Education in the early

years of Islam
DURING THE PROPHETIC ERA
AND THE ERA OF RIGHTLY GUIDED CALIPHS
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Importance of the pursuit of knowledge
 Prophet’s teaching methodology
 The freedom of research
 The Sahaba /Companions of the Prophet
 Early intellectual achievements
 Birth of sectarian groups
 Continued……..
 Cultural influences
 Rise of leading centers for learning
 Beginning of distinct academic disciplines
 Wide travel by scholars in pursuit of
knowledge
 Conclusion
 References
 Introduction
 The early Muslims were devoted to the cause of
education.
 Although theirs was an oral tradition, they began
to wholeheartedly seek knowledge with great zeal
and enthusiasm.
 The Quran and Sunnah are replete with
exhortations to gain knowledge. It’s for this
reason that most of the Sahaba strove to learn
reading and writing at a time when very few
people were literate.
 Importance of the
pursuit of knowledge
"Read! In the Name of your Lord Who
has created (all that exists). He has
created man from a clot (a piece of
thick coagulated blood). Read! And
your Lord is the Most Generous. Who
has taught (the writing) by the pen.
He has taught man that which he
knew not" [Quran, 96: 1-5]
Importance of the pursuit
of knowledge
Surah Al-Zumar, ayah 9 reveals:
‘’Are those equal, those who know and
those who do not know?’’

Surah Al-Baqarah, ayah 269 reveals:

"Allah grants wisdom to whom He pleases
and to whom wisdom is granted indeed
he receives an overflowing benefit."
 Continued ……
"And Allaah has brought you out from
the wombs of your mothers while you
know nothing. And He gave you
hearing, sight, and hearts that you
might give thanks (to Allaah)"
[Quran, 16:78]
 Importance of pursuit of
knowledge
o Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon
every Muslim. [Bukhari]
o Whoever follows a path in the pursuit
of knowledge, Allah will make a path
to Paradise easy for him. [Muslim]
o On the day of judgement the ink of the
scholar will be weighed against the blood
of the martyr. [Bukhari]
 Continued…..

"When a man dies, all his deeds come

to an end except for three — an
ongoing charity, beneficial knowledge
or a righteous child who will pray for
him." (Muslim)
 Continued…….
 At the battle of Badr in which the Prophet
gained victory over his opponents,
seventy people of the enemy rank were
taken prisoner.
 These prisoners of war were literate
people. In order to benefit from their
education the Prophet declared that if
one prisoner teaches ten Muslims how to
read and write, this will serve as his
ransom and he will be set free.
The Prophet’s teaching
methodology
Ask questions
Conduct
Be
a study
innovative
circle

Solve Observe &

problems correct

The Prophet
Used to
Be a role
Tell stories
model

Use
Draw
Metaphors&
daigrams
similes

Repeat 3
Make rules
times
The freedom of research
 One day the Prophet saw that some people were atop the
date trees busy in doing something.
 On being asked what they were engaged in, they replied
that they were pollinating.
 The Prophet suggested them not to do so.
 The following year date yield was considerably very low.
 The Prophet enquired them of the reason.
 They told him that the date crop depended on pollination.
Since he suggested them to do otherwise, they had
refrained from that.
 The Prophet then told them to go on doing as they used to,
and that, "You know the worldly matters better than me."
 (summarised from Al-Bukhari)
The Sahaba / Companions
The Sahaba (Companions) are praised in many Quranic verses:

