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| SHARIA ON EDUCATION POLICY AS THE SEED OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT by Magashi Auwal Ibrahim (Moscow, Russia) Moslems in the past were known as the most zealous seekers of knowledge, one of them travelled all the distance from Bukhara (in the Uzbekistan) to the banks of Indus and the Amu-Dariya or from the Atlantic coast of North Africa and the Iberian peninsular to the far east, all in search for a witness on Hadith claimed to be related to prophet (PBUH).This search for knowledge by Moslem united the East and West, the Hellenistic Mediterranean and Indo-Iranian world, within the state of which a major cultural and scientific centres of the preceding epochs were created. The famous Alexzandrian School of physician scientist and philosophers also continue to function under the Moslems. This inculcated educational zealotry was also the characteristics of Nigerian Moslem of 18th century immediately after the Usman Danfodio's Jihad , the scholastic activities kept shining until when this unfortunate Almajiri educational system befallen the Ummah and corrupted the whole nation Islamic scholarship.. Almajiri educational system has never been a Sharia policy on education. In fact the system is an abuse to Sharia, that is why Maitatsine disturbances of December 18th remains as the living example of the mess of Almajiri. It was by this means Maitatsine successfully used the Qur'an as a bait to entrap genuine seeker of knowledge in which the naive students were used to cause the disturbance that resulted in loss of over 4000 lives and some thousand maimed. Most of the children who rush in to the cities to join the Almajiri institutions end up in being recruited in to destitution or banditism, the only few graduate of this system 'the Alarammas' do not even get the basic necessary Islamic knowledge. Sharia designs laws for developing ethics of education which if follow strictly will serve as the seed for Islamic community and Islamic civilisation. It formulates policies that respects man and encourages him to learn and gain knowledge where ever he finds it. The first Qur'anic revelation started with the command "READ" which can also imply writing books and research as well ,this demonstrated the importance of knowledge in reforming and developing man. Sharia shows that knowledge is the seed of any nation development that is why the call to look for and reflect it, is repeated in the Qur'an in over 23 places. Adam attained his exalted position over angels with knowledge and reflection, Qur'an went to the extent of declaring that "Those truly fear Allah, among his servant, who have knowledge (fadir:28) This necessitates the pursuance and promotion of learning by all Moslem and made it to tops the list of the acts of worship. Sharia makes it incumbent upon the leaders to create an atmosphere where it will flourish and advance. The scholars of the Moslem world, basing themselves on the achievements of their predecessors, made their own contribution to development of the natural and exact sciences. Medicine made great progress; in it the following immortalized their names: Muhammad ibn zakariyya ar-Razi (died in A.D.9250; bu Ali Ibn Siona ( c.980-1037), author of the famous Cannon of Medicine (al-qanun fit-tibb); Abu-I-Qasim az-zahrawi (tenth century),The Andalussian scholar and doctorr who had a great impact on the development of mediaeval surgery; Ali ibn al-Kahhal (i.e Eye-doctor ) (eleventh century), who was possibly the first to resort to anesthesia for operations on the eye; Ibn an-Nafis (thirteenth century), who discovered the lesser (pulmonary) circulation of the blood. Moslem mathematicians and astronomers deepened and refined the ideas of their Greek and Indian teachers. In the ninth century the astronomers Abu Maashar (died in A.D. 886) and Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khawarismi (died in the middle of the ninth century), worked in Baghdad. The latter was also the author of the works on algebra, arithmetic and mathematical geography (the term algebra-al-jabr-occurred in the title of his mathematical treatise kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala). The creation of the theory of trigonometric functions is linked with the name of the Harran mathematician and astronomer Battani (died 929). Ibn al- Haytham (956-1039),is famed in the history of optics. Biruni (973-1048), the creator of works on astronomy, mathematics, physics, mineralogy, history, geography, and ethnography, was a model of the encyclopedic scholar (of which there were many in the Moslem East). (A. Sagadeev and T. Ibrahim 1990 'classical Islamic philosophy') The creative work of Moslem scholars was distinguished by a search for practical application of theoretical constructs; an orientation to experience and observation, and in that connection broad use (and consequently invention) of all kinds of instruments and appliances; interest in quantitative methods of investigation, especially in such fields as physics, chemistry, astronomy, and geography. Moslem have all the working material at their disposal it remain only to exploit them and put it in to practical application, Qu'an is not only book of moral and ethics it contains all the essential materials of developing and promoting science and technology. those researcher who went deeper in studying the qur'anic science are always amazed to discovering a lot of new scientific findings within its two covers. Contemporary world's scientist are sincerely confessing this fact when ever they come across it. Immediately after the victory of the Badar's war the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) solicited the cooperation of the war captives to teach Madina's Children literacy as a ransom , this was the second Plan of development set by the Prophet (PBUH) when he arrived in Madina. The muslim must be 100% literate and the term literacy here I refer to include all the script (not only Arabic) that are associated with even none Moslem civilizations, Prophet (PBUH) has also strongly recommended his Ummah to acquire this literacy,. The Qur'an encourages Man to include all the sciences that are profitable to mankind and necessary for the achievement of his lively hood. Therefore a computer literacy is compulsory as the first quarter of this century there is hardly any technology that can operate without it. We must put an end to the dichotomy between the so called Western education (certified education) and Islamic studies. Qur'an is never bias in employing man to seek knowledge which one can draw benefit from, it only frowns at that which may cause harm , thus Qur'an warns "And they learned what harmed them not what profited them ."