ISLAMIC VERSUS WESTERN CONCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION:REFLECTIONS ON EGYPT

BRADLEY J. COOK

Abstract – Creating an education system based on Islamic principles while alsomeeting the demands of a modern, technological world is a daunting, perhaps impos-sible task. This paper examines the contradictions between Islamic education theoryand the Western-based education systems found in most Islamically oriented coun-tries. Egypt is used as a case study to illustrate the complex and delicate balance policymakers must achieve in meeting the needs of economic development while alsoaffirming their countries’ Islamic cultural heritage.

Zusammenfassung – Der Aufbau eines auf islamischen Prinzipien basierendenBildungssystems, das gleichzeitig den Anforderungen einer modernen, technolo-gisierten Welt entspricht, ist eine entmutigende, vielleicht sogar unmögliche Aufgabe.Dieses Dokument untersucht die Widersprüche zwischen islamischer Bildungstheorieund den in den meisten islamischen Ländern vorhandenen westlich orientiertenBildungssystemen. Ägypten wird als Fallstudie verwendet, um das komplexe,Feingefühl erfordernde Gleichgewicht zu verdeutlichen, das die Politiker benötigen,um den Erfordernissen der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung Genüge zu leisten undgleichzeitig das islamische Kulturerbe des Landes zu stärken.

Résumé – L’élaboration d’un système éducatif reposant sur les principes islamiqueset répondant en même temps aux exigences d’un monde moderne et technologiqueest une tâche ardue, sinon impossible. Cet article analyse les contradictions entre lathéorie de l’éducation islamique et les systèmes éducatifs à caractère occidental, quisont en place dans la plupart des pays orientés sur l’islam. L’Egypte est l’objet d’uneétude de cas qui illustre l’équilibre fragile et complexe auquel les décideurs de poli-tiques doivent faire face pour répondre aux besoins du développement économique,tout en respectant le patrimoine culturel islamique de leur pays.

Resumen – Crear un sistema educacional basado sobre principios islámicos quetambién cumpla con las exigencias de un mundo moderno y tecnológico es un cometidodesalentador, cuando no imposible. Este trabajo examina las contradicciones queexisten entre la teoría islámica de la educación y los sistemas educacionales de raícesoccidentales comprobados en los países de orientación principlatmente islámica. Egiptose ha tomado como caso de estudio para ilustrar el complicado y delicado balanceque los políticos tienen que realizar para satisfacer las demandas del desarrolloeconómico, afianzando al mismo tiempo el legado cultural islámico de sus países.

International Review of Education – Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft– Revue Internationale de l’Education 45(3/4): 339–357, 1999. 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

Islam’s educational response to modernity

Despite its glorious legacy of earlier periods, the Islamic world seemed unableto respond both culturally and educationally to the onslaught of Westernadvancement by the eighteenth century. Contributing to the imbalance ofpower was the introduction of foreign modes of administration, law, and socialinstitutions by the expansionist West. One of the most damaging aspects ofEuropean colonialism was the deliberate deterioration of indigenous culturalnorms by secularism. Secularism, with its veneration of human reason overdivine revelation and precepts of the separation of mosque and state, isanathema to the Islamic doctrine of tawhid (oneness), where all aspects of lifewhether spiritual or temporal are consolidated into a harmonious whole.Further, European colonialism created a “new class of natives” to function aslinguistic intermediaries between their Western colonialists and the localmasses. The colonial powers exerted such immense leverage over the com-mercial and political enterprises of their colonies that local nationals had littlechance of any social mobility unless they were educated in a Western cultureand language. Western institutions of education were infused into Islamiccountries in order to produce functionaries necessary to feed the bureaucraticand administrative needs of the state. Those collaborating with their colonialoverlords were drawn to modern Western institutions because of what theycould offer in terms of greater opportunity and material amenities. Islamiceducation, of course, existed alongside Western education, but only servedthose on the political and social periphery. Thus, by the turn of the twentiethcentury, most Muslim countries had newly created elites who had a vitalinterest in preserving and maintaining Western cultural traditions.

As Islamic countries gradually emerged from their colonial experiences,political leaders sought to modernize their countries along the lines of Westerndevelopment paradigms. Government bureaucrats and officials were usuallymodern educated elites who had grown comfortable and affluent with Westernmaterial culture. Most educational policy was based on perpetuating thesecularized systems of which they themselves were a product so as to maintaintheir economic and socio-political advantage. What the early educationalmodernizers did not fully realize was the extent to which secularized educa-tion fundamentally conflicted with Islamic thought and traditional lifestyle

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(Mohamed 1993: 17). Religious education was to remain a separate andpersonal responsibility, having no place in public education. If Muslimstudents wanted religious training, they could supplement their existing edu-cation with moral instruction in traditional religious schools – the kuttab andmadrasa. As a consequence, the two differing educational systems evolvedindependently with little or no official interface.

