Objectives of the presentation

 By the end of this presentation

participants will be able to:
 understand the ghazali,s
philosophy
 Explain his educational thoughts
relted with philosophy
 Assess his influence of
educational thoughts on system
of education
2
Background
 Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) known in europe as
Algazel, is one of the most illustrious scholars
who became renowned for his vast learning.
 Imam ghazali was born in 1059 AD at Toos a
place in Khurasan situated in Iran.
 He got his early education from his native town
and later on searched for knowledge up to the
age of thirty seven or thirty eight.
 He studied religious and various sects of islam
in depth and detail.
 Imam Ghazali gained comprehensive and in
depth knowledge. He become popular as a 3
 He enlightened the world through his
writing about the state and its affairs and
politics, philosophy and education and
training sociology of life and ethics.
 He kept on teaching for whole of his life .
 In his thirties, he become the principle
teacher at, Madarsah Nizamiyyah of
Baghdad. That is the well known
institution of higher learning in Eastern
Islam
 His interest areas are theology,
sufism,logic,philosphy and jurisprudence
 His ideas on education dominated Islamic
educational thought after his death.
4
His remarkable work
 His masterpiece book “ Ihya Uloom al-
Din” which means in English “ The
Regeneration of sciences”. One of the
most appealing topics of this book is the
chapter on ‘knowledge where he shed
light as to what is knowledge
 About teaching and training he
presented his ideas in a famous book
“Kemia-e-Sadat”.
 5
The ontological concept:

 Allah is the absolute reality who is the

Creator and Sustainer of the universe
 Allah created Man and led him to the
path of ultimate salvation.
 According to Al-Ghazali, the various
objects of universe are not the ultimate
reality but the creatures of Allah who is
the greatest administrator .and the
Sovereign ruler.

6
Epistemology concept
The following represents an outline of the
epistemological concept of Al-Ghazalli:
 Knowledge exists potentially in human
soul like the seed in the soil.
 Knowledge can either be innate or
acquired.
 The sensory knowledge is not reliable. It
does not lead to the ultimate reality.
 The prophets are granted the ultimate
knowledge by Allah. The commoners
should follow the teachings of the
prophets. 7
Epistemology concept

 He has divided knowledge into two

parts; religious knowledge and
secular knowledge.
 The former is acquired through Quran
and Hadith. It is the most dignified
knowledge is developed to enhance
the understanding of the former.
 Basic sources of knowledge are Quran
and hadith
8
 Axiology concept
 According to Al-Ghazali securing the will
of Allah is the highest value.
 Spiritualism is the way that leads to the
ultimate reality. Following represents the
outline of the axiological concepts of Al-
Ghazali:
 An individual should be educated and
trained in a way that the human traits
dominated animal
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Axiology concept

 An individual must have an

awareness of good and evil. This
awareness will lead to the
accomplishment of personality.
 There are two type of good:
positive good and negative good.
Positive good refers to do good
deeds and negative goods means
to avoid bad deeds.
10
 the concept of self
 Al-Ghazali discuss the concept of self and the
causes of misery and happiness.
 He describes the self using four terms Kalb
(heart), Rooh (spirit) , Nafs (soul) , Akal
(intellect).
 He states that the self has an inherent desires
for an ideal.
 He further states that the self has motor and
sensory motives for fulfilling its bodily needs.
 The motives comprises of impulses. He further
divides the impulses into two types: appetite
and anger. He writes that appetite urges11

hunger, thirst and sexual craving while anger

 The human Supremacy:
 human beings occupy a position “midway
between animals and angels and his
distinguishing quality is knowledge.
 He further argues that a human can either rise
to “the level of the angels with the help of
knowledge “ or fail to “the levels of animals by
letting his anger and lust dominate him”,
Knowledge is a Divine gift bestowed on the
human beings.
 Acquisition of knowledge should be the top
priority of an individual.
 Each individual is forced to learn because of
his/her nature to learn. 12
Significance of education

 Discriminating line
 Indispensible need
 Natural need
 Acquisition of Allah
 Dynamic truth
 Comprehensive success
13
Objectives of education
system
 Acquaintance with Allah
 Securing the divine will
 Preservation of culture
 Character formation
 Life perfection
 Preparation for the hereafter
 Balanced development
 Promotion of Islamic values

14
curriculum
 There are two types of knowledge
 Beneficial knowledge and harmful
knowledge
Obligatory
knowledge
Beneficial
knowledge
Optional
Knowledge
knowledge

