizing the “discipline of education” Farhan understandably stresses the importance of the Islamic belief that seeking knowledge is an act of worship and a responsibility placed on intellectuals to use it for societal good as is mentioned in the Qur’an (Qur’an, 33:72), but he does not specifically define what Islamic education is (Farhan, 1989, p.308). Farhan’s suggestion of providing all students with a minimum basic working knowledge of the various branches of Islamic theology (Farhan, 1989, p.312) is commendable and integral to the vision of Islamic pedagogy in this paper as well. In fact, such has already been in practice throughout most of Islamic history, raising practicing Muslims who can employ whatever knowledge they gain for the advancement of society no matter what their field. Throughout Islamic history, once students mastered foundational texts in theology, they would either specialize in a particular branch of the Islamic sciences or delve into the empirical sciences and become full-fledged ulamaa so that they could contribute to the development of entire sciences that pragmatically corresponded to their local needs (thereby fulfilling the communal obligation, fard kifaaya, in knowledge production). There was never an artificial barrier constructed between empirical sciences and revelation because Islam legislates that two Truths cannot contradict each other-and that Tawheed (the belief that no one has the right to be worshipped but Allah) implies a certain unity and intrinsic harmony in the universe due to the oneness of the creator (Halstead, 2004, p.526). Subsequently, in this sense I would agree with Farhan on this aspect of his definition of Islamic education. However regarding Farhan’s suggestion of Islamizing disciplines, then for most fields, this has no practical or theological justification. What would be Islamic biology, chemistry, or nuclear physics?
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There is no such thing as a non-Islamic biological cell for there to be an Islamic one. True empirical findings void of cultural bias/baggage are just as valid whether they’re developed in the East or West. If we are not trying to copy and paste Western academic solutions to the East, then this is not an issue in the first place. However, similar to much of the work from IIIT (AlAttas, 1980; IIIT, 1989; IIIT, 2000), all anxious laments and frustration at the condition of Education in the Muslim world end with general recommendations about how the ultimate solution is to provide Islamic points of view, Islamic curriculums, Islamic educational models etc….but like what specifically? A majority of IIIT publications are so theoretical that even the analytic framework that is being suggested does not have very clear components aside from being “Islamic” (Halstead, 2004, p. 522; Panjwani 2004). Paradoxically, one could go through entire IIIT works and be hard pressed to find more than one Qur’anic verse or Hadeeth. Lack of socio-political order and rule of law are the main obstacles (among the others mentioned in the Said quote above) in Muslim countries that hinder the development of successful research institutions. The fundamentals of the empirical sciences for example can be learned anywhere, but will always need to be supplemented by critical thinking skills, “how to” knowledge; the World Bank has recently acknowledged this point suggesting more emphasis on procedural knowledge in the Middle East (how to learn/research, evaluate, and ideas for improving pedagogy) as opposed to “declarative knowledge” (facts and numbers) (Galal, 2008, pgs. 91-92,). The nostalgic emotional plea to Islamize everything is emblematic of the early stage of the Islamic Awakening starting in the 1970s where many people flocked to anything that might remotely embody Islamic identity. Unfortunately however, due to the neo-colonized inferiority complex that was present in much of the Muslim world (and still somewhat exists to an extent) toward anything Western, IIIT (similar to their Ahl-Al Kalaam counterparts throughout history) tried to impose the Western philosophical framework of Modernism on the study of Islam to prove to the world that Islam could be Modern. All specific examples of what an Islamic curriculum might look like for example are identical to Western ones, just with the word “Islamic” before them, with no perceived contradictions or dilemmas with titling something Islamic philosophy or ideology (Farhan, 1989, pgs.313-314; Halstead, 2004). In order for empirical knowledge to be utilized for Islamically sanctioned objectives, one merely needs intellectual practicing Muslims as teachers/researchers in a socio-political context that appreciates/supports such efforts, not Islamized empirical content. Nonetheless, the IIIT objective mentioned above of reconciling “the Muslim identity through Islamization of the “Social Sciences…”, then this does have some potential since the social sciences are heavily based on Western philosophy, and as has been mentioned, Western philosophy on a very fundamental level is usually an attempt to grapple with societal problems as they exist in the West.
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There is plenty of historical precedence for producing Islamic perspectives in the social sciences that have been derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah on Sociology or Medicine and History for example (see Ibn Khaldun or Ibn Al-Jawziyyah respectively), but what I have stressed repeatedly here is that the Qur’an and Sunnah acknowledge two forms of knowledge: revelation and an emphasis on using the senses as a form of acquiring knowledge (i.e.: empirical knowledge). Ergo, it is no disservice to or weakness of Islam that the Qur’an and Sunnah don’t contain the cure to Cancer or Aids, etc. As has been discussed, and as many activists have been struggling to understand for some time, although the Qur’an and Sunnah do contain scientific miracles, the Qur’an is primarily a book of “signs”, not science (Ibrahim, 1997). The Qur’an and Sunnah, for all practical purposes, are guidance on proper moral behavior. While many other advanced concepts no doubt exist, it would be disingenuous to contradict the obvious concepts therein for the sake of superimposing every new Western idea that comes up onto the texts. Yes; the Qur’an and Sunnah are the foundation for a Muslim, and moral character in general is the foundation for any society’s long term stability and development, but revelation encourages Adl (lit: justice/fairness in judgment) in everything one pursues (Halstead, 2004, p.523). Accordingly, there is nothing un-Islamic about unbiased methodological inquiry free of cultural baggage/assumptions (a task much easier in the natural sciences than in the social ones as IIIT acknowledges), even if it is produced in a non-Muslim context. What revelation does admonish is using philosophical sophistry to circumvent God’s commands for the sake of personal interests/desires. Islam to Muslims is the parallel of Modernism to the Western world, a way of life, but both can cooperate on empirical endeavors that don’t contradict each others’ belief systems and societal objectives. This is the appropriate non selfdefeatist way that Muslims can attain IIIT’s second goal to “rejuvenate the study of Islamic history as a ‘legacy’ and foundation for developing Islamic thought and methodology” without being stuck in the past. IIIT has not given us a particular Islamic pedagogy with specific teaching methods for teachers, but it has highlighted the prerequisite of knowledgeable practicing Muslims (those with a working knowledge of Islam) as teachers who can effectively utilize Islamic pedagogy. At the core of Islamic pedagogy is Muslim character. As will be demonstrated, many of the characteristics of Islamic pedagogy fall under the general moral code of Muslims. The centrality of the role-model in Islamic pedagogy makes the character of the educator key; it is only through such moral character that caring relationships between teacher and student can be developed and then utilized to construct pragmatic learning experiences in the classroom.
Basis for Islamic Pedagogy in the English Sources Medieval Methods Prophet Muhammad did not leave behind any particular academic institutions, but he left behind his companions who had learned how to embody Qur’anic values and manners in their lives wherever they went so
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that they would contribute to society for the pleasure of God (not fame, material wealth, etc.) in whatever they undertook. The pedagogy used throughout most of Islamic civilization was that of prophet Muhammad, one of a caring teacher leading by example and teaching a customized curriculum – in a dialectical manner. This curriculum emphasized a foundation of moral character and application of knowledge in one’s behavior for the benefit of society (Berkey, 1992, pgs. 1-38,). Similarly throughout Islamic history, quality Islamic education was a communal activity that hinged less on books or institutions than on who one actually learned and received an ijaza from (“authorization to pass on their knowledge”); education was a very personal experience (Neill, 2006, pgs.484-485) (Berkey, 1992, pgs. 16, 18). Students of Islamic knowledge used to spend their whole lives traveling to sit with the greatest of ulamaa and learn from them how to live by what they learned and practically apply it to become more God conscious (Berkey, 1992, pgs.22-38,). Such a pedagogy was necessary because possessing true Islamic knowledge meant living by it; after all, what good is knowledge that doesn’t benefit? Allah says, “Do you enjoin Al-birr (piety and righteousness) on people while you forget to practice it yourselves, despite that you are of those who recite the scripture; have you then no sense?” (Qur’an, 2:44). Hence, when students received an ijaza from ulamaa, it was for how much they knew and applied. This was only earned after years of this apprenticeship type relationship where ulamaa had watched them grow and assessed their behavior in various communal settings (i.e.: with the general public and fellow students) (Neill, 2006, pgs. 484-485). As Islamic ulamaa modeled the moral behavior they wanted to develop in their students, education became an active reflective process. The ulamaa are the “inheritors of the prophets”, meaning they acquired proper moral conduct through their knowledge of the scriptures, but more importantly through daily practice with their mentors (Uthaymeen, 2004, p.3). In the Qur’an, this is actually the reason that messengers were sent, to bring their respective books of revelation, and set the example of how to apply them, thereby purifying people from lowly behavior (in Arabic tazkiyah) (Qur’an, 2:151). Allah mentions in the Qur’an “and We have sent down to you (O Muhammad) The Remembrance, so that you may clearly explain to mankind what has been revealed to them, and so that they may give thought” (Qur’an, 16:44) and “Indeed in the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad) you have a good example to follow” (Qur’an, 33:21). Those who learn Islamic knowledge after them continue this legacy by acquiring proper morals from righteous people who model them. Actions speak louder than books. This is the importance of modeling the values one aims to teach in Islamic pedagogy and it applies whether this content is theological or empirical. Application allows for deeper processing of content as is well known; therefore, Islamic pedagogy must consistently allow application of knowledge in the classroom. Given the importance of the alim in Islamic education historically, a student was often expected to take up to two months in choosing a teacher, choosing on the basis of the alim’s own teachers’ reputation, age, and character. The centrality of the teacher was evident in the fact that
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biographical dictionaries of medieval ulamaa for example listed all the ulamaa an alim had learned from and usually nothing about where the learning actually took place, except maybe just the region (which you could often just tell from the alim’s last name) (Berkey, 1992, pgs. 22-24). Needless to say, simply learning from a book was considered illegitimate knowledge, and books themselves were just used for reference. Accordingly as we will notice, concepts like “how to teach” fell under the general content of Islamic manners and behavior; if a person was well versed in Islam and they were living by it, then there was no need to write books about the topic22. Students would learn how to teach and learn through practical application on a daily basis as they learned Islamic theology, and this did not mean mere memorization of virtuous qualities lest we be deceived by modern propaganda that could indicate otherwise. As guardians of the spiritual well-being of the society, ulamaa constructed intricate measures to preserve Islamic knowledge as seen for example in the details of the ijaza or “degree” system that was developed. Al Tusi, a medieval alim, explained how, “memorizing two words is better than hearing two pages, but understanding two words is better than memorizing two pages”, which highlights that ulamaa differentiated between riwaya, the ability to memorize and transmit knowledge, and diraya, the ability to critically analyze it and apply it contextually (a fact often overlooked in discussions of the role of memorization in Islamic education-often politically motivated to portray a zombie-like system with no critical thought…one more reason to modernize and progress from traditional methods). This differentiation of types of cognitive processing was reflected in what type of authorization one had to teach; ijazas ranged in degrees, from general transmission of knowledge (tadrees) to issuing legal fatwas using that knowledge (iftaa’), corresponding to the level of comprehension attained (Berkey, 1992, pgs.30-31). This latter level was the highest because as has been highlighted, Islamic knowledge focused on application to the extent that Allah punishes those who don’t apply the theological knowledge they have learned, saying “have you seen he who has taken his own opinions/desires as his Lord, so Allah has let him go astray despite his knowledge and has placed a seal over his ears and heart, and placed a seal over his sight” (Qur’an, 45: 23). Despite this person’s knowledge of Allah’s majesty and mercy, paradise and hellfire, the person in this verse chose to submit to their own lowly desires/opinions instead of submitting to Allah’s commands (Islam, lit: submission); therefore, their knowledge has not benefitted them and has become the cause of them losing any beneficial use of their senses to comprehend God’s signs. Allah also says, “oh you who believe, why do you say that which you do not do; undoubtedly it is a grave thing in the sight of Allah that you say that which you do not do (Qur’an, 61: 2-3). Once again we see that applying theological and empirical knowledge for the right purposes are intimately connected in Islamic pedagogy. The importance of teachers as role models that construct teaching opportunities in the classroom will be further developed in the comparison between Ethical Care pedagogy and Islamic pedagogy at the end of this paper.
