Education System of Islam

After the declaration of prophethood, no proper system of education like today was established until ProphetMuhammad migrated to Madinah. The prime reason for this was the continuous oppression and persecution from the people of Quraysh. This does not mean that the people of Makkah were illiterate. In fact, they were considered the best when it came to language, literature, poetry and prose. The problem with their educational system (like the educational system of all the seven major civilizations mentioned before) was that it was not able to construct a society which was moral, ethical, just and prosperous. Resultantly, when the educational system of Islam came in to being, it gained immediate fame due to its positive effects on the society and humanity.

Islam is a constant struggle against ignorance. It promotes education and therefore, it was never a barrier to progress and science. It appreciates the intellectual activities of man to such a degree as to place him above the angels. No other religion went ever so far in asserting the dominance of reason and, consequently, of learning, above all other manifestations of life. ¹ In the Prophet’s view of the world, ‘knowledge’ which in its totality was a matter of the deepest concern for him, consisted of two principal parts. There was human knowledge, that is, a modern human knowledge of an elementary or more advanced character and a religious human knowledge; the latter constitutes the highest development of knowledge attainable to man, and it is the kind of human knowledge usually meant in the Quran where it preaches the importance of human knowledge. ²

Importance of Knowledge and Education

Islam acknowledges the acquiring of knowledge as a duty of every human being regardless of gender. ³ The reason why humanity is called ‘Ashraf-ul-Makhluqat’ or ‘the best of all creations’ is because of knowledge. This knowledge not only refers to the religious education only, but included knowledge about the world and its components as well. Regarding knowledge, Muhammad bin Idrees Al-Shaf’ai also known as Imam Shaf’ai says:

العِلْمُ عِلْمانِ: عِلْمُ الأَدْيانِ، وَعِلْمُ الأَبْدانِ. ⁴

Knowledge is of two types: Knowledge of religion and knowledge of the body.

Prophet Muhammad’s concept of ‘knowledge’ set intellectual life in Islam on its unchangeable course. ⁵ This quote clearly shows that education in the Islamic civilization was not merely limited to religion only, because the word ‘abdan’ is an Arabic plural word for body which alludes the mind towards science. Moreover, the word religion itself has a very vast meaning. Religion is not limited to the prayer, rituals or worship only, but rather it also comprised of all the social aspects as well. So, the quote was guiding humanity to gain knowledge about faith, social sciences and other sciences as well.

Islam is a system of education which aims at developing an integrated personality in a harmonious way. It concerns itself with the education of the man in his totality - body, mind and soul. It gives a spark of divine light that gives meaning to life and urges man to play his part to achieve his destiny. It urges man to strive for the constant development of his faculties at every stage of life. On the constant endeavor depends the growth of one's individuality. Individuality according to Islam, is not a datum but an achievement, the food of constant and strenuous effort in struggle both against the forces of environment and against the disruptive tendencies within man himself. ⁶

Knowledge was also the reason why the angels prostrated in front of Prophet Adam . ⁷ Even the first revelation sent down to Prophet Muhammad was regarding education. The Holy Quran states:

اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ 1⁸

Read with the name of your Lord Who created.

God Almighty could have revealed any verse in the beginning since He is able to do all things ⁹ but, he revealed ‘Read with the name of your Lord Who created’. This not only implies the heralding of God's message but also preaching, promulgating and dissemination of Truth at all levels and by all who read and understand. The pursuit of education in Islam is therefore a divine commandment. ¹⁰ Secondly, in Islam religion and science did not go their separate ways. In fact, the former provided one of the main incentives for the latter. ¹¹

The ancient world was pre-scientific. The astronomy and mathematics of the Greeks were a foreign importation never thoroughly acclimatized in Greek culture. The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were altogether alien to the Greek temperament. Only in Hellenistic Alexandria was any approach to scientific work conducted in the ancient classical world. Science arose in Europe as a result of a new methods of experiment, observation, measurement of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced in to the European world by the Arabs (Muslims). ¹² Ibne Miskawayh, Ibne Rushd, Al-Farabi, Al-Kindi, Abu Ali Sina etc. played the most important role in this regard.

Education and Knowledge were deemed so important that even Prophet Muhammad was urged to pray ‘My Lord, bestow me more knowledge’. As the Holy Quran states:

... وَقُلْ رَبِّ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا 114¹³

and pray, My Lord, bestow me more knowledge.

‏

The word used in this verse is ‘علما’ which means knowledge in general. So, Prophet Muhammad was praying for all forms of knowledge and not just knowledge pertaining to religion only. If Prophet Muhammad , the greatest of all creations, was yearning for knowledge, then the importance of knowledge in Islam can be easily understood from this example as well. Secondly, wisdom can never be attained without acquiring knowledge. As the Holy Quran states:

يُؤْتِي الْحِكْمَةَ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَنْ يُؤْتَ الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ 269¹⁴

Allah bestows wisdom on whomever He wills; and whoever receives wisdom has received abundant goodness; but none heed advice except men of understanding.