The imposition and lingering influence of Western secularist approachesto education has been vehemently criticized by contemporary Islamic schol-arship as doing immeasurable damage to the moral, spiritual and ethical valuesof Islamic culture and heritage (Ali 1984: 51). Having two parallel streamsof secular and religious education has drawn virtually unanimous condemna-tion in the Islamic world as a hindrance to national development and “theepitome of Muslim decline” (Faruqi 1982). Two prominent professors ofIslamic education describe the current situation in these terms:

There are at present two systems of education. The first, traditional, which hasconfined itself to classical knowledge, has not shown any keen interest in newbranches of knowledge that have emerged in the West nor in new methods ofacquiring knowledge important in the Western system of education. . . . The secondsystem of education imported into Muslim countries, fully subscribed to and sup-ported by all governmental authorities, is one borrowed from the West. At the headof this system is the modern University, which is totally secular and hence non-religious in its approach to knowledge. Unfortunately, these people educated bythis new system of education, known as modern education, are generally unawareof their own tradition and classical heritage. It is also not possible for this groupto provide such leadership as we have envisaged. (Husain and Ashraf 1979: 16–17)

Many Islamic educators point inwards to the universal Muslim Community(umma) for the source of continued cultural dualism found in their countries.Criticism is levelled at Muslim intellectual or political leaders who haveneglected, intentionally or otherwise, the cultural problems associated witheducational dualism found in most educational systems in the Islamic world.The current leadership, notes Ibrahim Sulaiman (1985: 32) has “continued tohold the reins of government in all these [Islamic] countries in cynical anddamaging succession” creating a “neo-colonial status” which the umma cannotescape. According to some, the Islamic leadership not only lacks the visionnecessary for meaningful change, but perpetuates an education system thatproduces students who are “deluded hybrids” (idem). On one level studentsof these systems remain Islamic in performing the outward duties of Muslims(i.e., prayer, mosque attendance, etc.) but retain the trappings of Westernthought, dress and language.

Criticisms of this ilk, along with the general rise in Islamic consciousness,have forced many Islamic leaders to take a different strategy towards educa-tional policy. The “Islamic solution” has gained greater popular and emotionalappeal as disillusionment with Western-inspired socio-political systemsincreases. Islam’s renewed vigor has encouraged the return of many Islamiccountries to traditional religious values in education. Greater attention, there-

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fore, is being given to Islam in contemporary education policy out of sheerpolitical expediency. As is the case with Egypt and some other Islamic coun-tries, policy makers pay homage to religious education in the public sector,if only rhetorical, in order to alleviate extremist demands. The resultant effecthas been various permutations and often superficial combinations of Islamicand Western education systems.

The First World Conference on Muslim Education in Mecca in 1977

Creating an education system based on Islamic principles while alsoaccounting for the modernizing needs of contemporary society has not beena simple process. It was for this purpose that Muslim scholars, educators andpolicy makers from around the world gathered from 31 March to 8 April in1977 for the First World Conference on Muslim Education. The conferencewas a landmark in Islamic education for it was the “first attempt of its kindto remove the dichotomy of religious and secular education” from the currenteducation systems of Islamic countries (Al-Attas 1979: v). Fourteen com-mittees were formed to discuss, analyze and make recommendations onfourteen different issues. Following the conference the Mecca Declaration wasdrawn up and signed by all of the heads of Muslim states signifying the com-mitment to Islamic education at all levels of government. The conference gen-erated several follow-up conferences and inspired a number of initiatives,organizations and specialized professional journals dealing exclusively withthe problem of Islamic education. Those calling for Islamization of educa-tion consider it one of the keys to the revitalization of Islam. The conferenceresulted in the most comprehensive collection of theory and practical recom-mendations for Islamic education found anywhere to date. However, monu-mental as the Meccan conference was, and important as the philosophicalfoundations were that it laid, problems are legion when it comes to formu-lating and implementing concrete solutions. Indeed, since 1977, only a fewisolated examples of successful Islamicized education systems can be cited.Even “that ancient bulwark of conservatism,” Al Azhar, can only point tolimited success in eliminating the secular/religious dichotomy (Tibawi 1972:120). “Despite a widespread and sometimes deep consciousness of thedichotomy of education”, says Fazlur Rahman, “all efforts at a genuine inte-gration have been largely unfruitful” (1982: 130). Thus, by and large, nosystem has really provided a model which is completely satisfactory from aMuslim perspective. The abundant literature and academic discourse onIslamic educational theory is persuasive and compelling, but that appears tobe where it ends. How to solve the issues related to modernity and develop-ment while at the same time maintaining the cultural and religious integrityof the umma remains an elusive and monumental task. On a pragmatic level,modern Islamic nations still struggle to meet the scientific and technologicalchanges demanded by the modern period. Modernity and development, in

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the minds of many Muslim policy makers, are still closely linked to Westernmodes of doing things. In addition, with the resurgence of Islamic feeling inmany countries, many leaders have had to make efforts to temper the radicalelements inside this movement.

