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Educational Philosophy
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The Relation of Islamic Studies to Islamic Civilization in the Curriculum
We can visualize the relationship between Islamic Studies subjects and Islamic Civilizational topics as a diagram of concentric circles—with many circles orbiting around one common centre like the planets around the sun.
THE CORE
(Islamic Studies):
At the core of the Islamic educational process, its heart, are the fundamental fields of Islamic knowledge. These fields of knowledge are the driving force of Islam. They provide Muslims with a worldview on God, the nature of existence, its' essence, its' goal, the meaning of life, values, the relationship between the human being and the universe, and the end of this life and what follows.
This circle represents the Quran & Tafsir, Sunna & Hadith, Usul & Fiqh, Aqida & Kalam, and Akhlaq & Tazkiat al-Nafs. They are represented in the CORE circle because they affect all aspects of Islamic Civilization. This circle may also include foundational disciplines like Arabic language and logic, which are better conceptualized as essential tools of understanding for all disciplines. We may also call the CORE the domain of Islamic Studies proper, in the sense that these fields of knowledge constitute the fundamental perspectives, principles, behavioural practices, and values of Islam.
THE ORBITAL
(Islamic Civilization):
The second or outer circle represents the way in which the CORE Islamic values and principles were manifest in all aspects of Islamic life: cultural, religious, social, political, psychological artistic, and economic. This is what we may call Islamic Civilization. One way of conceptualizing this circle is to think of Islamic Civilization as a concretization of the fundamental perspectives, principles, behavioral practices, and values of the CORE. This second circle represents traditional Islamic Civilization, which, from a contemporary educational perspective, is paradigmatic for Muslims today. Here Muslims learn how Islam became a lived reality in the arts (art, architecture, literature & music), sciences (mathematics, medicine, physics, agriculture, and engineering), the philosophical or rational sciences, ethics, social structures, governance & political structures, economic systems, etc.
