9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
The methods of teaching the Islamic education have got some characteristics which are; honesty, taking in accounts the motives of the students and their needs and integration.
Honesty
The content of the Islamic education curriculum must be honest and in a harmony with the public educational objectives. The honesty of the content depends on the amount of right knowledge that are given to the students which will be taken from the Holy Quran because it is the truth that came from Allah. This book, which came to eliminate all other Holy books must be dominated overall other knowledge gained.
Accordingly, the content of the Hadith, for example, will be honest when it includes the true Hadithes and refuses the faulce ones. The content of the curriculum in faith is sincere when it inculcates the doctrine of unification in the hearts of the students and putting them off from the corrupted doctrines.
The biography of the prophet (pbuh) (Sirah) content will be honest when it includes the true news from its primary Islamic sources and the content that denies the miracles of the prophet (pbuh) and interprets it in modern interpretation is also a content that is not approved.
Therefore, this description that applies to the content of any branch of Islamic education should be consistent with those reported in the Holy Quran or the true Sonna. An example of this is the content of the Fequeh which will be honest when it shows the pupils the permitted deeds and the prohibited ones or the acts of...
9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
...worshipping prescribed by the lord of the worlds, Almighty.
It is, also, important that the content takes care about the contemporary issues for discussing it is very important to the Muslims and, in the same time, an indication that the content is honest. So it is not enough that the content includes types of usury, for example, in Fequeh and focuses only on the community before Islam, but it should discuss the spread of usury in banking institutions nowadays as well as not be treated by economists who are unaware of legal provisions relating to financial transactions in Islam.
Taking in account the motives of the students and their needs
That means the Islamic education content should be appropriate for student's motivations and responsive to their basic needs. This call to take into accounts the motives and tendencies that differ from the one that is by the theory of pragmatism. The Dewey's theory and his supports of the Pragmatists is the inclination of the child is the cornerstone in the selection of the content, but in Islam ,we believe that Allah, The Almighty, is the creator of man and he knows best the motives of the humanity in every stage of life and the motivation of faith, human nature is the most important motive in man. A child, naturally, tends toward the good and the content will be in order when it is free from impurities which disturb the instinct. Also he needs to feel secure and to satisfy his basic needs as we understand from the Quran "Let them adore the Lord of this House, (3) who provides them with food against hunger and with security against fear (of danger). (4)" (QURAISH: 3-4).
9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
The motives and the needs in which the content interests are not immediate, but they are basic motives found in the human nature, so of the functions of the content is increasing, inside the students, every motive that harmonies with the faith of Allah and it fights every acquired motive, that gets the student out of his nature. Each educator should distinguish between the real motives the students have got which may be in order or out of order and the basic motivations which is a real part of the human nature. Thus it is clear that the Islamic education is more able than others to meet this standard, but this doesn't alone lead to the existence of a good content for it is, in some Islamic countries, less attractive to the students, so it indicates the importance of care in the way of organizing the content of the curricula.
It is recommended that, in preparing the content, the transition from the known to the unknown. If the students studied the topic of Zakat in a particular grade, the third for example, the information mentioned in this content should be a starting point to study the issue of Zakat in a later stage.
It is of the mistakes that some educators do, that is repeating one content in two grades or more which generates boredom and leads to a reluctance of students of the subject.
Integration
It means that there should be synergy between the content of the curriculum as studied by the student on a subject and content. The first content should reinforce content. For example, the Holy Quran is the center of all the Islamic sciences both legal and acquired. Also Allah is one, the right is one and the knowledge is a...
9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
...unified one because it aims at directing the nature the Muslim to the slavery to Allah (Almighty). The integration is in its best, when facts and the principles that a student learns in different situations before a period of time are interrelated. So, it is better for the legal sciences to integrate together in the same grade.
It is useful to choose the content on this basic, the Quran verses and Hadithes which was designed in a particular grade should preferably be based on the content which will be taught in the unification and Fequeh subjects.
