The Artificial Dichotomy

In order to fully grasp the nature of Islamic education and its problems in the present day and age, it is important to understand the existing systems of education.

Muslim countries in general have a dichotomous system of education. One, going back hundreds of years, which encompass our religious schools (the madrasah or the pesantren), with the central objective of producing imams, teachers of religion or in the best case scenario, scholars.  The second, a relatively recent by product of the colonial era, in which lie our public schools, and universities, with the central objective of producing a nation's workforce in all aspects of our lives other than religion.  Granted that there have been efforts of one to try to incorporate the other, but in general the efforts, and their results have been rather limited.  The systems have run in parallel, and integration has not yet been proven successful.

Both systems, or approaches, have their pros and cons, but it should be clear that any one of them, alone by itself, has not proven sufficient to cater the needs of Muslims, whether as individuals, or as nations. The traditionalists have tried to hold on to the religious schools, as if being in a position of withstanding an attack on religion itself.  And this, in our opinion, is incorrect, because these systems themselves are not rooted in the pristine Islamic tradition, where there was no dichotomy, but rather if we study closely, they are a late medieval, or in many countries, a post-medieval phenomenon.  The modernists have held on to the so called "secular" systems of education, in hope of bringing us successfully into the 21st Century.  There has been limited success to this end, but the cost, in terms of erosion of our values and creating a chasm between the essential facets of life, has been alarmingly excessive.

Hence, our thesis is that an ideal Islamic education system should not be bifurcated, but rather integrated, and hence be able to completely eradicate this artificial, yet fatal, dichotomy, which is based on a lopsided world-view.

Graduates from our educational institutions should be well equipped to handle their responsibilities as good human beings. This will include good character,  and a holistic approach towards religion incorporating all facets of human endeavor, without separating the "deen" from the "duniya".