Islamic Education PDF

**3.5 Islamic Education** The word Islam is derived from the Arabic word Islam which means submission, therefore Islam means total submission to the Will of Allah (Almighty). Islam has been the religion of all the prophets before Muhammad bn Abdullahi (PBUH) who was chosen by Almighty in the first...

**3.5 Islamic Education** The word Islam is derived from the Arabic word Islam which means submission, therefore Islam means total submission to the Will of Allah (Almighty). Islam has been the religion of all the prophets before Muhammad bn Abdullahi (PBUH) who was chosen by Almighty in the first half of the 7 Century as the last HOLY prophet and messenger of Allah to the people of Makka and to all mankind at large. A Divine Book called Qur'anul-Kareem (meaning Glorious Quran) was sent to him by Allah as guiding principle of the religion. From Makka to Madina in present day Saudi Arabia, Islam spread all over the world. The Muslims are urged to seek for knowledge as the first thing that was revealed to Muhammad (PBUH). In the Qur'an, it was stated thus\ \ "**Read, in the name of your Lord who created man from a clinging substance. Read, and your Lord is the most generous! Who taught by the pen and taught man that which he knew not**".\ \ The Muslims' search for knowledge, which began in the Mosque during the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) developed into a widespread system of schools and universities all over the Muslim world. Islamic scholars and the Arab world contributed to the development of modem education and world civilization. Islam reached the Savannah region of West Africa and early rulers of the West African kingdoms such as Mali. Ghana. Songhai etc were Muslims who promoted learning, intellectual development and literary. Cities of Timbuktu, Borno and Sokoto became famous as centers of learning. The elementary Islamic education school is named after the Glorious Quran as Quranic schools or Makarantar Allo (in Hausa language) or Ile Kewu (in the Yoruba language). As early as the third year of life. Muslim children are introduced to the first stage of Islamic Education. At this stage the pupils learn shorter chapters of the Qur'an by rote. The teacher recites to his pupils the verse to be learnt and they repeat after him, he does this several times until he is satisfied that they have mastered the correct pronunciation. Then the next verse is introduced and the process is repeated. When this too has been sufficiently understood the two verses are then linked by reciting them together. Memorizing new verses and linking them with previously memorized ones, the whole of short chapters are memorized and learnt by rote. The chapters which are memorized at this level are those the pupils may need or use for their daily prayers. This level has three stages of learning reading in Arabic as follows: i. ii. iii. In all the three stages above, the pupils use wooden slate and local ink in writing the verses which are to be learnt. The advanced level also called "Makarantar Ilimi" (i.e Schools of Advanced Knowledge) operates in mosques, private teachers' houses, under shades of trees or premises specially built for advanced learning. The curriculum of the advanced level provides textual studies of standard books on Arabic language, jurisprudence, theology, Arabic grammar, syntax, literature etc. In addition to chapters committed to memory in the primary level and the traditions of the prophet (hadith), the Malam or teacher reads a portion in the Quran or other books and give the meaning in the local language with further explanation as required. It is at this stage that the student decides in what area he wishes to specialize and strive to attain perfection in it. He also has to learn from more than one teacher and continues to acquire more proficiency in the Arabic language and be able to read, understand and interpret many of the works of earlier scholars in his specialization to be licensed as a malam (teacher). The main features of the Islamic Education are that: - It is religious and morally based - The method of teaching is highly individualized - The curriculum emphasizes cognitive development since learning is essentially by rote. - It is less concerned with the acquisition of vocational skills - There is no formal examination in the system. **3.6 Missionary Education in Nigeria** Western education in Nigeria was introduced by the Christian Missionaries. The aim of missionary education includes: - 1. to covert the souls of Africans into Christianity, 2. to civilize the Africans and 3. to produce interpreters who will help them in their Missionary activities. It is these schools that train church workers and interpreters. The first missionary body to arrive in what is now Nigeria was the Catholic missionaries in company of Portuguese traders. In 1515 Catholic missionaries set up a school in the Oba's palace in Benin for his sons and the sons of his chiefs who were converted to Christianity. By 1571 the Catholic missionaries established a seminary at San Tome off the Coast of Nigeria terrain for Africans church workers as Priest and Teachers. From San Tome they visited places and established schools. The efforts of Catholic missionaries were put to an end by the Slave trading activities. The second attempt to introduce western education came up as a result of putting an end to slave trade and the influence of liberated slaves who traced their families and saw the conditions they lived in contrary to their socialization. In 1841 some emigrants who had settled in Badagry who were freed slaves invited Christian missions from Free Town at Sierra Leone. The freed slaves invited the missionaries to come and save the souls of their people from the barbaric life style they were living. The first missionary body to answer the call of the freed slaves was the Wesleyan Methodist missionary society who in 1842 sent Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman to establish a mission house which he established in Badagary together with a school. This, effort marked the beginning of English speaking Christian missionary activities in Nigeria and at the same time the beginning of Western type of education. From 1842 different missionary bodies arrived Badagry, Lagos, Eko or Calabar. These missionary societies founded schools whenever they established mission station. From the coastal area of present Nigeria, the missionaries entered the hinterland of the south and eastern coast of Nigeria. According to Fafuawa (2004) the big four missions that participated in the missionary education in Nigerian were: - - The Wesleyan Methodist society of London. - The American church missionaries' society (also called Anglicans), - The American Baptist mission - The Roman Catholics mission. - The Presbyterians Church of Scotland - The Basel mission - The Qua Ibo mission of Northern Ireland. In the early distribution of schools, the mission favored the west Nigeria where they had a longer contact. Thus, out of ten mission schools in the south by 1914, nine were located training institute in Calabar. The first mission primary school had been opened in Lagos in 1843 while the first mission school in the north was in Lokoja in 1866. Infact, in the north except for Gbele and Lokoja there was no Christian missionary Station in northern Nigeria before 1900. This late appearance of Christian missions in the north undoubtedly caused the late introduction of western education in this part of the Country. They were greatly restricted by the fact that Muslim Emirs had, during the period of pacification, secured pledges from the government which made it difficult to admit the mission into the emirates regions without their consent. In 1898 Bishop Tugwell of the CMS sought and received Lugard's permission to penetrate Hausa land. They established the Hausa Mission in Zaria and opened a school in Bida for Malams which was to be secular. In 1907 Dr. WR S. Miller of the CMS started two schools for boys and Malams in Zaria which all failed like other efforts for so many reasons.