The holy Quran is the most sacred book of God (Allah) revealed on Prophet Mohammed for the upliftment, guidance and enrich message to humanity. The philosophy of education in Islam is predicted the teaching of the Quran, which in its several verses extols knowledge, emphasizes its acquirement and indicates the means of acquiring it.
Educational implications of Quran
Education for all: In Islam, the duty of seeking knowledge and learning is obligatory for every Muslim. Islam affirms the right to education for all without gender discrimination. In addition to the emphasis on knowledge for all in the Quran, women’s education is emphasized in many of the Hadiths (report of the deeds and sayings of Muhammad). He encouraged the education of members of the most marginalized including slave girls.
Curriculum: Islam has not only allowed the study of sciences useful for civics and social purposes, but at times it has actually made it obligatory, and has never inner-directed their study on religious grounds.
Professions:
(i) Professions which are fundamentally important for the existence of society, viz agriculture, for man’s food; weaving, for his clothing; engineering, for his housing; governance, for domestic management and administration of the state.
(ii) Profession which provide means and instruments for above, e.g. iron-mongering and carding.
(iii) Professions which are auxiliary to the first kind, e.g. cooking, tailoring.
The professions of the first kind are superior to the rest; but in them also governance is of the highest order, for it is responsible for the organization of the society. People who belong to this profession can be divided into four groups:
- The first in order are the apostles and messengers of Allah who are the teachers and guides of the world.
- The next are the caliphs and the sultans who are responsible of the maintenance of law and order. Their rule is external.
- The third are the ulama, who are the successors to the apostle. They rule over the hearts of the people.
- The last are the preachers who reform the common people.
The noblest occupation after a Prophet’s role is that of imparting knowledge and teaching moral habits to the people. Therefore there is no doubt that learning the Quran and understanding its social and economic implications would contribute to the achievement of justice and social equity
Method of Teaching:
According to the Quran there are various methods of teaching; Teaching by preaching, advice, commandment, Teaching by dictation, The dialogue method, Teaching by examples, Teaching through practice and application, Teaching by repetition.
Personal Qualities of a Teacher: The teacher was not merely responsible for the educational activities of the students, but also for the elevation of their moral character and for bringing them into contact with the eternal verities of life. A teacher was to present himself as an ideal before the students and, therefore, it was obligatory on him to be morally irreproachable, may an embodiment of virtues. Some of the qualities that a teacher must need posses according to Islamic ideals are: Fear of God, Dignity and solemnity, Continuity of studies etc.
Pupil-Teacher Relationship:
The relation of a teacher with his pupils and his demeanor towards them are treated with details in Muslim ethical literature. The basic principle with regards to pupils’ teacher relation is the just and equal treatment of his pupils by teacher
Curriculum:
The Quran Curriculum speaks about several areas such as academic learning, value education, technological proficiency, observation of nature, religious education, activity based education and peace education. Education helps in the complete growth of an individual’s personality, whereas instruction merely trains an individual or a group in the efficient performance of some task. The implications for present education system some of which are as follows,
- The curriculum should be such that students should be able to achieve the highest level of academic excellence.
- Education for the promotion of the peace, tolerance, and interfaith harmony.
- Students should be able to get knowledge for the betterment of humanity and society.
- Minute and keen observation and full attention towards nature should be a part of school curriculum since it leads to the awakening of intelligence.
- Students should be involved in various activities if day- to- day life.
- Students should be able to acquire basic knowledge about how to earn livelihood honesty and live a decent life.
- Curriculum should include mathematics, languages, law, medical science, science.
Methods of teaching:
Involve all the students in the discussion so that total participation of the students can be taken place.
- Try to find out different methods of teaching to make topic interesting.
- Always teach students with several types of easy examples to clarify the contents.
- Teacher has to provide repetition of the topic at proper time
- Dialogue method is very useful when teacher will teach science, social science subjects
- Recitation of poems in language subject
- Teacher has to update himself in knowledge
- Teacher can increases group cohesiveness among students during discussion
- Story telling methods can be used
- Providing certain activities to the students
Role of the Teacher: A teacher should have following types of qualities within him; Content mastery, Practice what you Preach, Piety, Close Relation with the students, Not Be Too Lenient or Too Strict and Be Creative.
Values: There are some basic values in Islam and Islam preaches to that. A human being cannot live without these basic values. Individuals and states are advised to protect or at least to respect these basic values. They are: Life, Religion, Eternity, Power, Unity, Truth or Wisdom, Knowledge, Love, Justice, Goodness and Beauty.