Islam and its approach to Education
''Read : In the name of thy Lord who Created man from a clot, Read and thy Lord is the most Bounteous, Who taught by the pen, Taught man that which he knew not: The Quran (96,1-5) These are the first verses revealed to the Prophet. Some scholars are of the opinion that these must have been revealed in written form because when the angel commanded the Prophet "Read" he protested that he did not know how to read. It is argued that the Prophet would not have protested if the angle had only wanted him to repeat the words uttered by him. Apparently this opinion is not without force and seems to be quite convincing and also shared by some of the earlier exegetics. Now the fact that the very first Quranic revelation is such a forceful exhortation for the acquisition of knowledge and that knowledge is regarded as one of the great bounties of God on human race, is very significant and shows how closely Islam and knowledge identify each other. It is indicative of the extreme importance that the new religion was going to attach to learning and knowledge.At the very outset its attitude towards knowledge and its dissemination which the new community was to take up as a sacred duty. It was going to prove a turning point in the intellectual history of mankind. When the Prophet migrated to Madina and addressed himself to the task of organizing the new community in accordance with the teachings of the new religion this aspect was not ignored. It was not a mere chance that at a very early stage at Madina Quran commanded the believers to commit to writing every transaction concerning credit :
"O ye who believe ! When ye contract a debt for a fixed term, record it in writing...... And call to witness.... and not be averse to writing down this (contract) whether it be small or great, with (record of) the term thereof : this is more equitable in the sight of God and more sure for testimony, and the best way of avoiding doubt between you ..... (the Quran - 02, 282)
Understandably such revelations were instrumental in creating the necessary conditions for the growth of mass-literacy among the Muslims. Besides these open exhortations for the acquisition of knowledge and use of written documents in day to day transactions, there are great many verses in the Quran which invite human beings to use their sense and exercise their reasoning faculties and thereby reach the ultimate truth. Moreover, Quran constantly encourages observation of the natural phenomena ; at various places it stresses the necessity of the study of nature, the moon, the tide, the night, the star, the day, plants, and animals - all these have been presented in testimony of the law, of nature and logical attitude which is so essential for the healthy growth of intellectual activity.
Quran says that there is no limit to knowledge, that the whole universe is made for and is subservient to man and that is is through acquisition of knowledge and use of reason that it can be conquered and made to serve the interest of mankind. The attitude of Quran to knowledge and its acquisition is very positive and emphatic. Time and again it declares that acquisition of knowledge from any source and at any cost is the ordained duty of the believer.
Quran assigns third place-only next to God and His angels to those who possess knowledge and rightly so. For, unless one has a sound knowledge he cannot understand and appreciate the wisdom (Hikmat) of Quran, nor he can be able to call others to the Eternal Truth. It is because of this paramount importance of knowledge in Islam that acquisition of knowledge and its dissemination has been made a sacred duty of the Muslim community.
Hadith literature also confirms the same attitude towards knowledge. As in Quran, learning has been praised lavishly in Hadith also. Learned people are declared and hailed as the best in the human lot and are designated as the successors and inheritors of the Prophets. After quoting a number of Ahadith related to education, Gulick, in his study of the education system of the Prophet's times, makes the following observation:
"Of great importance was this injuction of Muhammed: Let the poor and rich be equal before you in the acquisition of knowledge. It was this statement that led to the establishment of many scholarships at Cairo, damascus and elsewhere."
In a study of the history of Muslim education in later times Shalaby has also referred to the above-mentioned Hadith and comes to the conclusion that in the field of education egalitarianism was fully recognised by the Muslims and poverty was never a hindrance in the way of acquisition of knowledge. He further asserts that before the establishment of schools, every Muslim had free admission to the lectures in the mosques, the centers of education in those days. Leon presents a very comprehensive collection of Hadith in his artlcle and evaluates the Prophet's contributions to knowledge in various fields. He acknowledges the Prophet as the very distinguished 'world-teacher of the modern thought'.
Islam presented a system of life built around a body of beliefs and a well-defined approach to Man and Society. The Islamic social order, built as it was on certain sound principles and practices unknown easier to mankind, stood as a unique innovation and experiment in human history.