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Knowledge is believed to be a blessing that increases a person in faith if it is applied, but can also be a proof against a person on judgment day if neglected. Aside from what one would assume to be the pragmatic time consuming effort of writing long books by hand (without a printing press), such a focus on applying knowledge as a lifestyle could also explain the relative lack of interest in writing books about topics which were viewed as requiring experience (i.e.: teaching). The revelation contained the universals, but how to apply some of these aspects-that did not have specific commandments-could change from time and place; for example scaffolding will be shown to be a general theme of Islamic pedagogy, but how to appropriately do that depending on the content, context, and audience requires hands-on practical experience and practice. Despite all this, there have been some ulamaa who did write works dedicated to specific teaching methods after attaining such experience and practice in the field. Often cited as the first Muslim alim “to write a ‘handbook’ for teachers” is the ninth century Ahl Al-Sunnah jurist (faqeeh) and judge (qaadi), Muhammad ibn Sahnun (Gunther, 2006, p.369). From the intellectual center of Al-Qayrawaan in Tunisia he wrote Adab Al-mu’allimin (Rules of Conduct for Teachers). The first four chapters focus on the merits of teaching and learning theological knowledge and treating students fairly, and the remainder of the work is a collection of specific questions he asked his father on curriculum, discipline, and organizational issues. This alim’s reliance on his father’s expertise in writing about teaching and learning is significant considering one of the main stories about teaching in the Qur’an is the story of an Ethiopian slave and how he raises his child (the chapter is named after him, Lukman). Again, most of the manners of teaching mentioned in this work are based on general Islamic manners, but Ibn Sahnun does advise teachers specifically to not only encourage students to study individually and cooperatively, but also to create situations or cases in the classroom that would challenge their minds and allow them to practically apply knowledge (Gunther, 2006, pgs. 370-371). Shams Al-Din, a contemporary academic who focuses on Ibn Sina’s (a Muslim23 philosopher) educational theory highlights how using the study of Qur’an is an excellent way to holistically teach various disciplines due to the many themes contained therein (Gunther, 2006, p.379). This is in accordance with the historical custom of ulamaa focusing on one verse or hadeeth at a time and explaining it from various angles (points of grammar, historically, the laws to be derived from it, etc.).Such a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching is in dire need given the over-compartmentalization of academia at the moment. Life is a multi-disciplinary venture that requires multi-disciplinary people to grapple with it and offer pragmatic solutions to pragmatic problems. Well-balanced holistic teaching creates well-balanced people who are not confined to the narrow interests of their department or discipline. Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali is undoubtedly one of the most quoted theologians in Western literature due to his Ahl Al-Kalaam background; however, he suggests rules of conduct for teachers that are very much in line with Ahl Al-Sunnah when it comes to pedagogy: teachers being particularly
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caring with children, having a sincere intention to only please God, scaffolding students by building on their previous knowledge gradually as to not damage their love for learning, advising them on their bad behavior in private, and practicing what one preaches (Gunther 2006, pgs. 384-385). Aptly, Gunther has titled his article “Be Masters in that you teach and continue to learn…” referring to 3:79 in the Qur’an; what he has translated as “masters” (lit: rabbaniyoon) also has the deeper connotation of someone who practices what they learn (Al-Qarnee, 2000, p.46). Aside from the aforementioned works there remains (from the literature available in English) those who have identified Islamic education and pedagogy as memorizing the Qur’an. Helen Boyle has done empirical research in modern day Qur’anic schools, mostly in Morocco (but some in Nigeria and Yemen) which she defines as “Islamic schools” (Boyle 2002, 2006). The differences between Islamic schools past and present needs a little bit of fleshing out.
The Historical Context of Islamic Pedagogy During the early Middle Ages, roughly the first 400 years of Islam (7th century-11th century), education in the Muslim World revolved around the mosque, which is actually the center of most social activity in Islam (Szyliowicz, 1973, p.53,). Not only a place for ritual worship, the mosque was where Muslims irrespective of ethnicity, origin, age, or gender24 gathered to learn knowledge of various types-proper recitation of Qur’an, Tafseer (exegesis of the Qur’an), Hadeeth (the narrations of the Sunnah and their sub sciences), Fiqh (jurisprudence, meaning the various rulings derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah), Arabic language and poetry, History, Medicine, and many others. It would not be uncommon to find a student population of a very sundry composition, from students who were ulamaa themselves to laymen, in the thousands in one gathering called a halaqah (a circle of people around a alim giving a lecture)-there were even “teaching assistants” such as musamlis, mufids, and mu’ids who were advanced students of the shaykh and would repeat in a loud voice the lecture to others far away in the halaqah, explain various ideas, and highlight points of benefit to those they were responsible for. Islamic education in a mosque was very informal with most decisionmaking regarding everything from curriculum to schedules determined by the individual ulamaa offering the lectures (Berkey, 1992, pgs. 7, 20, 40, 42). Specifically for children, a system of elementary education schools also existed (Kuttabs) which varied according to the degree of emphasis on memorization of Qur’an. Kuttabs socialized students into a Muslim identity by memorizing the Qur’an by the time they were 8-9 years old, and taught them general skills like learning how to read and write, basic Geography, and Math. Teachers at these schools were expected to maintain high moral character as role models, have memorized the Qur’an, and know the basics of non-theological subjects (Szyliowicz, 1973, pgs. 54, 57). Discipline was a pivotal moral principle taught in schools and teachers would not hesitate to beat their students for moral infractions, as theological knowledge was learned to be applied; however, discipline would be relaxed as one matured,
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advanced in their education, and fully comprehended the importance of their studies (Berkey, 1992, p. 37). Upon completing the kuttabs, students could either enter directly into various trades and professions or continue onto madaaris for higher education which consisted of a foundation of theologically-based sciences. Thereafter, students could choose to either specialize within this general theological base or build upon it and delve into other forms of positivistic natural or social sciences (Gesink, 2006, p. 327). The Madrasa (pl.madaaris, lit: “a place of study”) was the central formal educational institution throughout roughly the second half of the Medieval period (11th century to 16th century). Madaaris were places of higher education usually attached to a mosque, and were funded by awqaaf (sg. Waqf)-religious endowments from charity contributions, usually in the form of a building or piece of land preserved to be used for religious purposes. Awqaaf were protected from taxes and state seizure (Gesink, 2006, p. 326). The term “madrasa” was used interchangeably with “mosque” since in reality a formal location was irrelevant to the learning process as has been mentioned; hence, madaaris still provided the same de-centralized structure as mosques. Decision-making regarding the structure and components of Islamic Higher Education was still made locally by the (usually unpaid) ulamaa who taught in the Madaaris. Accordingly, madaaris were only as good as their teachers, the ulamaa; ergo, after students had memorized the Qur’an and a certain amount of ahadeeth they would start studying various treatises/books with their Shaykh (more or less a synonym for alim). Preferably, texts were memorized as they were learned in depth-for example a hadeeth might be explained in regard to its place in seerah (the prophet’s history), jurisprudence rulings, grammar, points of benefit, etc. As it has probably been noticed, there was no “high school” stage of education between elementary school and higher education mentioned here; this is because there was no concept of “teenage hood” in most pre-modern societies. Therefore, graduates of kuttabs and others around the age of puberty either entered directly into madaaris/mosques or into the “working world”, but both would experience live application either through their apprenticeship to an alim or to a tradesmen. Nowadays however, only a handful of institutions exist where one can study Islamic higher education in the manner that has been described above; most of what has been leftover post-colonization has been Qur’anic schools. These are really kuttabs, but due to the wide dearth of places available to do in-depth Islamic study in the Muslim world today, many Western academics refer to these as “Islamic schooling”… which is a tremendous disservice to the true Islamic scholarship that does still go on till this day. In sum however, it can be seen that “Islamic schooling” or pedagogy, with the exception of the last 100-200 years, was far from revolving around memorization.
“Modern” Perspectives of Islamic Pedagogy To return to Dr. Boyle’s research, she runs through the usual modernist discourse of attempting to re-write “reason” onto scripture. Taking AlGhazali’s classical differentiation of knowledge (revealed and empirical) one step further, she attempts to redefine empirical knowledge as “reason”,
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claiming it is the second form of knowledge after revelation. She continues, “humans need knowledge derived from human reason to understand and interpret revealed knowledge. The Qur’an emphasizes the importance of reasoning in confirming and expanding existing knowledge” (Boyle, 2006, p.485). This is somewhat misleading. First of all, Al-Ghazali’s differentiation of knowledge into empirical and revealed knowledge is in fact also ASWJ’s differentiation of knowledge as well since it is based on numerous proofs from Qur’an and Sunnah. Regarding interpretation and comprehension, most issues in the Qur’an and Sunnah are very straightforward commands. As Allah says, these clear verses are “the foundation of the Book” (Qur’an, 3:7) and that they are put forth in “simple, plain Arabic” (Qur’an, 41:3); He affirms that it is upon Him to explain the entire revelation (Qur’an, 75: 19), and He does by detailing aspects that are mentioned in passing in some places of the Qur’an, in other places of the Qur’an or through the Sunnah (where prophet Muhammad specifically teaches what the verses mean). The prophets were sent to explain their books as has been mentioned. Subsequently, rarely do Muslims need to reason out what the revelation means. No doubt, the Qur’an praises the use of reason and the senses to acquire knowledge, but always posits revelation as superior. A classic example of the Qur’an’s praise of revelation over human reasoning is that of the first sin committed on earth. Allah commands Satan to bow to Adam, and Satan refuses, reasoning “why should I bow to a creature you’ve made from clay, when you have created me from fire” (Qur’an, 17:61). Satan’s reasons with an a priori supposition based on his own opinion, that fire is superior to clay in the first place, when in fact as the Ulamaa have highlighted (Arkahdaan, 1993, p. 287-288) clay is a soft, supple element often associated with building and creating things, while fire is often initially associated with destroying and burning things. Even if fire were superior to clay, Satan’s disobedience to Allah is the reason that he is regarded as cursed and doomed to eternal hellfire throughout the Qur’an; hence, any reasoning that directs someone to disobey Allah is viewed as flawed logic. Another example is that of the son of Noah. Noah warns his son that Allah is going to flood the whole earth, but his son disregards his father’s warning. He reasons that he will probably be safe atop a gigantic mountain since in his limited human experience and knowledge, he has never seen a flood reach that high. According to his limited mental capacity, he’s wrong. Again, by placing his reasoning above Allah’s commands and underestimating Allah’s ability to do as he pleases, Noah’s son drowns in the flood while Noah and the rest of his family who obeyed Allah’s commandments, are protected in the boat Allah commanded them to build (Qur’an, 11:25-49). Human reasoning will always differ from person to person, so how do we know whose to follow? Do we wander aimlessly without any foundation, jumping from theory to theory? This is where Islam differs from the Dewey-ish Western foundation of “doubt first and then ask questions.” Muslims have a theological foundation whose primary belief is to not doubt in it, but rather to follow it. Then within these guidelines that
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they hold as divine, they utilize their faculties (the senses and personal reasoning that Allah has given them) to ascertain how best to apply Allah’s commandments (not whether or not to) and expand on existing empirical knowledge….but not to put themselves “ahead of Allah and His messenger”, meaning obeying oneself instead of God (Qur’an, 49:1). This is how Islam prioritizes revelation in comparison to personal reasoning and the senses. Getting past the politics of Boyle’s initial argument about knowledge in Islam, she proceeds to strangely champion memorization as a learning method as it relates to the Qur’an, countering those who claim memorizing the Qur’an indoctrinates children since most children don’t understand what they’re memorizing at such an age. She even cites how it acts as a moral compass later on for those who do understand it (Boyle, 2006, p. 486-494). This first argument is quite correct; most Muslims are not Arabs, and therefore wouldn’t understand what they’re memorizing25. Subsequently, this makes Boyle’s claim that “Qur’anic memorization is conceived of as a manifestation of reason” (Boyle, 2006, p. 489) unlikely. While such an argument attempts to defend what Boyle perceives to be Islamic pedagogy, it seems very antithetical to her argument to claim that memorizing unknown words and phrases is a method for youth in the Muslim world to “reason” with the world. This second argument however is suspect. Due to the political situation in the world, many Western governments are trying to promote institutions where the Qur’an is memorized to satisfy increasing local demand for Islamic knowledge-based services (as a concession to Islamic identity), while simultaneously continuing to increase government control/closure of institutions that actually discuss what the Qur’an and Sunnah means. Quite bluntly, rising demand for Sharia, the application of the political and socioeconomic aspects of Islam, has the potential to be very detrimental to Western economic interests in the Muslim world (IIIT, 1989, ix). This is because the values that would be propagated would be very much in contention with those of modern day Western Capitalism like boundary-less consumerism (which is disproportionately of Western services and products due to structure adjustment policies which are pre-requisites for Western funding26). The Western “cultural invasion” needs to have a very culturally pliable consumer population to adapt to the ever-changing demands of Western products. When Muslims are Islamically conscious and are living Islam publically and privately, there are limits to the cultural changes available due to the implementation of Sharia as a way of life (IIIT, 1989, x)-not to mention the natural resources that would be re-directed to the needs of native populations instead of exported at drastic losses to their owners (Blum, 2000) (Chomsky, 2002). Nonetheless, to not be too cynical and entertain the second argument, that Boyle is defending memorization of the Qur’an for its moral virtues, then yes…Allah says, and whosoever is Godconscious, then Allah will make for them a furqan (a criterion to judge/distinguish between things (Qur’an, 8:29). And most certainly having over 6,000 verses of God’s words always with a person, would act as a moral compass and divine guidance to
