Al Ghazali’s Philosophy in Education

Al Ghazali (1058-1111) was one of the most significant Muslim thinkers. He was a great theologian and philosopher of religion and ethics where he developed a theory of education that aims to improve the objectives and principles. Based on the methods and teaching and discussing the relationships, and the student-teacher relations, the concept of his education was notable inside and outside the Islamic world.

The education purpose:

According to al ghazali, the main purpose of education is to be close to ALLAH; however there are other minor worldly goals such as the love of knowledge, pursuit of wealth, social standing or power… Al ghazali divided the purpose of education into two types of terms.

·          The long term purpose:
      The long term purpose mainly is to build up a closer approach to ALLAH. The education system should have the ability to lead the humanity to awareness and getting in touch with The All Mighty. Starting from here we can say that the more the student learns, the more he gains knowledge, the closer he become to ALLAH. So it is clear that the education here is neither the part differentiating life science and religion, nor the Islamic system. On the contrary, it is an integrated education system which leads humankind to manage their obligation to be vicegerent.

·        The short term purpose:

It is the achievement of human’s career or profession based on their talents and skills. Al ghazali also talked about wealth, fame, status, position and other life joy. So far, all of these are not principles because the knowledge they have is to be much closer to ALLAH. Their first interest is to apply the law of Quran and the prophet’s mission.   So according to Al ghazali, it is clear that the purposes of education are to gain the approach to ALLAH and happiness in this life and afterlife.

Curriculum Concept:

Al ghazali related the curriculum concept to the knowledge/science and he divided it into three types. The bad knowledge which is considered to be useless now (life) and in the afterlife like black magic and fortune telling, the correct knowledge which is related to soul purifying to save human beings in this life and in the afterlife, and finally the correct knowledge if it is learnt appropriately, but it can also be wicked since by learning it deeply there will be collision between faith and hesitation as well as infidel. Philosophy is a clear example.

 Teaching methods:

Al Ghazali believed that showing the children a role model to act like him; this may improve their mental, pattern and other good characters. He divided this method into two parts.

·        Religion education:

The way in teaching religion, mainly starts with memorizing and understanding, followed by proving and believing, continued by implementing the law and finally by convincing information that can support the faith.

·        Character education:

A learning process should build up the right character. According to Al ghazali “character is a powerful attitude planted in the soul in which produce various behavior easily without a long thinking process and consideration”.

Learning method principle suggests giving your whole concentration of attention, you must also take into consideration the purpose of knowledge that will be given to students, and finally the education process must start from the simplest objective or lesson to the most complicated one. On the contrary, the teaching principle method must provide simple and clear explanation, the knowledge must be taught gradually step by step, and it must take into consideration the students’ abilities and their level of thinking. 

However, the principles of education are summarized by giving exercises and practices, advices, and helping students to stay away from bad social interaction.

Good teacher criteria:

According to Al Ghazali, a teacher is a person who provides the student with good vibes, and works to develop humankind without any rewards. Here we can find some of the teachers’ requirements with some duties: a teacher should be kind with the students and deal with them as if they are her children, prevent students from wrong behaviors and sayings, and able to discover the students’ abilities, so they can give them the appropriate knowledge. Teachers should accept others knowledge. The teacher must apply her knowledge and should not hide her words because knowledge is acquired by the heart sight; however experience is gained by the eye sight. Moreover a good teacher must be caring, sympathetic, sincere, honest, and gentle in giving advice. 

Good student criteria:

Al Ghazali also mentioned that students should have some characters; a student should have positive thinking, learn any knowledge systemically, and learn the principles…

Based on what al ghazali believed, we can deduce that the major aim of education is to be closer to Allah in order to be happy in your life and in the hereafter.