Islamic versus Western Conceptions of Education: Reflections on Egypt

Author(s): Bradley J. Cook

Source: International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift fr
Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l'Education, Vol. 45, No. 3/4, Learning,
Knowledge and Cultural Context (1999), pp. 339-357
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ISLAMIC VERSUS WESTERN CONCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION:
REFLECTIONS ON EGYPT
BRADLEY J. COOK
Abstract -
Creating
an education
system
based on Islamic
principles
while also
meeting
the demands of a
modem, technological
world is a
daunting, perhaps impos-
sible task. This
paper
examines the contradictions between Islamic education
theory
and the Western-based education
systems
found in most
Islamically
oriented coun-
tries.
Egypt
is used as a case
study
to illustrate the
complex
and delicate balance
policy
makers must achieve in
meeting
the needs of economic
development
while also
affirming
their countries' Islamic cultural
heritage.
Zusammenfassung
- Der Aufbau eines auf islamischen
Prinzipien
basierenden
Bildungssystems,
das
gleichzeitig
den
Anforderungen
einer modernen,
technolo-
gisierten
Welt
entspricht,
ist eine
entmutigende,
vielleicht
sogar unmogliche Aufgabe.
Dieses Dokument untersucht die
Widerspriiche
zwischen islamischer
Bildungstheorie
und den in den meisten islamischen Landern vorhandenen westlich orientierten
Bildungssystemen. Agypten
wird als Fallstudie
verwendet,
um das
komplexe,
Feingefiihl
erfordernde
Gleichgewicht
zu
verdeutlichen,
das die Politiker
benotigen,
um den Erfordernissen der wirtschaftlichen
Entwicklung Geniige
zu leisten und
gleichzeitig
das islamische Kulturerbe des Landes zu starken.
Resume
-
L'elaboration d'un
systeme
educatif
reposant
sur les
principes islamiques
et
repondant
en meme
temps
aux
exigences
d'un monde modere et
technologique
est une tache
ardue,
sinon
impossible.
Cet article
analyse
les contradictions entre la
theorie de l'education
islamique
et les
systemes
educatifs a caractere occidental, qui
sont en
place
dans la
plupart
des
pays
orientes sur l'islam.
L'Egypte
est
l'objet
d'une
etude de cas
qui
illustre
l'equilibre fragile
et
complexe auquel
les decideurs de
poli-
tiques
doivent faire face
pour repondre
aux besoins du
developpement economique,
tout en
respectant
le
patrimoine
culturel
islamique
de leur
pays.
Resumen
-
Crear un sistema educacional basado sobre
principios
islamicos
que
tambien
cumpla
con las
exigencias
de un mundo moderno
y tecnologico
es un cometido
desalentador,
cuando no
imposible.
Este
trabajo
examina las contradicciones
que
existen entre la teoria islamica de la educaci6n
y
los sistemas educacionales de raices
occidentales
comprobados
en los
paises
de orientaci6n
principlatmente
islamica.
Egipto
se ha tomado como caso de estudio
para
ilustrar el
complicado y
delicado balance
que
los
politicos
tienen
que
realizar
para
satisfacer las demandas del desarrollo
econ6mico,
afianzando al mismo
tiempo
el
legado
cultural islamico de sus
paises.
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- Revue Internationale de l'Education
45(3/4): 339-357, 1999.
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Islam's educational
response
to
modernity
Despite
its
glorious legacy
of earlier
periods,
the Islamic world seemed unable
to
respond
both
culturally
and
educationally
to the
onslaught
of Western
advancement
by
the
eighteenth century. Contributing
to the imbalance of
power
was the introduction of
foreign
modes of
administration, law,
and social
institutions
by
the
expansionist
West. One of the most
damaging aspects
of
European
colonialism was the deliberate deterioration of
indigenous
cultural
norms
by
secularism.
Secularism,
with its veneration of human reason over
divine revelation and
precepts
of the
separation
of
mosque
and
state,
is
anathema to the Islamic doctrine of tawhid
(oneness),
where all
aspects
of life
whether
spiritual
or
temporal
are consolidated into a harmonious whole.
Further, European
colonialism created a "new class of natives" to function as
linguistic
intermediaries between their Western colonialists and the local
masses. The colonial
powers
exerted such immense
leverage
over the com-
mercial and
political enterprises
of their colonies that local nationals had little
chance of
any
social
mobility
unless
they
were educated in a Western culture
and
language.
Western institutions of education were infused into Islamic
countries in order to
produce
functionaries
necessary
to feed the bureaucratic
and administrative needs of the state. Those
collaborating
with their colonial
overlords were drawn to moder Western institutions because of what
they
could offer in terms of
greater opportunity
and material amenities. Islamic
education,
of
course,
existed
alongside
Western
education,
but
only
served
those on the
political
and social
periphery.
Thus, by
the turn of the twentieth
century,
most Muslim countries had
newly
created elites who had a vital
interest in
preserving
and
maintaining
Western cultural traditions.
As Islamic countries
gradually emerged
from their colonial
experiences,
political
leaders
sought
to modernize their countries
along
the lines of Western
development paradigms.
Government bureaucrats and officials were
usually
moder educated elites who had
grown
comfortable and affluent with Western
material culture. Most educational
policy
was based on
perpetuating
the
secularized
systems
of which
they
themselves were a
product
so as to maintain
their economic and
socio-political advantage.
What the
early
educational
modernizers did not
fully
realize was the extent to which secularized educa-
tion
fundamentally
conflicted with Islamic
thought
and traditional
lifestyle
341
(Mohamed
1993:
17). Religious
education was to remain a
separate
and
personal responsibility, having
no
place
in
public
education. If Muslim
students wanted
religious training, they
could
supplement
their
existing
edu-
cation with moral instruction in traditional
religious
schools - the kuttab and
madrasa. As a
consequence,
the two
differing
educational
systems
evolved
independently
with little or no official interface.