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refer back to (if they understand them), as if it is engraved on the heart; when one considers the Muslim belief that the Qur’an is the literal word of God, then this is not surprising. Also, according to the story of creation in the Qur’an, there could be precedence for memorizing as a preliminary method of teaching. Allah says to the angels, “Undoubtedly, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations on earth.” They said, “Will you place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You.” He (Allah) said, “I know that which you do not know.” Exegesis commentators commented on these verses explaining that despite the fact that there would be such people who would cause mischief, Allah would also create the prophets, Muslihoon (whose importance has been highlighted), righteous, etc. and that they would both keep each other in check as is explained in other verses (Qur’an, 2:251 and 4:69). 27 Allah continues “And He taught Adam all the names (of everything), then He showed them to the angels and said, Tell me the names of these if you are truthful.” The angels reply, “Glory is to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Undoubtedly, you are the All-Knower, All-Wise” (Qur’an, 2: 30-32). To be brief, humans and jinn28 are the only creatures that have free will and reason and are thus held accountable for their actions. Allah specifically commands them in the Qur’an saying “I have not created the jinn and human beings except to worship me” (Qur’an, 51:56) (the wider definition of living according to the Qur’an and Sunnah as we have explicated). Everything else in the universe worships God in its own way. Angels have a certain amount of knowledge that cannot increase or decrease, but they have no free will for that to affect anything; they must worship God. Animals and other creatures have free will, but no real intelligence and analytical skills which are required for discipline. Humans have free will to follow their random desires or be disciplined; in accordance with this ability, they have the unique ability to acquire higher forms of analytical knowledge and make conscious decisions. If humans use their intelligence to obey God and discipline themselves through proper moral conduct, then they can reach a status above that of the angels, but if they cause evil and harm in society without any regard for moral bindings, (despite the reason and knowledge that God has blessed them with), then they become worse than the animals who don’t know any better. Critical conscience morality is not developed through memorizing anything alone without comprehending and applying it. Accordingly, we realize that memorization alone would not be enough to be the ultimate end of Islamic pedagogy. Even if one were teaching nontheological knowledge, memorizing the components of a car would not teach someone how to build one. Here Adam is taught the ‘names’ of everything; one cannot identify something without names which entail certain attributes/ characteristics that describe them. One might learn more about these attributes later on, but the first step is to be able to differentiate things from one another. Memorization is the first step in seeking Islamic knowledge and even more pragmatically, children can handle little more than this at the pre-school to elementary stage (which is the primary time this method is used) as Ibn Khaldun notes
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(Boyle, 2006, p.488). Boyle cites Al-Ghazali as explaining, “First is the committing to memory; then understanding; then belief and certainty and acceptance” (Boyle, 2006, p.488). The importance of immediate application of knowledge when teaching can be seen in how prophet Muhammad would sometimes not even specifically say how to do something, but merely delve into application; for example he told his companions, “pray as you see me pray” and got up and showed them (Al-Qarnee, 2000, p. 51). Memorizing the Qur’an teaches children to differentiate God’s speech from human speech; the former is taken as a foundation of absolute Truth to build upon, and the latter human knowledge is to be employed for the objectives of the former. One of the benefits of Qur’an is that it teaches Muslims the nature of God and His creation, and the general laws of the universe that they can learn more about on their own. However, after memorization-which is mostly an individual endeavor to begin with, aside from periodically checking one’s recitation with their Shaykh for accuracycomes the real beginning of true Islamic pedagogy…application as we’ve discussed here. Similarly, at any level of education of empirical sciences, but even more so at younger ages, students must always be able to identify and classify things before analyzing and discussing them. We can’t discuss reading till we know what letters look and sound like, math till we know what numbers are and their properties, history till we know what countries and continents there are and so forth. Particularly for younger children, when everything is still fairly new to them in the world, they must be taught “the names of things” before they can begin to comprehend them. Scaffolding starts with the basics and builds upon them, but educators will have to learn how to accurately assess their children’s capabilities and knowledge so that they are given enough to challenge them, without overwhelming them (Kohlberg and Selman, 1972, p.29). Memorization is a start, but an education that transforms requires more than that. Islamic pedagogy requires being a witness to education being applied and then taking part in it. So far, I have interwoven the primary characteristic of Islamic pedagogy: the emphasis on the apprentice-ship relationship between teacher and student and the importance of the former as a rolemodel throughout this paper, as well as the importance of holistic education. The world is multidisciplinary by nature. Humanity cannot hope to enjoy and maintain a stable way of life if we consistently sacrifice the environment and animals for humans, human interaction for the sake of technology, humans’ needs for other humans’ luxuries, and heartless politics for human compassion. Our “knowledge” age is really just an age of information, little of which actually enriches the soul or offers human solutions for human problems. We can no longer sustain producing robot-like graduates who will only bring the solutions that are specifically relevant to their academic department and are covered by their grant. Holistic education that teaches children the power of education in causing social change can create active citizens who will contribute to their society for the societal good and not just their own.
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I have also discussed the importance of providing students with in-depth knowledge and cultivating their critical thinking skills as part and parcel of Islamic pedagogy, because without comprehension there can be no application. As we have seen however, Islamic pedagogy’s stance towards social change is not necessarily asking participants to question all their presuppositions to work for social justice, so it does differ from a Freirean Critical Pedagogy in this respect. The problem in Muslim countries is not so much the material being taught as it is the fact that it is not being taught; rather Islamic pedagogy takes advantage of the Islamic inclinations that already exist in a Muslim society and transforms them into tools of motivation for social change. Plainly, Islamic pedagogy seeks to highlight the beliefs that are already believed in on at least a sentimental level and utilize them to act out pragmatic social change. As we have noticed however, the little bit of English literature that exists on Islamic pedagogy addresses how Muslims taught throughout history, but doesn’t directly engage an even more fundamental approach to determining what Islamic pedagogy is; how does Allah himself rubbi, or raise, humankind in the Qur’an? We’ve already illustrated that He did not give humans a book to just memorize. According to Islamic belief the Qur’an is the word of God meant to teach people how to live until the Day of Judgment, so how are these moral lessons taught by the ultimate Murubbi (educator), Allah.
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Islamic Pedagogy Directly from the Qur’an, Sunnah, and Contemporary Arabic Works on the Topic Tarbiyya, the closest parallel to “education” in Arabic comes from the root rubbaa which means to educate, discipline, cultivate, and raise caringly to maturity in stages (Al-Khattaabi, 2006, p.226). The difference between Tarbiyya and Ta’leem (learning) in Islam is that Tarbiyya is a planned, organized holistic cultivation (theological, psychological, intellectual, physical), while Ta’leem is simply learning some sort of new information; it could happen in a structured fashion with certain objectives, or by mere coincidence (Al-Khattaabi, 2006, pgs.227-229). Interestingly, the term rubbaaniyoon mentioned previously (translated as “masters”)-that described people with knowledge who applied it for societal benefit-in Gunther’s research, also comes from the word rubbaan. Rubban were people, among the few sea-faring Arabs there were, that used to not only take care of the ships and prepare them for seafaring, but also ride onboard as maintenancetype people (Al-Khattaabi, 2006, p.227). The symbolism here is striking as it implies a humble sort of educator who not only takes responsibility for the welfare of a large group of people, but one who also is not merely on the seashore waiting to see “if things work out.” The educator is a leader, but also one of the ‘normal’ approachable people that others feel comfortable with. This theme is multiplied by the fact that the Arabs were not traditionally sea faring people to begin with; hence, someone involved in such a position is participating in an endeavour that is known to be challenging, but they know that it is a job that must be done. Teachers are pivotal to the safety of the ship carrying the next generation of youth and without them onboard, the ship will not complete its journey. Rubbaa is also the same root used to describe bringing a plant to fruition, hence the many metaphors in the Qur’an about revelation being like the life found in water that rains from the sky to bring the dead earth to life with plants (Qur’an, 6:99, 13:17, 22:5). This is the ethic of care that is needed in the relationship between educator and student. This metaphor combined with the fact that Tarbiyya also comes from the same root as rub (which is usually translated as Lord or master) highlights that despite having the connotation of authority (Neil 483-485, 2006), Allah caringly cultivates humans in a state of dignity “teaching them that which they did not know” (Qur’an, 96:6). This is the type of relationship between teacher and student promoted in Islamic pedagogy. This theme can be highlighted in several ways; first of which is the way Allah describes Himself. Whenever Allah mentions punishing anyone in some way, He usually describes it as an action that He is capable of, but not an attribute directly ascribed to Himself. Allah describes Himself with about 99 names/ attributes in the Qur’an and Sunnah and only two to three names have a connotation related to punishment or some similar theme. Positive aspects are directly ascribed to Himself: Al Hayy (2:255), Al Qayoom (2:255), Al Khaaliq (6:102), Al Raheem (2:163), Al Rahmaan (1:3), Al Kareem (27:40), Al Wahhab, Al Ghaffar (20:82), etc. (The Ever-Living, The One who sustains and protects all that exists, The Creator, The Most Merciful, The Most Gracious, The Most Generous, The Bestower).
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Whenever Allah mentions an act involving pain, punishment, hellfire, etc., He describes them as actions He is capable of doing as recompense for those who deserve it (Qur’an, 4:10, 4:37, 10:8, 10:13, 10: 27, 25:13, 25:19, 89:13). This is significant because in the Arabic language actions that are directly described as characteristics have a much more powerful meaning. If we contemplate this, a lesson we can derive is that by default, an educator is compassionate and forgiving; but he or she can discipline when necessary. This concept will be seen in prophet Muhammad’s teaching methods as well. In fact, every single chapter in the Qur’an except one starts with the words “In the name of the Most Beneficent, Most Merciful.” Another perspective on this issue is the nature of how the Qur’an was revealed.
Scaffolding in Islam One of the main reasons that the Qur’an was revealed piecemeal over 23 years is specifically because changing human behavior is a gradual process; Allah was very compassionate in His wisdom of gradually scaffolding the Arabs at the time, not placing a burden on them larger than they could handle as Allah promises humankind (Qur’an, 2:286). The Arabs in preIslamic Arabia were living in complete savagery; they would bury their children and sell women as property, have random sexual relations, drink extremely heavily, and other crude behavior (Al-Fawzaan, 2005). They were not spiritual people and people do not generally dramatically change overnight. Therefore, Islamic legislation took them step by step scaffolding them through moral refinement. Verses revealed in Mecca when Muslims were still oppressed and persecuted focused on attaching people’s hearts to the fundamental beliefs of Islam and contained little legislation of specific duties and laws. Verses discussed Tawheed-that since there is only one God, only He has the right to be worshipped and God’s attributes-and the Day of Judgment, when humans would be held accountable for their deeds and accordingly granted paradise or hellfire. As Muslims developed deeper knowledge of the faith and corresponding conviction, they increased in numbers and emigrated to Medina, establishing a society there. During this process, verses were revealed which increased acts of worship to their final amounts and outlined the laws for the finer details of day to day societal interaction (like political, social, and economic legislation). A comparative analysis of the Meccan and Medinan verses will highlight this gradual pattern to the reader. The order of revelation was best described by Aisha, the wife of prophet Muhammad, who said “If the first verses to be revealed were regarding prohibition of zinaa (adultery/fornication) and alcohol, they would have swore ‘By Allah, we will never stop committing zinaa and drinking alcohol’; but the first verses that were revealed were about Tawheed, paradise, and hellfire. It was not until the hearts were firmly attached to and loving their Lord that came down the verses with the commandments about the permissible and prohibited” (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, 1997, pgs.45-50). The issue of scaffolding has been touched on repeatedly throughout this paper so we’ll transition to how we do that. Case-based learning, but what do we mean by cases?
