Human nature in Islam : implications for teaching and learning

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate how education helps to shape a human’s behaviour, especially in the development of his personality by examining human nature from the Islamic perspective. In particular, the study seeks to find out the elements of human nature that underline the teaching and learning processes. This is aimed to produce a peaceful and orderly ummah full of Amanah, trust, moral and character development through effective teaching and learning processes. The inquiry is philosophical in nature; therefore, it is descriptive, analytical, critical and evaluative based on analyses of texts. The study used texts as the major sources of data, namely the Qur’an, Hadith/Sunnah (Prophetic traditions) as primary sources and views from selected Muslim scholars as secondary sources. In using data from the Qur’an, the researcher obtained information through translation and commentaries (tafsir) of the verses. Information on the Sunnah (Prophetic traditions) is based on a collection of the six authentic books of Hadith and its detailed explanations were collected and translated. The views of selected Muslim scholars such as Al-Ghazali and Zarnuji were obtained from primary and secondary sources. The study found that knowledge about the elements of human nature help teachers in understanding the human personality and in providing meaningful and effective teaching-learning processes.