However, it is important to note that education has a dual function. One is to increase the student's own personal development and his awareness of the world he lives in. Education aims to equip the student with tools to make him a better person on two levels. The first level is to satisfy his own potential and inner self. 

The second level is let this satisfaction reflect in the human environment in which he lives in- by being morally good to his fellow companion. 

The second function of education is to give the student the tools necessary to learn a specific trade which eventually lead him to a job. The education system sifts the masses into different categories according to their ability, intellect and potential. 

Islam has always given considerable emphasis on the first function of education; that is to encourage personal awareness and inner peace. It sees education as a way of improving one's spiritual, mental and physical health, and a way to strengthen his bond with Allah. Anything a Muslim discovers will be a sign of Allah's power and might. The Qur'an touches upon this in this verse; "Undoubtedly, in the creations of the heavens and earth and in the mutual alternation of night and day, there are signs for men of understanding. 

Who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides, and contemplate in the creation of heavens and earth; (saying) 'O our Lord! You have not made it in vain' (Qur'an, 3; 190-191) 

However, The western education system has geared itself towards serving the interests of the state, at the expense of the individual. It only performs the second function of education; of sifting students into their appropriate jobs. No room is given for the personal development of the student- instead he is conditioned to give priority to state needs, not personal ones. This, in effect, results in the student being educated, but not enlightened. His education means he knows things, but he doesn't understand them. 

The result? A student can go through the whole education system in England, starting from nursery until University. It is quite possible -in fact, probable- that along the way, he would not have been taught once to be a good person, to be morally good, or to tell the truth. This is simply because the education system in the West is not geared towards creating better humans. Similarly, a biology student can learn about the human anatomy in the most intrinsic of details, but not once is he asked whether this precision in the human body means there is a Creator. It's geared towards creating better workers who will serve the capitalist system, earn more money, and create artificial pleasures for the worker. 

If we need prove for such thoughts and theories, we do not need to look far. 

True, the Western Education system has brought us space travel, the cloning of a sheep, the Internet, mass communication and cures for countless medical problems. But simultaneously, the same education system has brought us Schizophrenia, mass depression, psychological problems, insomnia, spiralling suicide rates, drug and drink related problems. All of these problems have arisen because the education system never let them develop their individual self or to learn for the sake of inner-enlightenment and personal satisfaction. Instead it just turned them into beings whose education was for the sake of getting a job only. It turned them into mindless nuts, bolts and cogs, which serve the capitalist, material-orientated system. Hamza Yousuf comments; "In public high schools, you are not given tools, you are given information and data. In fact, a metaphor that is used in education today is that you're basically a hard drive that needs to be written with a given software. You will then fulfil whatever are the social needs of the society. Schooling today is designed only to matriculate people into the logic of the system itself. Then people end up in meaningless jobs doing meaningless work, and never really think about what type of society they're contributing to." 

In short, Islam encourages religious and non-religious education to further man's understanding of the world, and to realise that they are all signs of Allah's might. He becomes an educated being who is at ease with himself. Nor does it hinder a person from benefiting from this knowledge in this world, by taking up a specific trade or profession. Western education, on the other hand, encourages education to serve this world only. A product of this type of education is prone to all types of disease- depression, confusion, psychosomatic disorders etc.