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Regarding the structure of the Qur’an; the Qur’an is not compiled in the order it was revealed in since different verses were revealed at different times throughout prophet Muhammad’s life; rarely were entire chapters revealed all at once. This concept is expressed in the way the Qur’an is described as being revealed: nazzalnaa or nazzala (“meaning piece by piece”) as opposed to the other divine books of the past which are described as being anzalnaa or anzala (“all at once”) (Qur’an, 3:3-4). Each time a verse or set of verses were revealed, this was a real live case scenario opportunity for prophet Muhammad to explain these verses; this is why the entire Qur’an can be thought of as an entire collection of case scenarios where practical application of verses was taught live, on the spot. The details of these cases are found in the Sunnah or Seerah (biography of prophet Muhammad). Each time a concept would be revealed, the context and teachings/sayings of prophet Muhammad in response to it would explain it, An example of this teaching method in practice can be seen in the first chapter in the Qur’an, Al-Fatiha (“the opening”). Abu Sa’id bin Al-Mu’alla, a companion of prophet Muhammad, was once praying in the mosque, and Allah’s messenger called him to come, but he didn’t respond (Muslims are not suppose to turn away from or interrupt their prayer once they enter into a mode of prayer, except for an emergency). Later Abu Sa’id told prophet Muhammad why he had not responded, since he was praying. Prophet Muhammad responded “Didn’t Allah say, ‘Answer Allah (by obeying Him) and His messenger when one of them calls you to that which will give you life’ (Qur’an, 8:24)?” Prophet Muhammad then told him, I will teach you a chapter, which is the greatest chapter in the Qur’an before you leave the mosque. Prophet Muhammad later on took hold of his hand, and headed to leave the mosque, so Abu Sa’id asked him, “didn’t you say to me, ‘I will teach you a chapter which is the greatest chapter in the Qur’an?” So, prophet Muhammad taught him the beginning of the first chapter starting with “All praises and thanks be to Allah, the Rub (Lord) of the A’lameen (lit: “anything that is possible to be known”, the universe) (Ibn Kathir, vol. 1, 2000, pgs. 41-58). There are a couple of points of benefit here. First is that prophet Muhammad, by purposely calling Abu Sa’id during his prayer, a time when normally one would not respond, has used the opportunity to teach him the meaning of another verse (8:24), which has an even wider concept behind it mentioned in verse 150 of chapter four, “do not differentiate between Allah and His messengers when it comes to obedience.”The one you are praying to right now, is the same one that has commanded you to obey the messenger. Allah says in another verse, “Say oh Muhammad to mankind, if you really love Allah, then follow me (follow the Qur’an and Sunnah) and Allah will love you and forgive you your sins” (Qur’an, 3: 31). Then prophet Muhammad proceeds to caringly take him by the hand and teach him a new chapter of the Qur’an. Prophet Muhammad has accordingly, not only re-emphasized and explained to Abu Sa’id the extent to which a person “responds” to the messenger, but that the implementation of the knowledge
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he had of a previous verse would lead him to more beneficial knowledge, the new chapter he learned. On a more macro level, prophet Muhammad has taught Abu Sa’id that acting upon what one knows will honor a person with more knowledge. Also, prophet Muhammad has reiterated the analogy of revelation to something that gives life to creation. This is just one case from the numerous ones in the Qur’an of a concept being presented in a verse or set of verses, and subsequently being applied and demonstrated or explained. Prophet Muhammad has captured the interest of Abu Sa’id with his initial promise to teach him something amazing at a later time, and then taught him several subsequent intimately tied concepts (those mentioned above) using one main case scenario as a vehicle (the creation of a scenario that would teach the companion the extent of obedience to the messenger). Such multi-layered learning allows deeper processing as various concepts are brought together in one situation that defines their relationship to one another. Furthermore, cases like this not only serve to teach the person directly experiencing them, but also the bystanders who witness these events as other companions at the mosque at the time would have learned from this incident as well. The stories in the Qur’an which usually take up significant portions of every chapter also serve as case scenarios by which to learn a lesson and give a person live examples of a particular concept as it is being applied. Pertaining to the Content of the Qur’an, Allah has a specific preference of how He teaches concepts in the Qur’an. Roughly half of the verses in the Qur’an are related to the past: stories about (mostly) prophets, but also righteous and evil people/nations that existed and the lessons that can be derived from their stories for people who “contemplate/ponder” them. These stories can be thought of as case studies, as well as the specific snapshots of events that happen within these stories. These stories provide role models, especially in the stories of the prophets, for people to emulate, and describe the various thought processes, reasoning, and behavior that cause people to do actions that lead them to either paradise or hell. Many chapters for example describe the various conversations and dialogues that will occur between the people of paradise and the people of hellfire. I have tried to implement the use of stories myself as much as possible throughout this paper (i.e.; Adam, Satan, Noah, etc.) as examples of the concepts being presented. Stories in the Qur'an are drawn from actual historical events and are sometimes presented in a summarized version in one part and then in intricate detail in others. An example of this can be seen in the stories of the prophets in chapter Hud which are repeated again in chapter Al-Qamar, but with a different style and manner as if one is reading them from anew. With the stories of the prophets for example, a theme in chapter Hud is that the mission of all the prophets was one; all of them called their people towards Tawheed, singling out Allah in all their acts of worship without associating any partners with Him. There are numerous examples of this in the Qur'an like chapters Al-Anbiya', Maryam, and Al-A'raf. Allah says for example, "Before your time We never sent any Messenger without having revealed to him that none has the right to be worshipped but I, so worship Me alone,"
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(Qur’an, 21:25). "And to the people of 'Ad, We sent their brother Hud. He said, ‘O my people, worship Allah Alone, you have no deity other than Him. Will you not, then, fear Him?'" (Qur’an, 7:65). This is not only a comfort to prophet Muhamamad as God is essentially telling him that he’s merely one in a long chain of prophets, whose people also put them through trials and sometimes never believed in them: "Therefore, be patient oh Muhammad as did the Messengers endowed with firmness of heart before you bore themselves with patience. And be in no haste about the disbelievers" (Qur'an, 46:35); but these stories are also recalling the memory of these widely known tribes of the past in the minds of the Arabs prophet Muhammad was speaking to. The verses are igniting the previous knowledge that the Arabs had of these peoples that came before them and using the fact that they all called to the same thing that prophet Muhammad is calling to as rapport to scaffold them into following him. Allah says, “undoubtedly, in the stories of the prophets there are lessons for those with sound intelligence and comprehension” and He commands prophet Muhammad and everyone who reads the Qur’an after him, “tell these stories so that perhaps they would ponder and reflect” (Qur’an, 12:111, 11:176).The lesson is not just for those present during these events, but also to those witnessing them by reading/hearing about them in the chapter. This is even more obvious in the story of Moses and Pharaoh when the pronoun changes from addressing Moses and Pharaoh specifically to a general one that addresses all of humanity (Qur’an, 7:103-156). As Shaykh Bin Baz notes, “the use of stories is one of the most effective methods for teaching because it causes the listener to commit until its resolution and maintains their attention…because phrases (or pieces of information) are forgotten, but powerful events that have happened are rarely forgotten” (Al- Khattaabi, 2006, p.292). Shaykh Bin Baz even explicitly recommends using stories of current events as opportunities by which concepts can be taught (AlKhattaabi, 2006, p.302). Again, conceiving of stories as cases and opportunities for learning, are an excellent way that the Qur’an utilizes real life experiences to teach certain concepts. Such case studies and examples in the classroom will flesh out the concepts being taught. This has been in regard to the method of stories as a teaching technique in Islamic pedagogy. The other half of the Qur’an is about the future-descriptions of the Day of Judgment and the events that happen on it, paradise and hellfire, etc. In both the stories and descriptions about the events of the future, there is countless use of debate and dialogue between God, angels, humans, and others. Rarely are things merely summarized; rather the various actors are actively expressing their thoughts to the reader so that one can envision the scene of events that are taking place clearly. Dr. Afsaruddin has highlighted how debate and dialogue (munaazara) was a core teaching method used among Jurisprudence ulamaa for sharpening students’ analytical skills (Afsaruddin, 2005, pgs. 148, 151). This competitive aspect of Islamic pedagogy will be highlighted in a later hadeeth. Allah commands prophet Muhammad many times to use questioning while calling people to Islam, saying “say to them [the polytheists] oh Muhammad, who is the Rub of the
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heavens and the earth? Say it is Allah. Say Have you then taken for worship Auliyaa’(protectors/guardians) other than Him that have no power either to benefit or harm themselves” (Qur’an, 13:16)? Such questions were meant to make the idol worshippers ponder and question the logic of worshipping their statues. Challenging students to participate in their education ensures that teachers and students are ‘on the same page’. Questions get students involved and engaged in the learning process. Other than these two broad strands of content regarding the past and future (about 6,000 verses total), there are also about 500 or so verses of direct laws in the Qur’an. There are also some pedagogical methods to be derived from the order that the Qur’an was compiled into. Accordingly one finds that the first chapter in the Qur’an, Al-Fatiha, is called the “opening chapter” and essentially summarizes Tawheed (that no one has the right to be worshipped except Allah-the central belief in Islam) and the relationship between God and humankind as an introduction of sorts (Ibn Kathir, 2000, vol.1, pgs. 4158). The second chapter, which we could consider the first main chapter, is considered by Tafseer (exegesis) ulamaa as the summary of the Qur’an; for example it is the only chapter to contain all five pillars of Islam in one chapter, the ‘best’ verse, and the longest verse in the Qur’an (Ibn Kathir, 2000, vols.1 and 2). The last three chapters of the Qur’an (AlIkhlaas, Al-Falaq, and Al-Naas) all also deal specifically with Tawheed in a very simple fashion (they are three of the shortest chapters in the Qur’an). Usually when we listen to a lecture or read a book, we might doze off throughout the middle, but we usually remember the main points that were mentioned in the beginning and the end; this is not necessarily due to lack of interest on the part of the reader, but could just be a natural human reaction to absorbing large amounts of information at one time. On the next level down, at the level of the chapter, the structure of individual Qur’anic chapters also reveals that they usually begin and end with pivotal moral lessons related to the chapter. This is seen in the end of chapter “AlFurqaan” which describes the ideal Muslim, or in the fact that the vast majority of chapters start with a specific statement about the veracity, authenticity or greatness of the Qur’an, Tawheed, and occasionally paradise/hellfire-essentially the main aspects of Islam. The details of what belief entails will be explained throughout the chapter, but the reader is given an overall ‘abstract’ of what is to come or how it should affect them. Similarly, when teachers are giving lectures or talks, they should make sure that they do not dwell too long on explanations or examples without recalling the audiences’ attention to the main topic and purpose of the study. While on the theme of the ordering of the Qur’an, we will present a case study of the first verses revealed of the Qur’an. As was mentioned, the first words revealed of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century C.E. were, what means, Read/Recite! In the name of your Lord, who has created all that exists…” (Qur’an, 96:1). Out of all the different words that Allah chose to begin his last revelation for mankind, (and Arabic is a vast language) Allah chose the word “Iqra’”, which can be translated as “read” or “recite” in English and actually comes
