Muslim Orientations and Views on Education

Abstract

From an ideological point of view, Islam is not a uniform religion and cannot, therefore, be treated as a single or unitary phenomenon. In addition to cultural variations deriving from the geographical context where the religion is practiced, and the major division between the Sunnī and Shī‘ah schools of thought, other ideological variations have come to manifest themselves in modern Islamic thought. Islam as a religion and sociopolitical system has undergone a process of resurgence during the latter half of the twentieth century. Four major ideological orientations may be distinguished in Islam (also in relation to education): (i) the secularist; (ii) the traditionalist; (iii) the modernist/liberalist; and (iv) the fundamentalist. These four orientations will be described and analyzed in terms of their view on the role of religion in society; their view on sharī‘ah and mundane laws; freedom of interpretation of the sources; and their view on education. Secularism sees religion as a private matter, laws as man-made and accepts freedom of interpretation extended to laymen; and education should be modern and secular. In the Traditionalist orientation religion is a public affair; law is seen as made by God; interpretation is restricted to the ‘ulamā’; and education should be for the formation of ‘ulamā’. The Modernists/Liberalists perceive religion as a public matter, law as man-made but guided by Islamic principles; interpretation free to laymen, while education, according to them, should integrate a modern and religious curriculum. For the Fundamentalists/Islamists, religion is a public matter, law is defined by God and interpretation of the sources is prerogative for the ‘ulamā’, while it may be extended to laymen or ‘Islamic thinkers’. Paradoxically, they argue that education should be a hybrid of modern and religious matters.