This verse clearly states that the people who receive wisdom actually receive abundant goodness. Wisdom signifies sound perception and sound judgement. It also states that none heeds advice except men of understanding, so to attain better understanding and wisdom, it becomes mandatory to acquire knowledge. So, in other words, Islam deems education and knowledge to be so important that it has made as a prerequisite for abundant goodness.

Moreover, according to the Holy Quran and Ahadith, an illiterate person and a knowledgeable person are never considered to be equal. A knowledgeable person has a far more exalted status than the ignorant one. As the Holy Quran states:

... قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ... 9¹⁵

Proclaim, ‘Are the knowledgeable and the ignorant equal?’

... يَرْفَعِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ دَرَجَاتٍ ... 11¹⁶

Allah will raise the believers among you, and those given knowledge, to high ranks.

The Islamic civilization stressed the importance of education to the extent that even war prisoners were freed after they imparted education to the people of Madinah. The incident is recorded as:

أسر رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يوم بدر سبعين …وكان أهل مكة يكتبون، وأهل المدينة لا يكتبون، فمن لم يكن له فداء دفع إليه عشرة من غلمان أهل المدينة يعلمهم، فإذا حذقوا فهو فداؤه. ¹⁷

Prophet Muhammad took 70 prisoners on the day of Badr… The people of Makkah could write but the people of Madinah could not. Hence those prisoners who could not afford to pay for their freedom were offered freedom if they could teach writing to 10 people from Madinah.

Such an example is not found in any of the other civilizations of the world. The others made war prisoners as slaves who were treated brutally or sold them, but the Muslims not only treated them well, but also felt no hesitancy in acquiring education from the learned ones among them.

Methods of Acquiring Education

Islam recommended methods for acquiring education which were not only modern but also opened up new research avenues which could benefit humanity and also guide it towards the right path.

Firstly, it clarified that all human knowledge specifically came from God. Thus, it was evident that human beings could never know more than God. ¹⁸ Even the angels know only what God has taught them. ¹⁹ Nothing of the divine knowledge can be known except if God wills it. ²⁰ Indeed, the prophets are in the possession of a knowledge coming to them from God such as ordinary human beings do not possess ²¹ and they disseminate some of that knowledge to human beings as well. After clarifying the main sources of knowledge, Islam gave the following methods to acquire education:

Empirical View of Acquiring Knowledge

According to this view, knowledge is acquired through the sensory experiences ²² namely through sight, smell, hear, taste and touch. At various places in the Holy Quran, the humans are encouraged to obtain knowledge via their senses because it is considered as an important tool in acquiring it. As the Holy Quran states:

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَالْفُلْكِ الَّتِي تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِمَا يَنْفَعُ النَّاسَ وَمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مِنْ مَاءٍ فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَتَصْرِيفِ الرِّيَاحِ وَالسَّحَابِ الْمُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ 164²³

Indeed in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the continuous alternation of night and day, and the ships which sail the seas carrying what is of use to men, and the water which Allah sends down from the sky thereby reviving the dead earth and dispersing all kinds of beasts in it, and the movement of the winds, and the obedient clouds between heaven and earth – certainly in all these are signs for the intelligent.

أَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ فِي جَوِّ السَّمَاءِ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا اللَّهُ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ 79²⁴

Have they not seen the birds, subservient in the open skies? No one holds them up except Allah; indeed in this are signs for the people who believe.

In the first verse, some examples are given and it is clearly mentioned that the examples are the signs for the intelligent people who ponder in cosmology. These signs can either be seen, felt, tasted, touched or heard, hence humankind is being encouraged to gather their information empirically and think about it. Secondly, God knew that the capability of the sensory system was limited, and there was a strong possibility that the brain with its limited capabilities could have led humankind astray, hence in the second verse, God asked humankind to ponder upon the information which they gather through their sight, and then to ensure that they did not go astray, he guided them to the right path by providing the information which humans could never have gathered through their sensory systems only. So, the Islamic system encouraged data collection and research via the sensory receptors but kept the humans under check so that they worked for the betterment of humans instead of destroying them.