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from the same root as Qur’an (lit: something which is recited, which highlights the importance of oral transmission of knowledge and not just books in Islamic pedagogy). This first chapter is titled Iqra or Al-'Alaq (many chapters have more than one name depending on the content). The first word as we have mentioned means to read or recite, while the second “the 'alaq” (lit: blood clot) actually refers to the “external appearance of the embryo and its sacs during embryonic development” when the presence of large amounts of blood in the embryo prevent blood flow29 (Ibrahim, 1997, p.8). The context for this first revelation is that prophet Muhammad (in Mecca), prior to receiving revelation at the age of 40, would have many dreams that would come true so he would travel to the Hira’ cave and spend many days at a time in seclusion to worship God30 In these first verses of the Qur'an, Allah sends angel Gabriel to command prophet Muhammad to read, but prophet Muhammad was illiterate31 so he replies that he is not of those who read. Also significant, is that there is no tablet or anything for him to read, so how can he read? The exegesis ulamaa said regarding this, that it is as if he is telling him to read in the ayaat of Allah’s creation since the word ayah has multiple meanings of proofs, evidences, signs, and verses (AlQarnee, 2000, pgs. 114-115). Allah is determined to show prophet Muhammad that the One who created him is capable of anything, so three times Gabriel commands him to read, and squeezes him tightly; every time prophet Muhammad says he can’t. The fourth time, Gabriel says to him to read in the name of your Rub who created you. If your Rub can create you, then if you say “In the name of God”, believing in God’s ability to help you do what seems impossible, and try your best out of obedience to Him, He will make you able to read. Allah emphasizes this point about His power, commanding prophet Muhammad to read “in the name of the One who created humankind from a mere 'alaq. Read/recite and your Rub is the most generous. He is the one who has taught with the pen, has taught mankind that which they did not know” (Qur’an, 97:1-5). Unquestionably, the one who created man and his speech can make them compatible at His will. This is an excellent example of how teachers should similarly teach their students to do their best, and then rely on God for the results. Furthermore, Allah specifically mentions teaching mankind with the pen here; as the exegesis ulamaa have mentioned, this is the main way knowledge has been passed down throughout history, even though it was not so much during prophet Muhammad’s time. Writing traps knowledge onto a material substance so that it can be built upon and developed over the ages (Al- Bukhari, vol.1, 1997, pgs. 118-122). Allah is teaching prophet Muhammad that any knowledge we have is ultimately from Allah and proof of his majesty. Allah says “and of all things He hath perfect knowledge” (Qur’an, 2:29). This helps one maintain humility since as is mentioned a couple verses later, humankind gets arrogant and transgresses the bounds when they feel self-sufficient (Qur’an, 97:6-7). The importance of being humble as an educator is seen even in the example of the prophets, who were all shepherds without any royal or kinglike status in society; even after their prophethood, they still maintained these simple lifestyles. This aspect of humbleness was highlighted in the
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linguistic analysis of a murubbi; one cannot hope to change society without living amongst the people dealing and cooperating with them. If teachers are far removed from “the field” of their expertise and merely swimming in theories and not the practical problems of their societies, then education becomes a mere intellectual exercise and not a transformative experience for the teacher or student. Within case-based learning we have discussed the use of stories and debate to stimulate scaffolding, and the next most common pedagogical technique utilized in the Qur’an and Sunnah is the mathal. Again, as has become obvious, there is nothing outrageous or necessarily peculiar about Islamic pedagogy, merely practical methods for simple instruction. The mathal (“analogy/example”) according to Arab linguists is “something that has some things in common with another and some things not…used to draw a similitude of a similar image32 by building on previous knowledge to bring the comprehension of something more apparent…usually using a structure/format that is common among people” (Al-Majeed, 1992, p.79-81). “Drawing analogies” is literally translated “hitting analogies” in Arabic (darb Al-amthaal) because they are popularly known for being spread very easily in Arab culture due to its oral nature; something that travels wide through the land is known to have received the action of darb or being “hit.” Many linguists considered amthaal the highest eloquence of speech because they are concise in achieving the intended meaning and comparison, commenting that the “person is made comfortable by familiar concepts and objects and generally veers away from the strange and new” (Al- Majeed, 1992, p.79-81). In other words, analogies are widely recognized/used verbal expressions that facilitate quickly scaffolding listeners/readers to a particular idea or understanding. As analogies are utilized in Islamic pedagogy, then the Qur’an and Sunnah are profuse with analogies. Allah even describes that one of the signs of the believers is that they comprehend Allah’s examples/analogies because He has guided their hearts and senses to understand them (Qur’an, 2: 26). In the Sunnah, prophet Muhammad uses them noticeably, particularly while questioning his companions. For example, to explain the purification that the 5 daily prayers offer from sins, he asked his companions, “If one of you had a river in front of their house that they bathed in five times per day, would they ever be dirty?” The companions replied no. Prophet Muhammad said, “this is the analogy of sins to the five daily prayers; each prayer wipes away all the minor sins since the prayer before it” (Al- Qarnee, 2000, p.51). This is an example of the use of analogies combined with the method of interactive dialogue in teaching. Another analogy is when prophet Muhammad said: "the example of the guidance and knowledge with which Allah has sent me is like the abundant rain which strikes the earth. Some of it is fertile and accepts the water and brings forth plants and grass in abundance. Some of it is hard and holds the water so Allah people to use it. They drink from it, water their animals and irrigate. Some of the land it strikes is level and barren and does not retain the water nor produce plants. The first is the example of someone who understands the deen (“way of life”33) of Allah and benefits from that with
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which Allah has sent me and learns and teaches it to others. The last is the 36 Many ulamaa have also discussed how to properly use modern technology such as projectors and computers to use images (Al-Khattaabi, 2006, p.161) as prophet Muhammad use to use drawings and and diagrams to explain concepts to his companions (Al-Shareef, 2010) example of the person who pays no attention to it and does not accept the guidance with which I have been sent" (Al-Majeed, 1992, p.124). Here the prophet has drawn a similitude between people’s hearts and their response to Allah’s revelation and different types of ground, with the revelation being like the water that rains down from the sky to bring the earth to life. The first type of person is one who comprehended the revelation, lived by it, and taught it to others. They don’t only “hold” the knowledge but teach others and help them to benefit from it and “grow” as well (Al-Majeed, 1992, p.126). The second type of person is one who merely memorizes the knowledge, but maybe doesn’t quite understand it; nonetheless, they are able to pass on this knowledge to someone who will benefit from it. Prophet Muhammad has still commended such people as well in another hadeeth saying, “May Allah illuminate the person who hears a hadeeth from me and memorizes it until he conveys it. Perhaps a person who has memorized a hadeeth (lit: “fiqh”) conveys it to someone with more Fiqh than themselves [so that the latter would comprehend it and benefit from it], even though the [original] carrier of this hadeeth was not a Faqeeh [someone who understood it]” (Al-Majeed, 1992, p.127). Imam Al-Nawawi, a Hadeeth/Exegesis alim, comments on this hadeeth saying “this first type of soil does not benefit from the rain directly, but holds it and its benefits for someone else (human or creature). This is similar to the second type of human who memorizes the hadeeth in their heart even though they don’t fully comprehend it themselves and don’t have the critical thinking skills to derive the various rulings and full meanings from it. Nonetheless, when this person comes across a thirsty searcher [sic], they will benefit the latter with this knowledge” (Al-Majeed, 1992, p.128). The third type of person is one who does not respond to the revelation at all nor do they relay the message to others and this type is portrayed as barren land which does not benefit themselves or others. Such a person might even theoretically believe in the revelation through their lips, but not actually live by it (Al-Majeed, 1992, p.128-129). Interestingly, the first two types of people are presented as those with some type of understanding, be that as it may at different levels; even the one who merely memorized at least comprehended that the material was important enough to concern oneself with to begin with. There was some benefit to memorization since here it was something considered an unquestionable Truth of life: revelation. However, the third type of person is the one that is presented as blameworthy since they had none of these qualities. An analogy could be drawn between this and some empirical knowledge as well; some empirical knowledge is necessary to know within and of itself. As was discussed earlier, there are some types of basic knowledge that simply must be memorized as they are fundamental to being
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a productive part of society like memorizing the continents of the planet, numbers, an alphabet of some sort, the elements of nature, essentially main concepts that a person cannot do without. The names of the continents or even countries could change, but in the meantime, they are basic terms that need to be known so that one may learn more about them. What concerns us here is that the analogy above is providing deeper, more specific explanation for concepts being taught (the purpose of amthaal) like those in verses such as 13:17and 22:5; for example Allah says: Allah says:“He sends down water (rain) from the sky, and the valleys flow according to their measure, but the flood bears away the foam that mounts up to the surface…;thus does Allah (through parables) distinguish Truth from falsehood . Then, as for the foam it passes away as scum upon the banks, while that which is for the good of humankind remains in the earth. Thus Allah sets forth parables (for the Truth and falsehood, i.e. Belief and disbelief)” (Qur’an, 13:17 ). Essentially, Allah is saying that other ideologies associated with disbelief will eventually fade away because they are not sustainable ways of life like the one He has chosen for humankind (Al-Majeed, 1992, pgs.126-127). In this case, prophet Muhammad has used one analogy to describe others that are similar in theme, but maybe more difficult to grasp. This is the primary use of analogies, to clarify the concept at hand. There are numerous analogies mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah, and the ones mentioned in the Sunnah tend to generally be a little more direct and of a explanatory nature, fitting for the Sunnah’s role in regard to the Qur’an. In sum, analogies play a role similar to stories of elaborating on a concept that is being taught by scaffolding a student from their current level of comprehension to a higher one. Consequently, we have now outlined how Islamic pedagogy utilizes the vitally significant caring relationship between teacher and student to stimulate motivation between the former and latter to utilize education to work towards social change and reform. Metaphysical motivation is employed as an impetus to spark active learning in the classroom which transforms individuals. Through such an apprenticeship relationship between teacher and student, case-based learning is utilized in the classroom to construct live learning experiences using analogies, debate, and stories as vehicles with which to scaffold students. This is Islamic pedagogy.
