CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of
the study
The great thinker Ibn Khaldun was
born in Tunis, 1332 AD and died in Cairo, 1406 AD. His ideas have reflected
their importance on the history of universal thought as much as within the
Islamic realm. His thoughts are all self-created. He has been affected by
savants before him but he is not a continuation of them. He created genuine and
innovative ideas. It is due to this fact that although he lived during the 14th
century his thoughts still manage to shed light among events of current times.
His ideas have not lost their relevance as time has passed. Recognized as the
founder of sociological sciences, Ibn Khaldun has been accepted and
commented upon by historians, jurists, theologians, politicians, economists,
teachers, educators and environmentalists alike. Ibn Khaldun’s great
work of art, The Muqaddimah has been translated into the world’s most
common languages.
Here, we shall try to enumerate his
education-teaching views which shed light on current educational systems and
consequently provide a text from which we may take benefit.
B.
Identification
of the Problem
Related
to the background of the study, there are some problems that may arise. The
writer identifies the problems as follow :
1. How is the Essence of human being
according Ibnu Chaldun ?
2. How is the Education cocept
according Ibnu Chaldun ?
3. How is the methode of teaching
according Ibnu Chaldun ?
4. How is the Curriculum concept
according Ibnu Chaldun ?
5. How is the concept of educator and
student according Ibnu Chaldun ?
CHAPTER
II
DISCUSSION
A.
The Essence of
Human Beings
Ibnu Chaldun believes that God has distinguished Human Being from
all His creatures by an ability to thinkwhich He made the beginning of
human perfection and the end of man’s noble superiority over existing things[1].
He explained that human being belongs to the genus of animals or in other word
his called by " الإِنْساَنُ حَيَوَانٌ نَاطِقٌ ", and God distinguished him from them by the
ability to think, which he gave man and through which man is able to arrange his
action in an orderly manner.
This ability comes to him (only) after the animality in him has
reached perfection.Then before man has reached it he has no knowledge and he is
counted as one of the animals. His origin, the way in which he created from a
droop of sperm, a clot of blood, a lump of flesh. And in recounting the favor
God bestowed upon us, God said ;
“…..And He gave you hearing, and vision, and hearts…….”
In his first condition, man is simply matter, he is ignorant of all
knowledges. And he reachs perfection of his form through his own organs. One
may compare the word of God when His Prophet began to receive the revelation :
“ Recite in the name of your Lord who create. Created man out of a clot of blood.Recite and
your Lord the Most Noble.Who thaught whit the calamus.Thaught man what he did
not know”.[2]That is, He let him acquire knowledge he did not yet possess, after
he had been a clot of blood, and a lump of flesh.
Living beings may
obtain consciousness of things that are outside their essence through the
external sense, God has given them, namely ;Hearing, vision, smell, taste, and
touch. But human beings has this advantages over the other beings, that he may
perceive things outside his essence trough his ability to think. It is
the occupation with the picture that are beyond sense perception, and the
application of mind to them for analysis and shyntesis. These are the special
powers placed in the cavaties of humans brain and called by “afidah” or “hearts”
in the al-Qur’an, it means here the
ability to think .
B.
The Education
Concept of Ibnu Chaldun
As a Sociologist, Ibnu Chaldun had a
notion that education was closely related with human’s social organization. One
knows from the statement that “man is political by nature ”. the
adjective “political” refers to
the town and this statement means that a single human being can not live by him
self and his existence can materialize only in association with his fellow. By
his very nature, he needs the co-operation of others to satisfy all his needs,
by this there will be oneness purpose among human beings and may lead to mutual
affection. But when the purposes differ, they may led to strif and alteraction.
