Islamic Religious Curriculum in Muslim Countries: the Experiences of Indonesia and Malaysia
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Bulletin of Education & Research June 2008, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 1-19 Islamic Religious Curriculum in Muslim Countries: The Experiences of Indonesia and Malaysia Che Noraini Hashim* & Hasan Langgulung* Abstract Education from the Islamic perspective, as a long life process and the function of Islamic religious education, should endeavor to teach and help students acquire different aspects of knowledge within the parameters of Islam through the use of a well designed curriculum. This paper attempts to investigate and discuss the development of Islamic religious curriculum in Muslim countries with emphasis on South-East Asia especially Indonesia and Malaysia. It begins with a brief history on the curricular reform of religious education in Arab countries and their impact on Southeast Asia. Then, it focuses on reform in religious education curriculum and the challenges faced by both countries. Some suggestions are put forward to reach cherished goals of Islamic religious education and the betterment of Islamic curricular reform in Muslim countries. Introduction Education is one of the most important aspects in human development and perhaps the most influential social institution in any societies. In general, education is to transmit a common set of beliefs, values, norms, understanding from the adult generation to its youths. Islam looks at education as a form of worship (ibadah) where Muslim share a common set of values based on the Quran (the fundamental and most reliable source for many fields of knowledge) and Sunnah. Hassan, K. (1989) describes Education from the Islamic perspective, as a long life process of preparing an individual to actualize his role as a vicegerent (Khalifah) of Allah on earth and thereby contribute fully to the reconstruction and development of his society in order to achieve well-being in this world and hereafter. In order to come to some agreement regarding the purpose of Islamic education, it may be beneficial to firstly elicit a definition of education and Islamic education. Ashraf (1979) defines education as a process involving three rewards: the individual, the society or the community to which he or she belongs and the whole content of reality, both material and spiritual, which plays a dominant role in determining the nature and destiny of man and society. Therefore, education plays a very important role and is a pillar for the national development in many societies. Al-Attas (1984) maintains *Institute of Education (INSTED), International Islamic University, Malaysia Islamic Religious Curriculum in Muslim Countries 2 that the purpose of Islamic education is not to cram the pupil’s head with facts but to prepare them for a life of purity and sincerity. This total commitment to character building based on the ideals of Islamic ethics is the highest goal of Islamic education. Here he stressed on character building that needs to be moulded together in an educational curriculum which he considers as the highest objective of Islamic education. A more comprehensive definition of Islamic education was composed at the First World Conference on Muslim Education in Makkah in 1977, the following words: Education should aim at the balanced growth of the total personality of man through the training of man’s spirit, intellect, his rational self, feelings and bodily senses. Education should cater therefore for the growth of man in all its aspects: spiritual, intellectual, imaginative, physical, scientific, linguistic, both individually and collectively and motivate all aspects towards goodness and the attainment of perfection. The ultimate aim of Muslim education lies in the realization of complete submission to Allah on the level of the individual, the community and humanity at large (Ashraf, 1985, p. 4). Therefore, as agreed by Muslim scholars in the Mecca Declaration above, it is clear that in order to develop the Islamic system and society, an educational system and its curriculum must be planned according to Islamic worldview as Langgulung (2004) stresses that Islamization of curriculum is to place the curriculum and its four components i.e. aims and objectives, content, methods of teaching and method of evaluation within the Islamic worldview. The writers strongly believe that the function of Islamic education should endeavor to teach and help students acquire different aspects of knowledge within the parameters of Islam through the use of a well designed curriculum. This paper attempts to investigate the development of curriculum of religious education in Muslim countries with emphasis on South-East, Asia especially Indonesia and Malaysia. It focuses on the curricular reform of religious education in Arab countries and their impact on Southeast Asian Education and the challenges faced by religious education. Some suggestions are put forward to reach cherish goals of Islamic education and the betterment of Islamic curricular reform in Muslim countries. Islamic religious curricular has gone through four distinct periods in Islamic history. The first period is the