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ANALYSIS OF DATA Islamic Pedagogy as it Relates to the Western Analogue of Ethical Caring Correcting Mistakes and Offering Advice on the Path to Acquiring Wisdom It should be mentioned upfront that the following comparison between elements of Islamic pedagogy and elements of Ethical Care are not presented with the intention to demonstrate that the use of one teaching method in the former or latter justifies or proves the effectiveness of the other. Rarely, the following analysis is meant to merely highlight parallels between the two pedagogical approaches- particularly regarding the nature of the caring student/teacher relationship-for the sake of drawing connections between ideas that have been perceived as pedagogically effective in the East and West. As has been discussed, the nature of Qur’anic revelation was conducive to scaffolding a people from practically non-existent moral standards to very high ones. Similarly, children are like blank slates; we cannot assume that they should know better, because for many things they do not and have not been taught, so one must take their time and caringly show them appropriate behavior. When done at a young age, such caring instruction is like etching these values into the child’s memory as an old Arab proverb goes. A young boy, Anas, was once eating with prophet Muhammad, but he was not doing so according to Islamic etiquette; he was not eating from his side of the plate, but rather sticking his hand all over it. The prophet said to him “Oh, young boy (a term of endearment in the Arabic yaa bunay!)! Say Bismillah (in the name of God), eat with your right hand, and eat from what is directly in front of you.” The boy commented later, “This remained my way of eating from that time on” (Bukhari, 5376 in USC). Prophet Muhammad did not scold him for what he was doing wrong, but rather immediately proceeded to simply instruct him what the correct way was, an approach to correcting mistakes that has also been promoted by Bailey. The effect of how Anas was taught is what made the new knowledge “stick” with him and change his future behavior. Bailey also suggests not focusing on what children are doing wrong as to damage their selfesteem, but to rather simply tell them how they can do it correctly. This is a much more positive approach to correcting mistakes. Don’t just say “don’t do this or that”, but rather educate children on the important part, what they should be doing (Bailey, 2000, pgs.55-73). Ethical Care and the Islamic pedagogy being outlined here have promoted a forgiving, optimistic approach to teaching children. Prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying “he is not of us who does not show mercy to our younger ones” (Abu Dawud 764 in USC). Children are very sensitive in their early years and need sympathetic guidance that corresponds to their mental and emotional capabilities. The expression “yaa bunay!” used above is actually the same expression that Lukman (an Abyssinian slave) uses with his son in the chapter of the Qur’an named after him. Lukman’s classic advice to his son combines scaffolding/prioritizing knowledge and presenting it in a caring manner as
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part of Islamic pedagogy. Lukman is praised in the Qur’an as having been given great wisdom and religious understanding because he gives thanks to God. And from the fruits of this wisdom is how he teaches his son how to prioritize in order, Tawheed, righteousness to the parents, keeping good company, ihsaan, prayers, commanding the good and forbidding the evil, and then being patient if that brings him suffering. Also if one notices, Allah mentions people’s rights over his son right after Tawheed, the bare minimum acknowledgement of Allah needed for his actions to be accepted, and right before even mentioning prayers and commanding good/forbidding evil, which are two of the best acts of worship a person could practice. This organization is beneficial in teaching students the importance of their community’s rights over them as Allah mentioned them early in the list of actions to highlight their significance. After performing such virtues, then there is the fear of becoming haughty so there is the advice on how to maintain humility-good character in sum. Allah begins the story with Lukman telling his son: "O my son! Join not in worship others with Allah. Verily! Joining others in worship with Allah is a great dhulm (wrong) indeed. And We have enjoined on humankind to be dutiful and good to their parents. His mother bore him in weakness and hardship upon weakness and hardship, and his weaning is in two years; give thanks to Me and then to your parents, unto Me is the final destination. But if they (the parents) strive against you to make you associate partners with Me in worship (which you have no knowledge of), then do not obey them, but treat them in this world kindly, and follow the path of he who turns to Me in repentance and in obedience. Then to Me will be your return, and I shall inform you of what you used to do. O my son! If there be (anything) equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed, and though it be in a rock, or in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Verily, Allah is Subtle (in bringing out that grain), Well-Aware (of its place).O my son! Aqim-is-Salat (perform the prayers on time and correctly), call people to Al-Ma'ruf (Islamic Monotheism and all that is good), and warn people from Al-Munkar (polytheism of all kinds and all that is evil and bad), and bear with patience whatever befalls you. Verily! These are some of the important commandments ordered by Allah with no exemption. And turn not your face away from men with pride, nor walk in insolence through the earth. Verily, Allah likes not each arrogant boaster. And be moderate (or show no insolence) in your walking, and lower your voice. Verily, the harshest of all voices is the voice (braying) of the donkey" (Qur’an, 31:13-19). To return to our topic of caring Tarbiyya, maintaining a positive environment for a child serves to not damage their self esteem and maintain the loving relationship between teacher and student. Also, the importance of keeping children motivated through a caring environment seems to be timeless because even nowadays academics such as Deborah Stipek and Allan Wigfield have highlighted how important the classroom environment is for maintaining motivation34 (2010, February). On correcting mistakes in general, there are numerous cases where prophet Muhammad stressed on explaining to people the reason why what they were doing is wrong, and not hastening to condemn them (Bukhari,
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717, 4992 & Al-Nisaa’i, 4999 in USC), many times offering them more appropriate alternatives (Al-Nisaa’i, 1119 in USC). One bedouin man had once urinated in a mosque, because he had not realized that it was a sacred place and the companions of prophet Muhammad were outraged and were going to grab him, but prophet Muhammad amazingly commanded his companions to not even interrupt him, nor yell at him, but to simply let him finish. Acknowledging the bedouins’ unrefined habits compared to the city folk at the time, prophet Muhammad explained to him that it was inappropriate to urinate in a mosque and had the area cleaned. After this the Bedouin was so impressed by the prophet’s caring attitude to a complete stranger that he supplicated “oh God, forgive me and Muhammad and no one else”-the Bedouin made such a ‘exclusionary’ prayer as a slight ‘jab’ at the companions for how they were about to react to his behavior (Zino, 1995, p.75). Prophet Muhammad customized his response in dealing with someone who would have been at a much lower level of moral refinement (as was Bedouins’ reputation) then someone from the average population in the city. Similar to Lickona (1991, pgs.55-67), prophet Muhammad has taught that admonishment by itself is not a true learning experience; how proper moral conduct is taught is the essence of the message. The companions would be seen later throughout their lives imitating these methods from their role-model, the prophet, with their own students. Once when some young girls were eulogizing the deaths of their fathers in a recent battle, they started praising prophet Muhammad in a way that was not befitting of him by saying that he knew the future. Prophet Muhammad did not prohibit them from mourning their dead fathers, but told them to simply remove the part which exaggerated his position. In this way, he removed the mistake they were making, but allowed them to continue with their eulogy (Umm Qatadah, personal correspondence, April, 2, 2010). Accordingly, teachers should not focus on the faults of students, but be balanced in celebrating their good behavior. Educating students on how to do things correctly instead of complaining about what they are doing incorrectly is an approach Bailey has suggested as well (Bailey, 2000, pgs.55-73).Compassion is key. One of the primary goals of case based learning as it relates to moral education, as discussed by Lickona above (Lickona, 1991, p.47), is for students to realize when a situation requires moral action, reflect on it, and then act upon it. By revealing the doctrines of Islam piece by piece, there was live explanation/application of the verses by prophet Muhammad in front of his companions so that they could see what it actually looked like to uphold one’s covenants, maintain ties of kinship, help the poor, be humble, etc in practice. Morals as general themes always sound wonderful, but the true task is developing the wisdom to know how to prioritize values and contextualize them to one’s situation. Most would agree that lying is wrong for example, but would also agree that it could be commendable if it was going to save someone’s life. In Islam, developing such a discerning nature is called having (“deep understanding”) of the faith, not simply knowing the “dos and don’ts”, but truly comprehending the principles and value system of Islam to the extent
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that one is able to do the best most beloved act to God contextual to the time and place. Prophet Muhammad described this when he stated that “whoever Allah desires good for, he gives him deep understanding of Islam and the insight of how to apply it properly” (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, pgs.98-100). Another hadeeth states that “One faqih (one with fiqh) is more powerful against the devil than a thousand worshippers” (Berkey, 1992, p.4). The word hikma (wisdom) could also be used as a synonym for fiqh, since prophet Muhammad said “do not envy anyone, except in two cases: a person whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it righteously and a person whom Allah has given hikma (deep comprehension of the Qur’an and Sunnah), acts according to it, and teaches it to others” (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1 pgs.98-100). Interestingly, the word hikma when combined with reference to the Qur’an in a verse, is used to refer to the Sunnah in the Qur’an. This is an importance of case based learning that modernist and Islamic approaches to moral education would agree on-developing critically conscience morality. This theme applies to all knowledge, many Muslim students in Muslim countries memorize basic content material, but knowing when and how to apply it is the only way such information has any benefit. Students merely memorizing the names of virtues or how many elements are in water will not benefit them in this life or the hereafter.
Reciprocity and Maintaining a Sincere Intention As has been mentioned, the term Tarbiyya literally has this agricultural connotation of caring as if one is caring for a tender plant. Herein lies the motivation for an educator to care about their students in Islam; it is their spiritual Islamic obligation. This motivation for caring is different from Noddings’ concept of reciprocity (1984, p.74) which expects some form of human motivation or reward for caring. In Islam, all good deeds must be done for the pleasure of God. Prophet Muhammad said, “the reward of deeds depends upon the intentions” (AlBukhari, vol. 1, 1997, pgs. 85-86). Accordingly, the attitude towards Noddings’ “reciprocity” (1984, p.74,) in Islamic pedagogy would depend on the form it takes. If it was initiated on the part of the student in the sense of applying the knowledge (and the educator happens to witness this “happy growth”), then this might be praiseworthy as this could be indicative of the student’s sincerity (one of the two conditions for good deeds to be accepted in Islam) in learning to become more God-conscious (assuming there’s no worldly pretentiousness about desiring to be looked up to by others or fame involved). In this sense, the educator sees the fruits of his/her labor, which is a possible sign of God’s acceptance of his/her deeds in Islam. The educator can then take satisfaction in the fact that the child has not merely memorized the content, but has rather processed it deeply and been affected by it in some way. If this content was moral in nature, then the child has learned to identify when moral action is needed, purified their intention to do it, and then proceeded to consciously make a moral decision. To a teacher that views teaching as an act of worship, this offers tremendous intrinsic reward that they have participated in social reform as a Muslih. On the other hand, if their reciprocity takes the form of gifts or praise for the teacher, then this could cause possible harm to the teacher by inflating his/her’s ego if he/she
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attributes the outcome to themselves (and not to the mercy of God for allowing them to achieve the good they did), possibly nullifying their deeds. Furthermore, if the educator expects such reciprocity from the student, then this makes their sincerity questionable from the beginning, because a Muslim expects his reward solely from God. In Islam, God has created humankind to worship Him and blessed them with innumerable blessings, foremost of which is creating them; therefore, they are obligated to reciprocate this bounty with obedience, and though He is not required to, He has chosen to reciprocate to them paradise for their obedience. This issue of maintaining sincerity is so crucial in Islam that one is expected to choose their company on the basis of those who they believe to be sincere (Qur’an, 18:28). If one ponders this, what would happen if classes and schools in the Muslim world were constructed with the explicit intention of providing environments conducive to good moral character and not merely sorting the population into schools by their various socioeconomic brackets? This would have a profound effect on inequality if teachers can group students together on this basis of being sincerely committed to social change and yet everyone in the classroom comes from all degrees of SES. This is why the teacher’s function as a role model is so important. As Ibn Khaldun affirms students will often emulate their teacher as part of learning (Halstead, 2004, p.525); hence, students can also serve as peer role models in cooperative group tasks with other students. Creating good company and a moral environment in the classroom minimizes the need for repetition of the teacher’s efforts. An assertion Vygotsky would wholeheartedly agree with since he acknowledges the contagious nature of behavior between people (Goldstein, 1999, pgs.648-654). Education is a broad endeavour, and as is being realized, it cannot be narrowly viewed from a psychological lens. Humans are social creatures. The aforementioned modeling of moral behavior in Islamic pedagogy is what Lickona focused on as the first step to teachers teaching morals, embodying them first, ridding themselves of their “personal vices.” Seeing moral behavior, students can visualize what proper behavior looks like, intend to live by it, and then actually start trying their best to do so. The apprenticeship relationship that illustrates to students how to go through this process is analogous to the case based learning methods that might be utilized by Lickona-inspired educators in the classroom as mentioned above-using daily incidents of life as teaching/learning opportunities.
