Islamic education : a vision of effective Islamic education

DAWUD AT-TAUHIDII’S BIOGRAPHY

North America lost a visionary and inspiring leader in education. Dawud At-Tauhidii passed away on Sunday, May 23rd after battling cancer for two years.

ISNA salutes the great contribution that Br. Dawud At-Tauhidi made toward advancing Islamic  education in North America.  Tauhidi had dedicated his life for Islamic education in North America.  For more than two decades, Tauhidi was involved in various aspects of Islamic education – as a teacher, researcher, administrator and curriculum developer.  His most recognized work was the Tarbiyah Project, a ground breaking effort that aims at translating Islamic values into practical and implementable programs that enable Muslim students to live Islam.

A native of Philadelphia, Tauhidi, who embraced Islam in 1972, studied at Lehigh University and later studied Arabic at the University of Pennsylvania.  In 1980, he graduated from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt with a degree in Usul ad-Din and taught at the Islamic Community Center School in Philadelphia. In 1983, Tauhidi completed his master’s degree in Islamic Studies at the University of Michigan and in 1985 completed his doctoral candidacy examinations in the same field. During that time, he served as a teaching assistant, research assistant and studied toward a second master’s degree in Teaching Arabic as a Second Language. His research interests included “Towards a Model of an Islamic Philosophy of Education”, “Educational Institutions in Early Islam”, “The Affective Domain in Second Language Acquisition”, “Statistical and Lexical Studies of the Qur’anic Lexicon”, “Semantic Structures and Worldview of the Quran”, and other topics.

Since 1985, he was actively involved in establishing Islamic schools in North America and was a founding member of the Council of Islamic Schools in North America (CISNA). In 1985, he co-founded the Michigan Islamic Academy in Ann Arbor, MI, where he served as its founding Principal, serving for three years. In 1988, he helped form the Michigan Education Council and co-founded Crescent Academy International, a college-preparatory, Islamic school in suburban Detroit, where he served as Director since 1988. Tauhidi was experienced in the planning and establishment of schools, policy development, school administration, curriculum development, Teaching Arabic as a Second Language, holistic education, character education, public relations, computer programming, multimedia and graphic design, and fundraising for Islamic schools.

During the past twelve years, Tauhidi worked on developing an integrated curriculum for Islamic education, known as the Tarbiyah Project. The aim of this project is to provide a more effective paradigm for teaching today’s Muslim children based on a holistic and integrated approach to education known as the Integrated Learning Model (ILM2).

Dawud’s point of view about Islam is modern sufistis aplikatif.

A Vision of Effective Islamic Education

Dawud At-Tauhidii

Dawud At-Tauhidii thinks that in every religious instruction include Islamic religious, in the recent centuries, has been taught primarily as a body of information, rather than as a body of experiences. For many Muslim children today, Islam doesn’t inspire, and seems meaningless and irrelevant to their personal lives and experiences.

The goal of Islamic education is to raise our children Islamically and successfully as Muslims in society. And the things that we have to do are focuses on personality and character development of children, close attention to the real needs and concerns of students, and preparation of students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Muslim educators and parents must develop a better understanding of how children grow and learn; we must understand the processes of moral development and the methods of effective teaching and learning. They will become moral individuals by cultivating their minds and hearts, and by having opportunities to actually see and apply Islamic values in practice.

The future will depend on how well we educate our children today and to what extent we are successful in transferring to them the sacred vision of life we have as Muslims. Without a proper understanding of the Islamic value system, there is little hope that the true goals, or maqasid, of Islamic education can be achieved. Islamic schools have a crucial role to play in providing concrete solutions and programs that will foster this understanding among students and in promoting the role and responsibility of the family in the process of Islamic tarbiyah. Muslim educators must restructure the Islamic Studies curriculum—both what is taught and how it is taught—if our children are to develop the spiritual survival skills needed to survive as Muslims in the twenty-first century. Islamic education must be able to produce Muslim youth that are able to identify, understand and then work cooperatively to solve the problems that face their community and the world in which they live and for which they are responsible. This is the most effective form of Islamic da’wah. Although Islamic education will undoubtedly draw much of its content from the foundational disciplines of Islamic Studies (such as Aqidah, Tafseer, Fiqh, etc.), it must be done in a way that links this content to the natural concerns of students as well as the larger issues facing the world in which they live. This is the challenge of modern-day Islamic education.

