Ibn Ashur’s endeavour in reform of Islamic education

Abstract

UDK: 37.014:28(611)

The contemporary world demands continuous revision, adaptation and changes in the educational system. Along with this it also requires amendments in methodology, curriculum and textbooks with the purpose of achieving quality preparation of students for the requirements of the time. Unfortunately, the Muslim world and Islamic educational institutions at the beginning of the 20^th century were late with these reforms. In this article, we present a comprehensive reform of Islamic education initiated by a scholar and a reformist, rector of Az–Zitouna University, Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur.    Through a historical review of Islamic education, he tried to find the causes of the stagnation in the field of education and also to offer solutions regarding its reform. His ideas and suggestions are still very applicable since we still have a scope for improvement of the Islamic education system which should be flexible in its response to the requirements of the time rather than persisting as a relic of the past.