Prioritizing Values Through One’s Demeanor and Composure In regards to values, Islam legislates very similar moral values to the Modernist framework of Ethical Care, like honesty, cooperation, responsibility, forgiveness, courage, self sacrifice, and discipline (Qur’an, 2:177). Prophet Muhammad was described by his wife Aisha as a “walking Qur’an” (Al-Ashqar, 1985, pgs.814-815). when she was asked about his character. He embodied a caring approach to dealing with people since Allah had advised him about how to go about teaching people about Islam, saying “Had you been harsh and hard of heart, they would have dispersed
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from around you, so pardon them for their faults, and ask Allah’s forgiveness for them, and consult with them in affairs. Then when you have reached a decision, place your trust in Allah; surely, Allah loves those who put their trust in Him” (Qur’an, 3:159). Prophet Muhammad would advise his students, the companions, similarly, saying, “Allah will not show compassion to those who do not show compassion to people” (Al-Bukhari, 1997, p.59). If one understands this, then they will see why the caring student-teacher relationship is so important to productive educational experiences in the classroom from an Islamic perspective. Concerning the demeanor of an educator, the aspects most repeated even in modern day Islamic encyclopedias on ‘raising children’, are exactly the manners and character the teacher is supposed to be teaching. Good character is the cornerstone of Islamic pedagogy. For example in Ahmed Mustafa Mutawalee’s Maosoo’at Al Umm fee Tarbiyyat Al Awlaad fil Islam (Encyclopedia of Raising Children in Islam”), meticulous care is taken to highlight all the specific references in Qur’an and Sunnah that refer to the ideal character of a Muslim in general for the parent/educator and child/student: social competence (brotherhood, righteousness to the parents, maintaining ties of kinship, righteousness to neighbors, visiting the sick, compassion, mercy, fairness, forgiveness, generosity, and leniency) (2005, pgs.65-168), etiquettes of seeking in-depth Islamic theological knowledge (2005, pgs. 217-231) (interestingly shorter since pragmatic basic khuluq are what is required, while in-depth knowledge is recommended), psychological well-being (courage, chastity, discipline, accountability, and love) (pgs.315375), emotional well-being (love, compassion, general tips for how to deal with children (pgs. 376- 387), health/sexual well-being/relationships (marriage, chastity, patience, God-consciousness, good companionship, etiquettes for maintaining love between spouses) (pgs. 393-442), and healthy living (exercise, nutritious diets, medical issues, etc.) (pgs. 449591). A crucial disposition that Bailey also highlights for educators (2000, pgs.26-30,) is the importance of maintaining composure throughout the daily opportunities for modeling morals; this is the backbone of Islamic pedagogy. Numerous ahadeeth (pl. of hadeeth) of Prophet Muhammad mention the importance of maintaining one’s wakaar (composure) (not to mention being from the most often repeated characteristics of the ideal believer at the end of chapters Lukman and Al-Furqan in the Qur’an). One of the most famous examples of wakaar is when a man had come to prophet Muhammad and kept asking him to give him an invaluable piece of advice (expecting some long complicated response) and prophet Muhammad kept simply telling him to not get angry in two words (Muslim, 1077 in USC ). The man had traveled a far distance to obtain some profound wisdom from this prophet he had heard about, and the prophet told him to not get angry. Virtue should not necessarily be judged/valued for its complexity. Truly, how many learning opportunities are lost when educators cannot calmly morally reflect on a situation before acting? In order to practically maintain one’s composure, one needs to always maintain an upbeat optimistic disposition and not be flustered easily,
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thereby being able to be lenient with minor occurrences of misconduct, but able to clamp down with major infractions. Modeling prioritization of values was seen in prophet Muhammad’s interaction with children like Anas. Anas stated "I served the Prophet Mohammad (and his family) for ten years. (During these 10 years) he never got angry with me nor asked why I did this or didn't do that” (Bukhari 418 in USC). This was the tolerance and compassion prophet Muhammad displayed towards children since they are still developing and learning. On many occasions prophet Muhammad would joke caringly with Anas for example, saying “you with the two ears” (Zino, 1995, p. 98). However, this was all regarding issues that were offenses to one’s person, but when it came to important matters, like insults to the faith or religious infractions he would say things like “teach your kids to perform their prayers by the age of 7, and beat them for it (Muslims are not allowed to hit other humans in the face or hard enough to leave a mark unless in combat or a government official administering punishment for a crime, etc. as explained in other ahadeeth) if they are not performing them by the age of ten35” (Bukhari 677 in USC). Hence, the teacher is expected to be “naturally” caring as part of his/her Islamic personality by default, but has the ability to be discipline when needed. The aforementioned is the parallel in Islam to differentiating between moral and management demands as was expressed by Kohlberg and Selman above (Kohlberg & Selman, 1972, p.20). One must be very lenient while trying to help their students learn proper moral behavior-because if they pounce on every mistake a child makes throughout the day, they’ll never get through a lesson-but they can save their emphasis for the fundamental values they are trying to instill. Even with regular academic content, as present day ulamaa have argued, overwhelming students with any type of knowledge will bore them and diminish their desire to learn (Al-Shareef). The last example I will present is regarding Lickona’s use of cooperative work to teach children how to teach and learn from each other (Lickona, 1991, p.74). Prophet Muhammad would often put up a question for discussion when intending to teach something (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, 1997, p. 90). There would normally be a group of companions with prophet Muhammad throughout the day (Arabs were/are very social historically).Once prophet Muhammad was with some companions and asked “Indeed there is a tree that does not shed its leaves, and resembles a Muslim. So tell me, which is it?”So people started discussing the trees of the country side. Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said “I thought to myself that it was the date palm tree, but I was shy and did not speak up” (this is because he was very young and did not want to interrupt the elders). So they asked the messenger, “tell us what it is Oh messenger of Allah.” He said “it is the date palm tree.” Ibn ‘Umar mentioned to his father how he had known the answer, who replied ”It would have been more beloved to me than ‘such and such’ had you said it was the date palm tree”(Al-Bukhari, vol.4B, 1997, pgs.299-301). To not go into too much detail on why the Muslim was most like the palm tree, the general reason the ideal Muslim should resemble a date palm tree is because all parts of it are beneficial for some use, compared to most
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trees that would have been found in the Middle East at the time. What concerns us in this comparison is that prophet Muhammad questioned them to test their general understanding of how a Muslim should be (to get them thinking), gave them time to discuss the issue among themselves collectively36, and then come up with answers. He also used an illustrative analogy to convey his point. By having different ages of people within a group, the experience was one that highlighted the importance of developing assertiveness in children so that they feel comfortable voicing their opinions and feel intellectually safe to make mistakes. Independent critical thinking followed by cooperative discussion is an excellent strategy in the cooperative aspects of Islamic pedagogy that allows students to practice with peers similar to them in ability and then have an educator highlight the points of benefit that they understood or maybe missed at the end.
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CONCLUSION I will end this discussion on Islamic pedagogy with an ideal case study that represents the concept of Ihsaan in Islam. If teachers and the students they teach can begin to live life according to the acknowledgement that whatever social contributions they are putting forth are an act of worship, and they live with the sincere intention that their efforts are solely for Allah’s pleasure, they can begin to develop Ihsaan-worshipping Allah as if they see Him, and even though they don’t see Him, they live according to the acknowledgement that He sees them. The following is known as “hadeeth Jibreel” (the hadeeth of angel Gabriel); Umar ibn Al-Khattab, the companion, narrates: “While we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah one day, a man [Jibreel in human form] came to our gathering whose clothes were extremely white, whose hair was extremely black, upon whom traces of travelling could not be seen, and whom none of us knew, until he sat down close to the Prophet, may Allah bless with him and grant him peace, so that he rested his knees upon his knees and placed his two hands upon his thighs and said, 'Muhammad, tell me about Islam?' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Islam is that you witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and you establish the prayer, and you give the Zakat [obligatory charity on assets], and you fast Ramadan [a month of the Islamic lunar calendar], and you perform the hajj [pilgrimage] of the House if you are physically and financially able to.' He said, 'You have told the truth,' and we were amazed at him asking the prophet and [then] telling him that he told the truth. The man said, 'Tell me about iman.' He said, 'That you affirm Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and that you affirm the Decree, the good of it and the bad of it.' He said, 'You have told the truth.' He said, 'Tell me about ihsaan.' He said, 'That you worship Allah as if you see Him, for if you don't see Him then truly He sees you.' … the prophet asked, 'Umar, do you know who the questioner was?' I said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said, 'He was Jibreel who came to you to teach you your deen37'." (Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, 1997, pgs.80-81)). There are entire books dedicated to this hadeeth, so we will focus specifically on the concepts dedicated to Ihsaan and the demeanor/appearance of an educator. Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbalee, a Medieval alim, highlighted how, by stating that angel Jibreel had just taught them their “deen”, then this hadeeth is essentially inclusive of all the individual obligatory acts a Muslim must do, citing that Islam is more directly defined as the physical “submission” of a person, Iman (faith/belief) is more directly defined as the articles of faith with the 7 conditions mentioned previously, and Ihsaan is the highest level of worship of a person consistently always behaving under the acknowledgement that Allah sees them, even though they don’t see Him-this last level is impossible for regular humans to maintain indefinitely, but they are supposed to try their best to reach this high standard (Ibn Rajab, 2007, p. 41-69). Ihsaan is actually mentioned even as the first chapter in ‘raising children’ encyclopedias like the one mentioned above (Mutawalee, 2005, p.11) and it is one of the behaviors that
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needs to be modeled the most. Ihsaan linguistically means “to make something better”; one way it is used in the Qur’an for example is to return bad behavior from someone with a ‘better’ response (Qur’an, 13:22) or to even make someone ‘better’ by for example feeding them or doing some other beneficial service for them (Mutawalee, 2005, p.11). These points recall the image of the humble educator that was highlighted before in the Rubbaan. In short, the ulamaa described Ihsaan as sublime manners, increasing in importance as one goes from a broad social network that goes all the way from the likes of plants and animals to the poor, wayfarers, orphans, visitors, and neighbors, to one’s most inner circle of spouses, children, parents, and then of course one’s relationship to Allah38 (Mutawalee 2005, pgs. 13-20). If we can raise students to live according to such a set of priorities, then we will certainly as educators have taught them a practical application of how to manage one’s life, which is essentially the key to success: time management. How humans use their time and prioritize is what differentiates between the leaders and the followers, the active and the passive, those who transform their society or are transformed by it. Moral education is a timeless, necessary aspect of any educational system that values social justice and coherence. By living our values, not only do we change society individually, but as teachers we also prove to our students that we believe in what we are teaching. In regards to how we do that from an Islamic perspective, as has been shown here, the vehicle for Islamic pedagogy (whether one is teaching morals or positivistic sciences) has been the caring apprenticeship relationship between teacher and student which presupposes the former as a role-model figure. Islamic character, or moral education, is the focus of Islamic pedagogy upon which the studentteacher relationship is built. Moral character and the caring relationships that stem from it are pivotal in teaching any type of knowledge. Teachers are who they are inside and outside of school, because experiences change people and they do not shed these experiences, for good or bad, when they come to school. Only from these understandings can any specific teaching methods be productive. Through case-based learning-cases being defined as stories, analogies, or any other ‘clips’ of material-students are scaffolded through the construction of live application opportunities (for example through group debate/dialogue) in the classroom. But as has been highlighted, for holistic education, the teacher as a role model is pivotal. If we don’t live by what we say, then who will care? Through such an interactive pedagogy, any form of content knowledge being taught, theological or otherwise, can be a transformative experience. Such a pedagogy is in dire need in the Muslim world given the passive rote memorization methods left over from colonization. For the Muslim world, looking far back enough in the past, past oppressive colonial systems of education, can reveal dynamic teaching methods that change people. In conclusion, we have highlighted the importance of empirical and theological knowledge in Islam and their potential for motivating educators and students to work towards social justice. In order for teachers in Muslim countries (like Egypt) to scaffold their students to such concepts as they
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teach them a curriculum, they should teach through a culturally relevant pedagogy. The one outlined above hopes to not only use existing analytical frameworks to improve the quality of education, but to also employ Islamic frames of reference to motivate an active approach to education. In this exemplar of Islamic pedagogy, Islamic pedagogy has been shown to stress the importance of an apprenticeship style relationship between teacher and student. Through such a relationship, teachers can utilize Case-Based learning to scaffold their students to higher concepts using methods such as stories, analogies, and live application in the classroom to construct transformative learning experiences. This concept of Islamic pedagogy has also been found to have analogues in Western literature as well known as Ethical Caring. By using socio-culturally relevant frameworks in the field to apply this concept, some form of “Ethical Caring” pedagogy could be promoted globally to teach teachers how to develop pragmatic caring relationships with their students that help both parties to grow--morally and intellectually. Opportunities for further research within Islamic pedagogy might include a comparison between prophet Muhammad’s teaching techniques with men as opposed to women or delving more into detail in any of the concepts that have been discussed in this paper. The way students learn affects how they view their position in effecting change in the world. If education becomes a mere intellectual exercise with no pragmatic connection to real world problems, then such is a fruitless venture. Education all over the world has massive potential to create raw social change in society, but first we must realize it is not just what we teach, but how it is taught.