The case of Egypt

Egypt is a country comprising approximately 90% Muslims and where secularexperiments have yielded little relief from unemployment and slow economicproduction, increasing numbers of Muslims are turning to Islam as a principalmeans of facing an uncertain future. Since it was declared as the officialreligion of State by the 1964 Constitution, Egyptian policy makers do notunderestimate the potency of a politicized Islam and the emergence of variousIslamic movements as more secular forces appear to erode Islamic valuesand ideals. On the other hand, Egypt acutely realizes that it cannot exist inisolation and a considerable amount of Western aid and technology is requiredto achieve domestic and regional objectives. Educational initiatives that inten-tionally target Western economic integration, such as the 1995 Mubarak-KohlAgreement for the Development of Technical Education in Egypt, reinforcepragmatic links with a technologically superior West (Arab Republic of Egypt1996: 68–72). Egyptian policy officials point out:

We are all confronted with the challenges of the twenty-first century, somethingwhich we must realize. Furthermore, we have to absorb the required mechanismsfor change, and the present age is characterized by competition and diversity. Wecannot escape this reality or violate its laws. It is a reality which requires eachand every one of us to absorb the facts of this present age and to prepare our-selves from now onwards (Arab Republic of Egypt 1995: 190).

Egypt’s national education system is struggling for survival against anonslaught of overwhelming political, social and economic problems. Rapidurbanization, rampant population growth, inefficient allocation of resourcesand economic dependency all combine against the successful implementa-tion of even the most carefully designed reform initiatives. Insufficient fundsfor materials and equipment, the lack of adequate physical facilities and thesheer magnitude of class enrollments severely hamper educative efficacy. The“educational crisis” (al-azma al-ta‘lim), as President Hosni Mubarak and otherleading officials call it, is manifesting itself in the growing rates of illiteracy,unemployment and economic underdevelopment.2 In 1991, Egypt launched itsNational Project (Mashru’ al-Qawmi) to address the infrustructural and thesocio-economic challenges facing the country’s education system. An area ofparticular emphasis has been on technical and scientific education, sincemodern education takes place under conditions imposed by the technicallyadept West. Egyptian policy makers are intensely aware of this fact and aremaking gestures to accommodate it.

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The National Project, while primarily designed to confront Egypt’s socio-economic woes, does exhibit caution in not offending the socio-religious sen-sibilities of its Muslim constituency. In a speech to the People’s Assembly in1991, President Mubarak said: “We have to agree that the coming years arethe years for developing and promoting culture in Egypt. A great task liesahead of us which can never by underestimated.”3 Not only is the task of theNational Project to produce a better workforce imbued with the “principles,values and labour skills needed for a technological society,” but also for “rein-forcing the values of religion;” (tarsiq a-qiyam a-diniya)4 a daunting, perhapsan impossible task, as we will shortly see. In a document outlining prescrip-tive measures for confronting the “crisis,” a statement reads:

Religious and moral values should be deeply ingrained among our children.Religious instruction should motivate our children to adhere to desirable valuesand morals. . . . The curricula for religious education should be revised and devel-oped to match the changing levels of understanding of children at various stages.(Arab Republic of Egypt 1996: 55)

Herein lies the awesome challenge of the Egyptian education system:creating a system which gives adequate attention to religious instruction tomaintain cultural values, while at the same time providing education and skillsto students so they may succeed and contribute to the needs of a developingand modernizing country. A system espousing too many Western secularvalues might introduce elements which are alien to the spirit of Islam andspark further religious opposition from Islamists. On the other hand, Islamiceducation of the old variety fails to adequately prepare students for themodern, technological world. Furthermore, too much attention paid to thedemands of conservative orthodox thinking could disenfranchize Egypt’sleaders from the moderate majority. The quest is obviously modernizationwithout Westernization, and Islamization without extremism – a complex anddelicate balance. In the meantime, the current fragmentation and superficialmixture of secularized and religious courses in Egypt’s public educationsystem is completely alien to the fundamental principle of tawhid.

Islamists in Egypt and throughout the Islamic world are calling for edu-cational reform of a revolutionary sort to rejuvenate their societies. Thegoverning bodies of these countries interpret educational reform along avariant Western-secular conception. Understanding Islamic educational theorywill help us understand the Islamist side of the debate and appreciate the extentto which they see the Islamization of education as a crucial factor in eradi-cating the dichotomized, Western-secular influences eroding their culture.

Aims and objectives of Islamic education

Three terms are used in Arabic for education, each differing in connotationbut embodying the various dimensions of the educational process as perceived

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by Islam. The most widely used word for education in a formal sense is theword ta‘lim, stemming from the root ‘alima (to know, to be aware, to perceive,to learn) relating to knowledge being sought or imparted through instructionand teaching. Tarbiya, coming from the root raba (to increase, grow, to rear)implies a state of spiritual and ethical nurturing in accordance with thewill of the Lord, al-Rabb. Taadib comes from the root aduba (to be cultured,refined, well-mannered) and suggests the social dimensions of a person’sdevelopment of sound social behavior. What is meant by sound requires adeeper understanding of the Islamic conception of the human being. Recom-mendations made by the scholars at the First World Conference on MuslimEducation provide this definition:

Man according to Islam is composed of soul and body . . . he is at once spirit andmatter . . . man possesses spiritual and rational organs of cognition such as theheart (qalb) and the intellect (‘aql) and faculties relating to physical, intellectualand spiritual vision, experience and consciousness. . . . His most important gift isknowledge which pertains to spiritual as well as intelligible and tangible realities.(Al-Attas 1979: 157)