The
imposition
and
lingering
influence of Western secularist
approaches
to education has been
vehemently
criticized
by contemporary
Islamic schol-
arship
as
doing
immeasurable
damage
to the
moral, spiritual
and ethical values
of Islamic culture and
heritage (Ali
1984:
51). Having
two
parallel
streams
of secular and
religious
education has drawn
virtually
unanimous condemna-
tion in the Islamic world as a hindrance to national
development
and "the
epitome
of Muslim decline"
(Faruqi 1982).
Two
prominent professors
of
Islamic education describe the current situation in these terms:
There are at
present
two
systems
of education. The
first, traditional,
which has
confined itself to classical
knowledge,
has not shown
any
keen interest in new
branches of
knowledge
that have
emerged
in the West nor in new methods of
acquiring knowledge important
in the Western
system
of education.... The second
system
of education
imported
into Muslim
countries, fully
subscribed to and
sup-
ported by
all
governmental authorities,
is one borrowed from the West. At the head
of this
system
is the modem
University,
which is
totally
secular and hence non-
religious
in its
approach
to
knowledge. Unfortunately,
these
people
educated
by
this new
system
of
education,
known as moder
education,
are
generally
unaware
of their own tradition and classical
heritage.
It is also not
possible
for this
group
to
provide
such
leadership
as we have
envisaged.
(Husain and Ashraf 1979:
16-17)
Many
Islamic educators
point
inwards to the universal Muslim
Community
(umma)
for the source of continued cultural dualism found in their countries.
Criticism is levelled at Muslim intellectual or
political
leaders who have
neglected, intentionally
or
otherwise,
the cultural
problems
associated with
educational dualism found in most educational
systems
in the Islamic world.
The current
leadership,
notes Ibrahim Sulaiman
(1985: 32)
has "continued to
hold the reins of
government
in all these
[Islamic]
countries in
cynical
and
damaging
succession"
creating
a "neo-colonial status" which the umma cannot
escape. According
to
some,
the Islamic
leadership
not
only
lacks the vision
necessary
for
meaningful change,
but
perpetuates
an education
system
that
produces
students who are "deluded
hybrids" (idem).
On one level students
of these
systems
remain Islamic in
performing
the outward duties of Muslims
(i.e., prayer, mosque attendance, etc.)
but retain the
trappings
of Western
thought,
dress and
language.
Criticisms of this
ilk, along
with the
general
rise in Islamic consciousness,
have forced
many
Islamic leaders to take a different
strategy
towards educa-
tional
policy.
The "Islamic solution" has
gained greater popular
and emotional
342
fore,
is
being given
to Islam in
contemporary
education
policy
out of sheer
political expediency.
As is the case with
Egypt
and some other Islamic coun-
tries, policy
makers
pay homage
to
religious
education in the
public sector,
if
only rhetorical,
in order to alleviate extremist demands. The resultant effect
has been various
permutations
and often
superficial
combinations of Islamic
and Western education
systems.
The First World Conference on Muslim Education in Mecca in 1977
Creating
an education
system
based on Islamic
principles
while also
accounting
for the
modernizing
needs of
contemporary society
has not been
a
simple process.
It was for this
purpose
that Muslim
scholars,
educators and
policy
makers from around the world
gathered
from 31 March to 8
April
in
1977 for the First World Conference on Muslim Education. The conference
was a landmark in Islamic education for it was the "first
attempt
of its kind
to remove the
dichotomy
of
religious
and secular education" from the current
education
systems
of Islamic countries
(Al-Attas
1979:
v).
Fourteen com-
mittees were formed to
discuss, analyze
and make recommendations on
fourteen different issues.
Following
the conference the Mecca Declaration was
drawn
up
and
signed by
all of the heads of Muslim states
signifying
the com-
mitment to Islamic education at all levels of
government.
The conference
gen-
erated several
follow-up
conferences and
inspired
a number of
initiatives,
organizations
and
specialized professional journals dealing exclusively
with
the
problem
of Islamic education. Those
calling
for Islamization of educa-
tion consider it one of the
keys
to the revitalization of Islam. The conference
resulted in the most
comprehensive
collection of
theory
and
practical
recom-
mendations for Islamic education found
anywhere
to date.
However,
monu-
mental as the Meccan conference
was,
and
important
as the
philosophical
foundations were that it
laid, problems
are
legion
when it comes to formu-
lating
and
implementing
concrete solutions. Indeed,
since
1977, only
a few
isolated
examples
of successful Islamicized education
systems
can be cited.
Even "that ancient bulwark of
conservatism,"
Al
Azhar,
can
only point
to
limited success in
eliminating
the
secular/religious dichotomy (Tibawi
1972:
120). "Despite
a
widespread
and sometimes
deep
consciousness of the
dichotomy
of
education", says
Fazlur
Rahman,
"all efforts at a
genuine
inte-
gration
have been
largely
unfruitful"
(1982: 130). Thus, by
and
large,
no
system
has
really provided
a model which is
completely satisfactory
from a
Muslim
perspective.
The abundant literature and academic discourse on
Islamic educational
theory
is
persuasive
and
compelling,
but that
appears
to
be where it ends. How to solve the issues related to
modernity
and
develop-
ment while at the same time
maintaining
the cultural and
religious integrity
of the umma remains an elusive and monumental task. On a
pragmatic level,
modern Islamic nations still
struggle
to meet the scientific and
technological
changes
demanded
by
the modern
period. Modernity
and
development,
in
343
the minds of
many
Muslim
policy makers,
are still
closely
linked to Western
modes of
doing things.
In
addition,
with the
resurgence
of Islamic
feeling
in
many countries, many
leaders have had to make efforts to
temper
the radical
elements inside this movement.
The case of
Egypt
Egypt
is a
country comprising approximately
90% Muslims and where secular
experiments
have
yielded
little relief from
unemployment
and slow economic
production, increasing
numbers of Muslims are
turning
to Islam as a
principal
means of
facing
an uncertain future. Since it was declared as the official
religion
of State
by
the 1964
Constitution,
Egyptian policy
makers do not
underestimate the
potency
of a
politicized
Islam and the
emergence
of various
Islamic movements as more secular forces
appear
to erode Islamic values
and ideals. On the other
hand, Egypt acutely
realizes that it cannot exist in
isolation and a considerable amount of Western aid and
technology
is
required
to achieve domestic and
regional objectives.