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Notes 1The Muslim ummah refers to the Islamic belief that all humans born after prophet Muhammad’s birth are considered from the ummah of Muhammad in general (ummat “Al dawa” or invitation), but those who choose to believe and follow him are the more specific ummat Al ijaaba (ummah of those who responded), who we would call Muslims today. Muslims believe in all the prophets (ie: Adam, Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad, etc.) in the sense that they all originally came with the same central message of Tawheed (worshipping only One God), but different branches/details (how to pray, etc.) contextual to their time/location; each prophet had their own “branches” for their particular ummah (the ummah of the Jews, of the Christians, etc.). Prophet Muhammad is believed to be the seal of the prophets from his time till judgment day for the entire world. Differences between the three monotheistic religions over even the central meaning of Tawheed today (the status of Jesus being more than a prophet, etc.) are believed to be due to tampering/alterations of the older scriptures by various theologians and others throughout history. For a fuller discussion, see Dr. Umar Ashqar’s Belief in Allah. 2- See Paulo Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2003) 3- For the often underplayed details of U.S foreign policy see Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the World or William Blum’s Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower. 4- Some academics label the 18th and 19th centuries the traditional period of the Muslim world, thereby, dismissing much of pre-Western Enlightenment history as of negligible significance (Bray, 2007). (Noddings, 1984, p.74). 5- I am purposely using “academics” to refer to Western scholars affiliated with universities and academia to differentiate them from Islamic Studies scholars/theologians (university related or otherwise) in the Muslim world who will be referred to as ulamaa (sg: alim). 6- These ulamaa who tried to incorporate Greek philosophy into Islam as early as the 9th century, are known for placing their own reasoning over textual proofs. They include scholars such as Al-Ghazaali, Al-Razi, and Ibn Rushd; some of them took on W. philosophy as their own substitute belief system, such as Ibn Sina and Ibn Arabi. Ahl AlKalaam, philosophers, and Sufis are usually the few ulamaa deemed worthy of mention in Western academia) for obvious reasons (Halstead, 2004). Fazlur Rahman and others (Afsaruddin, 2005) go as far as to translate Mutakallimun (derivative of Ahl Al-Kalaam) and Kalaam as Muslim theologians and theology respectively, thereby delegitimizing all mainstream academic scholarship of Ahl Al-Sunnah over the last roughly 1400 years. 7- Muslims are encouraged to say “peace be upon him” at least once the first time they mention prophet Muhammad’s name in a gathering or paper, etc. 8- Modern Modernists include Egypt’s Syed Tantawi who considered building a gigantic wall on the Egyptian border to effectively imprison Palestinians in Gaza and cut off their aid supplies… a “religious obligation” (Suleiman, 2010). 9- The most common strategy of Westernizing Islam has been a conscious attempt, particularly over the last half century, to delegitimize the Sunnah of prophet Muhammad and his companions by various methods, like portraying it as a sort of cultural baggage left over from the pre-Islamic era. An example is seen in Hallaq’s The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law. Hallaq ignores any reference to tens of early works on Hadeeth, Fiqh, and Rijaal to purportedly claim that a Qadi (lit: “judge” who rules by Qur’an and Sunnah) in early Islam did not have to know the Qur’an and Sunnah or that Qur’anic legislation ‘evolved’ since the prohibition/punishment on/for drinking alcohol was not applied to Tila’a (a Middle Eastern fruit drink)-which is not technically alcohol (khamr) according to Islamic jurisprudence (Nadwi, 2005). 10- Even Seyyed Hossein Nasr (a Sufi Modernist affiliate himself of IIIT, which is a mildly Modernist institution) notes, “the prejudices that have marred the study of Islam in the West since the time of Peter the Venerable, when the Qur’an was first rendered into Latin and even beforehand, must finally be overcome if in-depth 11- The a priori suppositions of the Modernistic lens are at least acknowledged in some of the work of academics such as Mohammad Akram Nadwi, Sherman Jackson, Talal Asad and Sabaa’ Mahmood. Mahmood praises how Asad for example highlights “how the
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power of Western forms of knowledge lies not only in their ability to re-present social reality but also to intervene and remake non-Western traditions, practices, and institutions, [hoping to transform] what it means to live as a Muslim subject in the modern world” (Nyang, Ahmed, and Bukhari, 2009, p.11). 12- Nasr ironically notes, “in many of the major centers of Middle Eastern studies, everything is taught seriously except Islam itself. One sees often in such centers numerous courses on history, anthropology, languages, sociology, political science, and similar subjects pertaining to the Islamic world, but little in-depth study of Islam as the religion… There is no greater source of distortion than applying the secularist perspective of the past few centuries in the West to a religion and civilization where it does not apply.” (Nasr, 2009, pgs.19, 23). 13- Such political initiatives are highly motivated by modern attempts to spread Western culture in the Muslim world through various methods like increasing secularization of Muslim societies and advocating Western gender roles (Kincheloe and Steinberg,, 2004, pgs.44-47, 161-163). One author went so far as to twist the words (relying on an average reader’s ignorance of Arabic syntax and morphology) of 18th century Islamic revivalist Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab to re-present some of his statements regarding the rights of women as supportive of current Western conceptions of female gender roles. Many references link to page numbers that don’t even exist in the original work (see Delong-bas’s Wahhabi Islam: From Revival to Reform, 2004)! 14- A common myth, which depends on absolute ignorance of the existence of Arabic resources to refer back to, but nonetheless is mind-numbingly recycled (either explicitly or implicitly by ignoring roughly 1400 years of Islamic scholarship that entails otherwise) is that these aforementioned sects were the most important in Islamic history and then somehow magically with the advent of Muslims like Abdul Wahhab in the 18th century and Sayyid Qutb in the 20th, Islam evolved “political/economic” aspects. In reality, Islam has always been practiced as a social way of life in the Muslim world up until colonization when most aspects were effectively secularized (see History of Islam by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi). The false notion that such revivers or reformers were bringing something new is simply because they tried to reincorporate such aspects during/after colonization, blasphemy to Western academia which believes that the world was created in the European Enlightenment. 15- By no means do I intend here that Islam is now, or was ever in the past, something with absolutely no variables. Islam, since the Qur’an’s first verses were revealed had variables like the different forms of recitation revealed to prophet Muhammad according to the different dialects spoken in Arabia at the time (Martin 34, 1985). Sharia, or Islamic Law- which is mostly a guideline for a set of objectives-only has certain constants that don’t change with time; Fiqh however, or Islamic jurisprudence, can vary depending on the context (it gives very specific commands/prohibitions, etc.) . But, a macro level analysis of Islamic theology will reveal about 70% of jurisprudence issues are agreed upon (and minor issues like where to place one’s hands during prayer or whether hijab should include the face and hands or not are not pillars of Islam in the first place), because they are all due to slightly different understandings of the Qur’an and Sunnah based on proof, not mere opinion (see The Evolution of Fiqh by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips). On the other hand, the Modernist movements’ attempts to “reform” Islam, attack fundamental principles and constants of the faith derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah that don’t change with time and are supported by about 1400 years of scholarship based on sciences which Modernists don’t even acknowledge. Without 16- The Qur’an is believed to be the literal speech of Allah which can not be literally translated due to its divine origin (something will always be lost in translation); hence, any translation is a human attempt to convey the meaning as closely as possible (Ibrahim, 1997, p. 54). This is why I, in agreement with mainstream Islamic scholarship, have referred to “translated” verses as “what means…” here, to highlight this issue, but will refrain from doing so the rest of the paper for space. 17- What it means to be “truthful” (sideeq) to Allah is a wide topic, but it can most simply be explained as steadfastness in being sincere to Allah in all one’s actions by consistently doing the most pleasing thing to Allah particular to a time and location (see AlAfani’s Al-Ikhlaas: Ta’teer Al-anfaas min hadeethil Ikhlaas).
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18- Masculine pronouns such as ‘him’ or ‘he’ used in revelation are the default gender used but applies to both men and women unless there is evidence to the contrary on the issue in the Qur’an or Sunnah. 19- Knowledge of the testimony of faith (or shahada) is 1 of the 7 conditions mentioned in the Qur'an needed for this shahada to be accepted, like absolute certainty in it, sincerity to it in 1's actions, being truthful to it, love, meaning not loving any of creation more than Allah and his messenger, full submission, and complete acceptance of every part of the religion as it was revealed (Al-Jabiri, 1995). 20- Tafsir (exegesis) ulamaa are essentially the companions of prophet Muhammad (since they had the Qur’an directly taught to them from prophet Muhammad), so all later Tafsir Ulamaa essentially did was to use their narrations as a basis and expound upon them in regard to whatever aspect of Tafsir they were elaborating on in their work (ie: grammatical, historical, derivation of laws, etc.). 21- See Al Wajiz fi Sharh Al Qawaid Al Fiqhiyah by Abdul Karim Zaidan for a concise summary of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Usool Al-Fiqh). 22- Interestingly however, there were many books on how to “seek knowledge” in treatises often called something to the effect of “The Book of Knowledge”(Zaid, p.75). 23- Although excellent in medicine and other empirical sciences, his writings, which challenged the Qur’an and claimed it had to be verified with reason (like some of his counterparts, Al-Farabi, Al-Arabi,etc.) have caused some ulamaa to declare such philosophers outside the fold of Islam. It is ironic that many of the ulamaa acknowledged and celebrated in the West were not technically considered Muslim in much of the Muslim world (Halstead, 2004, p. 518). 24- Women had a tremendous role as ulamaa in Islamic history, but within the guidelines of Islamic gender roles and appropriate conduct between the sexes (segregation, etc.) (Nadwi, 2007), contrary to the revisionist history of “Modern women” imposed by some Western academics (Afsaruddin, 2005, pgs.164-165). Nadwi’s work is actually just the preface to an Arabic 40 volume biographical dictionary of women ulamaa). 25- Plus the Qur’an uses classical Arabic vocabulary, syntax, and morphology, different from those of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which are needed to grasp the deeper meanings of Qur’an…which are rarely taught outside of Arabic Studies departments these days. 26- For the effects of this in Egypt see Civil Society Exposed: The Politics of NGOs in Egypt (Abdelrahman, 2004, pgs. 17, 85, 102-107). 27- Allah explains many times in the Qur’an, that from His wisdom is that He created everything in pairs-male/female, day/night, good/bad, etc. For example as will be seen in chapter Iqraa’, if humans, even the pious, begin to feel selfsufficient, then they will transgress the bounds, oppressing themselves and others. 28- creatures made from a gaseous substance, from the Ghayb; the species that Satan comes from, but they can choose obedience or disobedience like humans. 29- The Qur’an describes the stages of the embryonic process in certain places (like 23:12-14) which describes how the embryo matures from a nutfa (drop of semen) to the described alaqah stage above to the mudghah (“chewed substance” appearance referring to the somites at the back of the embryo (when it becomes like 30- Before revelation there was no formal form of prayer revealed yet for the Muslim ummah so prophet Muhammad would seclude himself in the cave to meditate about the greatness of Allah (Al-Ashqar, 1985, pgs.814-815). 31- The Qur’an mentions that one of the wisdoms behind choosing an unlettered prophet for the revelation was so no one could accuse him of writing it himself (Qarnee, 2000, p. 115). In fact if he were to write it himself, it wouldn’t be in his interest to write a verse saying that God teaches with the pen since it was common knowledge among prophet Muhammad’s tribe that he was illiterate (Al-Ashqar, 1985, pgs.814-815). 32- Deen is the closet word to “religion” in the Qur’an. With secularism in the Arab world, the word has also taken on the meaning of “religion” in Modern Standard Arabic. 33- They cite how children are overconfident about themselves from the ages of 4-7, when key characteristics of classroom environment are flexible grouping, evaluation through skill mastery on report cards not grades, work is displayed, small group instruction,
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differentiated tasks, and mistakes are valued. All of this disappears as they grow, and so does motivation. 34- Not praying the 5 daily prayers is disbelief in Islam, hence the more severe tone; there is some difference of opinion among theologians if one is considered a disbeliever by abandoning them in general or out of laziness while still believing in their obligatory nature (Ibn Rajab, 2007). 35- Ibn Sina has highly stressed the importance of students having good company in their learning experiences as well (Gunther, 2006, p.380). 36- As a side note, the ulamaa have commented how this hadeeth shows the desirability of creating opportunities for students to experience live dialogues (through for example guest speakers), the importance of an educator maintaining a pleasing appearance,(similar to how Jibreel came in this hadeeth), the close proximity in which the learning took place between Jibreel and the prophet, and how a group of students (the companions) should be as a family who miss each other upon each others’ absence and stay abreast of each others’ affairs (Ibn Rajab, 2007, p. 41-69). 37- For an interesting glimpse at how the concept of Ihsaan would work in developing grassroots educational initiatives through what Iqbal Quadir would describe as a “network effect” (of the people, by the people and for the people) (Quadir, 2005), see the story of Dhul Qarnain in the Qur’an, a powerful righteous ruler who historically ruled most of the earth and his assistance of the weak in giving them greater than what they needed, but making them assist in the effort themselves (Qur’an, 18:83-98; Ibn Kathir, vol. 6, 2000, pgs. 203-209). People maintain what they work and sweat to accomplish.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Mohammed Sabrin is 25 years old at the age of this work. He was born in Cairo, Egypt to Egyptian parents and has lived in the U.S since about the age of six. He completed his undergraduate education at The University of Delaware majoring in English with a concentration in Ethnic and Cultural Studies. It is during this time that he developed his deeper interest in education and how it relates to social change due to his experience with postcolonial literature. He is now completing his Master’s in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies with a focus of Socio-cultural International Development Education Studies (SIDES) at Florida State University. He hopes to continue his graduate studies during his PhD focusing on the empirical side of pedagogy with an intent to be an Education professor in Egypt. He also aims to develop Early Childhood Education institutions corresponding with his immediate interest of improving the quality of ECE in Egypt. His professional teaching experience includes working with various underprivileged Latin American and African-American communities’ academic enrichment programs in the U.S. and being a Graduate Assistant for the SIDES program at Florida State University. He is a stern believer in holistic education that transforms individuals and offers pragmatic solutions to societal dilemmas. And Allah Is The Most High And Knows Best.
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