Education, as envisaged in the context of Islam, claims to be a processwhich involves the complete person, including the rational, spiritual and socialdimensions of the person. As discussed previously, Islam provides a completecode of life and strives for a balanced, harmonious weltanschauung repre-sented by the concept of tawhid. The comprehensive and integrated approachto education in Islam strives to produce a good, well-rounded person aimingat the “balanced growth of the total personality . . . through training Man’sspirit, intellect, rational self, feelings and bodily senses . . . such that faith isinfused into the whole of his personality” (Al-Attas 1979: 158). In Islamiceducational theory the general objective of gaining knowledge is the actual-ization and perfection of all dimensions of the human being. Man is intendedto act as the vicegerent of God (khalifat Allah) who, in order to fulfill thisholy obligation, must submit himself completely to Allah (Abdullah 1982:116). Indeed, it is obedience which is the summum bonum of man’s exis-tence, as is illustrated in the Quranic verse: “I have not created jinn andmankind except to serve Me” (Quran 51: 56). Perfection then, which is theultimate aim of Islamic education, can only be achieved through obedienceto God. While education does prepare man for happiness in this life, “itsultimate goal is the abode of permanence and all education points to the per-manent world of eternity (al-akhirah)” (Nasr 1984: 7). Education is, or at leastshould be in Islam, inseparable from the spiritual life.

The perfect model for mankind to emulate from an Islamic perspective isthe education of the Prophet Muhammed through God’s final message, theQuran. The Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet are the immutable sourcesfor all aspects of both temporal and spiritual life. The Quran is, as the founderof the International Federation of Muslim and Arabic Schools wrote, “theperennial foundation for Islamic systems of legislation and of social and

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economic organization. It is last but not least the basis of both moral andgeneral education . . . and the core, pivot and gateway of learning” (Al-Saud1979: 126–127). As long as the Quran remains central to the educational cur-riculum, there is “a guarantee that the Muslim umma will keep its integrityand authentic character” (idem: 127). The Prophet Muhammed was the highestand most perfect example of al-insam al-kamil, and the function of education,as Al-Attas remarks (1985: 200), “is to produce men and women resemblinghim as near as possible.” The teachings of the Quran and the example of theProphet constitute the spiritual pattern of early Islamic education, whichresulted in the blossoming prosperity of Islamic civilization. With this assump-tion, it follows then that the current crisis in Islam and the erosion of thespiritual and moral foundations in the Islamic world is the result of the ummastraying from God’s intended course and “from the program of [true] Islamiceducation” (Qutb as found in Toronto 1992: 96).

If the goal of education is the balanced growth of the human character,the heart (qalb) (the seat of the spirit and affection, conscience, feelings,intuition) should receive equal attention to the intellect (‘aql), reason (mantiq)and man’s rational dimensions. To ascertain truth by complete reliance onreason alone is restrictive since both spiritual and temporal reality are twosides of the same sphere. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge is the per-ception of God (idrak), which cannot be realized in any other way than throughfaith (iman). Revelatory knowledge is the most elevated form of knowledge,not only because it relates to God and the understanding of His attributes,but because it provides an essential foundation for all other forms of knowl-edge. To favor reason at the expense of spirituality hampers balanced growth.Exclusive training of the intellect, for example, is inadequate in developingand refining elements of love, kindness, compassion and selflessness, whichhave an altogether spiritual ambiance and can only be appealed to by processesof spiritual training. Separating the spiritual development of the human beingfrom the rational, temporal aspects of the same person, says one prominentIslamic educationalist, “is the main cause for the disintegration of the humanpersonality” (Ashraf 1993: 2).

Education is thus a twofold process – acquiring intellectual knowledge(through the application of reason and logic), and spiritual knowledge (whichis derived from divine revelation and spiritual experience). According to theeducational weltanschauung of Islam, provision must be made equally forboth. Acquiring knowledge in Islam is not meant to be an end unto itself, butonly a means to stimulate a more elevated moral and spiritual consciousnessleading to faith and righteous action.

Inadequacies of Western/secular education from an Islamic perspective

According to many Muslim thinkers, the philosophical shortcoming of mostmodern systems of education in the Islamic world is that they do not reflect

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the fundamental aims and objectives of Islamic education. Contemporarypolicy makers are simply products of the Western social and cultural milieu,adopting Western modes of curriculum development administrative structuresand pedagogical tools. Shahed Ali (1984: 52) comments:

Our intellect is steeped in the norms and forms evolved by the West. Systems ofeducation in our schools, colleges and universities are mostly imported; these arenot our own systems; they are fashioned after the outlook and model of Westerneducational systems.

As such, they do no represent the religious values implicit in Islam andfall short in educating the whole person. Modern/Western education andresearch, are insufficient in Islamic society because they “have been totallycut off from the spiritual roots” (ibid.). The source of any system of educa-tion, according to Ali,

should be traced to its philosophy of life, and a system of education is organicallyconnected with the ethical and moral values that spring from that philosophy. . . .When such a short-sighted policy prevails, social cohesion and collective initia-tive for the well-being of the community becomes a far cry. (Ibid.)