Thus mutual dislike and mutual alteraction, friendship and hostility lead to
war and peace among nations and tribes.[3]
These events does not happen
haphazardly, as is the case among stray animal. God caused human beings to act
in an orderly and well-arranged manner as the result of their ability to think,
and He enabled them to arrange theis action under the political aspect and
according to philosophycal norms. Those lead human beings from the things that
are detrimental, to those that are in the interest, and from evil to the good,
first,however, they must recognize the things that are evil, and the
detrimental effect of doing them. Thus they are distinguished from stray
animals. And the result of their ability
to think shows it self in the fact that their actions are orderly not likely to
be detrimental. All of these things are obtained through experience and derived
from it, the truth and falsehood are soon comes out in events and from these
the students can learn the concept of both truth and falsehood and also they
must be under the instruction of the people whom they will follow the
experience such as father, teacher and elders.[4]
By these we conclude that according to ibnu chaldun’s
thought education is transforming the values obtained from the
experience to be able to sustain human existence in society civilization. Education is an effort to preserve and pass
on the valuesthat exist in the community so that the community can still exist.
C.
Curriculum
Concept
The curriculum at
the time of Ibn Khaldun is still limited to the edicts and knowledge presented by
the teacher or the schoolin. the form of limited subjects or in the form of
books of certain traditional studied by students in each stage of education.
In his
discussion of the curriculum, Ibn Khaldun tried to compare curriculums that
prevailed in his time by the curriculum that occurred in the Islamic countries
of Western and Eastern parts . He said that the education system and the
teaching that prevailed in the Maghrib ,that the westerner limit their education and instruction. And the only scholarly
disciplines remaining there is Arabic (Philology) and literature. The
only reason for that is, that the tradition of scientific instruction is ceased
to be cultivated, because the civilization there has taken a bad turn and the
anemy has gained control over most of it. While in the east, the tradition of
scientific instruction has not ceased to be cultivated. Scientific instruction
is very much in demand and greatly cultivated in the east, because the continuity
of abundant civilization and the continuity of tradition there. The inhabitant
of the east are, in general, more firmly rooted in the craft of scientific
instruction and indeed, in all the other crafts than maghribis. In fact many
maghribis who traveled to the east in quest of knowledge, have been opinion
that the intellect of the people of the east is more perfect than that of the
maghribis. [5]
Ibnu chaldun devided the sciences which people concern themselves
to acquire and pass on through the instruction into two parts :
First is natural to man and to which he is guided by his own
ability to think. And a traditional kind
that he learns from those who invented in.
The first kind comprises the philosophical sciences. They are the ones that which man
can become acquainted through the very nature of his ability to think. And to
whose objects, problems, arguments, methods of instruction he is guided from
his own perceptions. So that he is made aware of the distincsion of between what is correct
and what is wrong in them by his own speculation and research, in as much as he
is a thinking human being.
The second kind comprises the traditional, conventional sciences.
All of them depend upon information based on the authority of the given
religious law. And the intellect may be used in the connection with them to
related problems of detail with basic principles. Particulars that come in to
being are not included in the general tradition, therefore they need to be
related with the general tradition by some kind of analogical reasoning. The
basis of all the traditional sciences is the legal material of the Qur’an and
the Sunnah, which is the law given by God and His messenger. This further
requires the auxiliary sciences, the science of Arabic language. Arabic
language is the language of islam and the Qur’an has revealed from it.[6]
D.
Teaching methods of IbnuChaldun
He emphasizes that teaching methods
should be simple and not complicated. He states that the subjects should be imparted
to student at their level of comprehension, Memorization should be avoided, and
It is Harmful to be very Strict on the Student During Education and Teaching
1.
Imparting Information to Students at their
Level of Comprehension
Information
should be given to students gradually in stages, lower to higher, which they
may understand. If teaching methods are gradually applied to students, the
education will prove more effective for them. Initially, the main principles of
information and sciences should be taught, and taking into consideration the
learning capacity of the students these matters should be explained briefly.
The subjects to be taught should be provided with this method until completion.
Such a method will result in the students showing more aptitude to the given
information. However, the students’ aptitude will remain weak and insufficient.
