Applying the Educational Perspectives of the Muʿtazilites and Ashʿarites in Designing a Contemporary Model of Islamic Education

Abstract

Islamic education, as one of the most important functions of educational systems, aims at cultivating the perfect human being (al-insān al-kāmil) and attaining proximity to God and is introduced in religious texts as one of the principal missions of the prophets. The Muʿtazilite and Ashʿarite theological schools, through their distinct theoretical models, exerted a profound influence on Islamic education from the ninth to the twelfth centuries CE. Using a descriptive-interpretive method, this study seeks to explicate the theoretical models developed by the Muʿtazilites and Ashʿarites in the field of Islamic education. By emphasizing rationalism, human free will, and freedom of thought, the Muʿtazilites developed a model that conceptualized education as a process for cultivating autonomous, knowledgeable, and responsible human beings. Their educational methods, including debate, inquiry, and rational argumentation, focused on strengthening critical thinking and moral self-cultivation and guided learners toward intellectual independence. In contrast, the Ashʿarites, based on their emphasis on divine determinism and adherence to religious principles, developed a model grounded in imitation and obedience, regarding the learner as lacking complete autonomy and largely restricting education to the memorization of religious texts and transmitted traditions. The findings indicate that the Muʿtazilite model, with its emphasis on rationality and the cultivation of creative thinking, is more compatible with the requirements of contemporary education because it associates societal development with scientific advancement. By contrast, the Ashʿarite model, because of its emphasis on imitation, appears less applicable in the modern era, in which individuals increasingly seek to understand causal relationships and the reasons underlying phenomena. The findings of this study may contribute to the development of contemporary educational models that are responsive to present-day needs.