Trajectories of Education in the Arab World gives a broad yet detailed historical and geographical overview of education in Arab countries. Drawing on pre-modern and modern educational concepts, systems, and practices in the Arab world, this book examines the impact of Western cultural influence, the opportunities for reform and the sustainability of current initiatives.
The contributors bring together analyses and case studies of educational standards and structures in the Arab world, from the classical Islamic period to contemporary local and international efforts to re-define the changing needs and purposes of Arab education in the contexts of modernization, multiculturalism, and globalization. Taking a thematic and chronological approach, the first section contrasts the traditional notions, approaches, and standards of education with the changes that were initiated or imposed by European influences in the nineteenth century. The chapters then focus on the role of modern state-based educational systems in constructing and preserving national identities, cultures, and citizenries and concentrates on the role of education in state-formation and the reproduction of socio-political hierarchies. The success of educational reforms and policy-making is then assessed, offering perspectives on future trends and prospects for generating institutional and organizational change.
This book will be of interest to graduate and postgraduate students and scholars of education, history, Arab and Islamic history and the Middle East and North Africa.
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Yes, you can access Trajectories of Education in the Arab World by Osama Abi-Mershed in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Didattica & Didattica generale. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
1 The principles of instruction are the grounds of our knowledge
Al-F
r
b
’s philosophical and al-Ghaz
l
’s spiritual approaches to learning1
Sebastian Günther
This essay is dedicated to Professor Angelika Neuwirth, Berlin, on the occasion of her 65th birthday, November 4, 2008.
A comprehensive study of Islam’s classical pedagogical tradition is still a desideratum in Western scholarship. Although certain aspects of education in Islam in medieval times have been examined recently in a number of publications, the theory of education as an area of medieval Muslim scholarship has not yet received the attention that it deserves.2 This study makes a step towards completing modern scholarship’s understanding of this issue by examining the educational views of two highly influential medieval Muslim thinkers: the philosopher and logician Ab
al-F
r
b
(d. 339 A.H./950 C.E. in Damascus), and the theologian and mystic Ab
al-Ghaz
l
(d. 505/1111 in
). Al-F
r
b
is known as one of the pivotal and most original representatives of classical Islamic philosophy; medieval Muslim thinkers referred to him as “The Second Teacher,” with Aristotle being “The First.” Al-Ghaz
l
, on the other hand, received the highest praise for his work on orthodox Sunni theology and mysticism and he is still considered a major religious authority by Muslims today. Al-Ghaz
l
was greatly influenced in his own learning by al-F
r
b
and Ibn S
n
, especially by al-F
r
b
’s use of Aristotelian methodology and conclusions.3 Yet, he was also very critical of his predecessor for his adaptation and presentation of Greek metaphysics in an Islamic mode. Given the similarities and the tensions between the outlooks of these two sages, an exploration of their educational ideas in one study seems fitting. Thus, this essay first discusses the educational views of each of these scholars separately before examining which ideas they have in common and where they significantly differ in their views on education. Whether, or to what extent, their pedagogical ideas hold significance for us today is explored at the end of this investigation.
Al-F
r
b
Ab
al-F
r
b
(known as Alfarabius or Avennasar in medieval Europe) is considered the most important political philosopher in classical Islam and, probably, the first truly eminent Muslim logician. In addition, he is known as an influential metaphysician and musical theorist. Al-F
r
b
was of Turkish origin. He was born in Turkestan but lived many years in Baghdad, Iraq, and Aleppo, Syria. Al-F
r
b
settled down in Baghdad as a private individual. He studied with the leading philosophers and logicians of his day, and above all with certain prominent scholars in the Baghdad school of Christian Aristotelians. Later in his life, al-F
r
b
accepted an invitation of Sayf al-Dawla (d. 356/967), the enlightened Shiite Hamdanid ruler who maintained in Aleppo a brilliant literary court. Al-F
r
b
died in Damascus at the age of eighty years or more.
Objectives, course, and conduct of learning
The study of the forms, nature, and preconditions of knowledge takes considerable precedence in al-F
r
b
’s system of thought. Within this epistemological framework, education is an important social phenomenon. Careful examination of al-F
r
b
’s writings reveals that in several of them he deals with issues significant to educational theory. According to al-F
r
b
, learning includes intellectual and moral education, the acquisition of technical and practical skills, and, remarkably enough, something we today call “value education”—that is, education in universal values that form a basis for creative thinking. Together these areas lead individuals to attain proficiency in the arts and professions that they pursue, refine their character, and turn theory into practice so that newly acquired knowledge is applied (al-F
r
b
1345/1926:13–14; al-F
r
b
1962a: 22–3; al-F
r
b
1353sh/1974: 34–83, esp. 45–57). In The Attainment of Happiness
one of al-F
r
b
’s major works, the author argues, for example, that an inclusive approach to learning paves the way for people to reach the final goal of education, that is, the individual’s “perfection” (kam
l).4 Al-F
r
b
is well aware of the fact that curriculum plays an essential role in stimulating intellectual growth and, therefore, pays much attention to its structure and content. He deals with curricular matters most notably in his Enumeration of the Sciences
(1968a).5 In the introduction to this book, he classifies the sciences not just for the sake of listing them, but also for the purpose of learning.
Al-F
r
b
maint...
Table of contents
Routledge Advances in Middle East and Islamic Studies
Contents
Figures and tables
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I Historical perspectives
Part II Education and the post-colonial state
Part III Education and socio-political development: reform, policy, and practice
