Pakistan is my Home.

1. Aamir Ali
B.ED(1.5 Year)
The Islamia University Of Bahawalpur.

2. Introduction
 Imam Ghazali was born in 1059 AD near Tus in Khurasan, a
part of the then Persia.
 He is also known as Hujjatul Islam.
 Imam Ghazali mentions in his book Al-munqudeen-al-
dalal, that he spent 38 years in the search of truth from
place to place and studied different schools of thoughts
of that time.
 He was offered the post of head of Nizamia School in
Baghdad.
 Imam Ghazali ’s skepticism continues from another ten
years, in which he wondered in many palaces including,
Makkah, Yathrab and Syria.

3.  He also performed several pilgrimages to Makkah and once
took an oath, while standing beside the stone of Abraham
(Maqam-e-Ibrahim) in the Khana Kaaba. He swear that;
 I will not go to the court of any king
 I will not get any money from rulers
 I will not indulge in any type of discussion with scholars.
 Imam Ghazali died in 1111 Ad.
 He has written number of books including the “Revival of
Islamic knowledge” (Ahya-e-uloom Islam) and
“Incoherence of philosophy “ (Tahafat-ul-filasafa)

4.  He provided rational basis for the Islamic beliefs and
integrated Sufism and individual beliefs, to give a holistic
picture of Islam in helping to reunite Muslims of the world.
People criticize him for the lack of use of reason in Islam.
As an educator, he is the greatest and most influential
educators of Islam and has great influence on the modern
educational thoughts.

5. The importanceof Knowledge
According to Ghazali, knowledge can bring us closer to God as
well as enhance worldly respect and position. Knowledge,
according to him is not relative but has an entity in itself. It
can raise the status of the individual, create self respect and
take him to the highest position.

6. Accordingto Ghazali,therearefourcategoriesof
Knowledge;
i. Prophetic
ii. Rulers
iii. Philosophers/scholars
Iv. Preachers

7. Prophetic
Prophets convey the message of God regardless of
any discrimination and help to purify the inner self.
Ruler
They use their authority, legislation and rules to train
and guide the society.
Philosophers/scholars
Their knowledge benefits only selected individuals
but for benefiting masses.

8. Preachers
They are meant to fulfill the religious needs of the society and
train outer and inner self. Their is to promote knowledge,
improve the life of people, and help them to acquire desirable
through education.

9. Ghazalidividesknowledgeintotwo types
 Useful or desirable knowledge
 Useless or undesirable knowledge

10. Usefulknowledge
It is further divided into two
Farz-i-Ain: (Compulsory)
This knowledge is obligatory for all and contains the
knowledge of Islam
Farz-i-Kafaya: (Optional)
This knowledge is optional and depends on the will of the
individual. It is further divided into two;
Worldly knowledge
Religious knowledge

11. UselessKnowledge
Although no knowledge is useless, it is not desirable if it can
create an undesirable effect such as If it harms somebody like
magic etc If it leads to thinking about God.
Ghazali says that these matters should be left only to prophets
and saints.

12. Aimsof Education
Ghazali based his aims of education on Islamic ideology.
According to him, the major aim of education is that it is
useful. The knowledge gained as a result of education should
be useful both for individual and the society. It means that
the aim of education is character building of individual so that
it could differentiate between good and evil and avoids
following the evil path.
Johnn Herbart proposed the same ideas about 700 year after
the demise of Ghazali.

13. Psychologicalconceptsof Ghazali
Ghazali raises the basic question whether the
human instinct is based on good or evil. He
has presented his ideas in the light of Quran
and Hadith. According to him good or evil are
not physical and is not instinctual. Humans
can be transformed by education and training.
Rousseau expressed similar idea in 18th
century.
Ghazali seems impressed by the Greek
philosophers. According to Aristotle there are
two types of creations in the world. i.e.

14. Perfect creation: These are perfected like moon ,
sun etc
Imperfect creations like seed of tree, which is
imperfect in the sense that it has the ability to
become a tree.
According to Ghazali, human beings are
imperfect creatures and are similar to the seed.
They have the ability and capacity to become
perfect, only the suitable conditions are required.
According to him, good character means good
deeds.

