The Importance of Education in Islam
• "Iqra" READ! Seek knowledge! Educate yourselves! Be educated. (al-Alaq, 1)
• "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know?" (Al-Zumr, 9)
• "Allah grants wisdom to whom He pleases and to whom wisdom is granted indeed he receives an overflowing benefit." (Al-Baqarah, 269)
• “Seeking knowledge is mandatory for all Muslims.” Hadith
• “The position of only two persons is enviable; the person whom Allah bestowed wealth empowering him to spend it in the way of righteousness, and the person whom Allah gave wisdom with which he adjudges and which he teaches to
others.” Hadith
• “A single scholar of religion is more formidable against shaytaan than a thousand devout persons.” Hadith
• "It is the duty of every Muslim man and woman to seek ilm/education," Hadith
• Traveling to other cities to seek knowledge under the direction of different masters was a common practice called “rıhla” in the early centuries of Islam.
Early history of Islamic Educational Institutions
• The first institute of madrasa education was at the
estate of Arkam bin Abi’lArkam near a hill called Safa.
• Hz. Muhammad was the teacher and the students were some of his followers.
• After Hijrah the madrasa of "Suffa" was established in Madina on the east side of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi.
• In the curriculum, there were teachings of The
Qur'an, The Hadith, fara'iz, tajweed, nasab/genealogy, treatises of first aid, etc.
• There were also trainings of horse-riding, art of war,
handwriting and calligraphy, athletics and martial
arts.
Mosque/Masjid: The First Schools
• the early elementary educational institutions
• masjeds the mosque schools
• founded by the Prophet himself; he sat in the mosque surrounded by a halqa (circle) of
listeners, intent on his instructions.
• Hz. Muhammad also sent teachers to the various tribes to instruct their members in the Qur'an.
• During the Abbasid period, thousands of mosque schools were established throughout the Muslim empire
• the subjects of study Qur’an, hadith, fiqh ,
philology, poetry, rhetoric and others.
Maktab/Kuttabs: Primary and Secondary education
• The word maktab (Turkish: Mekteb) derives from the Arabic root k-t-b meaning "writing”,
Therefore, maktab literally means "a place where writing and learning take place".
• In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary, primary and secondary schools wereknown as a maktab/kuttabs, which dates back to at least the 10th century.
• a maktab was often attached to an endowed
mosque.
Madrasa: Higher Education
• The word madrasah (Turkish: Medrese) derives from the Arabic root d- r-s, meaning "a place where something is done".
• Therefore, madrasah literally means "a place where learning and studying take place".
• Madrasa is any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious.
• In the West, the word usually refers to a specific type of religious school or college for the study of the Islamic religion, though this may not be the only subject studied. Muslims; there is also a modern curriculum.
• Western writers and commentators post-9/11 often perceive madrasas as places of radical revivalism with a connotation of anti-Americanism and radical extremism, frequently associated in the Western press with Wahhabi attitudes toward non-Muslims
Influences of Muslim Educational System on Europe
• the European university borrowed many of its features from the madrasa, including
the concepts of a degree and doctorate.
holding the 'Chair' of their subject" being based on the “Islamic pattern of teaching where the professor sits on a chair and the students sit around him",
the term 'academic circles' being derived from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their professor”
the terms "having 'fellows', 'reading' a subject, and obtaining
'degrees', be traced back" to the Islamic concepts of aṣḥāb, qirāʼah
ijāzah ('licence [to teach]') respectively,
delivering inaugural lectures,
wearing academic robes,
obtaining doctorates by defending a thesis,
the idea of academic freedom modelled on Islamic custom.”
Influence of Muslim Educational System on Europe
In the 11.-12. centuries, as Islamic influence spread to Spain, Sicily and the rest of Europe, Europeans became increasingly aware of Muslim advancements in many fields, especially education and science.
• Books were translated from Arabic into Latin and, later, to vernacular language.
European schools which had long limited learning to the "seven liberal arts"
began to expand their curricula.
For some five hundred years, Islamic learning and scholarship played a major role in the development of education in the West.
• The Muslims brought with them well-developed techniques in translation and research and opened new vistas in areas of medicine, the physical sciences and mathematics.
Application of empiricism in all fields of study was rapidly incorporated into the learning system of those who became familiar with Muslim methodology.
• Long before the popularization of the phrase "transfer of technology," a term used to describe advanced expertise which developed nations offer to Third World countries, the Muslims shared their accumulated knowledge and institutions with the rest of the world.
Support of Muslim Women to Education
Unlike Europe during the Middle Ages (and even up until the 1800s and 1900s), rather than being seen as second-class citizens, women played an active role in public life, particularly in the field of education.
• The al-Qarawīyīn University in Fas was established in 859 by a wealthy merchant by the name of Fatima al-Fihri.
Harun al-Rashid’s wife, Zubayda, personally funded many construction projects for mosques, roads, and wells in the Hijaz, which greatly benefit the many students that traveled through these areas.
• The Ayyubid dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries, when 160 mosques and madrasas were established in Damascus, 26 of which were funded by women through the Waqf system. Half of all the royal patrons for these institutions were also women.
The wife of Suleyman, Hurrem Sultan endowned numerous madrasas, in addition to other charitable works such as hospitals, public baths, and soup kitchens.
