ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Need For an Islamic Pedagogy ANALYSIS OF DATA Islamic Pedagogy as it Relates to the Western Analogue of Ethical Caring Correcting Mistakes and Offering Advice on the Path to Acquiring Wisdom It should be mentioned upfront that the following comparison between elements of Islamic pedagogy and elements of Ethical Care are not presented with the intention to demonstrate that the use of one teaching method in the former or latter justifies or proves the effectiveness of the other.

Rarely, the following analysis is meant to merely highlight parallels between the two pedagogical approaches- particularly regarding the nature of the caring student/teacher relationship-for the sake of drawing connections between ideas that have been perceived as pedagogically effective in the East and West. As has been discussed, the nature of Qur’anic revelation was conducive to scaffolding a people from practically non-existent moral standards to very high ones.

Similarly, children are like blank slates; we cannot assume that they should know better, because for many things they do not and have not been taught, so one must take their time and caringly show them appropriate behavior. When done at a young age, such caring instruction is like etching these values into the child’s memory as an old Arab proverb goes.

A young boy, Anas, was once eating with prophet Muhammad, but he was not doing so according to Islamic etiquette; he was not eating from his side of the plate, but rather sticking his hand all over it. The prophet said to him “Oh, young boy (a term of endearment in the Arabic yaa bunay!)! Say Bismillah (in the name of God), eat with your right hand, and eat from what is directly in front of you.” The boy commented later, “This remained my way of eating from that time on” (Bukhari, 5376 in USC).

did not scold him for what he was doing wrong, but rather immediately proceeded to simply instruct him what the correct way was, an approach to correcting mistakes that has also been promoted by Bailey. The effect of how Anas was taught is what made the new knowledge “stick” with him and change his future behavior. Bailey also suggests not focusing on what children are doing wrong as to damage their selfesteem, but to rather simply tell them how they can do it correctly.

This is a much more positive approach to correcting mistakes.