Educational initiatives that inten-
tionally target
Western economic
integration,
such as the 1995 Mubarak-Kohl
Agreement
for the
Development
of Technical Education in
Egypt,
reinforce
pragmatic
links with a
technologically superior
West
(Arab Republic
of
Egypt
1996:
68-72). Egyptian policy
officials
point
out:
We are all confronted with the
challenges
of the
twenty-first century, something
which we must realize.
Furthermore,
we have to absorb the
required
mechanisms
for
change,
and the
present age
is characterized
by competition
and
diversity.
We
cannot
escape
this
reality
or violate its laws. It is a
reality
which
requires
each
and
every
one of us to absorb the facts of this
present age
and to
prepare
our-
selves from now onwards
(Arab Republic
of
Egypt
1995:
190).
Egypt's
national education
system
is
struggling
for survival
against
an
onslaught
of
overwhelming political,
social and economic
problems. Rapid
urbanization, rampant population growth,
inefficient allocation of resources
and economic
dependency
all combine
against
the successful
implementa-
tion of even the most
carefully designed
reform initiatives. Insufficient funds
for materials and
equipment,
the lack of
adequate physical
facilities and the
sheer
magnitude
of class enrollments
severely hamper
educative
efficacy.
The
"educational crisis"
(al-azma al-ta'lim),
as President Hosni Mubarak and other
leading
officials call
it,
is
manifesting
itself in the
growing
rates of
illiteracy,
unemployment
and economic
underdevelopment.2
In
1991, Egypt
launched its
National
Project (Mashru' al-Qawmi)
to address the infrustructural and the
socio-economic
challenges facing
the
country's
education
system.
An area of
particular emphasis
has been on technical and scientific
education,
since
moder education takes
place
under conditions
imposed by
the
technically
adept
West.
Egyptian policy
makers are
intensely
aware of this fact and are
making gestures
to accommodate it.
344
The National
Project,
while
primarily designed
to confront
Egypt's
socio-
economic
woes,
does exhibit caution in not
offending
the
socio-religious
sen-
sibilities of its Muslim
constituency.
In a
speech
to the
People's Assembly
in
1991,
President Mubarak said: "We have to
agree
that the
coming years
are
the
years
for
developing
and
promoting
culture in
Egypt.
A
great
task lies
ahead of us which can never
by
underestimated."3 Not
only
is the task of the
National
Project
to
produce
a better workforce imbued with the
"principles,
values and labour skills needed for a
technological society,"
but also for "rein-
forcing
the values of
religion;" (tarsiq a-qiyam a-diniya)4
a
daunting, perhaps
an
impossible task,
as we will
shortly
see. In a document
outlining prescrip-
tive measures for
confronting
the
"crisis,"
a statement reads:
Religious
and moral values should be
deeply ingrained among
our children.
Religious
instruction should motivate our children to adhere to desirable values
and morals.... The curricula for
religious
education should be revised and devel-
oped
to match the
changing
levels of
understanding
of children at various
stages.
(Arab Republic
of
Egypt
1996:
55)
Herein lies the awesome
challenge
of the
Egyptian
education
system:
creating
a
system
which
gives adequate
attention to
religious
instruction to
maintain cultural
values,
while at the same time
providing
education and skills
to students so
they may
succeed and contribute to the needs of a
developing
and
modernizing country.
A
system espousing
too
many
Western secular
values
might
introduce elements which are alien to the
spirit
of Islam and
spark
further
religious opposition
from Islamists. On the other
hand,
Islamic
education of the old
variety
fails to
adequately prepare
students for the
modem,
technological
world.
Furthermore,
too much attention
paid
to the
demands of conservative orthodox
thinking
could disenfranchize
Egypt's
leaders from the moderate
majority.
The
quest
is
obviously
modernization
without
Westernization,
and Islamization without extremism - a
complex
and
delicate balance. In the
meantime,
the current
fragmentation
and
superficial
mixture of secularized and
religious
courses in
Egypt's public
education
system
is
completely
alien to the fundamental
principle
of tawhid.
Islamists in
Egypt
and
throughout
the Islamic world are
calling
for edu-
cational reform of a
revolutionary
sort to
rejuvenate
their societies. The
governing
bodies of these countries
interpret
educational reform
along
a
variant Western-secular
conception. Understanding
Islamic educational
theory
will
help
us understand the Islamist side of the debate and
appreciate
the extent
to which
they
see the Islamization of education as a crucial factor in eradi-
cating
the dichotomized, Western-secular influences
eroding
their culture.
Aims and
objectives
of Islamic education
Three terms are used in Arabic for
education,
each
differing
in connotation
but
embodying
the various dimensions of the educational
process
as
perceived
345
by
Islam. The most
widely
used word for education in a formal sense is the
word
ta'lim, stemming
from the root 'alima
(to know,
to be
aware,
to
perceive,
to
learn) relating
to
knowledge being sought
or
imparted through
instruction
and
teaching. Tarbiya, coming
from the root raba
(to increase, grow,
to
rear)
implies
a state of
spiritual
and ethical
nurturing
in accordance with the
will of the
Lord,
al-Rabb. Taadib comes from the root aduba
(to
be cultured,
refined, well-mannered)
and
suggests
the social dimensions of a
person's
development
of sound social behavior. What is meant
by
sound
requires
a
deeper understanding
of the Islamic
conception
of the human
being.
Recom-
mendations made
by
the scholars at the First World Conference on Muslim
Education
provide
this definition:
Man
according
to Islam is
composed
of soul and
body
... he is at once
spirit
and
matter . . . man
possesses spiritual
and rational
organs
of
cognition
such as the
heart
(qalb)
and the intellect
('aql)
and faculties
relating
to
physical,
intellectual
and
spiritual vision, experience
and consciousness.... His most
important gift
is
knowledge
which
pertains
to
spiritual
as well as
intelligible
and
tangible
realities.