Egypt and other countries like it, according to Islamic educational theory,cannot modernize their education systems along Western lines without seri-ously compromising their essential Islamic character. Western philosophies ofeducation are fundamentally at variance with Islam because of the absenceof properly integrated religion in the Western curriculum. Scathing attackson the dissonant influences of Western educational theory on the Muslim worldhave featured prominently in the literature on Islamic educational theory. Whatmost Muslim theorists take particular issue with are the Western notions ofliberalism and secularism, which aim at delivering man “first from the reli-gious and then the metaphysical control over his reason and his language”(Al-Attas 1985: 15).

A characteristic of Western/modern education is its primary reliance on therational faculties for the discovery of truth. Reality is restricted to sensualexperience, scientific procedure or processes of logic. Secular education strivesprincipally for the “development of the rational life of every individual” (Hirstas cited in Halstead 1995: 35). Islam is not unique in claiming that this sortof posture represents only one level of reality. The debate between secularscientists and Christians, for example, has been raging for centuries overwhether spiritual experience is a legitimate means of determining truth. InIslam revelatory experience, intuition and faith are not only valid, but areabsolutely necessary in ascertaining the highest of truths, the nature of God.Al-Attas, in particular, has expounded on the weaknesses of the secular sci-entific method, claiming that its preoccupation with natural phenomenaprevents unnecessarily the discovery of whole truth. Fixating only on observ-able objects and events, says Al-Attas, limits truth because they “point to

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themselves as the sole reality and not any other Reality” (1985: xix). Secularscience tries to interpret reality only with the empirically verifiable. In Islamthis definition of science has its defects because direct observation is no morethan “outward appearances, perceived through human senses” (El-Nejjar 1986:59–63), which by the standards of experimental science are innately limited.Therefore, human senses can perceive evidences of truth, but not the truthitself.

Islam does not reject science and technology per se, but rather the per-vading Western philosophy of secular science. After all, at the height of itsglory, the Islamic empire was considered the vanguard of science and tech-nology. However, science and technology as they are presented today bear thedistinct mark of a Western social and intellectual milieu, causing someMuslims to mistrust it. Badawi explains:

This suspicion is well founded. Western science, it must be remembered, has, forhistorical reasons, developed in an atmosphere of hostility towards religion and hasacquired a negative attitude towards religion and has in the process acquired anegative attitude towards all non-empirical aspects of belief. The basic assump-tions of Western science are in reality a greater menace to Islamic culture thanany hostile work by orientalists . . . modern education is by definition that type ofeducation inspired by the West . . . the onslaught of science upon our basic beliefand values is indirect and therefore too obscure for the ordinary person or eventhe educated to measure and rebut. (Badawi 1979: 114–115)

Sayyid Qutb, an influential thinker in contemporary Islamic thought, arguesthat science itself should not be rejected, but its acceptance should be quali-fied. “Islam”, he says, “is in harmony with the laws of the universe and thenature of existence (fitrat al wujud)” (Qutb as found in Moussalli 1990: 322).Science, pure and applied, can be accepted on the condition that it does notexceed its limits by trying to interpret philosophically what exists. Qutb arguesthat “man neither has knowledge, nor the ability to know the entire order ofthis universe,” and hence, neither empiricism nor rationalism is satisfactoryinstruments for the expression of complete truth (idem: 324). Islam empha-sizes the concept of tawhid, and as Qutb states, “the universe is a unitycomposed of visible and the invisible unknown. Life is a unity of material andspiritual energies whose separation results in imbalance or disturbance” (idem:323). Consequently, any system or philosophy that does not embrace the unityof the universe is incomplete and fragmentary.

The Western liberal perspective of education also conflicts with Islamiceducational theory in its heavy emphasis on relativism. There is a tendencyin liberal theory to accept a pluralism of personal private beliefs and that allbeliefs are equally justifiable (Hirst 1974: 4). Making claims to the absolutetruth is avoided in liberal education at almost every level. In a recent documenton how to handle controversial subject material in British schools, the inspec-tors stated that: “It can be very helpful for pupils to know their teachers’ views,provided these are offered as one among many possible perspectives on an

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issue with no more weight or ‘truth’ than any other” (Inner London EducationAuthority 1983: 48).

The basic assumption in this relativist approach is that there are noabsolutes and that all truth as subjective. Islam considers this sort of rela-tivism overtly damaging. If all positions are relative and all opinions are con-sidered as good as the next, on what basis can a society build a reliable andstable civilization? What will inevitably occur is that “the one who shoutsloudest and longest will prevail” (Watson 1987: 29). Islam claims to embodyabsolute truth, with an innate universal truth within each person. Humans areable to tap into this universal truth by virtue of their perfect essence (al-insanal-kamil), which is borne within the depth of one’s being. While Islam canshow tolerance for differing moral, aesthetic and cultural perspectives, “itnever considers all views to be equally valid” (Ashraf 1987: 11). Values inthe secular conception are ever changing and tentative. For a completelybalanced development of a child’s moral, spiritual and intellectual dimensions,and for a society to be built on a foundation of righteousness and justice,“basic universal unchanging norms are necessary” (idem: 7).