(2:102). Sharia proposed that all knowledge should be acquire under its guidance (qur'an and hadith) therefore it makes a system within which a Medical or Agricultural sciences will be taught together with the Qur'an and Hadith, this can also serve as a yard stick of the ethics of medicine or Agronomy . A graduate of this institution will be more productive to the Ummah since is expected to be a specialist who have thoroughly studied the Qur'an and Hadith and familiar with contemporary Fiqh books, and his contribution to the development of science and technology will definitely be far better than that of others who only passed through a secular education or Islamiyya independently. A graduate of Sharia's educational system will never embark in to strike or an industrial action unjustifiably giving government a mandate to pay him monthly a minimum of 70,000 Naira as atake home or he allows the death toll of hospitalized patient to rise up to 3000 in a couple of weeks. If the development of scientific thinking altered the scale of values, out look, and intellectual inquiries of Moslem whose world view could not help but go beyond the bounds of convictions held at the cultural level of the Arabians of the seventh century why not in the twenty first century the time when classical science itself assimilated by the Moslem world had a considerably synthetic character, this definitely will give rise to a profound interest in classical philosophy of national development educationally. The rejection of the western education by Moslem of the 20th century has contributed a lot to the backwardness of education in Northern part of Nigeria. They abhorred the system due to the fact that, it was introduced in to the region by colonial Christian Missionaries. Despite the effort of the then Northern elite to make some basic Islamic subjects being taught along with the social and natural sciences, the system was given a little approval of many Moslem scholars, who remained adamant to believe that the prophetic recommendation to seek knowledge is not restricted only to Islamic literacy. The system was ridiculously called "Makarantar Boko" or "Bo ko ko A wuta", these terms scared many of them. It reached to the extent in which the authorities had to use force before the parents allow their children to be trained under that system. Had it been it was the Moslem missionaries who brought this western literacy it would have received overwhelming recognition, that is why the dichotomy between the Islamiyya and Makarantar Boko continued to exist up to date. Another hindering factor is the belief that, by attending such educational institutions, one loses his Islamic ideals and cultural value. The present system has to be Islamized Since Qur'an is categorical in obliging man to pursue knowledge only in the name of Allah "READ IN THE NAME OF THY LORD .." here the question of acquiring western education for certificate sake in order to attain an economic prosperity should not be entertained. Of course this unguarded philosophy of seeking knowledge for only material benefit (materialism in education ) has exerted a negative impact on youths, and discouraged most of them from patronising the system, since it no longer serves as the order of the day. Many university graduates are now roaming on the street unemployed. Teachers in secular educational institutions are now demoralised, they feel that they become nothing now but a synonymous to poverty. Nobody respect them, even the pupils have no regard for them. Why the prestigious profession in the past now becomes as infectious as leprosy that almost every body is shying away from it? It is to the extent now that a male teacher can not even aspire to marry a woman of his choice. The use of capital letter "T" by young ladies to underrate teachers' status in our society has become the vogue of the days. Of course this constrains around teachers may disallow them to perform within the expectation. I was not surprised when i read the 1995/96 statistic report of the percentage of unqualified primary teachers, which showed that, Northern Nigeria had the worst record, Katsina State had recorded up to 76.31%; in Sokoto and Zamfara States it was 72.54%; 59.55% in Kebbi States; 59.18% in Jigawa States; 58.00% in Kano State and 31.02% in Kaduna State. "The national average of unqualified primary school teachers is 24.05% giving Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States the distinction having 300% more unqualified primary school teachers then the national average. Anambra, Ogun, Osun and Oyo record on 2% of their primary teachers being unqualified!" (Dr. Bala Usman). Teachers' role in reforming this Umma's literacy in the existing educational system can never be over emphasised, therefore if it meets with failure they are only the ones to be blamed. That is why Sharia recognises an Adib (an ideal professional teacher), only who combined wide-ranging secular education, crowned by the knowledge of Qur'an and Hadith with dedication to certain moral principles, sophisticated upbringing, and courteous behaviour. When I was a teacher at kano state polytechnic, my students were always amazed at the fact that Qur'an was the original source of some authentic scientific findings, as I used to give a supporting quotation from it during lecture. I encouraged them to read only in the name Of Allah, thus obeying the Qur'anic injunction which made it the duty of Moslems to study the world around them, because only by penetrating to the essence of things as God's creation could their creator Him self be comprehended. Many verses of the Qur'an spoke of that. It was unbelievable that the performance (especially in courses like crop-protection and farm practice) of these students was highly impressive. They did not find it difficult to believe Allah will abundantly reward whoever contributed directly or indirectly to feed the nation. This faith reshuffled their ambition for knowledge. Youths should be encouraged to pursue this knowledge with good intention, they should also be reminded to discard the idea of studying for the purpose of world-material benefit, and Sharia position on this issue is unambiguous. On the authority of Omar bin Al-Khattab, was reported to have been said:' I heard the messenger of Allah (PBUH) say': "Actions are judged according to intention, and every man shall have but that which he intended. Thus he whose migration was for Allah and His messenger, his migration was for Allah and His messenger, and he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was for that for which he migrated." related by Bukhari and Muslim. A good student is always a reflection of a good teacher, it is only in a rare cases you find a morally sound and culturally rich student being bred by morally bankrupted unskilled teacher. Now (Nigerian context), what are the solutions and from where to start? If only an authentic Sharia government is capable of addressing the aforementioned questions, then let us live with hope that the Sharia-adopted states are sincere in their agitation. |
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