Inclusiveness
Each branch of knowledge branchs which are included in the Islamic educational curriculum consists of several elements. The content is said to be inclusive when it contains all these elements without sacrificing any of them. These elements are:
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Individual facts: The individual fact is a statement concerning a partial case such as "Hiraa cave is |
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located on the outskirts of Mecca" or we say "Halima Essaadia is the wet nurse of the prophet (pbuh). |
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They are not important in themselves, but they are the raw material of which other subjects are made. It |
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is a mistake to focus on these individual facts and to consider them the primary element in the curriculum |
9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
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Concepts: The concept is an element of the content which depends on the abstraction. The concepts, |
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in the normal education, are abstract issues that indicate concrete things such as tree, animal, and |
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Concepts in Islam are not found on earth some of them are; unification of divinity, the paradise, the hell |
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fire, straight path and so on. All these concepts are basic in Islam which have not got any example in this |
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The Islamic education content can bring these concepts to mind by examples and the help of the |
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perceived things that have got some relation to the concept. For example, the power of Allah Almighty is |
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an abstract concept, it can be brought to mind by monitoring and inspect the creatures to see how |
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organized and created they are. It is, then, recommended to present the abstract concepts to be less |
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abstract, specially, for the young children who may find difficulties in understanding them. |
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The basic facts or principles: They contain every sentence that has got a basic datum. An example is |
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"The prophet (pbuh) has made the immigrants and the supporters brothers". Also "Jihad is the duty of |
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the nation" and "it is obligatory for the Muslim to believe in all the prophets and the messengers". All |
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these are principals. The principals are more important than the individual facts for ignoring one of... |
9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
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...them puts the Muslim in danger and may get him out of the cadre of the Islamic faith. So the principals |
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of creed have got the priority than the ones of the worshiping and so on. It is the responsibility of the |
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Islamic educators to state the basic principals in every branch of the legal science to every scholar |
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grade where carelessness in this matter may result concentrating on principals of less importance. |
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The Law and the Sonna: The law or the Sonna is a statement or a sentence that connects two |
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concepts together such as in Quran "For each (such person) there are (angels) in succession, before |
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and behind him: they guard him by command of God. verily never will God change the condition of a |
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people until they change it themselves (with their own souls). but when (once) God willeth a people's |
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punishment, there can be no turning it back, nor will they find, besides him, any to protect" (RA'D:11). |
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This verse contains two concepts; Allah the Almighty's will and the ability of man to cause the change. |
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The content of the curriculum concerns the laws because when the students perceive them, this will give |
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an explanation to the events and the phenomena which eliminate the confusion and ambiguity. The |
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student who knows the reality of this divine law can recognize many cases. When the Muslim becomes a |
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way of Allah's commands, his conditions becomes worse and tasted the bitterness of defeat and tear. |
9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
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The way of thinking: Each content of each branch of the branches of the Islamic education contains |
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the evidence that proves the honesty of the facts included. The way the scientific evidences are |
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presented is a judgment on the ability of the content to convince the students and to let them believe the |
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presented cases. There are many factors that affect the quality of the evidences and their presentation. |
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of them are; the nature of the case presented for discussion, the ages of the students and the time |
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available for studding the case. |
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The content of the creed can attract the attention of the students when it contains some Quranic verse, |
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the Hadithes and the universal evidences that prove Allah's power. Only one kind, not more, of |
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evidences in the content is not satisfaction and it will be harmful for the educational operation. The |
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curriculum of the prophet's biography (Sirah), for example will be compatible with this standard when it |
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shows the students the evidences taken out of the Quran and the Sonna that is related to a particular |
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case or issue. The student should be able, then, to choose from two stories about one event, the true |
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one in term of knowing the sources of each story. Also, student should be able to examine the truth of the |
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different stories and to take what mentioned in the Quran and the Sonna which, then, has the primary or |
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the high priority among the Islamic education objectives in the primary schools stages. |
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The content can meet this objective in different ways. In the first stage, for example, two stories or... |
9.4 General Characteristics and Objectives of the Method of Teaching
Islamic Education
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...more are presented about one event. In advanced stage the curriculum can add to every story its |
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source. In the high schools, the content should contain the cause of accepting one story and refusing of |
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the other or the others. Islam came to elevate the mind rank so we should train the students and |
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accustom them to use their minds in every branches of knowledge which won't be achieved unless the |
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content is presented in a way that enables the thinking operation. To force the student to memorize the |
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text is considered the enemy of thinking operation. This retardation of the level of the students in Islamic |
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countries may be because of depending, only, upon the memory function in the mind, alone, on the |
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account of the function of thinking, specially, because of the final exams in the secondary schools. |