 "And the first to embrace Islam of the

Muhajiroon (the Emigrants from Makkah) and the
Ansar (the citizens of Al-Madeenah who helped
the Muhajiroon) and also those who followed them
exactly (in Faith). “Allah is well-pleased with them
as they are well pleased with Him. He has
prepared for them Gardens under which rivers
flow, to dwell therein forever. That is the
supreme success.” [Quran,9:100]
 Continued ….
"Among the believers are men who have
been true to their covenant with Allah and
showed not their backs to the
disbeliever's, of them some have fulfilled
their obligations and some of them are still
waiting, but they never changed (i.e. they
never proved treacherous to their
covenant which they concluded with Allah)
in the least." [Quran,33:23]
 Continued…
 “Indeed, Allah was pleased with the
believers when they gave their pledge to
you (O Muhammad) under the tree. He
knew what was in their hearts and He sent
down calmness and tranquility upon them..."
[Quran,48:18]
The sahaba / companions
 "The best of the people are my generation,
then those after them, then those after
them..." [Muslim]
 Their main purpose in acquiring knowledge was to
get closer to Allah, our Creator.
 Some of them, often took years to learn a Surah,
because they tried to internalize what they
learnt.
 Knowledge accordingly was linked with values and
reflected in actions.
 Continued….
Two major factors led to the gradual spread
of literacy among early Muslims.
 The strong emphasis on knowledge,
learning and teaching with the pen was a
hint at the desirability of studying and
learning the art of writing.
 The second factor which further
enhanced the first, was entrusting the
Quranic text itself to writing.
 Early intellectual
achievements
Prophet’s practice of the Quranic
teaching of Shura, consulting his
companions over all matters and
occasionally yielding to the views of
the majority against his own wisdom,
emboldened the believers to think
originally, to speak out their mind and
tolerate each other’s opposed views.
 Continued….
Some of the achievements of the Sahaba
are:
 Mental purity -Islam eradicated idol
worship and superstitions, it made people
think rationally, reasonably and
analytically. It completely transformed the
minds of the Sahaba and made them
averse to idolatrous and superstitious
practices.
 Continued……
 Compilation of the Quran:-The whole text of the
Quran had been entrusted to writing, although
these written pieces called the SUHUF were not
collected and put together as a full copy prior to
the prophet’s death.
 This task of collecting these scattered pieces was
done by Abu Bakr, who ordered them to be
collected, examined, and carefully put together in
the right order as was taught by the Prophet
[saw] under the supervision of an able and well
chosen committee headed by Zaid bin Thabit.
 Continued……
 Literacy –both basic and advanced spread widely
among the formerly ignorant Arabs as a result of
the Quranic and Prophetic urge to pursue
knowledge.
 The compilation of the Quran and it’s distribution
across the muslim world during the reign of
Uthman [r.a] further contributed to the literacy
movement.
 Oral method of teaching and learning hadith.
Birth of sectarian groups
Birth of sectarian
groups

SHIA
KHAWARIJ MURJI’AH
Supporters
outgoers deferers
Of Ali
 Continued…….
 Four groups of theological thoughts and
doctrines began to develop and grow.
Their rise can be traced to the political
dispute among Muslims, directly like the
case of the Khawarij and the Murji’ah.
 Controversies among these schools, if
they may be so called, led to the
development of further division and
dispute in subsequent years.
 Cultural Influences
 When foreign cultures like the Persians and
Byzantines came in to the fold of Islam, there
was great cultural integration.
 This happened through different ways, bondage,
marriage and conversion. All non-arab muslims
came to be known as Mawali.
 Some of these became prominent scholars and
contributed significantly to the intellectual,
literary, scientific and ethical progress of the
world of Islam. For example, Imam Hasan Al
Basri, who is described as the master of second
generation of Islam.
Rise of leading centers for
learning

 Madina and Makkah in the Hijaz

 Basrah in Iraq
 Kufah in Iraq
 Dimashq in Syria
 Sanaa in Yemen
 Fustat in Egypt
Beginning of distinct academic
disciplines
ILM AT TARIKH
Study of
History

ILM AL KALAM TAFSIR &

ILM AL HADITH
Study of QIRA’AH
Study of
Religious Study of
Hadith
polemic The Quran

ILM AL FIQH
Legal studies
 Wide travel by scholars
in pursuit of knowledge
 Most of the Muslim notable scholars did
not remain in their centers, they moved
from one centre to another in pursuit of
knowledge, making long journeys,
sometimes at great risks.
 A good part of the biographies of the
eminent scholars consists of stories about
their roaming these centres.
 Conclusion
The prophetic era and the period of the righteous
caliphs can truly be considered as the “GOLDEN
AGE” of Islam as the Prophet [saw] educated and
empowered the Sahaba by touching and
transforming their lives.
He did not merely transmit knowledge, rather he
effected a complete transformation among the
Sahaba by showing them how to live by the
Quran.
EDUCATION WAS A DYNAMIC PROCESS WHICH
TRANSFORMED AND EMPOWERED THE SAHABA
 References
The Muslim Mind foundation and
early manifestation by Muhammad
Abdul Rauf
www.islamweb.com/knowledge
Retrieved on 7th Aug 2008
www.islammuslim.html
Retrieved on 7th Aug 2008
 THANK YOU
MAY ALLAH GRANT US AN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEEN
AND ENABLE US TO LIVE BY THE
KNOWLEDGE WE GAIN SO THAT IT
TRANSFORMS AND EMPOWERS US
MUCH THE SAME WAY, AS IT DID THE
SAHABA [R.A]