(Al-Attas
1979:
157)
Education,
as
envisaged
in the context of
Islam,
claims to be a
process
which involves the
complete person, including
the
rational, spiritual
and social
dimensions of the
person.
As discussed
previously,
Islam
provides
a
complete
code of life and strives for a
balanced,
harmonious
weltanschauung repre-
sented
by
the
concept
of tawhid. The
comprehensive
and
integrated approach
to education in Islam strives to
produce
a
good,
well-rounded
person aiming
at the "balanced
growth
of the total
personality
. . .
through training
Man's
spirit, intellect,
rational
self,
feelings
and
bodily
senses ... such that faith is
infused into the whole of his
personality" (Al-Attas
1979:
158).
In Islamic
educational
theory
the
general objective
of
gaining knowledge
is the actual-
ization and
perfection
of all dimensions of the human
being.
Man is intended
to act as the
vicegerent
of God
(khalifat Allah) who,
in order to fulfill this
holy obligation,
must submit himself
completely
to Allah
(Abdullah
1982:
116). Indeed,
it is obedience which is the summum bonum of man's exis-
tence,
as is illustrated in the
Quranic
verse: "I have not created
jinn
and
mankind
except
to serve Me"
(Quran
51:
56).
Perfection
then,
which is the
ultimate aim of Islamic
education,
can
only
be achieved
through
obedience
to God. While education does
prepare
man for
happiness
in this
life,
"its
ultimate
goal
is the abode of
permanence
and all education
points
to the
per-
manent world of
eternity
(al-akhirah)" (Nasr
1984:
7).
Education
is,
or at least
should be in
Islam, inseparable
from the
spiritual
life.
The
perfect
model for mankind to emulate from an Islamic
perspective
is
the education of the
Prophet
Muhammed
through
God's final
message,
the
Quran.
The
Quran
and the Sunnah of the
Prophet
are the immutable sources
for all
aspects
of both
temporal
and
spiritual
life. The
Quran is,
as the founder
of the International Federation of Muslim and Arabic Schools wrote,
"the
perennial
foundation for Islamic
systems
of
legislation
and of social and
346
economic
organization.
It is last but not least the basis of both moral and
general
education ... and the
core, pivot
and
gateway
of
learning" (Al-Saud
1979:
126-127).
As
long
as the
Quran
remains central to the educational cur-
riculum,
there is "a
guarantee
that the Muslim umma will
keep
its
integrity
and authentic character"
(idem: 127).
The
Prophet
Muhammed was the
highest
and most
perfect example
of al-insam
al-kamil,
and the function of
education,
as Al-Attas remarks
(1985: 200),
"is to
produce
men and women
resembling
him as near as
possible."
The
teachings
of the
Quran
and the
example
of the
Prophet
constitute the
spiritual pattern
of
early
Islamic
education,
which
resulted in the
blossoming prosperity
of Islamic civilization. With this
assump-
tion,
it follows then that the current crisis in Islam and the erosion of the
spiritual
and moral foundations in the Islamic world is the result of the umma
straying
from God's intended course and "from the
program
of
[true]
Islamic
education"
(Qutb
as found in Toronto 1992:
96).
If the
goal
of education is the balanced
growth
of the human
character,
the heart
(qalb) (the
seat of the
spirit
and
affection, conscience, feelings,
intuition)
should receive
equal
attention to the intellect
('aql),
reason
(mantiq)
and man's rational dimensions. To ascertain truth
by complete
reliance on
reason alone is restrictive since both
spiritual
and
temporal reality
are two
sides of the same
sphere.
Indeed,
the
highest
form of
knowledge
is the
per-
ception
of God
(idrak),
which cannot be realized in
any
other
way
than
through
faith
(iman). Revelatory knowledge
is the most elevated form of
knowledge,
not
only
because it relates to God and the
understanding
of His
attributes,
but because it
provides
an essential foundation for all other forms of knowl-
edge.
To favor reason at the
expense
of
spirituality hampers
balanced
growth.
Exclusive
training
of the
intellect,
for
example,
is
inadequate
in
developing
and
refining
elements of
love, kindness, compassion
and
selflessness,
which
have an
altogether spiritual
ambiance and can
only
be
appealed
to
by processes
of
spiritual training. Separating
the
spiritual development
of the human
being
from the
rational, temporal aspects
of the same
person, says
one
prominent
Islamic
educationalist,
"is the main cause for the
disintegration
of the human
personality" (Ashraf
1993:
2).
Education is thus a twofold
process
-
acquiring
intellectual
knowledge
(through
the
application
of reason and
logic),
and
spiritual knowledge (which
is derived from divine revelation and
spiritual experience). According
to the
educational
weltanschauung
of
Islam, provision
must be made
equally
for
both.
Acquiring knowledge
in Islam is not meant to be an end unto
itself,
but
only
a means to stimulate a more elevated moral and
spiritual
consciousness
leading
to faith and
righteous
action.
Inadequacies
of Western/secular education from an Islamic
perspective
According
to
many
Muslim
thinkers,
the
philosophical shortcoming
of most
modern
systems
of education in the Islamic world is that
they
do not reflect
347
the fundamental aims and
objectives
of Islamic education.
Contemporary
policy
makers are
simply products
of the Western social and cultural
milieu,
adopting
Western modes of curriculum
development
administrative structures
and
pedagogical
tools. Shahed Ali
(1984: 52)
comments:
Our intellect is
steeped
in the norms and forms evolved
by
the West.
Systems
of
education in our
schools, colleges
and universities are
mostly imported;
these are
not our own
systems; they
are fashioned after the outlook and model of Western
educational
systems.
As
such, they
do no
represent
the
religious
values
implicit
in Islam and
fall short in
educating
the whole
person.
Modern/Western education and
research,
are insufficient in Islamic
society
because
they
"have been
totally
cut off from the
spiritual
roots"
(ibid.).
The source of
any system
of educa-
tion, according
to Ali,
should be traced to its
philosophy
of
life,
and a
system
of education is
organically
connected with the ethical and moral values that
spring
from that
philosophy....
When such a
short-sighted policy prevails,
social cohesion and collective initia-
tive for the
well-being
of the
community
becomes a far
cry. (Ibid.)
