Imam ghazali philosophy of education

1. Imam Ghazali Philosophy
of Education
By: Sadaf Walliyani

2. The importance of 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.
According to Ghazali, there are four categories of Knowledge;
Prophetic
Rulers
Philosophers/scholars
Preachers

3. The importance of Knowledge:
• 1. 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.
Preachers;
They are meant to fulfill the religious needs of the society and train outer and
inner self. Their job is to promote knowledge, improve the life of people, and
help them to acquire desirable ethics through education.

4. Ghazali divides knowledge into two types; eg
• Ghazali divides knowledge into two types; eg
Useful or desirable knowledge
Useless or undesirable knowledge
1. Useful knowledge:
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

5. Useless Knowledge:
• 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 the chance factor is involved like astrology etc
If it leads to thinking about God. Ghazali says that these matters
should be left only to prophets and saints.

6. Aims of 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.

7. Psychological concepts of 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.
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.

8. Psychological concepts of Ghazali:
• 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.
Ghazali has given the following four ways in which deficiencies can be identified and
removed.
Perfect teacher
Such teachers that have spiritual insight and knowledge and has the ability to analyze
deficiencies of others
Close fiends:
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.

9. Curriculum
• 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
There is no. Prioritization and it is only left to the interest and opinions
of the teachers to concentrate on certain subjects, while ignore others.

10. Methods of Teaching and Techniques:
• 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. Johnn Herbart and Pestollozi
recommended the same principle about 700 year after Ghazali
Simplifying the lesson:
Teachers should simplify the difficult concepts by stories, tales etc other wise his teaching will not be
effective
Move from simple to complex.
This is a very important principle. Some teachers try to teach everything in the very start. This is very
dangerous and can create very dull students.
Ghazali stresses that teachers should first teach simpler concepts and when the students are motivated
towards lesson, then he can introduce complex concepts.

11. Western educators have also mentioned this
principle.
• Proper planning
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
avoid double standards:
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
abilities of 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.

12. •
Female education:
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.
Physical education:
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.
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 Ghazal