Tarbiyyah

"Tarbiyyah Islam ialah pendidikan yang telah melahirkan sebaik-baik umat untuk manusia. Tarbiyah ini telah dihapuskan di negara-negara Arab dan Islam dalam beberapa kurun kebelakangan ini, kerana beberapa faktor. Antaranya ialah serangan musuh-musuh Islam, selain daripada kejahilan umat Islam sendiri serta ketakjuban mereka terhadap teori pendidikan barat. Tetapi dengan kelebihan dan kurniaan Allah Taala, beberapa orang ulamak di negara Arab dan Islam telah menyedari betapa merbahayanya konspirasi musuh itu, lalu mereka mengadakan beberapa siri nadwah dan muktamar serta mengarang buku-buku yang amat bermanfaat, bertujuan menetapkan dasar pemikiran tarbiyah di negara kita serta membebaskannya daripada pengaruh pemikiran penjajah."

Once, I complained to a friend that I am tired of learning all the educational and linguistic theory invented by the humans . I couldn't see the rational of learning about all those for I was assured that I do not even realise or even care about what approach to be applied when I will be in teaching career. And studying about those is still okay, the part that I dislike is when doing the assignments: everything needs to be justified and critical. I would say a very intelligent people who posses higher order thinking skills will excel in this course without the need to study hard. Because the more critical are you, the greater marks you will get for the exam/assignments. And this course is not really about drilling and memorizing facts. And definitely, just like other courses you need the understandings of all the theories.

That's the reason for me to dislike studying if viewed from the pessimisit mind of mine. Hehe. But if viewed from the perspective of me having the opportunity to learn how education is viewed Islamically, I tend to be bias towards what I learnt formally now. The influence of the other education sometimes penetrate my mind deep into the fact that the words of God is the first thing that complement everything (But it's true!). I was having this perception that what I learnt now is something that I shouldn;t learn. Yes, it sounds extreme that I was only interested to learn everything Islamic-based.

However, I was absolutely wrong. And I know it myself even when I was having that kind of perception.

I came across few articles. One says that the reality of today demands for an individual who possess knowledge not only on one side, but also the opposite site meaning that knowledge itself is changing through time but that does not mean we also need to change the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah to suit for the current time. That is the mistake. Islam is about practising it completely wholeheartedly and absolutely any changes to it cannot be tolerated. In my own opinion as someone who is learning so little, what people can change is the approach. Not the content. When I relate this to teaching, I realised that what I have been learning all this while is the approach, not the content. And the approach is vary that it is impossible for teachers to stick to only one approach, if they want the outcomes of learning to be achieved successfully.

So, how does this relate to 'tarbiyyah Islamiyyah' and 'what I am learning now?'

What I am learning now is the suggestions of what skills or approach that I can implement in my future classroom. When I learn about tarbiyyah, I realised that the same method that I kept mentioning in my assignment is also applicable to it. People are different that expecting the same approach to work on these differnet people is totally not within the realms of possibility. For example, in teaching, it is always expected that students come into the classroom with their own prior knowledge, that they are not an empty vessel to be filled in. So, the responsibility of the teachers it to help students and scaffold them so that they will move forward to the next level of learning. This is my understanding on how expectations can change the students. However, in terms of 'tarbiyyah', it is the same case. We should expect that the Mad'u already have or perhaps been informed about what this 'thing' is all about. And unfortunately, most of the information they got from people are negative. Therefore, we should not let this negative perceptions surrounds them, in any way we can as long as it is not against the syariat. And I personally believe that, it is not wrong to let loose some of the approach that most people tend to stick into by adopting rare approaches as long as it is assured that the end product is satisfactory.

Whether I like it or not, I shuld appreciate this chance to learn about how education is viewed from both sides. Sometimes, not everything from the Western cannot be applied into the Muslim way or system of life, it is just that the Westerners give them a new name and claim that its theirs, despite that Islam has introduced those concept thousand years ago.