Outline of Islamic Education
An essential prerequisite is that religious and secular subjects should be made an indivisible whole. The compartmentalisation of religious and secular education, based on a factitious division of life into spiritual and temporal, is not sanctioned by Islam. Man, according to Islam, is the viceregent of Allah; Ultimate sovereignty lies in Him. To earn His pleasure, man should conduct his life according to the tenets prescribed by this Ultimate Authority. In brief, this is the concept of religion in Islam. It is therefore obligatory to transform secular education into religious education. Maintaining them as separate entities inevitable gives rise to the misconception that the obligations of a spiritual and temporal life are incompatible. An immature person, fed on this notion from the very sort of his academic career, would be hard put to reconcile the contradictions of life later on. Faced with this ideological conflict he would be unable to shape a balanced life in accordance with the divine mandate: "Enter completely into Islam."
For example, if you teach history geography, physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, astronomy, economic, political science and other social sciences without any reference to Allah, without examining the complex phenomena of the universe and created beings as evidence of divine law, without considering that physical laws are governed by divine law, without showing that divine will operates behind the various events in this world, without discussing the divine code of conduct which regulates temporal affairs, this world would be a godless one. Exposed as a student to these subject without any religious foundation he would gradually be driven towards heresy. Against such a background Islamic studies would only intensify his moral dilemma, since they present a totally different picture of life, laying stress on the existence of Allah, His code of conduct and the need to consecrate life to a noble purpose
A student would be unable to synthesize the conflicting ideologies into a unifying whole. because of this intellectual polarization, his religious faith gradually weakens. Under the circumstance he cannot remain totally committed to religion. however strong his faith may be. Religion in this case becomes merely an appendix to an irreligious life.
This ambivalence proceeds from classifying Islamic and secular education into watertight compartments, which as already stated, is against the spirit of Islam. In the proposed new system of education the entire curriculums would be cast in an Islamic mould. From the very beginning a child should be made aware of his position in the universe. His academic training should guide him to look up to this world as the kingdom of Allah Whose Spirit pervades his won being and that of the cosmos. It should strengthen a child's belief that his own talent and the forces of nature are the blessings of Allah to be used according to His will, and that he is accountable for them.
In the early stage of education, students should not be exposed to alien philosophies or cultures. Later they should be initiate into the various disciplines of the humanities and sciences in such a manner as to bring out the Islamic point of view. While introducing dissenting views relations to these disciplines teachers should analyses them critically making students aware that these are the views of misguided and accursed people. Likewise, applied sciences should be restructured to fall in line with the principles of Islam. By recasting secular education in an Islamic mould, students would be able to distinguish between the two approaches, that is the Islamic and the secular. Education thus planned would not need a separate course for Islamic studies.