Rational View of Acquiring Knowledge

Under this view, knowledge is acquired and tested through reason. ²⁵ The Holy Quran heavily stressed upon the people to use their reasoning skills in pursuit of God and success in both worlds. As the Holy Quran states:

وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ فِي الْأَنْعَامِ لَعِبْرَةً نُسْقِيكُمْ مِمَّا فِي بُطُونِهِ مِنْ بَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَدَمٍ لَبَنًا خَالِصًا سَائِغًا لِلشَّارِبِينَ 66 وَمِنْ ثَمَرَاتِ النَّخِيلِ وَالْأَعْنَابِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِنْهُ سَكَرًا وَرِزْقًا حَسَنًا إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَةً لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ 67²⁶

And indeed, in cattle is a lesson for you; We provide you drink from what is in their bellies – pure milk from between the excretion and the blood, palatable for the drinkers. And from the fruits of date and grapes, for you make juices and good nourishment from them; indeed in this is a sign for people of reason.

الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَى جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا ... 191²⁷

those who remember Allah while standing, sitting or (reclining) on their backs, and reflect in the creation of the heavens and the earth, (saying): Our Lord! You have not created this in vain.

The word عبرۃ means ‘reaching truth through another truth’. So, if any human has this quality, he will have a better chance of progressing. This verse also emphasizes the fact that those people who destroy this quality by blindly following others, they are unable to progress or achieve any success. ²⁸

The world and the things which it contains could have been of a single color, and made of a single element, but God beautified it so that humans could use their sense of reasoning and realize their creator. Secondly, when they would ponder upon these things, they would also be able to get maximum benefit out of them without destroying the planet or its inhabitants.

The second verse refers to the fact that with the help of those signs one can easily arrive at the Truth, provided that one is not indifferent to God and looks at the phenomenon of the universe thoughtfully.

When people look carefully at the order of the universe, it becomes clear to them that it is an order permeated by wisdom and intelligent purpose. It is altogether inconsistent with wisdom that the man endowed with moral consciousness and freedom of choice, the man gifted with reason and discretion, should not be held answerable for his deeds. This kind of reflection leads people to develop a strong conviction that the After-life is a reality. This conviction is a true blessing because due to it, people begin to seek God's refuge from His punishment. ²⁹ This is why God stressed upon rationality at various locations of the Holy Quran, so that humankind could succeed in both worlds.

Revelation as a Source of Knowledge

Among the various religions of the world, only Islam emphasizes that the human faculties of sense and reasoning (alone) are, in their very nature, incapable of arriving at accurate and sure knowledge of the ultimate facts both through logical reasoning and mathematical reasoning. It also gives us a message of hope and imparts to us a very plain and conveying guidance in this behalf.

In general, there are two factors in every act of knowledge namely, the subject and the object. As regard to the process of knowledge, it is possible in two ways namely: the subject may embrace the object with the instrument of knowledge which, in the case of man, are sense and reason: the object may reveal itself to the subject. The usual path of knowledge is the first one, and it is this which science (empiricist) and philosophy (rationalists) employ, and because the finite cannot embrace the infinite, the attempts of science and philosophy at solving the ultimate problems end in failure.

The third path of knowledge is the path of revealed religion. This path is a matter of experience in the scientific field also is known to all scientists. For instance. There are planets which are far away from the farthest horizon that able to penetrate. Those planets enter the horizon only for a while after very long periods of time. Thus, instead of the powers of the astronomical instruments going out, so to say, to embrace them, they themselves reveal their existence by moving for a while into their embrace from a position where their existence cannot be known, and after that revelation they again disappear into the unknown. Those whose gaze is fixed and whose instruments of observation are focused on that horizon see that and know them. While others affirm their existence afterwards only on the base of authority, because verification through observation does not remain possible after the disappearance of those planets.

This physical world, the world of sense-experience in quality as well as quantity is only a part of the unknown and infinite universe. But it brings home to us an important fact. The farther a thing is moved qualitatively (i.e., as regards its difference from us in its nature and constitution and function) or quantitatively (i.e., in space or time). The greater becomes the necessity for the first path of knowledge to give place to the third path. i.e. revelation.

Islam emphasizes this all-important fact of revelation. It affirms the existence of god and says that he is the creator and cherisher of the universe. Also, that He is the All-powerful All-knowing and Omnipresent. He possesses perfect knowledge of the origin. The constitution and the function of everything. And his knowledge comprehends the past, the present and the future. And he not only possesses that knowledge but has also revealed to humanity the correct guidance on the ultimate and intricate problems which defy correct and sure solution by means of senses and reason. His Revelations came, much like the distant planets mentioned in the foregoing argument, through spiritual Luminaries who appeared on the horizon from time to time. Those spiritual luminaries included men like Adam , Abraham , Moses , Jesus , the last among them being Prophet Muhammad and the last revealed book as the Holy Quran. ³⁰ As the Holy Quran states:

كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِيكُمْ رَسُولًا مِنْكُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِنَا وَيُزَكِّيكُمْ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ 151³¹

The way We have sent to you a Noble Messenger from among you, who recites to you Our verses and purifies you, and teaches you the Book and sound wisdom, and teaches you what you did not know.

عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ 5³²

The One Who taught man all what he did not know.

These also endorse the fact that humanity, with its empirical and rational knowledge was wandering in the abyss of darkness and misguidance, and was unaware of itself, its Creator and the universe at large. It was God who educated humanity about everything it did not know and would never have known if God had not sent knowledge through his golden chain of Prophets.

Prophet Muhammad was the archetype of perfect moral character who demonstrated to mankind the practical aspect of Islam. He set the precedent of excellent behavioral conduct which was followed by and become custom of Muslims across time and space. This means that data from hadith is full with strategies, methods, techniques, tools and procedures to promote good behavior. ³³

Islamic Education System

When Prophet Muhammad was in Makkah, he sent a teacher to Madinah before he himself migrated to that place. Immediately after the Hijrah, Prophet Muhmmad , in spite of enormous preoccupations in connection with defensive and pre-cautionary measures, found time to supervise the work of eradicating illiteracy from Madinah.

He appointed Said ibn al-As to teach reading and writing who was reputed to write a good hand. The Holy Prophet was so much interested in this matter that a year and a half after his migration, when scores of Makkans were taken prisoners by him after the victory of Badr, he asked those among them who were literate, that each one of them should teach ten children of Madinah how to write.

After that, Prophet Muhammad established Suffah, which was literally an appurtenance of a house, was an enclosure connected with the Mosque of the Prophet in Madinah. ³⁴ This was set apart for the lodging of newcomers and those of the local people who were too poor to have a house of their own. This was a regular residential school where reading, writing, Muslim law, memorizing of chapters of the Quran, tajwid (how to recite the Quran correctly), and other Islamic sciences were taught under the direct supervision of the Prophet , who took pains to see to the daily requirements of the boarders including food and boarding. ³⁵ The students also earned their living by working in their spare hours.

The school of Suffah provided education not only to the boarders but also for day-scholars and casual visitors attended it in large numbers. The number of the boarders in Suffah varied from time to time and a record shows that at one time there were seventy living in the Suffah ³⁶ which was a great number according to that time, locality, conditions and circumstances of newly born Muslim State. Besides the local population, batches of students from far-off tribes used to come and stay there for a while and complete their course before returning to their country. Often, the Holy Prophet asked some of his trained companions to accompany the tribal delegations on their return journey in order to organize education in their country and then return to Madinah.

In the early years of Hijrah, it seems to have been the policy of the Holy Prophet to ask all those people who embraced Islam from the people living outside Madinah, to migrate to the proximity of the metropolis, where sometimes he allotted them crown lands for colonization. The military and religious reasons which might have actuated this decision are obvious. Ibn Sa'd records, that once Prophet Muhammad sent a teacher, as usual, to a tribe recently converted to Islam, who asked the tribesmen to leave their homes and migrate to Madinah.

A delegation of the tribe set out for Madinah, waited on Prophet Muhammad and was enlightened. Prophet Muhammad explained to them that if they found difficulty in leaving their country on account of some vested interests, it was not at all incumbent upon them to come over to Madinah. They would nevertheless be treated just as those who had embraced Islam and had migrated to Islamic territory.

The dispatch of teachers was a regular feature of the educational policy of the Holy Prophet throughout his life in Madinah. In the case of Bi'r Ma'unah, he dispatched 70 of his best Quran-knowers because they had to deal with a vast country and a very large tribe. The arrival of batches of students was not the less frequent. As said above, the Holy Prophet personally took interest in the school and boarding house of Suffah where they were generally lodged.

Suffah was not the only school in Madinah. It is also quoted that at a certain time, a batch of 70 students attended the lectures of a certain teacher in Madinah, and worked there till morning. There were at least nine mosques in Madinah even in the time of Prophet Muhammad and each one of them served simultaneously as a school. The people inhabiting the locality sent their children to these local mosques. Quba was not far from Madinah. Prophet Muhammad sometimes visited there personally and supervised the school. He also enjoined upon people to learn from their neighbors.

Prophet Muhammad also taught personally and many prominent companions regularly attended these classes and learnt the Quran and his teachings. Sometimes, Prophet Muhammad inspected the study circle in his mosque and if he found any incongruity, he at once took steps to put it right. ³⁷ Some of the ways through which Prophet Muhammad imparted education are given below:

Imparting Knowledge by Lessoning

All these modern pedagogies which are generally followed in the todays’ teaching and learning processes have their roots in the life of Prophet Muhammad and his methodology of teaching, spreading and propagation of Islam. This can be easily be seen in the following hadith:

