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Canada • THE EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT OF AL-GHAZALI TheOi-Y and Practice Hasan Asari A Thesis submitted to • the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Institute of Islamic Studies McGiII University Montreal 1993 • © Hasan Asad Natio~al Library Bibliothèque nationale .+. of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Directic<1 des acquisitions et Bibliographic Services Branch des services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (Ontario) K1A ON4 K1A ON4 YOUl Ille Votre lèlérence Olll!lle NOI1t1 ttlléll'nctJ The author has grantad an L'auteur a accordé une licence irrevocable non-exclusive licence irrévocable et non exclusive allowing the National Library of permettant à la Bibliothèque Canada to reproduce, loan, nationale du Canada de distribute or sell copies of reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou hisjher thesis by any means and vendre des copies de sa thèse in any form or format, making de quelque manière et sous this thesis available to interested quelque forme que ce soit pour persons. mettre des exemplaires de cette thèse à la disposition des personnes intéressées. The author retains ownership of L'auteur conserve la propriété du the copyright in hisjher thesis. droit d'auteur qui protège sa Neither the thesis nor substantial thèse. Ni la thèse ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantiels de celle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent être imprimés ou hisjher permission. autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. ISBN 0-315-B7773-1 Canada • AB5TRAcr Author: Hasan Asari Title: The Educational Thought of al-Ghazalî: Theory and Practice Department: Institute of Islamic Studies, McGili University Degree: MA. This thesis tries to bring together al-Ghazalî's thoughts about different aspects of education, scattered in numbers of works of different kinds and aims at presenting his educational theory in its complete picture. His life, his • intellectual career, his mental crises, as weil as the solution to these crises were deeply influential in the formation of his educational thought; and it appears that al-Ghazalî was remarkably successful in absorbing the conflicting schools of thought of his time. The theoretical aspect of his educational thought consists of a psychology that focuses on a series of mental operations by which man attains knowledge. Seing a ~üfi, al-Ghazalî holds that knowledge can be attained through either sensual-rational or purely spiritual ways, believing the latter to be the source of true knowledge. Consequently, in his classification, he places spiritual sciences over the rest of the sciences. The practical aspect of his thought concerning education centers on the duties of student and teacher which must be fulfilled to ensure the success of the learning process. • ii • RÉSUMÉ Auteur: Hasan Asari Titre: L'éducation dans la pensée d'al-Ghazali: théorie et pratique Departement: L'Institut des études isiamiques, Université McGiii Niveau: MA Cette thèse propose de rassembler les propos d'ai-Ghazali concernant différents aspects de l'éducation --éléments qui sont parsemés dans ses nombreux et variés ouvrages-- et de présenter sa théorie de l'éducation sous son visage ie plus complet, Sa vie, sa carrière inteilectueile, ses crises psychologiques, de même que les solutions qu'il a aportées à ces crises, eurent tous une grande influence sur la développement de sa pensée sur l'éducation; il semble qu'al-Ghazali a réussi • à intégrer différents couran!s de pensée conflictuels de son époque. L'aspect théorique de sa pensée sur l'education consiste en une psychologie qui met l'emphase sur une série d'opérations mentales par lesqueiles l'homme acquiert la connaissance. AI-Ghazali, en tant que ;;üfï, soutient que la connaissance peut être acquise par le biais de moyens sensibles et rationnels ou purement spirituels, croyant que ces derniers sont la source de toute vraie connaissance. Par conséquent, dans son classement des sciences, il situe les sciences spirituelles audessus des autres sciences. L'aspect pratique de sa pensée sur l'éducation met l'emphase sur les devoirs ..de l'étudiant et du professeur.. qui doivent être réalisés afin de'assurer le succès du processus d'apprentissage. • iii • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1 should like to express my sincere gratitude ta my thesis supervisor. Professor Donald P. Little. whose assistance and advice have been very essential for the completion of this thesis. Without his painstaking readings and corrections this thesis would have been far from the way it is now. 1 would also like ta thank Professor Karel A. Steenbrink who also read this thesis and made invaluable corrections and suggestions beyond what 1 had expected. 