Islamic Education: Quality and the Delivery of Human Excellence

Islamic Education: Quality and the Delivery of Human Excellence

Ideology adopted by a country will be the basis for the system of education policy. The policy is particularly associated with the two main things: educational goals embodied in the format of the curriculum and the role of the state in meeting the educational needs of society. The education system adopted by the Islamic Caliphate is a whole system that emanated from ideology or creed of Islam. In the Islamic Caliphate, educational goals, curriculum structure and role of the state in education is formulated in accordance with the guidance of Islamic sharia.

The purpose of education
held by the Islamic Caliphate is to establish an Islamic personality (syakhshiyah Islamiyah) of every Muslim as well as equip themselves with a variety of science and knowledge related to life.

Education in Islam is a basic need as the need to eat, drink, clothing, housing, health, and so forth. The state must ensure quality education for all citizens free of charge to universities with the best possible facilities (An-Nabhani, Ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah, pp. 283-284).

Structurally, the education curriculum in the Islamic Caliphate are translated into the three components of the subject matter: (1) the establishment of the Islamic personality, (2) mastery tsaqafah Islam, (3) and mastery of life (science and technology, expertise and skills). The curriculum is followed by various state policies intended to achieve the objectives outlined. One important policy in this case is related to education costs are cheap and even free. In Islam, the state is obliged to provide cheap or free education to its citizens, both Muslims and non-Muslims, so they could carry out its obligations or meet their primary needs, ie education. Messenger of Allah. said:

Imam (Caliph) is the administrator of the people and he will be held accountable for the affairs of its people (Bukhari and Muslim).


Islamic Sharia in matters of education is certainly not to be separated from the Islamic sharia as a whole, particularly in natural resource management issues. In view of sharia, water (wealth river, sea), grassland (forest), oil and gas and minerals are huge numbers is a common property or people. Khalifah served to coordinate the management of these natural resources and distribute them to the people to finance education, health care, and so forth.


Gold History of Islamic Education

The triumph of Islamic education in the Islamic Caliphate was inscribed with gold ink in history. Western historians, Jacques C. Reister, objectively admit that the past five hundred years Islam has mastered the world with its power, science and high civilization. According to Montgomery Watt in his book, The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe (1994), European civilization was not built by the regeneration of their own. Without the support of Islamic civilization into the bike, the West has nothing in it.

Education in the golden glory of the Islamic caliphate can be illustrated as follows.

First: the provision of educational facilities and qualified by the Khilafah to enable science is growing rapidly. State guarantees free education for all citizens. The state also provides the broadest opportunity for them to continue their education to a higher stage. All infrastructure facilities provided by the state. In the past there Madrasah al-Muntashiriah, for example, which was established by Caliph al-Muntashir Billah in the city of Baghdad. At this school every student receives a scholarship worth one dinar of gold (4.25 grams of gold) a month. Their daily lives are also fully guaranteed by the state. There is also an-Nuriah Madrasah in Damascus which was founded on 6 H-century by the Caliph Sultan Nur al-Din Muhammad Zanky. In this school there are other facilities such as student dormitories, faculty housing, a resort, the waiters and great room for lectures and discussions.

Muslim empire built many libraries with a very rich collection of books which show high Islamic civilization at that time. In historical records, in the 10th century, in Andalusia alone there are 20 public libraries. Among them is the famous Public Library Cordova, who then have no less than 400 thousand titles of books. Darul Hikmah Library in Cairo to collect no less than 2 million titles. Tripoli Public Library in Syria, which once burned by crusaders of Europe, collecting more than 3 million book titles, including 50 thousand copies of the Koran and its interpretation. Total collection of books in these libraries include the greatest of that era. Compare this with the Library of the Church of Canterbury who stood four centuries later, that the record Chatolique Encyclopedia, the library has no more than 2 thousand titles of books only.

During the Caliphate of Islam that is long enough, especially during the Abbasid Caliphate, such libraries are widely distributed in various regions Caliphate, among others, in Baghdad, Ram Hurmuz, Rayy (Raghes), Merv (Khorasan region), Bulkh, Bukhara, Ghazni, and so forth. Even a common thing at that time, in every mosque must have a library open to the public. Therefore, according to Bloom and Blair, the average level of literacy skills (reading and writing) in the Muslim world in medieval times higher than that of Byzantium and Europe (Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power, Yale University Press, London, 2002).