The students during this period will have learnt to absorb the given
information. Pursuant to this, the teacher should revise the subjects with a
little more elaboration and continue to provide the information in a wider
aspect until completion. Then the students’ knowledge and adjustments shall be
enhanced accordingly. The teacher shall then revise the subject three times
over from the beginning. During this period, the teacher shall be able to
explain more difficult and deeper aspects of the subject. This will result in
the students reaching their utmost aptitude. The subject needs revision three
times over and then students become well familiar with the subject. This is the
correct method of teaching according to IbnKhaldun.[7]
Teachers usually explain the
difficult and deeper aspects of subjects which students are learning for the
first time, therefore, forcing the students to memorize the subject. They
accept this as the correct form of teaching. However, the students’ brains are
not capable of understanding this. It’s difficult enough for them to learn a
lesson. This results in the students becoming lazy, their mind rejects the
information and the period of learning is prolonged. This is subsequently a
result of poor teaching methods. The teacher should not impose upon the
students whether they are new or accustomed to the subject. He should not
overload the students with lessons beyond their capabilities and capacities, or
should not intrude beyond the textbook under study or begin a new textbook
before the current one is completed. Otherwise, the issues will be scrambled
and subjects will become complex. When teaching, one must provide thought and
revision. Memorization should be avoided.
3.
It
is Harmful to be very Strict on the Student During Education and Teaching
It
is harmful to be very strict on the student especially if the student is of
young age. This sort of aggressiveness negatively influences the child. It may
affect the psychology of the child and create unhappiness as well as corrupt
his desire to work and study. This will drive the child to misbehaviour and to
lie out of fear. He will learn to display actions contrary to those really
within his heart. In time, this will become his nature and part of his
character. It will corrupt the enhancements of social activities, modernization
and the whole meaning of humanity consisting of self-esteem and family values. Therefore, teachers, mothers and fathers should not be aggressive
towards children in order to teach them obedience and manners.[8]
And what
is more, ibnu chaldun also suggested the discussion mothode in order to mastery
all knowledge. This caused that this method can clarifies their purpose and and
makes them understandable.
E.
The Educator
And Student
1.
The Educator
An educator should have adequate knowledge about the psychological
development of students. This knowledge will greatly help him to get to know
each individual student and the ease in implementing the learning process .
Educators should know learners absorption ability . This capability will
benefit a set of educational materials in accordance with the level of ability
of learners . When educators impose material beyond the ability of the students
, it will cause mental sluggishness and even hatred towards science is taught .
When this happens , it will hinder the achievement of educational goals .
Therefore , a necessary balance between the difficult subject matter and the
easi one within the scope of education.
IbnKholdun encourages teachers to act and behave lovingly to
learners , teaching them with a gentle attitude and mutual understanding , not
applying harsh and rude behavior , because such an attitude can harm students ,
even can damage their mental , learners can be applies a lie , lazy and dirty talk
, and pretend to be prompted by the teacher scolded fear or fear of being
beaten .
In this case , exemplary teachers in education is a necessity ,
because the learners according to IbnKholdun more easily influenced by way of
imitation and imitation as well as the great value that they see , than can be
influenced by advice , teachings or commandments . The teacher also need a
special skill to teach the particular science, this caused that it was the
knowledge of diverse aspect of sciences.[9]
2.
The Students
Learners
are minors and have a number of potential base(capability) that still need to be developed.
Here the learners are the creatures of God who has the physical
and spiritual nature that has not reached the level of maturity of both the
shape, size, and balance on the other
parts. In terms of spiritual, he has
the talent, the will, feelings,
and dynamic thoughts and need to be
developed. Through the above paradigm, explaining that the learners are the subject and object of education that
requires the guidance of others (educators) to develop
their potentials, and guided them to theintelligence.[10]
Basically learners are:
a. Learners are not miniature of
adults , but have their own world . It is very important to understand
that the treatment of them in the educational process is not equated with adult
education , even in the aspect of methods , teaching , the material to be
taught , the source of material used and so on .
b.