1 should take this opportunity to record my gratitude and appreciation to the • Canadian international Development Agency (CI DA) and the McGiil-lndonesia Project for granting me a two-year schoiarship during which the research for this thesis was undertaken. The staff of the Library of the Institute of Islamic Studies have also been very helpful in locating material. and sometimes even in making the less available material available through lnterlibrary Loans. Them 1thank very much. Many friends. tao many to mention. have contributed to this thesis in one way or another. Here. however. 1 would like to mention speclally Mr. Affandi Mochtar with whom 1 had many discussions over many points presented in this thesis. To him. as weil as others. 1 record my gratitude. Last but certainly not least, my sincerest thanks are due to my parents • iv • whose encouraging letters have been very helpful for me, especially during the days of completing this thesis. H.A. Montreal, 1993 • • v • ABBREVIATIONS The following abbreviations have been used in this thesis: BSOAS = Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. El = The Encyc/opaedia of Islam. 4 volumes. Leiden: E.j. Brill, 1913-1936. EI2 = The Encyc/opaedia of Islam. Second edition. 6 volumes to now. Leiden: E.j. Brill, 1954-. ERE = The Encyc/opœdia of Religion and Ethics. 13 volumes. Edited bV James Hastings. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1908-1926. jAOS = journal of the American Oriental SocietY- • jRAS = journal of the Royal Asf.Atic Society. • vi • TABLE Of CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..... ii RËSUMË ..... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..... iv ABBREVIATIONS ..... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ..... vii INTRODUCTION ..... 1 CHAPTER ONE: AL-GHAZAlI'S INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND ..... 6 A. AI-Ghazalï's career as student and teacher ..... 8 B. Overview of intellectual currents in al-Ghazalï's time ..... 23 - The theologians 25 - The philosophers 27 • - The Isma'ï1ïs (ahl al-ta'nm) ..... 30 - The ~üfis ..... 33 CHAPTER TWO: AL-GHAZAlI'S CONCEPT Of KNOWLEDGE ..... 39 A. The role of 'aql (intellect) ..... 41 - Hindrances to the 'knowing' process ..... 52 - Another way of knowing ..... 54 B. The merit of knowledge ..... 58 C. The classification of sciences ..... 62 - The practical sciences ('ilm al-mu'?lmalah) ..... 65 - The fard 'ayn sciences ..... 66 - The fard kifayah sciences 68 - The religious sciences 69 - The non-religious sciences ..... 73 - Spiritual science ('ilm al-mukashafah) ..... 77 • viÎ • CHAPTER THREE: AL·GHAZALI ON STUDENT AND TEACHER ..... 82 A. l're·school and maktab education of young children ..... 83 B. The education of character (tahdhïh al·akhlaq) ..... 88 C. The duties of the student 93 D. The duties of the teacher 104 E. Teacher·student relationship and the learning process ..... 112 F. The aims of education ..... 120 CONCLUSION ..... 124 APPENDIX ..... 126 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..... 131 • • viii • INTRODUCTION Education, it can be sai d, is an aspect of Islamic civilization about which not much information is to be found in comparison with other aspects of the saille civilization. Wh en in 1954 Ahmad Shalabï published his book, Historv of Mus/im Education, he opened his introduction with a complaint concerning the scarcity of materials on education that migr.t be consulted when he was writing the boole' 5halabï's complaint seems ta be justified since almost a decade later anothcr major scholar of this field declared that "the history of Muslim education is still • one of the comparatively dark areas in our knowledge of Muslim culture:'2 Since then, however, scholars have pa id more atcention to th, fi~ld and a numbc' of works have been published. Worthy of noting, among others, are those of Mehdi Nakosteen 3 and Seyyed Hossein Nasr:' George Makdisi has al 50 contributed invaluable works in this field.