The Difference Between Islamic And Western Concept of Education
There is no denying the fact that among the basic and fundamental human rights of free markets, democracy, and freedom of press, the right to education stands on the top of them all. It is the primary right of every human being on the face of this planet, and the availability of this right differentiates developed nations from undeveloped nations.
It is an obvious fact that the nations who are ahead in education lead the world. At this point of time, it is the West that is ahead in the education domain thus leading the world, where as the Muslim world is lagging behind due to this very reason. The lines below discuss the difference between the Western and Muslim concept of the purpose of education.
The Western purpose of education is primarily weighed in terms of the workforce that is made available to keep the machines running and the economy booming. For West, the ultimate purpose of education is to get higher degrees and consequently to attain better jobs and thus keep the cycle of the economy running. Thus, for West education is all about economy to ensure that the nations remain economically strong and their hold on the world stays strong.
On the other hand, if the Muslim world be analyzed, there is poverty, corruption, injustice, and oppression. All these ills are there because of primarily the Muslim world being educated, however, if the situation be analyzed at a deeper level, the Muslims who do corruption, are unjust, and cause poverty among their respective nations are educated people in general, whether they are politicians, businessmen or bureaucrats. Thus in this case one ponders over the reason why education has not been able to bring any change in such people.
The dilemma of Muslim countries is that they have incorporated Western values in their system, oblivious of the fact that Islam presents the best set of values and principles. This is the reason why Muslim countries are unable to succeed both economically as well as socially. In Islam there are two main purposes of education.
The first purpose of education in Islam is to enlighten people and teach morality to them. Every form of education whether it is online Quran learning,the learning of hadith, or any worldly book must show a set or morality and ethical values. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stated in one of His hadiths:
-No father has given a greater gift to his children than good moral training.- (Tirmidhi)
This hadith of Prophet (PBUH) shows that Tarbiyah or moral training is an integral part of education. If the children are provided moral training along with worldly education, then when they become politicians they will know they will know how to behave and take care of public, when they become jurists they will know how to be just and never give up to anything false. Above all, morally trained children will grow to become a productive members of the society, where they will work for the wellbeing of the society while ensuring that the members of the society all receive their right and are in best of condition.
The second purpose of education in Islam is the same as of the world today, which is to provide earning to the people, however, in gaining economic benefits from education Islam enforces the concept of earning Halal. Thus, when educating the children the parents must ensure that the children are also educated about the concept of halal and haram. Once the children have the concept of halal, they will know that they have to use their education only in the right ways to earn living. Thus, when one uses the education to earn living in the right way, there will be no corruption or exploitation and the nation will boom.
In short, the concept of the purpose of education in Islam is a bit different compared to the idea of education in West. Therefore, it is imperative for Muslim countries to ensure that they incorporate Islamic values in their education system to ensure better Muslims and better members of the society.