Abu Hurairah narrates that Allah’s Apostle entered the mosque and a person followed him. The man prayed and went to the Prophet and greeted him. The Prophet returned the greeting and said to him, ‘Go back and pray, for you have not prayed’. The man went back and prayed in the same way as before, returned and greeted the Prophet who said, ‘Go back and pray, for you have not prayed.’ This happened thrice. The man said, ‘By Him Who sent you with the Truth, I cannot offer the prayer in a better way than this. Please, teach me how to pray.’ Prophet Muhammad said, ‘When you stand for Prayer say Takbir and then recite from the Quran (of what you know by heart) and then bow till you feel at ease. Then raise your head and stand up straight, then prostrate till you feel at ease during your prostration, then sit with calmness till you feel at ease (do not hurry) and do the same in all your prayers.’ ³⁸

Imparting Education via Asking Questions

Prophet Muhammad would also pose questions for which he did not provide answers so that he could test the knowledge and intelligence of his companions. Ibn Umar reported that the Holy Prophet said, ‘There is a tree whose leaves never fall, and which is like the believer. Can you tell me what it is? People began to call out the names of trees of the countryside; and it occurred to me, said Ibn Umar, that it was the date-palm, but I was too shy to say it. Finally, they asked the Messenger of Allah to tell them what it was, and he said: It is the date-palm.’ ³⁹

Equality among Students

In classrooms all over the world, it is a common practice for teachers to separate the strong students from the weak. The latter of which are delegated to less challenging classes that do nothing to nurture the mind while the ‘smarter’ students are given every opportunity to excel. However, Prophet Muhammad made no distinction between students based on intelligence level, social standing or any other classification that separates us in society. He also never sought to exclude or expel anyone from the religion of Islam, but rather delivered a message that was all-inclusive to the whole of mankind. ⁴⁰

Abdul Rehman bin Auaf and Usman Ghani used to sit in the same gathering where Abu Hurairah and Bilal used to sit which was a clear sign of equality in the gathering of the Prophet Muhammad without any distinction of cast, creed, financial or social discrimination including their intellectual level.

Appreciation and Rewarding Good Behaviors

To establish a stable and balanced society, the safest way to do this is to reward and appreciate positive action. To be loved and appreciated is what people crave. In the process of learning, people conclude from the appreciation and approval of the educators what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Prophet Muhammad also appreciated encouraged and rewarded good behaviors so that the people could get more motivation to do good acts. Ibn Abbas narrates: "One day I prepared some water in a pot so that the Prophet could perform ablution. When the Prophet saw the pot, he asked who had prepared it. Once he learned that it was me who had prepared it, he prayed for me, O Allah! Increase his understanding in religion.” ⁴¹

Comprehension with Metaphors and Similes

One of the best pedagogies is to educate the students via using metaphors and similes to comprehend the topic and its examples. The information given with the help of a metaphor or allegory becomes more noteworthy in the mind, and is remembered for much longer. For this purpose, the Holy Prophet highlighted the significance of the prayer with such a metaphor: ‘What would you say if there were a river in front of a man's house and he bathed in it five times a day, would he remain dirty? Those who were there replied: No, no dirt would remain on that man. Upon this Prophet Muhammad said, ‘This is how it is with the five daily prayers. Allah Almighty cleans sins by their means.’ ⁴²

Teaching with Demonstration and Practice

One of the most effective ways of teaching is demonstrating by means of practice. People do not forget what they are taught with practice. Teaching by practice was and is the most fruitful method of teaching. Prophet Muhammad used to teach several times by practical demonstration as it is mentioned in the tradition of Sunan Abi Dawud that Prophet Muhammad saw a boy who was skinning a sheep and said to him: ‘Let me teach you.’ He put his hand between the skin and the meat until he reached up to the armpit of the sheep, and then he said: ‘Skin it like that, young man!’ ⁴³ likewise, there are many other examples found in which Prophet Muhammad used to teach his followers offering Salat, performing ablution etc. or ask his trained followers to guide the others by practical demonstration.

Teaching by Diagrammatic Presentation

Prophet Muhammad used various tools to impart education. Abdullah bin Masood reported that the Prophet once drew a square and a line in the middle of the square, which extended outside the square. He then drew some lines on both sides of the middle line. He then asked whether they knew what it was. The companions replied that only God and His Messenger knew the best. He then explained to them that the square represented the lease of life, the middle line a human being and the sidelines on both its sides were the calamities and diseases, which continuously tear him/her apart. If one calamity missed him another one befell him. The line outside the square was hope. ⁴⁴

Appointment of Sophisticated People

It was the decided policy of Prophet Muhammad , that only the most learned in people conduct the religious service which implied the chieftainship of the place, tribe or town, and so people vied with each other in learning and passing the tests of government schools. These attempts proved extremely fruitful, and literacy spread so rapidly that very soon after the Hijrah, the Quran prescribed compulsory records in documents and attestation of at least two persons for every transaction on credit, however small.

