Perspectives on the Perennial Challenge of Muslim Education

For hundreds of years, Muslim thinkers have been grappling with the crucial question of where should Muslims focus their efforts in education: Should they focus on the lower levels; giving a firm foundation to children from pre-schools all the way through high school?, or should they focus on higher education, which directly equips students with high level knowledge and skills to become leaders and skilled workers? Like the age-old chicken and egg riddle, there are no simple answers to this question. In 1977, the greatest Muslim minds at that time convened to consider this issue, inter alia. Among the most profound ideas in that meeting was Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas’s model of an Islamic university, which he later elaborated in his seminal works (Al-Attas, 1978; 1979; 1993; and Daud, 1998). His view was a true university, established upon the proper principles of Islamic epistemology and spirituality, would be the foundation for enlightening the ummah and ridding it of the evil influences of secularism.