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Kairouan Capital of Political Power and Learning in the Ifriqiya |
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By: FSTC Research Team, Fri 29 January, 2010 |
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FSTC Research Team The following article presents a survey on some glorious pages of the history of Kairouan, the ancient capital of the Islamic Ifriqiya (present day Tunisia). Founded in 670 by ‘Uqba ibn Nafi', the Arab general in command of the Muslim conquest of North Africa, Kairouan flourished under the Aghlabid dynasty in the 9th century and was an important urban center of the Islamic west, with a rich architectural heritage and a thriving tradition of learning.
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Ibn Khaldun's Concept of Education in the ‘Muqaddima’ |
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By: FSTC Limited, Fri 15 May, 2009 |
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At first sight, the place held by education in Ibn Khaldun's sociology appears uncertain to say the least. What today we understand by the term ‘education'—the replication of individuals and groups, firstly at the level of values and secondly at that of knowledge and know-how—is found in the Muqaddima only in a scattered and incomplete fashion. More important, Ibn Khaldun makes no use of a general concept of education. This is all the more surprising as he accustoms us elsewhere to a systematic approach to the main phenomena of life in society. However, upon closer view we discover that this ambiguity and these lacunae in fact reflect the state of the Muslim system of education, and we are forced to admit that, in this field as in many others connected with the knowledge of Muslim society, Khaldun's contribution is the most complete at our disposal.
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Al-Ghazali's Theory of Education: Its Philosophy and Its Impact |
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By: Nabil Nofal, Mon 16 March, 2009 |
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Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) was one of the most influential Muslim thinkers. A jurist, logician, theologian, and philosopher, he was honoured in the history of Islam with title of Hujjatul-Islam (the Proof of Islam)." Among his numerous contributions to the renewal of the intellectual life of the 5th Islamic century, he developed a theory of education rooted in his philosophy and aiming at improving the objectives and principles of education. Based on a reflexion on the methods and knowledge of teaching, and detailing the relationships between scholars, teachers and pupils, his education concept had a notable influence inside and outside the Muslim world.
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Al-Farabi's Doctrine of Education: Between Philosophy and Sociological Theory |
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By: Professor Ammar al-Talbi , Sat 14 February, 2009 |
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Professor Ammar al-Talbi Throughout the ages thinkers have raised the question of what the human being ought to learn in order to be in tune with his own epoch, to live intelligently in society, and to be a citizen bringing benefit both to himself and to the community; hence the importance of education. It is the aim of education which takes precedence, only then come the means to realize these aims. The following article aims at presenting the theory of education of the Muslim philosopher and scholar Abu Nasr al-Farabi within the framework of his philosophical system, an aspect of his work not frequently hit upon in the scholarship.
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Ibn Sina on Education |
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By: Abd al-Rahman al Naqib, Sat 17 January, 2009 |
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Abd al-Rahman al Naqib This study presents the theory of education in the philosophy of Ibn Sina, considered by ancient and modern scholars alike as the most famous of the Muslim philosophers. In his philosophical system, Ibn Sina outlined a complete theory of education and teaching. Departing from his view of the human being and of the relationship between the mental faculties and the body, and from a precise conception of knowledge and ethics, Ibn Sina's educational theory deals with the aims of education, the educational stages and the teaching methods for different classes of age, from infants to higher instruction of teeangers, with a focus on the teaching of girls.
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Arabic and the Art of Printing |
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By: FSTC Limited, Fri 22 August, 2008 |
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In this special section reproduced from Aramco World (issue March/April 1981), distinguished authors cover topics related to printing in the Islamic civilisation. It is showed, in particular, that contrary to the notion that the technology of printing somehow bypassed Muslims, the Islamic civilisation have left substantial evidence that block printing was a craft familiar to many in the medieval Islamic world between the 10th and the 15th centuries, long before Gutenberg invented press printing. The most common texts to have survived are amulets, of which several dozens survived, some of which are preserved in European and US libraries and museums.
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Muslim Printing Before Gutenberg |
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By: FSTC, Wed 28 May, 2008 |
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This article by an eminent scholar, Dr Geoffrey Roper, presents an outline of a tremendous issue: the existence of printing in early Islam, several centuries before the invention of printing by Gutenberg in the 15th century. Based on his work on original sources, he states that some of the early printed Arabic documents display quite sophisticated designs involving calligraphic headpieces, transverse lettering, geometric panels, roundels, and the use of colour. The author documents briefly this important discovery and concludes that "Muslims were practising the craft of printing for some five centuries before Gutenberg".
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The Abbasids’ House of Wisdom in Baghdad |
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By: Dr. Subhi Al-Azzawi, AA Dipl, PhD (UCL), ARB Architect, Kent, UK, Wed 07 February, 2007 |
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The House of Wisdom was in fame, status, scope, size, resources, patronage, etc. similar to that of the present day British Library in London or the Nationale Bibliotheque in Paris, in addition to being an Academy for the Arts and the Sciences where scholars came together for dialogue, discussions and discourses.
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Knowledge, Learning Institutions and Libraries in Islam: Book Publishing and Paper Making |
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By: FSTC Limited, Thu 11 January, 2007 |
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This short article describes the high regard with which Muslim Civilisation has held libraries as centres of knowledge. It reviews major contributions in the field and in particular to our modern books and libraries.
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Learning Institutions in Islam |
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By: FSTC Limited, Thu 11 January, 2007 |
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Learning institutions in various forms have existed for centuries in the Muslim World, the earliest of which are, al-Qarawiyyin, al-Azhar and al-Qayrawan. This short article traces the emergence and spread of madrasas as a popular form of institutionalised education that has long existed in Muslim lands, and provided education to more than just the elite of society as was the case in much of Europe.
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