Harmful Harmful for

knowledge the society
15
beneficial knowledge

obligatory
Quran

ethics

Language
&interpretaion

16
Beneficial knowledge

agriculture
Optional

carpentry
cookery

17
Harmful knowledge

Pick pocketing
harmful

magic

Astrology
&palmistry

18
Teaching methods

 Principle of natural tendency

 Principle of cognitive ability
 Principle of facilitation
 Principle of pervious knowledge
 Principle of gradation
 Principle of individual difference
 Principle of lesson preparation
19
Role of teacher

 A teacher occupies high position in the

educational process
 The work of teacher is like the labor of the
farmer who uproots the weeds, trims wheat so
as it grows better and gives a better harvest.
 The teacher should guide the students in the
right direction and take responsibility of them.
 He/She must as tender to his/her pupils s if
they were his/her own children
 He/She must correct the moral lapse of the
student .
The teacher should set an example so that
20

 Role of teacher
 The teacher should not criticize the subject
taught by the another.
 The teacher should adopt his/her teaching to
the capacity and ability of the students.
 He/she must respect less gifted students and
not overburden their capacities.
 The teacher should allow the students to have
recreation.
 First and foremost, a teacher is a father of
his/her students.
 He /she must teach for the sake of God not for
material gains. 21
Role of student
A student is the most essential elements
of the educative process. Following are
the responsibilities of a student
according to Al-Ghazali:
 He/she must be polite and attentive to
all.
 He/she must learn to respect and obey
his/her parents, teachers and elders.
 He/she must be observe the rule of
cleanliness, avoid from unclean sources,
lying and violent language. 22
Role of student

 The students must not be

excessively proud or jealous.
 He/she must act towards Allah as
he/she would wish his/her
servant towards him/her.
 He/she should treat every human
as his/she would like to be
treated himself/herself
23
 The role of parents in the
personality development of
children is very substantial. The
parent should not neglect the
upbringing and education for
children.
 The parent should ensure that their
children study in the proper
environment and with the right
Islamic mindset in order to obtain
24
CONCEPT OF WOMEN EDUCATION

 Women education should be in

conformity with their sex role.
 The education should get to
fulfill their practical
requirements.
 The education may include
children education ,home
economics and health and
physical education.
25
 Al-Ghazali directs the teachers to behave tenderly
and sympathetically with the children.
 According to him, a model teacher has to face no
difficulty in maintaining discipline in the students.
 if discipline problem arises. It should be
attempted to resolve through “in stage process”.
 overlooked first
 use of indirect signs and gestures
 established administrative norms.
 pointed out in the presence of his/her
fellows. 26
Concept of discipline

 In spite of all these measures,

if the child does not give up
his/her wrong behavior he/she
should be physically punished.
 This punishment can extend
just to three sticks.

27
impact of his philosophy

 Utility oriented education

 Education and psychology
 Concept of beneficial knowledge
 Concept of women education
 Code of ethics for teachers
 Professional education
 Physical education
 Teaching principles
 Comprehensive objectives of education
 Classification of science
28
References
Haque, Amber (2004), "Psychology from Islamic
perspective: contributions of early Muslim scholars
and challenges to contemporary Muslim
psychologists", Journal of Religion &
Health, 43 (4): 357–377, doi:10.1007/s10943-004-
4302-z
 Rahman, M. R., & Yucel, S. (2016). The Mujaddid of
His Age: Al-Ghazali And His Inner Spiritual Journey.
UMRAN - International Journal of Islamic and
Civilizational Studies (EISSN: 2289-8204),3(2).
doi:10.11113/umran2016.3n2.56
 Soussi, K. (2016). Al Ghazali Cultivates Education: A
Comparison with Modern Theories. Islamic
Spirituality : Theology and Practice for the Modern
World,4(11). doi:10.5040/9781474297820.0013 29
References

Macdonald, Duncan B. (1899). "The life of

al-Ghazzali", in Journal of the American
Oriental Society. 20, p. 122 sqq.
Justin Parrott (2017) Al-Ghazali and the
Golden Rule: Ethics of Reciprocity in the
Works of a Muslim Sage, Journal of
Religious & Theological Information, 16:2,
68-78, DOI:
10.1080/10477845.2017.1281067
Smith, Margaret, “The Forerunner of al-
Ghazali ”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society, 1936, pp. 65–78.
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