Egypt
and other countries like
it, according
to Islamic educational
theory,
cannot modernize their education
systems along
Western lines without seri-
ously compromising
their essential Islamic character. Western
philosophies
of
education are
fundamentally
at variance with Islam because of the absence
of
properly integrated religion
in the Western curriculum.
Scathing
attacks
on the dissonant influences of Western educational
theory
on the Muslim world
have featured
prominently
in the literature on Islamic educational
theory.
What
most Muslim theorists take
particular
issue with are the Western notions of
liberalism and
secularism,
which aim at
delivering
man "first from the reli-
gious
and then the
metaphysical
control over his reason and his
language"
(Al-Attas
1985:
15).
A characteristic of Western/modem education is its
primary
reliance on the
rational faculties for the
discovery
of truth.
Reality
is restricted to sensual
experience,
scientific
procedure
or
processes
of
logic.
Secular education strives
principally
for the
"development
of the rational life of
every
individual"
(Hirst
as cited in Halstead 1995:
35).
Islam is not
unique
in
claiming
that this sort
of
posture represents only
one level of
reality.
The debate between secular
scientists and
Christians,
for
example,
has been
raging
for centuries over
whether
spiritual experience
is a
legitimate
means of
determining
truth. In
Islam
revelatory experience,
intuition and faith are not
only valid,
but are
absolutely necessary
in
ascertaining
the
highest
of
truths,
the nature of God.
Al-Attas,
in
particular,
has
expounded
on the weaknesses of the secular sci-
entific
method, claiming
that its
preoccupation
with natural
phenomena
prevents unnecessarily
the
discovery
of whole truth.
Fixating only
on observ-
able
objects
and
events, says Al-Attas,
limits truth because
they "point
to
348
themselves as the sole
reality
and not
any
other
Reality" (1985: xix).
Secular
science tries to
interpret reality only
with the
empirically
verifiable. In Islam
this definition of science has its defects because direct observation is no more
than "outward
appearances, perceived through
human senses"
(El-Nejjar
1986:
59-63),
which
by
the standards of
experimental
science are
innately
limited.
Therefore,
human senses can
perceive
evidences of
truth,
but not the truth
itself.
Islam does not
reject
science and
technology per se,
but rather the
per-
vading
Western
philosophy
of secular science. After
all,
at the
height
of its
glory,
the Islamic
empire
was considered the
vanguard
of science and tech-
nology. However,
science and
technology
as
they
are
presented today
bear the
distinct mark of a Western social and intellectual
milieu, causing
some
Muslims to mistrust it. Badawi
explains:
This
suspicion
is well founded. Western science,
it must be
remembered, has,
for
historical
reasons, developed
in an
atmosphere
of
hostility
towards
religion
and has
acquired
a
negative
attitude towards
religion
and has in the
process acquired
a
negative
attitude towards all
non-empirical aspects
of belief. The basic
assump-
tions of Western science are in
reality
a
greater
menace to Islamic culture than
any
hostile work
by
orientalists ... modern education is
by
definition that
type
of
education
inspired by
the West ... the
onslaught
of science
upon
our basic belief
and values is indirect and therefore too obscure for the
ordinary person
or even
the educated to measure and rebut.
(Badawi
1979:
114-115)
Sayyid Qutb,
an influential thinker in
contemporary
Islamic
thought, argues
that science itself should not be
rejected,
but its
acceptance
should be
quali-
fied.
"Islam",
he
says,
"is in
harmony
with the laws of the universe and the
nature of existence
(fitrat
al
wujud)" (Qutb
as found in Moussalli 1990:
322).
Science, pure
and
applied,
can be
accepted
on the condition that it does not
exceed its limits
by trying
to
interpret philosophically
what exists.
Qutb argues
that "man neither has
knowledge,
nor the
ability
to know the entire order of
this
universe,"
and
hence,
neither
empiricism
nor rationalism is
satisfactory
instruments for the
expression
of
complete
truth
(idem: 324).
Islam
empha-
sizes the
concept
of
tawhid,
and as
Qutb states,
"the universe is a
unity
composed
of visible and the invisible unknown. Life is a
unity
of material and
spiritual energies
whose
separation
results in imbalance or disturbance"
(idem:
323). Consequently, any system
or
philosophy
that does not embrace the
unity
of the universe is
incomplete
and
fragmentary.
The Western liberal
perspective
of education also conflicts with Islamic
educational
theory
in its
heavy emphasis
on relativism. There is a
tendency
in liberal
theory
to
accept
a
pluralism
of
personal private
beliefs and that all
beliefs are
equally justifiable (Hirst
1974:
4). Making
claims to the absolute
truth is avoided in liberal education at almost
every
level. In a recent document
on how to handle controversial
subject
material in British
schools,
the
inspec-
tors stated that: "It can be
very helpful
for
pupils
to know their teachers'
views,
provided
these are offered as one
among many possible perspectives
on an
349
issue with no more
weight
or 'truth' than
any
other"
(Inner
London Education
Authority
1983:
48).
The basic
assumption
in this relativist
approach
is that there are no
absolutes and that all truth as
subjective.
Islam considers this sort of rela-
tivism
overtly damaging.
If all
positions
are relative and all
opinions
are con-
sidered as
good
as the
next,
on what basis can a
society
build a reliable and
stable civilization? What will
inevitably
occur is that "the one who shouts
loudest and
longest
will
prevail" (Watson
1987:
29).
Islam claims to
embody
absolute
truth,
with an innate universal truth within each
person.
Humans are
able to
tap
into this universal truth
by
virtue of their
perfect
essence
(al-insan
al-kamil),
which is borne within the
depth
of one's
being.
While Islam can
show tolerance for
differing moral,
aesthetic and cultural
perspectives,
"it
never considers all views to be
equally
valid"
(Ashraf
1987:
11).
Values in
the secular
conception
are ever
changing
and tentative. For a
completely
balanced
development
of a child's
moral, spiritual
and intellectual
dimensions,
and for a
society
to be built on a foundation of
righteousness
and
justice,
"basic universal
unchanging
norms are
necessary" (idem: 7).
