Modern Muslim scholars have found a better integration of the religious and the so-called secular sciences in the Muslim conception and practice of adab.It means a good man has a good adab. Hence, a man with good adabis good to behave in his interaction to others and environment.Loss of adab implies loss of justice, which in turn betrays confusion in knowledge. Al Attas (1980) defines a man of adab specifically as the one who is sincerely conscious and aware of his responsibilities towards the true God. Some even suggested that the many advantages of adab as education par excellence can help solve some of the crises in modern education. Decadence in morality and behavior of people can be occurred due to the lack of understanding and acknowledgement on Islamic values. They still follow western paradigm in which the religious values cannot be integrated to science. Religious aspects should not relate to science. This kind of thinking is called secularism paradigm (Wan Daud, 2010)
In Islamic worldview we cannot separate science from religious teaching values or vice versa. The science should underpin the teaching of Islamic values. In this context, we need the right education concept which inculcates such values of Islam. Generally, education has an important meaning in human life. Through education, the quality of human resources can be optimally improved and will form an advanced civilization up to the welfare of mankind. Countries concerned with the quality of education will prosper the people. The increasing prosperity allows people to have access for good education. Hence, prosperous society can be achieved through education.
However, the final goal of education is to create prosperous society, health and happiness. From Islamic perspective, education that is built on the basis of the productive and pious (taqwa) human resource will create prosperous and (real) happiness society as coveted by Muslims. The question is how does the Islamic education system can read and anticipate the dynamics of change in society?
The Islamic Education terms is often interchangeably with the terms Islamic Religious Education (IRE). It seems the same but different. It is often found that people mistakenly revealed Islamic education but actually they want to explain IRE which is defined as the lessonsuch asBiology, Physics, Mathematics Education, etc. IRE in this context can be understood as an activity of teaching the religion of Islam. Islamic education is a sub-system of the Islamic values system. According to Muhaimin (2009), IRE is an integral part of Islamic education in the perspective to instill its values in order to be the way of life of a Muslim.
The world today is experiencing dynamic change. The change is not only on the physical aspect of environment, such as new building, new road, and infrastructure and so on, but changes also shaped non-physical structures as value, tradition and social ideas. Changes in the non-physical aspects of an ongoing culture change are not as fast as the physical aspect, and occur in an effort to accommodate the physical changes that are material aspects. Rice &Bishoprick (1971) stated that the new values that thrive in the modern world will be followed by the formation of a pattern of behavior that is tailored to community values. In principle, modern society cannot be separated from the two twin influences that could determine the direction of change and concepts, values, ideas, theories and paradigms that influence society namely democracy and science.
The history of advances Western science began after obtaining repertoire of general knowledge from Muslim scholars when they colonized the Muslim world around the 16th-19th century AD. A number of Muslim scholars’ works of science were taken and translated into their language. However, they did not believe in religion as a worldview that can shape human civilization for filtering inappropriate science. Religion is separated from science and technology progress in the community. This process of separation phenomenon is known as secularization.
Long before that, Muslims attention to science and technology were very high, as revealed in the Qur'an, which means "It was We who taught him the making of coats of mail for your benefit, to guard you from each other’s violence…”. (QS 21: 80). It is clear that people are required to do something by means of technology. So it is not surprising that in the 7th century AD many Islamic thinkers who were formidable productive and innovative in the development of science and technology. Muslims pioneering and excellence in the science were proven. But, unfortunately the progress is not followed up continuously. Then, the West has led and taken over science up to date.
The term globalization is often used by the West to influence developing countries which is actually a form of coercion or which is called neo colonialism. Globalization is not only in economics, and technology, but also almost in all aspects of human life including education. The nature of globalization in education has started since the West invaded Islamic world. Hence they created dichotomous education that separates religion from education (secular education).
Dichotomous view which grow-develop in the colonial period possessed also some traditional Muslims who regarded a modern Western education belong to infidels so that must be separated from the Islamic education. This paradigm made Islamic education having limited sense that was only related to Islamic law, fiqh, aqeedah, tawheed, read or recites the Quran, Hadith and other mahdhoh worships (or ritual religion). Meanwhile the signs of Allah Almighty on the development of science, technology and human civilization did not become a concern to Islamic educational institution to be included in its curriculum. In contrast, the West through its education has become super power in the field of science and technology.If Islam is taught in Islamic educational institutions only concerned about ritual activity as is the case now, then Muslims cannot move forwards, Muslims will remain left behind and will not be able to lead the world civilization.
By Aries Musnandar
Doctoral Candidate UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim, Malang Indonesia
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