Liberal education is also characterized by a predominant stress on indi-vidualism and the freedom of individual choice. “What [liberal education]liberates the person from,” comments one noted liberal theorist, “is the lim-itations of the present and the particular” (Bailey 1984: 20). According tomost liberal theorists there are no absolute authorities in matters of moralityor how to best live, and therefore education must avoid authoritarian posi-tions (White 1982, 1984). Bailey goes on to say that a liberally educatedperson is released from the restrictions placed on him or her by the limitedand specific circumstances in which he or she is born. Liberal education,according to Bailey (1984: 21), allows for “intellectual and moral autonomy,the capacity to become a free chooser of what is to be believed and what isto be done, a free chooser of beliefs and actions – in a word, a free moralagent, the kind of entity a fully-fledged human being is supposed to be andwhich all too few are!”

Islam, on the other hand, puts must less stress on individual autonomythan it does on the consensus (ijma) of the community (umma) and respectfor the social contexts and traditions in which an individual originates.Education and the acquisition of knowledge, then, are good only if they serveto engender virtue in the individual and elevate the whole community. Islamiceducators criticize the “freedom” implicit in liberal theory because, as Ashrafcomments:

By denying faith and by creating a conglomeration of multiple choices . . . withno norm to be guided by, except reason or social values or . . . fashions, thesecularist educationalists create an unsettled situation for children. Doubts andscepticism are preferred and even encouraged. As a result children have no normof good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice, truth and falsehood (Ashraf1987: 11).

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Western liberal education encourages people to align their religious beliefswith rational principles, helping children to become free agents independentof the pressures of socialization. Without this ability to make independentrational choices, people tend toward “blind reliance on authority” (White 1982:50). In Islam, however, encouraging students to question their moral beliefsmay merely make them confused and “unmeshed with society as it is” (Barrowas cited in Halstead 1995: 40).

The unhealthy material fixation of the West can be directly related to thissort of individualism. Shahed Ali states that Western forms of education“create a capital ‘I’ in the psychology of man to the exclusion of the rest ofthe world. Self before everything is the only truth, disguised as “enlightenedself-interest” (Ali 1984: 53). Ali claims that if education becomes secular orirreligious, material progress and prosperity become the end all and be all oflife. And if an education system focuses on material pursuits to the exclusionof spiritual and moral training, it will fail to “nourish the human soul . . .enrich human life with noble virtues of love, service and sacrifice” (idem).Strengthening spiritual faith and virtue is imperative in any education systemwhich seeks to posses an Islamic character.

Secularist critique of Islamic education

The Islamic conceptions of education as outlined above have featured promi-nently in the educational debate in Egypt, but have had generally negligiblesuccess in actual implementation. The secular/religious dichotomy in Egypt’seducation system remains entrenched, and the integration of an Islamic per-spective into the curricula has yet to materialize in any substantial form.Contemporary Islamist thinking has done little in regard to educational reformbeyond the level of sloganization. Fazlur Rahman assesses the current situa-tion in the Islamic world in these scathing terms:

neorevivalism has reoriented the modern-educated lay Muslim emotionally towardIslam. But the greatest weakness of neorevivalism, and the greatest disservice ithas done to Islam, is an almost total lack of positive effective thinking and schol-arship within its ranks, its intellectual bankruptcy, and its substitution of clichémongering for serious intellectual endeavor . . . the neorevivalist has produced noIslamic educational system worthy of the name. (Rahman 1982: 137)

Substantial educational reform in accordance with a unified Islamic con-ception has in most cases been reduced to theoretical platitudes from theIslamic scholars (ulama) themselves. The rhetorical ideals of a universalIslamic system of education solving the plight of Muslims is widespread inIslamist literature. An example of such sweeping utopian and even naivelanguage is:

The entire educational system of Muslim countries should be saturated with thesevalues of Islam. . . . It is the need of the hour for the Muslims to . . . have only

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one educational system, to be compulsory for every man and woman. . . . This edu-cation will bring a quick revolution in the thinking, feeling and actions of theMuslims (Ali 1984: 55).

The Islamic movement generally fails to address how an Islamic educa-tion system with universal application could overcome the formidable barriersof the political, cultural and linguistic diversity of the umma. Nor is it clearhow such a system would operate in a pluralistic society with the sentimentsand needs of religious minorities. There has also been a lack of clear thinkingon how an “Islamic Alternative” could manage the infrastructural problemsendemic in most Islamic countries, i.e. overcrowding, lack of resources, crum-bling facilities and inadequate equipment. Disparate visions among Islamicthinkers themselves as how to achieve meaningful Islamization of educationcreates further barriers. While some general agreement exists on a philo-sophical level, there is significant disagreement among the ulama as to thepragmatic issues of organization, administration, and curriculum development.

A further constraint for the Islamization of education is that governmentsin most Islamic countries, while paying lip service to the idealism of Islam,actively resist the drive toward Islamization. The Mubarak regime in Egypthas had to navigate a careful, gradualist course that simultaneously reinforces“the values of religion” (al-qiyam al-diniya) while avoiding “fanaticism andextremism” (ta‘ssub wa tatarruf ) (Arab Republic of Egypt 1995: 61). TheMubarak government acquiesces to the Islamization of education on acosmetic level but sternly limits its encroachment upon actual school curriculaand policy. More concessions to Islamism on actual policy would only desta-bilize the existing social order and increase the political turmoil throughgreater inroads by extremism.