Liberal education is also characterized
by
a
predominant
stress on indi-
vidualism and the freedom of individual choice. "What
[liberal education]
liberates the
person from,"
comments one noted liberal
theorist,
"is the lim-
itations of the
present
and the
particular" (Bailey
1984:
20). According
to
most liberal theorists there are no absolute authorities in matters of
morality
or how to best
live,
and therefore education must avoid authoritarian
posi-
tions
(White 1982, 1984). Bailey goes
on to
say
that a
liberally
educated
person
is released from the restrictions
placed
on him or her
by
the limited
and
specific
circumstances in which he or she is born. Liberal
education,
according
to
Bailey (1984: 21),
allows for "intellectual and moral
autonomy,
the
capacity
to become a free chooser of what is to be believed and what is
to be
done,
a free chooser of beliefs and actions - in a
word,
a free moral
agent,
the kind of
entity
a
fully-fledged
human
being
is
supposed
to be and
which all too few are!"
Islam,
on the other
hand, puts
must less stress on individual
autonomy
than it does on the consensus
(ijma)
of the
community (umma)
and
respect
for the social contexts and traditions in which an individual
originates.
Education and the
acquisition
of
knowledge, then,
are
good only
if
they
serve
to
engender
virtue in the individual and elevate the whole
community.
Islamic
educators criticize the "freedom"
implicit
in liberal
theory because,
as Ashraf
comments:
By denying
faith and
by creating
a
conglomeration
of
multiple
choices . . . with
no norm to be
guided by, except
reason or social values or . . .
fashions,
the
secularist educationalists create an unsettled situation for children. Doubts and
scepticism
are
preferred
and even
encouraged.
As a result children have no norm
of
good
and
evil, right
and
wrong, justice
and
injustice,
truth and falsehood
(Ashraf
1987:
11).
350
Western liberal education
encourages people
to
align
their
religious
beliefs
with rational
principles, helping
children to become free
agents independent
of the
pressures
of socialization. Without this
ability
to make
independent
rational
choices, people
tend toward "blind reliance on
authority" (White
1982:
50).
In
Islam, however, encouraging
students to
question
their moral beliefs
may merely
make them confused and "unmeshed with
society
as it is"
(Barrow
as cited in Halstead 1995:
40).
The
unhealthy
material fixation of the West can be
directly
related to this
sort of individualism. Shahed Ali states that Western forms of education
"create a
capital
'I' in the
psychology
of man to the exclusion of the rest of
the world. Self before
everything
is the
only truth, disguised
as
"enlightened
self-interest"
(Ali
1984:
53).
Ali claims that if education becomes secular or
irreligious,
material
progress
and
prosperity
become the end all and be all of
life. And if an education
system
focuses on material
pursuits
to the exclusion
of
spiritual
and moral
training,
it will fail to "nourish the human soul . . .
enrich human life with noble virtues of
love,
service and sacrifice"
(idem).
Strengthening spiritual
faith and virtue is
imperative
in
any
education
system
which seeks to
posses
an Islamic character.
Secularist
critique
of Islamic education
The Islamic
conceptions
of education as outlined above have featured
promi-
nently
in the educational debate in
Egypt,
but have had
generally negligible
success in actual
implementation.
The
secular/religious dichotomy
in
Egypt's
education
system
remains
entrenched,
and the
integration
of an Islamic
per-
spective
into the curricula has
yet
to materialize in
any
substantial form.
Contemporary
Islamist
thinking
has done little in
regard
to educational reform
beyond
the level of
sloganization.
Fazlur Rahman assesses the current situa-
tion in the Islamic world in these
scathing
terms:
neorevivalism has reoriented the modern-educated
lay
Muslim
emotionally
toward
Islam. But the
greatest
weakness of
neorevivalism,
and the
greatest
disservice it
has done to
Islam,
is an almost total lack of
positive
effective
thinking
and schol-
arship
within its
ranks,
its intellectual
bankruptcy,
and its substitution of cliche
mongering
for serious intellectual endeavor ... the neorevivalist has
produced
no
Islamic educational
system worthy
of the name.
(Rahman
1982:
137)
Substantial educational reform in accordance with a unified Islamic con-
ception
has in most cases been reduced to theoretical
platitudes
from the
Islamic scholars
(ulama)
themselves. The rhetorical ideals of a universal
Islamic
system
of education
solving
the
plight
of Muslims is
widespread
in
Islamist literature. An
example
of such
sweeping utopian
and even naive
language
is:
The entire educational
system
of Muslim countries should be saturated with these
values of Islam. ... It is the need of the hour for the Muslims to ... have
only
351
one educational
system,
to be
compulsory
for
every
man and woman.... This edu-
cation will
bring
a
quick
revolution in the
thinking, feeling
and actions of the
Muslims
(Ali
1984:
55).
The Islamic movement
generally
fails to address how an Islamic educa-
tion
system
with universal
application
could overcome the formidable barriers
of the
political,
cultural and
linguistic diversity
of the umma. Nor is it clear
how such a
system
would
operate
in a
pluralistic society
with the sentiments
and needs of
religious
minorities. There has also been a lack of clear
thinking
on how an "Islamic Alternative" could
manage
the infrastructural
problems
endemic in most Islamic
countries,
i.e.
overcrowding,
lack of resources,
crum-
bling
facilities and
inadequate equipment. Disparate
visions
among
Islamic
thinkers themselves as how to achieve
meaningful
Islamization of education
creates further barriers. While some
general agreement
exists on a
philo-
sophical level,
there is
significant disagreement among
the ulama as to the
pragmatic
issues of
organization, administration,
and curriculum
development.
A further constraint for the Islamization of education is that
governments
in most Islamic
countries,
while
paying lip
service to the idealism of
Islam,
actively
resist the drive toward Islamization. The Mubarak
regime
in
Egypt
has had to
navigate
a
careful, gradualist
course that
simultaneously
reinforces
"the values of
religion" (al-qiyam al-diniya)
while
avoiding
"fanaticism and
extremism"
(ta'ssub
wa
tatarruf) (Arab Republic
of
Egypt
1995:
61).