Learners are
human beings who have a developmental periodization differentiation and growth
. Islamic educational activities tailored to the level of growth and
development that generally traversed by
each learner . Due to the ability levels of students is determined by the
factors of age and period of development or growth potential.
c.
Learners are
people who have needs , both related to the temporal and spiritual needs that
must be met
d.
Learners are
creatures of God who have different individual ( individual differentiation ) ,
whether caused by innate factors and the environment in which they are located.
e.
Learners are
the resultant of two natural elements , namely physical and spiritual .Physical
element has a physical power which requires training and habituation are done
through the educational process . While the spiritual element has two power ,
the power of mind and the power of sense . To sharpen the mind that the
educational process should be through rational sciences . As to sharpen the
sense can be done through moral education and worship .
f.
Learners are
human beings who have the potential ( fitrah ) which can be developed and
evolve dynamically.[11]
CHAPTER
III
CONCLUSION
From the whole discussion above, it
can be conclude that the essence of human being is that human being, In his
first condition is only a simply matter, he is ignorant of all knowledges. And
he reachs perfection of his form through his own organs. Substantively, Living
beings may obtain consciousness of things that are outside their essence
through the external sense, God has given them, namely ;Hearing, vision, smell,
taste, and touch. But human beings has this advantages over the other beings,
that he may perceive things outside his essence trough his ability to think.
This ability comes to him (only) after the animality in him has reached
perfection.Then before man has reached it he has no knowledge and he is counted
as one of the animals.
according to ibnu chaldun’s thought education is transforming
the values obtained from the experience to be able to sustain human existence
in society civilization. Education
is an effort to preserve and pass on the values that exist in the community so
that the community can still exist.
Ibnu Chaldun emphasizes that
teaching methods should be simple and not complicated. He states that the
teaching of subjects should be gradually on the particular stages, Memorization
should be avoided, and It is Harmful to be very Strict on the Student During Education
and Teaching.
the curriculum at the time of Ibn Khaldun is still limited to the edicts
and knowledge presented by the teacher or the schoolin. the form of limited subjects
or in the form of books of certain traditional studied by students in each stage of education.
So he tried to compare the curriculums that applied in the maghrib and the east
and he concluded that the knowledges will be numerous only where civilization
is large and sedentary culture is highly developed. And he emphasized to teach
the children all the knowledge of Arabic language so as make them more
understand all concept contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah.
An educator should have adequate
knowledge about the psychological development of students. This knowledge will
greatly help him to get to know each individual student and the ease in
implementing the learning process . Educators should know learners absorption
ability . Learners are minors and have a number of potential base(capability)
that still need to be developed. Here
the learners are the creatures of God who has the physical and spiritual nature
that has not reached the level of maturity of both the shape, size, and balance on the other parts. In terms of spiritual, he has the talent,
the will, feelings, and dynamic thoughts and need to be developed.
WORK
CITED
Ibnu Chaldun, The Muqaddimah, Franz Rosenthal, trans. New
York : Pantheon Books Inc., 1958.
Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, vol. 3, ZahirKadiri, trans.
Istanbul: UGAn, 1988
http//:ibe.unesco.org/../, accessed on November, 11th 2013 at 16.15 pm
http//:renaissance.com.pk/novrefl2y1.html, accessed on November, 11th 2013 at 16.27 pm
http//:Muslimheritage.com-topics.html, accesed on
November, 7th 2013 at 14.00 pm
[1]IbnKhaldun, Muqaddimah., (New
York : Pantheon Books Inc., 1958). P. 545,
(translation: Franz Rosental)
[2]Ibid.,
p.555
[3]Ibid.,
p. 549
[4]Ibid.,
p. 550
[5]
IbnKhaldun,
Muqaddimah., (New York : Pantheon Books Inc., 1958). P. 558,
(translation: Franz Rosental)
[6]
Ibid,
P.562
[8]Ibid., p. 161
[9]
Ibid,
P.556
[10] http//:renaissance.com.pk/novrefl2y1.html,
accessed on November, 11th
2013 at 16.27 pm