Obviously, this could not have been enforced without a large diffusion of literacy among the inhabitants of the Muslim State. The writing down of the wahi (revelations), political treaties and conventions, state correspondence, enlistment of militia, permanent representation, especially in Makkah, to inform the central government of what was going on in other countries and states, census and many more such things were in those days directly connected with and necessitated the expansion of literacy. More than 200 letters of Prophet Muhammad have come down in history and many more must have been lost since the Holy Prophet ruled over a country of over a million square miles in area for a whole decade.

Prophet Muhammad was the first to introduce seals in Arabia. His care for legibility may be gathered from his obiter dicta, that you must dry the ink on the paper with the use of dust before folding it, that you must not omit the three curves of the letter (س) and not dash it with a single stroke of as it shows carelessness and laziness; that you must put the pen, during the intervals of writing, on your ear since this is more of a reminder to one who dictates.

Already in the time of the Prophet Muhammad , specialization had developed considerably and Prophet Muhammad also encouraged it. He used to motivate those who intended to learn Quran to go to a person who was specialized in it, and likewise for the learners of mathematics and other subjects to go to those who were experts in their respective fields.

There are several traditions forbidding teachers to accept any remuneration, which shows that it was a custom of long standing to reward the teacher. Ubadah ibn al-Samit relates that he taught the Quran and the art of writing in Suffah and one of the pupils presented him with a bow. Prophet Muhammad , however, commanded him not to accept gifts from the students.

As the head of the State, the Holy Prophet required the services of those who knew foreign languages. Zaid ibn Thabit , the chief amanuensis of the Prophet , is reputed to have learnt Persian, Greek, Ethiopian, and Aramaic. And at the express instance of Prophet Muhammad , he learnt the Hebrew script in some weeks. It was he who wrote letters addressed to Jews and it was he who read out the letters received from them to the Holy Prophet . ⁴⁵

Subjects, Syllabus and Training

The question of the course and syllabus is difficult to pronounce upon with exactitude, since the teacher rather than the course was the main factor. Still we can glean this much of information that besides the all-embracing Quran and the Sunnah, the Prophet Muhammad enjoined instruction in shooting (of arrows), swimming, mathematics of dividing a heritage in the Quranic proportions, the rudiments of medicine, astronomy, genealogy and the practical phonetics necessary in reciting the Quran. Again, the teacher was to be treated with respect.

The Arabs of Makkah laid great stress on purity of language and on desert life free from the vices of the cosmopolitan Makkah. So, they used to send their newborn babies to various tribes in the interior of the country for several years. Prophet Muhammad himself had undergone this useful training and remembered it in his later life. Again, as commerce was the main profession of the Makkans, young men were apprenticed to leaders of caravans.

Some distinction was made even in those early days between the education of children and that of adults. Shooting and swimming were expressly enjoined upon children. Again, the Holy Prophet said that boys of seven should be taught how to take part in religious service, and should be compelled at ten if they disregarded it. ⁴⁶

Education of Girls

As stated above, Islam had made it compulsory for boy and girls to acquire education. ⁴⁷ Girls were educated separately. Prophet Muhammad set apart a special day when he lectured to women exclusively and replied to their questions. ⁴⁸ Spinning was regarded by him as their special occupation. A tradition records that he asked a lady to teach the art of writing to one of his wives. Ayesha was so gifted in Islamic Jurisprudence and Muslim sciences besides letters, poetry and medicine that the Holy Prophet is said to have remarked that she mastered half of the human sciences. The Quran had also specially enjoined upon the wives of Prophet Muhammad to teach other women ⁴⁹ and girls so that all the females in the society become educated.

Education of Slaves

Islam is the only religion in the history of the world which stated that education needed to be imparted to the slaves and that it was a virtue to free them. The Holy Prophet said:

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: " ثلاثة لهم أجران: رجل من أهل الكتاب، آمن بنبيه وآمن بمحمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، والعبد المملوك إذا أدى حق الله وحق مواليه، ورجل كانت عنده أمة فأدبها فأحسن تأديبها، وعلمها فأحسن تعليمها، ثم أعتقها فتزوجها فله أجران. ⁵⁰

Who possesses a slave girl and teaches her and teaches her well and trains her and trains her well, and then liberates her to marry her as a regular wife, he shall have double merit.

This hadith portrays the basic ideology of Islam regarding education. Islam wants education to be imparted to every individual even if the person is a slave, and secondly, it motivates the people to eradicate slavery by manumitting the slaves without taking any monetary or benefit from them.

Imparting Education to Distant People Free of Cost

Gradually the Muslim State, which at first consisted only of a part of the city of Madinah, extended far and wide in the Arabian Peninsula, and not only nomadic tribes but also settled Arabs of towns and cities embraced Islam in large numbers. The conversion to the new faith necessitated a very extensive educational service embracing the million square miles under the Muslim sway in the time of the Holy Prophet . Teachers were sent from Madinah to important centers and the provincial governors were made responsible for the organization and control of local schools.