The
Mubarak
government acquiesces
to the Islamization of education on a
cosmetic level but
sternly
limits its encroachment
upon
actual school curricula
and
policy.
More concessions to Islamism on actual
policy
would
only
desta-
bilize the
existing
social order and increase the
political
turmoil
through
greater
inroads
by
extremism.
The
vigorous argument
that
religion
and
spirituality
should be infused into
education is
by
no means an issue found
only
in Islamic countries.
Religious
education,
or at least moral
education,
features
high
on the
agenda
of most
national education debates
-
even in the West. The debate differs in
Egypt
in
an
important way
because it is not characterized
by polar
differences between
believer and
nonbeliever,
as is the case in the
West,
but rather between believer
and believer.
The salient
question
when
looking
at the educational debate in
Egypt
is
"what Islam" and "whose Islam" we are
talking
about when
discussing
the
appropriate
role of Islam in the
public
sector.
Differing interpretations
on
the
degree
to which Islam offers an absolute and
"complete way
to life" is at
the heart of the issue. The
conception
of education as outlined
by
Islamic
educational theorists would be
rejected by
certain
segments
of
Egypt's
more
secularized; many
of them
claiming
that it
represents only
one
interpretation
of Islam and not universal Islam as such. Even
among many 'ilmaniyyum
(secularists)
in
Egypt,
Islam constitutes a
deep
and
meaningful way
of
life,
but
should,
in their
opinion,
be confined to the
appropriate private spheres
of
life,
i.e. the home and the
mosque. They diverge
from he more
asaliya
(traditional)
idea that all
spheres
of life should be unified and
inseparable.
352
How Islam translates into
public
education has been a
particularly vexing
issue
between the two
camps;
a dialectic one
Egyptian
educator characterized as a
"debate between the deaf."5
Western-oriented secularists constitute a
high percentage
of those in
policy
making positions;
a fact which most Islamists would see as one of the
greatest
hindrances to the Islamization of official educational
policy. By
virtue of
being
products
of a Westernized educational
system,
most secularists have been
influenced
by
Western humanist
thought, predisposing
them a
perpetuate
the
dichotomy
between secular and
religious
education. Secularists not
only
differ
from Islamists on education in the
interpretation
of
Islam,
but also consider
Islamic education
theory
to be
seriously
flawed from an
epistemological
perspective.
I will now turn to
evaluating
some of the counter
arguments
which secular
policy
makers make
against
Islamic education.
Liberal,
secular educational-
ists'
primary
criticism of Islamic educational
theory
has been its
rigid
abso-
lutist
posture
on truth. Such a
dogmatic position,
from a secularist
perspective,
can
only
breed intolerance toward other
religious
or
nonreligious ideologies.
By claiming
that one has infallible whole truth one
implies
that all other beliefs
are
false, skewed,
or
only partially
true.
Clearly,
from an absolutist
perspec-
tive, differing ideological positions
cannot all be
presented
as true "since
accepting
the truth of one tradition
requires
that other traditions be dismissed
as mere truth claims"
(Halstead
1995:
37).
When those
espousing
a
position
of asala want to make Islamic education the norm,
do
they
account for
minority positions, religious
or otherwise?
Egyptian policy
makers
perceive
the inherent risks of absolutist
thinking
in these terms:
The
perception
of absolute truth
(al-haqiqa al-mutliqa)
becomes
deeply
rooted in
the minds of the
students,
who
eventually
come to believe there is
only
one
possible
solution or answer to
any problem,
and that in
every
situation there is
only
one
answer or
truth,
in
spite
of the fact that there
might
be several correct answers.
We have suffered a lot from the idea of absolute truth. It has for
many years
confined our
thinking
and has resulted in
paving
the
way
for extremism
(a-tataraf)
bigotry
and addiction.
(Arab Republic
of
Egypt
1996:
52-53)
From a liberal
perspective,
Islamic education is
problematic
because it
assumes a
primacy
of
religious
belief that is based on what Barrow would call
"unprovable propositions" (Barrow
1981:
147).
Nor is it
open
to critical
scrutiny;
both
positions
are
contradictory
to the
process
of
educating.
If
schools seek to initiate students into a
particular
Islamic
conception
of the
world with the intention of
committing
them to those
beliefs,
this is not edu-
cation,
according
to
secularists,
but indoctrination.
Indoctrination is
objectionable according
to White because it
prevents
the
recipient
from
questioning
beliefs and
prevents
them from
critically analyzing
the status of beliefs
(1982: 127).
The
question
of freedom arises when there
is a contrived
religious agenda, tending
toward
constraining people's
belief
along narrowly
conceived or doctrinaire line. Within the liberal
conception
353
of education, children should be allowed to
develop
into
morally
autonomous
people
without external constraints. Islamic education "moulds" students into
a
predetermined conception
of how
they
should lead their lives and incul-
cates
"specific
kinds of
dispositions",
which does little to "liberate
pupils
from
ignorance
and
misconceptions" (White
1982:
126).
One of the
primary
dicta of education in a modern context is to
prepare
people
for
productive employment.
The relevance of
religious
education from
this
perspective
is unclear since obvious
priorities
should be
given
to those
subjects furthering
usable skills in the work
place.
The
problem
with
including
religious
education in an
already
overcrowded school schedule is that there
is
simply
not
enough
time to address it in the
integrated
and
comprehensive
way
Islamists conceive it. The General Director of
Religious
Education at
the
Egyptian Ministry
of Education had this to
say
about
dedicating
more reli-
gious
instruction to core curriculum time:
There are
thirty
hours a week of
study (for
all
subjects),
and of these, elementary
students receive three hours of
religion,
while
preparatory
and secondary students
receive two hours a week. The number of hours
spent
in
religion
is sufficient. I
don't think we need more
religious
education than have. It is a
tiny minority
of
the
population, perhaps
three
percent,
that demand more. But more hours than this
would
simply
not be
appropriate (munasib)
for
Egypt.