The vision of Islamic education presented here makes a fundamental distinction between teaching about “Islam” and teaching about “being Muslim.” Muslim educators have been content to teach facts about Islam. The goal of Islamic education is not to fill our children’s minds with information about Islam, but rather to teach them about being Muslim. Islamic education, first and foremost, must focus on teaching values and emphasize issues of identity and self-esteem; furthermore, it must address the real concerns of students, and it must emphasize and provide for training in leadership. Finally, in order to achieve the goals of Islamic education it is essential to gain the active involvement of parents.

In Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Washington, DC. National Council for the Social Studies, 1996, this educational research shows that teaching and learning are effective when they are meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging and active. We believe that these factors apply to Islamic education as well and Muslim educators must become better aware of the important role these factors play in effective learning. Meaningful means Students should feel that the content of their curriculum is worth learning, because it is meaningful and relevant to their lives. Effective Islamic teaching and learning must also be integrated. It must encompass and engage the whole child, spiritually, emotionally, socially, intellectually and physically. Most important of all, effective Islamic teaching and learning must be value-based. By focusing on values and by considering the ethical dimensions of topics, Islamic education becomes a powerful vehicle for character and moral development, thus achieving its real purpose. Effective Islamic teaching and learning must also be challenging. Students must be challenged to thoughtfully examine the topics they are studying, to participate assertively in group discussions, to work productively in cooperative learning activities, and to come to grips with controversial issues. Finally, effective Islamic teaching and learning must be active. Islamic studies should demand a great deal from both the teacher and students. The vision of effective Islamic teaching and learning set forth here is based on a dynamic, rather than static, view of Islam and Islamic education.

Masalah yang dipandang oleh Dawud Tauhidi. Dawud tauhidii thinks that Muslim is irrelevant with all the kaedah of Islam. So terkadang islam tidak mencerminkan bagaimana Islam itu sendiri. Misalnya masalah kebersihan, Islam mengatakan kebersihan adalah sebagian dari iman, namun nyatanya lingkungan Islam itu sendiri tidak mencerminkan kebersihan. Seharusnya kita harus membumikan Islam bukan hanya sekedar symbol. 

“Tarbiyah Project”

Towards a renewed vision of Islamic education

By Dawud At-Tauhidii

The Tarbiyah Project is an extremely well designed and researched program that helps communities move toward a true Islamic education. The late Prof. Dawud Tauhidi has developed a set of powerful ideas as the basis for this teaching/learning approach. A comprehensive curriculum- that has Tawhid (God-centeredness in all its aspects) as its core content and approach. Integration of all subject areas around significant themes (Powerful Ideas), taught through authentic instructional models, will lead to more effective learning and life experiences.

The tarbiyah project is a vision, a framework, a set of program, and a strategic plan for reform of Islamic education in North America.

Vision. The tarbiyah Project is a first a concept and a vision – a concept of what Islamic education is supposed to be ( its principles and goals, its content and its approach) as well as a vision of what Islamic education must become in practice, if we hope to secure our children Islamically.

Framework. Second, the tarbiyah project is a framework – a framework for designing and structuring the curriculum of Islamic education, both “what” is taught and how it is taught. The tarbiyah project has a clearly defined vision of the proper content, structure and strategies for Islamic education.

Program. Third, the tarbiyah project is a set of programs – programs that focused on teaching Islamic values and encourage creative approach to Islamic teaching and learning. Three such programs are currently being field tested in the member schools of Tarbiyah Consortium.

Strategic Plan. Fourth, the tarbiyah project is a strategic plan – a plan for developing curriculum resources f or Islamic education in North America, including a plan of curriculum development, staff and parental training and development, and a program of publications in the field of Islamic values education.

Tujuan akhir tarbiyah,, mengembangkan muslim secara emosional, moralis dan intelektual.

References

http://muslimmedianetwork.com/mmn/?p=6262

http://www.examiner.com/islamic-in-detroit/michigan-muslims-grieve-for-dawud-at-tauhidi-an-american-muslim-innovator-the-islamic-schools

http://www.theisla.org/filemgmt_data/admin_files/Tarbiyah%20Overview%20-%20Dawud%20Tauhidi.pdf