period of development which started with the resurgence of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) in Makkah until Noraini & Langgulung 3 the end of Umayyad period. The main characteristics of religious curriculum of this period are: • purely Arabic in nature • strengthening the basis of Islamic religion and spreading its teaching • based on religious sciences and Arabic grammar • concentrate more on study of Hadith and jurisprudence • concentrate more on Arabic grammar and literature • the initial study of foreign languages During this period, the mosque was the centre of activities of the Islamic society and education was the important part of those activities. The second period is the flourishing period of education starting in the East with the emergence of Abbasid dynasty until the downfall by Tartar in 659H/1258 M whereas in the Western part of Islamic Empire the important centre is Andalusia, especially under the rules of Umayyad Khaliphate. During this period the curriculum was expanded to include non religious sciences as well as the centre also expanded to include Makkah, AlMadinah in Hijaz; Basrah and Kufah in Iraq; Damascus in Sham (Syria); Cairo in Eygpt and Granada and Svilla in Andalusia. The third period was the period of weaknesses and decadence which started in the East and North Africa with the resurgence of Ottoman Empire which lasted until the independence of Muslim countries. The most important characteristics of this period are: • the entire curriculum was based on the transmitted knowledge • the decline of the Arabic language • the method was based on memorization • the deterioration of scientific research and thinking process • the spread of the method of summarization and repetition of what was made by early scholars. The fourth period is known as the period of revival, awakening and rebuilding education in Muslim countries which started subsequent to the independence these countries. This process is still going on to the present time. The most important characteristics of religious education during this period are as follows: • adoption of Western educational system • increasing concern on natural as well as human sciences • penetration of Western culture • an attempt toward eliminating dualism between modern education and religious education. Islamic Religious Curriculum in Muslim Countries 4 Islamic Religious Educational reforms in Arab Countries and its impacts on Southeast Asia There are many reasons contributing to the awakening and realizing their backwardness which in turn urging them to rebuild their societies and particularly their educational system. The movement toward reform and rehabilitation is led by a group of reformist to rebuild their country. Because Muslim countries in the Arab World were many we will only concentrate on one of them namely Egypt which is the earliest country to adopt Western Education in Muslim country. After that we will discuss reforms in Islamic religious education in Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia. Contemporary awakening in Egypt and its impact on education i. French invasion of Egypt in 1798 opened their eyes on the superiority of the French weapons and equipments that made their campaign succeed in their swift war against the Egyptian. This defeat urged the Egyptians to review the reasons for their weaknesses and suggest reform for their education. Among the prominent reformers are Rifaah Al Tahtawi and Ali Mubarak who were the first mission of student sent to France to study French educational system. They came back and made several reforms in Egyptian educational system such as to establish Darul Ulum in 1872, to be the first school for teacher preparation or teacher education. Later on their influence on the reforms of Al Azhar is also significant. After this period, there are other reformers in Egyptian education. The most prominent one is Muhammad Abduh (1849-1904) who is one way or the other, influenced by Al Tahtawi and Ali Mubarak. He was also close contact with Jamaluddin Al Afghani (d.1897) who was campaigning against totalitarianism, ignorance and stagnancy. Muhammad Abduh made a comprehensive reforms in Al Azhar in which he taught after coming back from France, where he limited the duration of the study, vacation and holidays, reformed teaching methods and examination. (i.e. before this, in Al Azhar there was no limitation of the years of study where students can stay as long as they wished, lack of teaching methods and no standardized examination). He also demanded the cancellation of ineffective books, commentaries and footnotes and replace them with one which are more relevant to the problems of contemporary society. ii. The grand sheikh of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Mustafa Al Maraghy, also has devoted considerable effort to reform Al azhar which would have enabled it to go along with the need of time, where he Noraini & Langgulung 5 legislated the well known law no.29 in 1930 which included many reforms and changes related to curriculum, teaching staff, students and so on. iii. In 1936, another law to review the system in Al azhar which did not face the resistance as did the reforms introduced by Muhammad Abduh.