Implementation of Al-Ghazali`s educational ideas in the muslim world : the experiences of graduates of Islamic schools (madrasah and pasantren) in IIUM : a phenomenological study

Abstract

A wealth of literature on al-Ghazali’s educational ideas has been written. The madrasah and the pesantren as form of Islamic education in South East Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippine have also been studied. However, this humble research attempts to study another dimension of the issues related to Islamic education in this area; that is, to get a link match of the implementation of al-Ghazali’s educational ideas in the practice of Islamic education in Indonesian Islamic schools (madrasahs and pesantrens) through the experiences of their graduates and teachers who are currently pursuing their studies in IIUM. Using a phenomenological methodology, this study endeavours to describe the experiences of its participants and the challenges of the implementation of al-Ghazali’s educational ideas in these madrasahs and pesantrens whereby Pancasila is the ideological and philosophical foundation of the state. Al-Ghazali’s in his Ihya’ remarks that religion and state are similar. This means that the politics of the state also takes part in determining the color or identity of the Islamic education of the state. The study involves fourteen participants consisting of twelve madrasah and pesantren graduates and two teachers from different Indonesian Islamic schools. Many of the participants are grateful for being graduates of the madrasah and pesantren because of the fard ayn and fard kifayah knowledge being studied simultaneously. The implementation of fard ayn and fard kifayah knowledge in all Indonesian Muslim madÉris is part of the implementation of al-Ghazali’s educational thought. Albeit the modern madrasah and pesantren has attempted to modernize the educational system, but it is still lacking in expert teachers in most of the madrasah and pesantren which is a barrier in the learning of both fard ayn and fard kifayah in a comprehensive manner. Thus, the study has found that al-Ghazali’s educational ideas have only been partially implemented. Likewise, recommendations have been suggested for further development of the Islamic education in Indonesia.