Integration of Qur`anic perspectives in the curricula of natural science in selected Islamic secondary schools of Indonesia and Malaysia : a comparative study

Abstract

The question of integration in the education of the ummah has been a top agenda among Islamic intellectuals and activists since the post-colonial period, whose secular humanism and atheistic-modernism left Muslims with the legacy of a dichotomous education. The dichotomy persists until today, compounded with globalisation of post-modern thoughts shaping young minds. In presenting the rationales for integrating the Qur’anic Worldview and natural science, the thesis discusses the fundamental elements of the worldview of the Qur’an in relation to the studies of nature, specifically the notion of “reading” the two Books of Allah (the Qur’an and the Cosmos), with special focus on the characteristics of those whom the Qur’an acknowledges as “ulu al-albab”. The thesis skims through the different worldviews that have brought about natural science to its current plinth and the ensuing environmental and humanitarian crises of the contemporary world. In response to the dichotomy and crises, many contemporary Islamic educational institutions have been established in the Muslim world, each with a distinctive mode of integration. “Integration” is a loose terminology, insofar as Islamic education is concerned. How much have Muslims progressed towards integrating perspectives of the Qur’an in the curricula of natural science in secondary Islamic education, where students are at critical stages of their intellectual, affectual, spiritual, social and ethical developments? The thesis presents a qualitative report on the findings from field researches that probe at a few samples of integration modes at 24 Islamic secondary schools in Malaysia and Indonesia; in relation to an integration which constitutes a full merger, an organic fusion between knowledge that is revealed and that which is acquired through reason. Included in the study are examinations of the natural science curricula, syllabi and samples of textbooks that the 24 schools use. In general, the research found very little actual integration of Qur’anic perspectives in the curricula of natural science occurring at the schools mentioned. The thesis proposes an integrated model based on the Qur’anic notion of ?l? al-albab, for the study of natural science for Islamic secondary education in Malaysia and Indonesia, where certain aspects of natural science undergo a discreet but holistic reposition, reinterpretation and reorientation from the framework of, and organically infused with the Qur’anic worldview.