Historical records contain the duties which were given to Amr ibn Hazm as governor of Yemen. They contain express instructions for the diffusion of knowledge of Muslim sciences, the Quran, Hadith and jurisprudence. Daily ablutions, weekly baths, congregational services, yearly fasting and the pilgrimage to the Kaabah were also to be taught by the governor-teacher.

To enhance the standard of provincial education, the Holy Prophet appointed in Yemen an inspector-general of education, who was a touring officer in the various districts and provinces who looked after the schools and other educational institutions. ⁵¹ This way education was spread far and wide and the performance was also closely monitored.

The Quran, which is the core, final, ultimate and commonly accepted book of Islam and its civilization, is full from the beginning to the end, of most unequivocal and vehement denunciation of unimaginative imitation, enjoining original thinking and personal investigations. No other religious Book in the world has laid such stress on the study of nature, the sun, the moon, the tide, the approaching night, the glittering stars, the dawning day, plants and animal life, presenting them all in testimony of the laws of nature and the power of the Creator. According to the Quran, knowledge is unending and the whole universe is made subservient to man, the Agent of God in this world.

In the Hadith also learning has been praised lavishly and learned people have been declared to be the best of men and even the inheritors and successors of prophets. ⁵² In Islamic polity, therefore, the main task of education is to discipline man to participate in the process of his own true growth. In this context, he is to be disciplined to submit to God's Will and this would be possible if he would be endowed with the disposition to be humble. In the Islamic civilization, the student would be educated to exert to the best of his ability to discriminate between truth and falsehood between good and bad, between right and wrong and will be given the inner resources and provided with the motivations with which to labor for causes that count so that the higher law shall come to prevail in preference to the satisfaction of his lower cravings - which are conditioned by his animal impulses. ⁵³

Therefore, the Islamic civilization considered education as a need which was imparted to every citizen, unlike the other civilizations which made it a luxury and it was only available to those who could afford it. Secondly, education was not only limited to a certain area only, it was spread far and wide so that the whole of humanity could benefit from it. Due to this educational system, areas which had little or no education became centers of knowledge. In this civilization, the same standard of education was imparted to the rich, poor, women and slaves and it was due to this reason that the state of Madinah developed so rapidly and poverty, crime, and other social evils were eradicated from it. Moreover, it was the continuous encouragement of the Islamic civilization that great strides were made in the fields of science and others, which in the end benefited humanity.