15. Ghazalihasgiventhe followingfourwaysin which
deficienciescanbe identifiedandremoved.
Perfect teacher
Such teachers that have spiritual insight and knowledge and has the
ability to analyze deficiencies of others
Close friends:
We can identify our deficiencies with the help of our close friends
Foes:
We can know more about our deficiencies from our foes.
Self analysis:
Ghazali also stresses on self-analysis from time to time.

16. Curriculum
 Ghazali strongly criticizes the curriculum of his
time. He raises the basic question of criteria for
selection of subject matter for curriculum. He
studied the various curriculum's in his times and
reached the following conclusions:
More time is spent on religious education and
worldly education is completely ignores
Worldly education is equally important
While teaching religious education , a great
number of differences arise among the teachers,
which result in mud slinging on each other.

17.  No place for character building in curriculum
 Ghazali recommended that curriculum should be composed of
obligatory (Farz-i-Ain ) And optional (Farz-i-Kafaya ) knowledge.
It should be a combination of religion and worldly education.
 Ghazali included industrial education, textile, agriculture,
tailoring and hair cutting in the curriculum
 This indicates that Ghazali ’s educational ideas are progressive.
 Ghazali also stresses the acquisition of philosophy and logic

18. Methodsof TeachingandTechniques
Ghazali has recommended the following teaching
methods and techniques, which are based on
psychological principles. These methods and
techniques are widely used and educators all over
the world agrees with their usefulness.
Teaching lessons to be based on previous
knowledge and experience of the students.
This helps to know the ability, knowledge and
aptitude of the learner and helps to motivate
students towards the lesson which is very important
for the educational process. John Herbart and
Pestalozzi recommended the same principle about
700 year after Ghazali.

19. Simplifyingthelesson
Teachers should simplify the difficult concepts by
stories, tales etc other wise his teaching will not
be effective.
Move fromsimpleto complex
Ghazali stresses that teachers should first teach
simpler concepts and when the students are
motivated towards lesson, then he can introduce
complex concepts.

20. Properplanning
Ghazali stresses the importance of planning and
advises that teachers should do his preparation
before teaching , for effective teaching.
Affection
The teachers should avoid the use of force . He should be
like a father to his students and should use love and
affection instead of corporal punishment. Use of force can
lead to bad habits among students
Teacher and students should also have good social
relationship

21. Avoiddoublestandards
Teacher is like a guide to students. He should not be a
hypocrite and should breed good qualities like, honesty, good
etiquette, good moral character etc
Abilitiesof students
Ghazali stresses that while teaching the abilities of students
should be kept in mind. Concepts, which are above the mental
level of the students will not make the teaching effective.

22. Femaleeducation
Ghazali ’s ideas about female education are different from
modern day. He is only in favor of elementary education for
women so that they could play their due role in society. He is
not in favor of higher education for females. Rousseau has
similar ideas.
Ghazali also stresses acquisition of home-related
knowledge for women.

23. Physicaleducation
:
Ghazali has greatly stressed the physical education for children. He
believes in old Greek axiom “ sound mind in sound body”
He suggests proper clothing for children so that they could develop
and grow properly. He suggests avoid tight and fit clothing.
He also stresses the importance of good and simple, diet for good
physical growth.

24. DisciplineandImamGhazali’sphilosophy
Khalid (2005) stats Imam Ghazali forwarded very important
views about discipline. He is not in favour of maintaining
discipline on the basis of fear and intimidation. Discipline
should be maintained on the basis of love and understanding.
He is in favour of developing a good relationship between the
students and the teachers. The teacher should not scold the
students and treat them with kindness and sympathy. The
teacher should act as a role model for the students. He is
deadly against of using punishment in educational
institutions, because it did not bring any positive result in the
learners. It does not encourage students to be creative and
flourish their minds.

25. Conclusion
Khalid (2005) says Imam Ghazali was a great Muslim educationist and
presented many fruitful theories, aims, methods and curriculum of
education. He suggested a utilitarian type of education to enable the
learner to carry a successful vocation and profession. He emphasis
personal experiences and teacher- pupils’ relationship. The same
views have been presented by the modern educationist even after
lapsing of one thousand years. Whatever he had presented many
years before is implemented today. He was a great educator.
In short we can say that the contribution of Ghazali to
education, what he said later reflected by western educators. That
was actually originated in the times of Ghazali.

26. Thank You 
byAamirAli
www.facebook.com/mhraamirali