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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Need For an Islamic Pedagogy METHODOLOGY I have defined education and pedagogy thus far; therefore, we should define some other essential terms to be utilized before proceeding.

Islam, as used in this paper, refers to Sunni Orthodox Islam (more specifically Ahl Al Sunnah wal Jamaa’a, ASWJ; lit: “the people of the Sunnah and the Community”); ASWJ Islam makes up roughly 90% of the Muslim world and includes the four major jurisprudence schools of thought: Hanafi, Maaliki, Shaafii, and Hanbali.

ASWJ works are known for their clear reliance on the actual revelation as evidence when they write about anything regarding Islam; this is opposite of the methodology of Sunni Ahl Al-Kalaam (lit: “the people of talk”) who sometimes prefer their own personal reasoning over textual evidence by default and minimally cite Islamic scripture when theorizing about Islam (Ashqar, 2003; Phillips, 2006).

Ironically, Ahl Al-Kalaam, who represent about 5% or less of Islamic scholarship and Muslims throughout history, are the sole perspectives formally acknowledged in Western discourses about Islam (except for minute exceptions sometimes in Islamic Studies departments)6 . The other ten percent of the Muslim world consists of a mixture of various sects (Shiism, varieties of Sunni like Sufism, etc.) which generally have some different fundamental beliefs.

Sunni Muslims follow the Qur’an (believed to be the literal word of God revealed to prophet Muhammad) and the Sunnah (the teachings, sayings, and way of prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him7 , on how to practice the Qur’an). There is a lot of literature on Islam in general concerning almost every disciplinary lens; however, relatively little has been written on the development of a specific Islamic pedagogy.

One must preface such a statement by clarifying that the author has had limited time to research in a Muslim country-where Islamic literature is expectedly much more accessible. There is particularly much more literature in Arab Muslim countries since Arabic is the language that the Qur’an and Sunnah were revealed in, and therefore the language used in most serious theological works written about them.

This being said, one would normally be left with the limited English scholarship that exists on Islamic Education as a whole here in America. However, I have had the opportunity to research for a small period of time in Egypt searching for Arabic works on Islamic pedagogy.