Course: Islamic System of Education(6505) Semester: Autumn, 2022 Level: MA/M.Ed.
Assignment No.2
Q.1 Discuss salient features of teachers and teaching in early stages of Islam?
n my 22 years of teaching and writing about Arabic and Islamic Studies, I have probably heard every kind of naive and uninformed comment that can possibly be made in the West about Islam and Muslims. Such remarks are not necessarily all due to ill will; most of the time, they express bewilderment and stem from an inability to find accessible, informed sources that might begin to address such widespread public incomprehension. Add that to the almost daily barrage of news and media commentary concerning violence in the Middle East and South Asia, two regions viscerally connected with Islam and Muslims. With hopes deflating in the wake of the Arab Spring, and barbaric ISIS members continuing to inflict terror wherever they rule, Muslims seem to be descending into a spiral of violent nihilism. These days, Islam appears as nothing more than a spent force, incapable of regenerating itself.
Q.2 Critically analyse the objectives of education given by Allama Iqbal.
For any meaningful discussion on Iqbal’s educational philosophy it is essential that we should first try to understand his views on man’s nature, and his ultimate destiny. According to Iqbal, the “essential nature of man, then, consists in will, and not intellect or understanding”. He regards human will as “a germ of infinite power, the gradual enfoldment of which must be the object of all human activity”. In his view, “a strong will in a strong body is the ethical ideal of is Islam”. Criticizing the educational system of his times he says very emphatically:
“I venture to say, that the present system of education in this country is not at all suited to us as a people. It is not true to our genius as a nation, it tends to produce an un-Muslim type of character, it is not determined by our national requirements, it breaks entirely with our past, and appears to proceed on the false assumption that the ideal of education is the training of ‘human intellect rather than human will.”
The key point in Iqbal’s educational philosophy, therefore, is the training of human will.
Q.3 Discuss the need of Islamization of education in Pakistan
Pakistan’s government is all set to implement a uniform education system across the country, which critics fear could increase Islamization of schools and universities.
The first phase of the implementation involves primary school students in the first through fifth grades. The plan mandates the students to read the entire Quran with translation, learn Islamic prayers and memorize a number of hadith (words, actions and approval of the Prophet Muhammad).
It also stipulates that every school and college must employ a pair of certified Hafiz (a person who has memorized the Quran) and Qari (a Quran reciter) to teach these subjects.
Critics believe that the move will increase the influence of Islamic clerics, sharpen sectarian fault lines and greatly damage the social fabric.
Urdu, English and social studies have been heavily Islamized, Abdul Hameed Nayyar, an Islamabad-based academic, told DW. He added that students will also study the Quran’s 30 chapters and a translation of the entire book at a later stage, besides the book on Islamic studies.
Nayyar said critical thinking was a basic tenet of modern knowledge but the government seemed to be promoting ideas that are antithetical to this through the syllabus.
Q.4 What is internal and external system of enemaluation? Distinguish between them
The word assessment refers to a systematic process of collecting, understanding, and acting upon the data related to a student. Furthermore, this data help in understanding the students learning about what they know and what they do not know. Also, the performance of a student is done on the basis of their educational experience. Besides, internal assessment refers to the evaluation of the performance of students on the basis of their internal performance. On the other hand, external assessment refers to the evaluation of student’s performance by outside persons like boards.
Internal Assessment
Internal assessment is the process in which the teachers and schools judge the students’ performance on the basis of his performance. Also, this process does not involve any outside person for assessment.
The Need for Internal Assessment
The internal assessment helps to give credit in the final assessment. Also, it reduces the burden and tension related to the final examination. In addition, it acts as a link which provides data related to student’s performance. This gives teachers an opportunity to evaluate the students. Moreover, it helps students in continuous learning.
Q.5 What is the role of scholar in society according to Ibn-i-Khaldoon. What is your opinion about the role of scholar in society?
Ibn Khaldun was an Arab sociologist, philosopher, and historian widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, who made major contributions in the areas of historiography, sociology, economics, and demography.
His best-known book, the Muqaddimah or Prolegomena (“Introduction”), which he wrote in six months as he states in his autobiography, influenced 17th-century and 19th-century Ottoman historians such as Kâtip Çelebi, Mustafa Naima and Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, who used its theories to analyze the growth and decline of the Ottoman Empire. Ibn Khaldun interacted with Tamerlane, the founder of the Timurid Empire.
Recently, Ibn Khaldun’s works have been compared with those of influential European philosophers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Giambattista Vico, David Hume, G. W. F. Hegel, Karl Marx, and Auguste Comte as well as the economists David Ricardo and Adam Smith, suggesting that their ideas found precedent (although not direct influence) in his. He has also been influential on certain modern Islamic thinkers (e.g. those of the traditionalist school), as well as on Reaganomics.