The vigorous argument that religion and spirituality should be infused intoeducation is by no means an issue found only in Islamic countries. Religiouseducation, or at least moral education, features high on the agenda of mostnational education debates – even in the West. The debate differs in Egypt inan important way because it is not characterized by polar differences betweenbeliever and nonbeliever, as is the case in the West, but rather between believerand believer.

The salient question when looking at the educational debate in Egypt is“what Islam” and “whose Islam” we are talking about when discussing theappropriate role of Islam in the public sector. Differing interpretations onthe degree to which Islam offers an absolute and “complete way to life” is atthe heart of the issue. The conception of education as outlined by Islamiceducational theorists would be rejected by certain segments of Egypt’s moresecularized; many of them claiming that it represents only one interpretationof Islam and not universal Islam as such. Even among many ‘ilmaniyyum(secularists) in Egypt, Islam constitutes a deep and meaningful way of life,but should, in their opinion, be confined to the appropriate private spheresof life, i.e. the home and the mosque. They diverge from he more asaliya(traditional) idea that all spheres of life should be unified and inseparable.

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How Islam translates into public education has been a particularly vexing issuebetween the two camps; a dialectic one Egyptian educator characterized as a“debate between the deaf.”5

Western-oriented secularists constitute a high percentage of those in policymaking positions; a fact which most Islamists would see as one of the greatesthindrances to the Islamization of official educational policy. By virtue of beingproducts of a Westernized educational system, most secularists have beeninfluenced by Western humanist thought, predisposing them a perpetuate thedichotomy between secular and religious education. Secularists not only differfrom Islamists on education in the interpretation of Islam, but also considerIslamic education theory to be seriously flawed from an epistemologicalperspective.

I will now turn to evaluating some of the counter arguments which secularpolicy makers make against Islamic education. Liberal, secular educational-ists’ primary criticism of Islamic educational theory has been its rigid abso-lutist posture on truth. Such a dogmatic position, from a secularist perspective,can only breed intolerance toward other religious or nonreligious ideologies.By claiming that one has infallible whole truth one implies that all other beliefsare false, skewed, or only partially true. Clearly, from an absolutist perspec-tive, differing ideological positions cannot all be presented as true “sinceaccepting the truth of one tradition requires that other traditions be dismissedas mere truth claims” (Halstead 1995: 37). When those espousing a positionof asala want to make Islamic education the norm, do they account forminority positions, religious or otherwise? Egyptian policy makers perceivethe inherent risks of absolutist thinking in these terms:

The perception of absolute truth (al-haqiqa al-mutliqa) becomes deeply rooted inthe minds of the students, who eventually come to believe there is only one possiblesolution or answer to any problem, and that in every situation there is only oneanswer or truth, in spite of the fact that there might be several correct answers.We have suffered a lot from the idea of absolute truth. It has for many yearsconfined our thinking and has resulted in paving the way for extremism (a-tataraf )bigotry and addiction. (Arab Republic of Egypt 1996: 52–53)

From a liberal perspective, Islamic education is problematic because itassumes a primacy of religious belief that is based on what Barrow would call“unprovable propositions” (Barrow 1981: 147). Nor is it open to criticalscrutiny; both positions are contradictory to the process of educating. Ifschools seek to initiate students into a particular Islamic conception of theworld with the intention of committing them to those beliefs, this is not edu-cation, according to secularists, but indoctrination.

Indoctrination is objectionable according to White because it prevents therecipient from questioning beliefs and prevents them from critically analyzingthe status of beliefs (1982: 127). The question of freedom arises when thereis a contrived religious agenda, tending toward constraining people’s beliefalong narrowly conceived or doctrinaire line. Within the liberal conception

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of education, children should be allowed to develop into morally autonomouspeople without external constraints. Islamic education “moulds” students intoa predetermined conception of how they should lead their lives and incul-cates “specific kinds of dispositions”, which does little to “liberate pupils fromignorance and misconceptions” (White 1982: 126).

One of the primary dicta of education in a modern context is to preparepeople for productive employment. The relevance of religious education fromthis perspective is unclear since obvious priorities should be given to thosesubjects furthering usable skills in the work place. The problem with includingreligious education in an already overcrowded school schedule is that thereis simply not enough time to address it in the integrated and comprehensiveway Islamists conceive it. The General Director of Religious Education atthe Egyptian Ministry of Education had this to say about dedicating more reli-gious instruction to core curriculum time:

There are thirty hours a week of study (for all subjects), and of these, elementarystudents receive three hours of religion, while preparatory and secondary studentsreceive two hours a week. The number of hours spent in religion is sufficient. Idon’t think we need more religious education than have. It is a tiny minority ofthe population, perhaps three percent, that demand more. But more hours than thiswould simply not be appropriate (munasib) for Egypt. If we add two to these, everysubject will also ask for two more, and we would need more than 24 hours a dayto fill requests.6

Liberal educational theory would also take issue with Islam’s narrow tran-scendental justification of education. Education as conceived by Islam is onlygood if it inspires virtue in the individual or uplifts the community. The liberaltheorist would say that education and knowledge acquisition need no justifi-cation. Education can be valued in and of itself and does not need to furtherany other agenda. Downie asserts that: “The simplest justification for educa-tion, and perhaps the one which in the final showing is the most satisfactory– is that its intrinsic aims, those states of mind which constitute it, are goodin themselves or desirable for their own sakes” (1974: 50).

