Name:- Numan Mustafa

Roll No. 67

Class:- B.Ed(Hons)5th Semester

Subject:- Foundation of education

Topic

IMAM GHAZALI’S EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY

Introduction• Imam Ghazali was born in 1059 AD near Tus in

Khurasan, a part of the then Persia.• He is also known as Hujjatul Islam.• Imam Ghazali mentions in his book Al-munqudeen-

al- dalal, that he spent 38 years in the search of truth from place to place and studied different schools of thoughts of that time.

• He was offered the post of head of Nizamia School in Baghdad.

• Imam Ghazali ’s skepticism continues from another ten years, in which he wondered in many palaces including, Makkah, Yathrab and Syria.

He also performed several pilgrimages to Makkah and once took an oath, while standing beside the stone of Abraham (Maqam-e-Ibrahim) in the Khana Kaaba. He swear that;

• I will not go to the court of any king• I will not get any money from rulers• I will not indulge in any type of discussion with

scholars.

• Imam Ghazali died in 1111 Ad. • He has written number of books including the “Revival of

Islamic knowledge” (Ahya-e-uloom Islam) and “Incoherence of philosophy “ (Tahafat-ul-filasafa)

• He provided rational basis for the Islamic beliefs and integrated Sufism and individual beliefs, to give a holistic picture of Islam in helping to reunite Muslims of the world. People criticize him for the lack of use of reason in Islam. As an educator, he is the greatest and most influential educators of Islam and has great influence on the modern educational thoughts.

The importance of Knowledge:

According to Ghazali, knowledge can bring us closer to God as well as enhance worldly respect and position. Knowledge, according to him is not relative but has an entity in itself. It can raise the status of the individual, create self respect and take him to the highest position.

According to Ghazali, there are four categories of Knowledge;

i. Propheticii. Rulersiii. Philosophers/scholarsIv. Preachers

i. Prophetic:Prophets convey the message of God

regardless of any discrimination and help to purify the inner self.

ii. Ruler:They use their authority, legislation and

rules to train and guide the society.

iii. Philosophers/scholarsTheir knowledge benefits only selected individuals but for benefiting masses.

iv. PreachersThey are meant to fulfill the religious

needs of the society and train outer and inner self. Their is to promote knowledge, improve the life of people, and help them to acquire desirable through education.

Ghazali divides knowledge into two types

i. Useful or desirable knowledgeii. Useless or undesirable knowledge

i. Useful knowledge: It is further divided into two

Farz-i-Ain: (Compulsory) This knowledge is obligatory for all and contains the knowledge of Islam

Farz-i-Kafaya: (Optional)This knowledge is optional and depends on the will of the individual. It is further divided into two;

Worldly knowledgeReligious knowledge

ii. Useless Knowledge:Although no knowledge is useless, it is

not desirable if it can create an undesirable effect such asIf it harms somebody like magic etcIf it leads to thinking about God. Ghazali says that these matters should be left only to prophets and saints.

• Aims of Education:• Ghazali based his aims of education on Islamic

ideology.• According to him, the major aim of education is

that it is useful. The knowledge gained as a result of education should be useful both for individual and the society. It means that the aim of education is character building of individual so that it could differentiate between good and evil and avoids following the evil path.

Johnn Herbart proposed the same ideas about 700 year after the demise of Ghazali.

Psychological concepts of Ghazali:Ghazali raises the basic question whether the

human instinct is based on good or evil. He has presented his ideas in the light of Quran and Hadith. According to him good or evil are not physical and is not instinctual. Humans can be transformed by education and training. Rousseau expressed similar idea in 18th century.

Ghazali seems impressed by the Greek philosophers. According to Aristotle there are two types of creations in the world. i.e.

Perfect creation: These are perfected like moon , sun etcImperfect creations like seed of tree, which is imperfect in the sense that it has the ability to become a tree.

According to Ghazali, human beings are imperfect creatures and are similar to the seed. They have the ability and capacity to become perfect, only the suitable conditions are required. According to him, good character means good deeds.