If we add two to
these, every
subject
will also ask for two
more,
and we would need more than 24 hours a
day
to fill
requests.6
Liberal educational
theory
would also take issue with Islam's narrow tran-
scendental
justification
of education. Education as conceived
by
Islam is
only
good
if it
inspires
virtue in the individual or
uplifts
the
community.
The liberal
theorist would
say
that education and
knowledge acquisition
need no
justifi-
cation. Education can be valued in and of itself and does not need to further
any
other
agenda.
Downie asserts that: "The
simplest justification
for educa-
tion,
and
perhaps
the one which in the final
showing
is the most
satisfactory
- is that its intrinsic
aims,
those states of mind which constitute
it,
are
good
in themselves or desirable for their own sakes"
(1974: 50).
Since
religious
belief is a
private
and
subjective matter,
it must not be
allowed to "determine
public
issues such as education"
(Hirst
1974:
3).
If
one
particular religious position emerges
as the
norm,
then it also becomes
the standard
by
which the other
religious
and
nonreligious positions
are to be
judged. Consequently, says Cox,
"there is no
objective way
of
choosing
between them. All are based on
belief,
not on
demonstrably proven
fact,
and
so, ideally,
each is as
good
as the other"
(Cox
1983:
117).
If
religion
is
going
to be studied at all in
public education,
liberal
proponents
such as
Barrow,
would
argue
that it needs to be within an academic framework
only.
Education
in a
public
forum must not teach
religion,
but about
religion. According
to
Barrow, religion
can
only
be
taught
in
public
schools as an academic exercise;
for
comparative
or historical
purposes. Religion
should not be
taught
if the
intention is to
propagate
its ideas to the students
(Barrow
1975:
150).
This
particular position
has been
adopted by
the American
public
school
system.
354
Conclusions
The
purpose
of this
paper
has been to illustrate the
conflicting
and incom-
patible ideologies
between the two
camps
of asala and
'ilmaniyya
when it
comes to aims and
objectives
of education is Islam in
general
and
Egypt
in
particular.
On the one
hand,
secular forces in
Egypt comprising
of well-
educated
professionals,
intellectuals and those
holding
the lion's share of
political influence,
advocate ideals of a modem democratic, pluralistic society.
This
group, along
with the Mubarak
government,
make
conciliatory gestures
to the demands of Islamic reform
by allowing religion
courses to be
mingled
in with the
required
curriculum. But this
group tenaciously
maintains the
educational status
quo
so as to avoid intolerance and fanaticism. On the other
hand,
Islamists
adamantly
insist that the
government
does not
go
far
enough
in
providing
an education
system
of an Islamic character.
They argue
that a
short-sighted
education
system
that consists of both Western and Islamic
elements
destroys
social cohesion.
Egypt, by
virtue of
being
an Islamic
nation, requires
an education
system
that is
comprehensive, integrated
and in
alignment
with the doctrine of tawhid.
Social cohesion and
public well-being
are
compromised by Egypt's
current
Western
hybrid
form of education. On the other
hand,
extremist Islamic inter-
pretation
is
highly unrepresentative
of the vast
majority
of
Egyptians
and
also casts its own cancerous effects on social cohesion. Neither secularism
nor extremism embodies the
principles
on which Islamic education should
be constructed. Islamic education in
Egypt,
Islamists would
argue,
is irrele-
vant
only
if Islam is not true. Either God's final
message
to mankind was
revealed in its
entirety through
Muhammed and enshrined in the
Quran,
or it
was not. If it
was,
then it is incumbent
upon
Muslim leaders
everywhere
to
mould their education
systems
to an Islamic
conception.
If the truth of Islam
is
established,
then its relevance follows as a matter of course
(see
Mills 1874:
69).
"What is Islam?" asks
Rosenthal,
Is it a
personal faith, piety,
and devotion,
or is it a
religious
and
political unity
for
the
community
of believers? If the former,
then Islam has no role to
play
in the
public
life of a modem Muslim state,
and it is
unnecessary
to confirm or refute
the views of individuals who think so. ... But if Islam is both a
system
of beliefs
and
practices
and a law for the
community
of believers,
then its relevance to the
modern Muslim state and
society
is uncontestable.
(Rosenthal
1965:
xi)
The two educational
positions
of asala and
'ilmaniyya
exhibited in
Egypt
are
fundamentally incompatible
a fact that
unfortunately
does not bode well
for
Egypt's
educational future.
Notes
1.
Cowan,
J.
M., editor, The Hans Wehr
Dictionary of
Modern Written Arabic
(Ithaca,
New York:
Spoken Language Services, Inc., 1976).
For a more
in-depth study
of
355
these two terms see
Azzam, Maha,
Islamic Oriented Protest
Groups
in
Egypt
1971-1981:
Theory,
Politics And
Dogma (D.
Phil
Thesis,
Oxford
University,
St.
Catherine's
College), pp.
50-51.
2.
Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak in a
speech
to the
People's Assembly
and Shura
Council on 14
November,
1991 in Arab
Republic
of
Egypt
1995
(7).
3. President
Mubarak, speech
to the
People's Assembly
and Shura Council on 14
November, 1991, ibid., p.
7.
4.
Ibid., p.
61.
5. Interview with Sami
Nasser,
a
professor
of Adult Education at the Institute of
Educational Studies at Cairo
University
on 7
September,
1996.
6. Interview with the General Director of
Religious
Education in the
Egyptian Ministry
in
1991,
in
Toronto,
J. A.
(1992)
The
Dynamics of
Educational
Reform
in
Contemporary Egypt (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard
University), p.
136.
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The author
Bradley
J. Cook is an Assistant Professor of
Comparative
and International Education
at
Brigham Young University
in the
Department
of Educational
Leadership
and
Foundations. He has had extensive
experience
in the Middle East both as a student
and a
professional
in the
past twenty years.
He has
published
on educational research
in
developing
countries and is
currently conducting
a
study
of the influence of Islam
on
higher
education in
Egypt.
Contact address: Dr
Bradley
J.
Cook, Brigham Young University,
310F MCKB,
PO Box
25069, Provo,
Utah
84602-5069,
USA.