For Proper running of the system, it was necessary that different components of the society were fully aware of their duties and obligations. The onerous responsibility of making the Muslims, aware of there duties and educating them about their obligations was shouldered by the Prophet himself. At the same time it was also the enjoined duty of every member of the community to teach the fellow Muslims anything that he happened to learn from the Prophet or from any other Muslim. In this way knowledge was arranged to percolate down: hadith literature is full of such exhortations where Prophet has made it a bounden duty of the Muslims to teach their fellow brothers whatever they came to learn from him in the form of revealed verses and codes of good conduct. Thus verse after verse they learnt by heart and preserved for posterity. This was how the Sunnah was preserved and transmitted to the succeeding generations in pure form and minutest details. Thus every individual member of the Islamic society was an active participant in the process of expansion of knowledge either as a teacher or a student.
Quest for knowledge has always been an ideal in the history of Islam. Muslims of early Islamic period undertook long and arduous journeys in search of knowledge. The Prophet is reported to have said that those traveling in search of knowledge are in the path of God till they return to their place. But this knowledge is not acquired through mysterious means. To acquire this knowledge, the student has to go through the process of comprehension, retention and remembrance of the facts; there is no other way to get hold of it.
The high rank which Islam accords to the earned is evident from a Hadith which is to the effect that God is most generous; it is generosity that we get real knowledge from the Prophet who is most generous after Him because he transmits his entire divine teachings revealed to him, and after Prophet that man is most generous who acquires knowledge and spreads it. Every sincere effort for acquisition of knowledge is, therefore, highly appreciated in Islam. A man who seeks knowledge is sure to be rewarded whether or not he succeeds in his efforts; of coursed in the event of success, the reward shall be greater.
This approach towards knowledge encouraged members of the Islamic community to acquire and cultivate knowledge. Search after true knowledge thus became a noble goal of life, a perennial source of unlimited bliss to the believers in Islam. The Prophet is reported to have observed that a believer would never be satisfied with good teachings till he reaches the Paradise. In Islam thus knowledge is not regarded as an end in itself but rather as means for something higher and more sublime. At another place the Prophet declares that the learned man is also greedy like a worldy man, only their greeds are of two different types- differing vastly orientations and results. These two are also not alike in their behaviour, the learned man calls others to follow right guidance whereas the worldly man summons the people to follow error. For a person given to pursuit of knowledge for eternal solace and bliss, the Prophet has the highest praise. For, when the people need him he benefits them and when they ignore him, he enriches himself.
Through the foregoing the Islamic approach to learning and learned becomes crystal clear. How much more value the Prophet attached to learning that to worshiping becomes evident from the fact that he ranked the learned much higher than the devout. It is reported that once the Prophet entered his mosque and found there two groups of Muslims, one engaged in praying and the other busy with acquiring knowledge. He declared that the latter group was superior to the former one. Not only this, he even joined the group of the learned saying that "I was sent only as a teacher". On another occasion he is reported to have observed: "The superiority of the learned man over the devout man is like mine over the most contemptible among you. God, his angels, the inhabitant of the heaven and the earth, even the ants in their hole and the fish invoke blessing on him who teaches men what is good."
Islam encourages the believers to spread the rty in the cultivation and advancement of knowledge', it does not subscribe to the concept of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Knowledge which brings no god to its possessor or to persons around him is like a treasure from which nothing is spent. Obviously, such a treasure is of no use to anyone. A learned person who knowingly conceals something about the religion has been waded of dire consequences.
Knowledge in Islam is viewed so sacred that its acquisition and use for merely worldly gains is regarded highly objectionable. According to a hadith reciters of Qura'n who visit princes for gaining worldly advantage are most contemptible in the eyes of God. The real use of knowledge lie in seeking the pleasure of God and in teaching and guiding the ignorant, Acquisition of Knowledge for ostentation, disputation and attracting people is reprehensible in Islam.
To Islam the source and the end of all knowledge is Allah who is all-knowing (al-Aleem). This knowledge has been transmitted of the mankind through His different successive Prophets, as the true teachers and educators, and has finally reached culmination in the teachings of the final Prophet of Islam. The teachings of the Prophets of God are eternal, and are a source of perennial truth and cannot be substituted or altered.
Islam is, thus, credited with bringing to the world a concept of knowledge and system of education and character-building the like of which, the world had never seen and has not surpassed it up till now. Contrary to the ill-informed, general belief Islam lays more emphasis on knowledge than on worship and regards the learned superior the devout. It enjoins every Muslim to seek and impart knowledge, not for its own sake but for a better-living in this world and a more blissful and etemal in the world-hereafter.