Since religious belief is a private and subjective matter, it must not beallowed to “determine public issues such as education” (Hirst 1974: 3). Ifone particular religious position emerges as the norm, then it also becomesthe standard by which the other religious and nonreligious positions are to bejudged. Consequently, says Cox, “there is no objective way of choosingbetween them. All are based on belief, not on demonstrably proven fact, andso, ideally, each is as good as the other” (Cox 1983: 117). If religion is goingto be studied at all in public education, liberal proponents such as Barrow,would argue that it needs to be within an academic framework only. Educationin a public forum must not teach religion, but about religion. According toBarrow, religion can only be taught in public schools as an academic exercise;for comparative or historical purposes. Religion should not be taught if theintention is to propagate its ideas to the students (Barrow 1975: 150). Thisparticular position has been adopted by the American public school system.

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Conclusions

The purpose of this paper has been to illustrate the conflicting and incom-patible ideologies between the two camps of asala and ‘ilmaniyya when itcomes to aims and objectives of education is Islam in general and Egypt inparticular. On the one hand, secular forces in Egypt comprising of well-educated professionals, intellectuals and those holding the lion’s share ofpolitical influence, advocate ideals of a modern democratic, pluralistic society.This group, along with the Mubarak government, make conciliatory gesturesto the demands of Islamic reform by allowing religion courses to be mingledin with the required curriculum. But this group tenaciously maintains theeducational status quo so as to avoid intolerance and fanaticism. On the otherhand, Islamists adamantly insist that the government does not go far enoughin providing an education system of an Islamic character. They argue that ashort-sighted education system that consists of both Western and Islamicelements destroys social cohesion.

Egypt, by virtue of being an Islamic nation, requires an education systemthat is comprehensive, integrated and in alignment with the doctrine of tawhid.Social cohesion and public well-being are compromised by Egypt’s currentWestern hybrid form of education. On the other hand, extremist Islamic inter-pretation is highly unrepresentative of the vast majority of Egyptians andalso casts its own cancerous effects on social cohesion. Neither secularismnor extremism embodies the principles on which Islamic education shouldbe constructed. Islamic education in Egypt, Islamists would argue, is irrele-vant only if Islam is not true. Either God’s final message to mankind wasrevealed in its entirety through Muhammed and enshrined in the Quran, or itwas not. If it was, then it is incumbent upon Muslim leaders everywhere tomould their education systems to an Islamic conception. If the truth of Islamis established, then its relevance follows as a matter of course (see Mills 1874:69). “What is Islam?” asks Rosenthal,

Is it a personal faith, piety, and devotion, or is it a religious and political unity forthe community of believers? If the former, then Islam has no role to play in thepublic life of a modern Muslim state, and it is unnecessary to confirm or refutethe views of individuals who think so. . . . But if Islam is both a system of beliefsand practices and a law for the community of believers, then its relevance to themodern Muslim state and society is uncontestable. (Rosenthal 1965: xi)

The two educational positions of asala and ‘ilmaniyya exhibited in Egyptare fundamentally incompatible a fact that unfortunately does not bode wellfor Egypt’s educational future.

Notes

1. Cowan, J. M., editor, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (Ithaca,New York: Spoken Language Services, Inc., 1976). For a more in-depth study of

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these two terms see Azzam, Maha, Islamic Oriented Protest Groups in Egypt1971–1981: Theory, Politics And Dogma (D. Phil Thesis, Oxford University, St.Catherine’s College), pp. 50–51.

2. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a speech to the People’s Assembly and ShuraCouncil on 14 November, 1991 in Arab Republic of Egypt 1995 (7).

3. President Mubarak, speech to the People’s Assembly and Shura Council on 14November, 1991, ibid., p. 7.

4. Ibid., p. 61.5. Interview with Sami Nasser, a professor of Adult Education at the Institute of

Educational Studies at Cairo University on 7 September, 1996.6. Interview with the General Director of Religious Education in the Egyptian Ministry

in 1991, in Toronto, J. A. (1992) The Dynamics of Educational Reform inContemporary Egypt (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University), p. 136.

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The author

Bradley J. Cook is an Assistant Professor of Comparative and International Educationat Brigham Young University in the Department of Educational Leadership andFoundations. He has had extensive experience in the Middle East both as a studentand a professional in the past twenty years. He has published on educational researchin developing countries and is currently conducting a study of the influence of Islamon higher education in Egypt.

Contact address: Dr Bradley J. Cook, Brigham Young University, 310F MCKB,PO Box 25069, Provo, Utah 84602-5069, USA.

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