Second: education curriculum and the role of the Khilafah state that very well in the provision of education has spawned the world's leading Muslim scholars. Their monumental work in the fields of religion, philosophy, science and technology not only internationally recognized, but also the basis for the development of science and knowledge to the present. Among them was the Imam Syafii which according to al-Marwadi, his work is 113 books of tafsir, fiqh, civilized, and others. Yaqut al-Hamawi even say the number reached 174 book titles were mentioned by Ibn an-Nadim in Al-Fahrasat. The most famous is his book Al-Umm consisting of 4 volumes contains 128 problems and ar-Risala al-Jadidah.

Then there is Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal who is famous for his book, Al-Musnad. He also compiled books of commentary, an-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh, chronicle, and so forth. Also compiled books of Imam Ahmad Al-rituals of ash-Shagir and Al-Kabir, the book of Ash-Shalah, the book of the Sunnah, the book of al-Wara 'wa al-Iman, the book of al-'Ilal wa ar-Rijal, the book of al-Asyribah , one juz of Usul as-Sitta, and ash-Shahabah Fadha'il. The books of Imam Syafii and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal be a reference to this scholar and the subject of study in various universities in the world of Islam.

Triumph of education in the Khilafah is not only to produce scholars in the field of religion but also scholars in the field of science. Among them was Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna among scientists. His work is very well known, Al-Qanun fi ath-Tibb, which was translated into English The Canon of Medicine, is a world reference in the medical field for centuries. In his book, he writes encyclopedia millions of items of treatment and medicines. He is a record and describe human anatomy in full for the first time. From there he finds that every part of the human body, from head to tip of nails in the feet are related. Another masterpiece is the book of Ash-Syifa which consists of 18 volumes and is known in the world as an encyclopedia of philosophy of medicine.

Then al-Biruni, which by Western scientists, George Sarton (Introduction to the History of Science, 1927), categorized as the greatest scientist of all time. John JO'Connor and Edmund F Robertson in his book, History of Mathematics, said that al-Biruni had to contribute important in geodesy and geography because it was he who first introduced the technique to measure distances on earth using triangulation method. In his book, Al-Jawahir or Book of Precious Stones, al-Biruni describes a variety of minerals and classifies them based on color, odor, hardness, density and weight. Al-Biruni was the first scientist to suggest that the speed of light faster than the speed of sound.

The theory of relativity is a revolution of science mathematics and physics. According to historical records, 1000 years before Einstein's relativity theory trigger, a Muslim scientist in the 9th century AD has laid the foundations of relativity theory, namely al-Kindi. In his book, Al-philosophy al-Ula, al-Kindi argued that the physical earth and all physical phenomena (time, space, movement and objects) are all relative and not absolute. He was different from Galileo, Descartes and Newton who regard all phenomena as something absolute. Einstein's theory of relativity, published in La Relativite was allegedly influenced by the opinions of al-Kindi.

Muslim scientist al-Khwarizmi other is famous for its monumental book, Al-Maqalah Hisab fi al-Jabr wa al-Muqabilah, a version of English translation is The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing. Through his book, al-Khwarizmi has laid the branch of modern mathematics, namely algebra or Algebra. Carl B. Boyer (The Arabic Hegemony: A History of Mathematics), reveals that the book Al-Jabr al-Khwarizmi's work has outlined a complete calculation in solving the positive roots of polynomial equations to the second degree.

The development of the world of science was also spearheaded by al-Haitham or Alhazen. Research on the light has provided an important base for western scientists is Boger, Bacon and Kepler in the creation of microscopes and telescopes. Al-Haitham also have described the existence of the Earth's gravity before Isaac Newton put forward the theory. Jabir Ibn Hayyan As known in the West or the name of Geber is the foundation stone of modern chemistry. Ten centuries before Western chemist John Dalton (1766-1844) coined the theory of molecular chemistry, Jabir Ibn Hayyan (721M-815 AD) have been found in the 8th century AD His book entitled al-Kimya, or the translated version of The Book of Composition of Alchemy, has become a reference in various European universities for hundreds of years. Thanks to services Jabir, modern science can recognize hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, citric acid, acetic acid, distillation techniques and crystallization techniques. Not only that, there are hundreds of other Muslim scientists such as al-Farabi, al-Battani, al-Razi, Abu Nasr Mansur, and so on listed as world's most influential scientists (See: Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, New York 1970 -1990).

Success in leading the Muslim world through the triumph of education as described above certainly can not be separated from the institution that memayunginya that time, namely the Islamic Caliphate. No way the gold of birth history and science education as exposed above without the support facilities and infrastructure provided by the Khilafah state at that time. All the gold records the triumph of education above would suggest that the key to the triumph of the Muslims is the application of sharia in kaffah under the auspices of the Islamic Caliphate. And Allaah knows best bi-shawab ash.