3.5.1 QURANIC UNIVERSAL IN IDEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS
The Quranic Universal
The Quranic universals take their origin from the beautiful names of Allah Almighty who is the truth and reality. These names or attributes are the intrinsic qualities of his most perfect personality.The aim of human life, as also the purpose of education, is to develop as much as possible these attributes in every human personality. These attributes become the standard or the criterion by which we can measure the development of each individual person. When a child is lacking in a certain attribute, the teacher has to cultivate it in him through various educational means.The following Quranic universals have a direct effect on education.
- Rabubiyyat
- Assuming responsibilities
- Fulfillment of obligations
- Justice
- Beauty and goodness
- Distribution of wealth
- Respect for humanity
- Unity of mankind
- Freedom, tolerance, politeness
- Charity
- Aesthetic taste
- Creativity
- Subduing the forces of nature
- Protection of the weak
- Knowledge and understanding
- Emotions
- Self effort
Ideological (Islamic) states like Pakistan have certain hard core values like virtues, truthfulness, honesty etc. These values do not undergo any change over a given period. These values provide the overall frame work for determining objectives of education, of course taking into account other requirements of a society.
Since the Quran emphasizes purpose, clarity and effective communication, we must have clear-cut aims to start with. The fundamental aims will be stable and permanent while others will change with the march of time.
These aims must embrace the various aspects of human life including emotion and intellect, behavioral and non-behavioral, the material and spiritual, the process and the product. Beliefs, values and ideals constitute the core of Islam, and we should not shy away from our cultural core.
A balanced and creative synthesis should be our goal. Then from objectives we go to determine content, method of teaching and finally the evaluation and these are the main elements of curriculum. After evaluation, in case of need, we refer back to methods, contents, objectives etc and then finally to the values.