Ghazali has given the following four ways in which deficiencies can be identified and removed.

Perfect teacherSuch teachers that have spiritual insight and knowledge and has the ability to analyze deficiencies of others

Close friends:We can identify our deficiencies with the help of our close friends

Foes:We can know more about our deficiencies from our foes.

Self analysis:Ghazali also stresses on self-analysis from time to time.

Curriculum:Ghazali strongly criticizes the curriculum of his time. He raises the basic question of criteria for selection of subject matter for curriculum. He studied the various curriculum's in his times and reached the following conclusions:

More time is spent on religious education and worldly education is completely ignoresWorldly education is equally importantWhile teaching religious education , a great number of differences arise among the teachers, which result in mud slinging on each other.

• No place for character building in curriculum• Ghazali recommended that curriculum should be

composed of obligatory (Farz-i-Ain ) And optional (Farz-i-Kafaya ) knowledge. It should be a combination of religion and worldly education.

• Ghazali included industrial education, textile, agriculture, tailoring and hair cutting in the curriculum

• This indicates that Ghazali ’s educational ideas are progressive.

• Ghazali also stresses the acquisition of philosophy and logic

Methods of Teaching and Techniques:

Ghazali has recommended the following teaching methods and techniques, which are based on psychological principles. These methods and techniques are widely used and educators all over the world agrees with their usefulness.Teaching lessons to be based on previous knowledge and experience of the students.This helps to know the ability, knowledge and aptitude of the learner and helps to motivate students towards the lesson which is very important for the educational process. John Herbart and Pestalozzi recommended the same principle about 700 year after Ghazali.

Simplifying the lesson:Teachers should simplify the difficult

concepts by stories, tales etc other wise his teaching will not be effective.

Move from simple to complexGhazali stresses that teachers should

first teach simpler concepts and when the students are motivated towards lesson, then he can introduce complex concepts.

Proper planning Ghazali stresses the importance of planning

and advises that teachers should do his preparation before teaching , for effective teaching.

Affection:The teachers should avoid the use of force . He should be like a father to his students and should use love and affection instead of corporal punishment. Use of force can lead to bad habits among students

Teacher and students should also have good social relationship

Avoid double standards:Teacher is like a guide to students. He should not be a hypocrite and should breed good qualities like, honesty, good etiquette, good moral character etc

Abilities of students:Ghazali stresses that while teaching the abilities of students should be kept in mind. Concepts, which are above the mental level of the students will not make the teaching effective.

Female education:Ghazali ’s ideas about female education are different from modern day. He is only in favor of elementary education for women so that they could play their due role in society. He is not in favor of higher education for females. Rousseau has similar ideas.

Ghazali also stresses acquisition of home-related knowledge for women.

Physical education:Ghazali has greatly stressed the physical education for children. He believes in old Greek axiom “ sound mind in sound body”

He suggests proper clothing for children so that they could develop and grow properly. He suggests avoid tight and fit clothing.

He also stresses the importance of good and simple, diet for good physical growth.

Discipline and Imam Ghazali’s philosophy:Khalid (2005) stats Imam Ghazali forwarded very

important views about discipline. He is not in favour of maintaining discipline on the basis of fear and intimidation. Discipline should be maintained on the basis of love and understanding. He is in favour of developing a good relationship between the students and the teachers. The teacher should not scold the students and treat them with kindness and sympathy. The teacher should act as a role model for the students. He is deadly against of using punishment in educational institutions, because it did not bring any positive result in the learners. It does not encourage students to be creative and flourish their minds.

ConclusionKhalid (2005) says Imam Ghazali was a great Muslim educationist and presented many fruitful theories, aims, methods and curriculum of education. He suggested a utilitarian type of education to enable the learner to carry a successful vocation and profession. He emphasis personal experiences and teacher- pupils’ relationship. The same views have been presented by the modern educationist even after lapsing of one thousand years. Whatever he had presented many years before is implemented today. He was a great educator.In short we can say that the contribution of Ghazali to education, what he said later reflected by western educators. That was actually originated in the times of Ghazali.