The Meaning, Purpose and Quality of Education – A Brief Historiography of Islamic Civilization (Part 1)

The quality of education in Islam can be achieved when it is firmly grounded in principles, objectives, and educational methods that are rooted in the teachings of the Qur'an and prophetic guidance. It is also developed and validated by Muslim scholars and respected institutions from the early days of Islam up to the present. This spans across time and place, while remaining relevant to current needs and future challenges.

The period that produced the finest individuals through education and institutions was during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. This was followed by the eras of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, and the subsequent golden age of Islamic civilization.

Grounded in a pure, clear, and solid worldview (weltanschauung), Islamic education successfully overcame the challenges and influences of the earlier and more technologically advanced Persian and Greco-Byzantine civilizations. It also managed to filter and selectively adopt knowledge from Greek, Indian, and Chinese civilizations, which had existed thousands of years prior.

— Abdullah Othman