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• ¹  Syed Abdul Quddus (1987), The Challenge of Islamic Renaissance, Royal Book Company, Karachi, Pakistan, Pg. 53.
• ²  Franz Rosenthal (2007), Knowledge Triumphant: The Concept of Knowledge in Medieval Islam, Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, Vol. 2, Pg. 31.
• ³  Muhammad bin Yazeed bin Majah Al-Qazwini (2009), Sunan Ibn Maja’, Hadith: 224, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Pg. 42.
• ⁴  Abul Hussain Mubarak bin Abdul Jabbar At-Tuyuri, At-Tuyuriyat, Maktaba Adwa As-Salf, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 3, Pg. 1164.
• ⁵  Franz Rosenthal (2007), Knowledge Triumphant: The Concept of Knowledge in Medieval Islam, Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, Vol. 2, Pg. 19.
• ⁶  Syed Abdul Quddus (1987), The Challenge of Islamic Renaissance, Royal Book Company, Karachi, Pakistan, Pg.53.
• ⁷  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 31-34
• ⁸  Holy Quran, Al-A’laq (The Clot) 96: 1
• ⁹  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 20
• ¹⁰  Syed Abdul Quddus (1987), The Challenge of Islamic Renaissance, Royal Book Company, Karachi, Pakistan, Pg. 54-55.
• ¹¹  Rom Landau (1959), Islam and the Arabs, The Macmillan Company, New York, USA, Pg. 165-166.
• ¹²  Robert Briffault (1919), The Making of Humanity, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, U.K., Pg. 191.
• ¹³  Holy Quran, Ta-Ha 20: 114
• ¹⁴  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 269
• ¹⁵  Holy Quran, Az-Zumar (The Group) 39: 9
• ¹⁶  Holy Quran, Al-Mujadilah (The Argument) 58: 11
• ¹⁷  Abu Ahmed bin Zinjawee (1986), Al-Amwal Li Ibne Zinjawee, Markaz Al-Malik Al-Faisal Lil Bahoos wa Dirasaat Al-Islamiya, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Pg. 309.
• ¹⁸  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 140
• ¹⁹  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 32
• ²⁰  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 255
• ²¹  Holy Quran, Al-A’araf (The Heights) 7: 62
• ²²  Stathis Psillos & Martin Curd (2008), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science, Routledge, New York, USA, Pg. 129-138.
• ²³  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 164
• ²⁴  Holy Quran, Al-Nahl (The Bee) 16: 79
• ²⁵  Encyclopedia Britannica (Online Version): https://www.britannica.com/topic/rationalism: Retrieved: 21-08-2019.
• ²⁶  Holy Quran, Al-Nahl (The Bee) 16: 66-67
• ²⁷  Holy Quran, Aale Imran (The Family of Imran) 3: 191
• ²⁸  Ameen Ahmed Islahi (2016), Tadabbur-e-Quran, Faraan Foundation, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 4, Pg. 457-458.
• ²⁹  Towards Understanding the Quran (Online Version): https://islamicstudies.info/tafheem.php?sura=3&vers e=188: Retrieved: 22-08-2019
• ³⁰  Dr. Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rehman Ansari (1989), The Quranic Foundations and the Structure of Muslim Society, World Federation of Islamic Missions, Karachi, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 44-46.
• ³¹  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 151
• ³²  Holy Quran, Al-A’laq (The Clot) 96: 5
• ³³  Wan Mazwati Wan Yusoff & Asyraff Hafdzan Abdullah (2015), Journal of Social and Educational Research: Evaluation of Prophet Muhammad’s Techniques in Managing Misbehaviors: Application in Primary School Classrooms, MCSER Publishing, Rome, Italy, Vol. 5, No. 1, Pg. 186-187.
• ³⁴  Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, Educational System at the Time of Holy Prophet ﷺ, Digital Copy Published by drmhamidullah.com, Pg. 12-13.
• ³⁵  Ahmed bin Muhammad Abu Abdullah Al-Shaibani (2001), Al-Musnad Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, Moasisat-ur-Risala, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 29, Pg. 246.
• ³⁶  Abdullah bin ‘Abdul Rehman Abu Muhammad Al-Darmi (1993), Sahih Ibn Habban Bitarteeb Balban, Moasisat-ur-Risala, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 2, Pg. 457.
• ³⁷  Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, Educational System at the Time of Holy Prophet ﷺ, Digital Copy Published by drmhamidullah.com, Pg. 12-13.
• ³⁸  Abu Abdullah Muhammad Bin Ismail Al-Bukhari (1997), Sahih Al-Bukhari (Translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan), Hadith: 757, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 1, Pg. 424.
• ³⁹  Abu Abdullah Muhammad Bin Ismail Al-Bukhari, Sahih Al-Bukhari (Translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan), Hadith: 61, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 1, Pg. 90.
• ⁴⁰  Mizan ur Rehman, Education, Teaching Methods and Techniques in the Early Years of Islam During the Era of Prophet Muhammad, IJRDO-Journal of Business Management, Vol. 4, No. 2, Haryana, India, Pg. 15.
• ⁴¹  Muhammad Bin Yazeed Abu Abdullah Al Qazweeni (2007), Sunan Ibn Majah (Translated by Nasiruddin Al Khattab), Hadith: 166, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 1, Pg. 31.
• ⁴²  Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj Al-Neshapuri (2007), Sahih Al Muslim (Translated by: Nasiruddin Al-Khattab), Hadith: 1522, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 2, Pg. 172.
• ⁴³  Abu-Dawud Sulayman bin Al-Ash’as Al-Sajistani (2008), Sunan Abu Dawud (Translated by: Yaser Qadhi), Hadith: 185, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 1, Pg. 124.
• ⁴⁴  Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail Al-Bukhari (1997), Sahih Al-Bukhari (Translated by: Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan), Hadith: 6417, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 8, Pg. 235-236.
• ⁴⁵  Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, Educational System at the Time of Holy Prophet ﷺ, Digital Copy Published by drmhamidullah.com, Pg. 13-19.
• ⁴⁶  Ibid.
• ⁴⁷  Muhammad bin Yazeed bin Majah Al-Qazwini (2009), Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith: 224, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Pg. 42.
• ⁴⁸  Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail Al-Bukhari (1997), Sahih Al-Bukhari, Hadith: 101, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Pg. 23.
• ⁴⁹  Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, Educational System at the Time of Holy Prophet ﷺ, Digital Copy Published by drmhamidullah.com, Pg. 19.
• ⁵⁰  Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail Al-Bukhari (1999), Sahih Al-Bukhari, Hadith: 97, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Pg. 22.
• ⁵¹  Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, Educational System at the Time of Holy Prophet ﷺ, Digital Copy Published by drmhamidullah.com, Pg. 19-21.
• ⁵²  Ibid. Pg. 21.
• ⁵³  Syed Abdul Quddus (1987), The Challenge of Islamic Renaissance, Royal Book Company, Karachi, Pakistan, Pg. 56.