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M.H. Mutalib: Integrating Traditional and Modern Education
Written by Dr. M. Hussin Mutalib, Professor of Political Science, University of Singapore; Director General, Center of Contemporary Islamic Studies
Monday, January 2, 2006
In talking about ilm (knowledge and education), I want to focus on two main areas: (1) imbuing our students with the necessary skills so they can lead useful lives, and (2) inculcating values to guide Muslims in lifestyles that will prepare them for this dunya (world) and the hereafter, and in the direct process honor the raison d’etre of being mu’min (true believer).
Despite clear religious injunctions, there are many glaring weaknesses and inadequacies in Islamic education in many Muslim countries and Muslim minorities. These problems need our urgent attention, if not repair, if Muslims are to confront the challenges posed by a modern, globalized world. This presentation is very optimistic, and I encourage you always to be optimistic, inshallah (God willing), that in the end things will be all right.
One area that deserves attention, if not major reforms, is the dichotomization of knowledge at the very foundation of Islamic institutions worldwide. For generations, Islamic education has been centered broadly in two educational structures.
One, for want of a better word, we can call “traditional” Islamic education, from the basic elementary Qur’anic schools to the asa and even more advanced levels of education, where modes of teaching and learning were somewhat informal, teacher-centered, and very decentralized. The curriculum covered the traditions of the Qur’an, hadith (sayings of Mohammed outside the Qur’an), fiqh (expertise), and Shari’ah (Islamic law). This is the traditionally oriented system in all parts of the Muslim world, in varying intensities, of course.
The other mode reflects conscious attempts to bring more modernizing influences to the Muslim world through “Western-style” Islamic schools. These are generally centralized and, more often than not, state regulated. In these in situations you have additional “secular” subjects, of math, science, and languages (usually English and French).
Graduates of these traditional institutions are also disadvantaged in civil society and in the job market. In many societies, despite the training given in traditional schools and despite the support given by ulama (Muslim scholars) and by society for such traditional schools, these graduates have a big problem getting jobs commensurate with their training, particularly in modernizing societies.
Another problem—and I’m speaking from a limited sample of modernizing Muslim societies in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia—is the marked decrease in self-esteem in the way that these graduates project and portray themselves in their dealings with others, because they lack the exposure, confidence, and competence to talk about current issues.
Another problem that deserves some attention is teaching methods. The study of the Qur’an must be the foundational structure in any Islamic school. That’s fine, but the teaching of such a fundamental source deserves more creativity. For a long time, Qur’anic learning has been done mostly through rote memorization and repetition of the teachers’ instructions. Teachers have had tremendous authority to determine the literature that is read and to administer corporal punishment. Many teachers are not trained in effective teaching methods. Many teachers do not know what is expected from the learning process.
Teaching is no longer simply a one-track dissemination of knowledge. Teaching now means motivating students, equipping students with knowledge, enabling students to implement their education creatively, and having them employ skills they learned in their daily lives to give meaning to life’s challenges. So the students’ ability to apply knowledge must be considered a benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of teaching. This is how the top universities in the world recast the philosophy of teaching. The question in Islamic schools at all levels is whether teachers can teach Islamic verses along with all the other discourses involved in modern education such as literature and the concerns of the changing world.
For the more urban Muslim societies we need a new type of teacher, loosely described as ulama. These teachers need to be exposed to the modern issues of life in today’s world and trained in the best practices available in many parts of the world.
[Source: Islamic Perspectives on Peace. Tarrytown, NY: Universal Peace Federation, 2006.]