Compatibility of Education and Training in the Light of The Seerah of the Holy Prophet

Humankind has been granted a special status due to its being vicegerent of Allah on earth for he has been entrusted with the responsibility to keep order in the world according to the directives of its Creator. Humans are guided by Prophets in history. Some of these Prophets have got greater value, sphere and depth of influence on humanity due to different factors. Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is the last Prophet of Allah, for the eternity and whole humanity. After him, Islam is completed for all times to come. Islam is a complete code of life; education and training constituting its crux. Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was greatly concerned and cognizant of education and training of his followers which is evident from multifarious events of his life. Major emphasis was laid on training coupled with education and both are, thus, inevitably interlocked with each other. It is clear that education was considered an assimilation of knowledge and training was taken as its reflection in daily life. The verses of the Holy Quran and sayings of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) bear a perfect testimony to this aspect of foremost significance. The earlier people in the fold of Islam were much concerned about training and nurturing, hence they avoided mere memorization of facts. The present paper is an attempt to discover the compatibility between education and training in the light of the paradigm of secret of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) of Islam.


Introduction:
Allah has designated humankind as His vicegerent on earth and some among them are selected as His Prophets to guide the human race to the righteous path.Human beings are granted additional qualities as compared to other creatures due to their distinctive role in the world.He gave them the sense to cogitate and deliberate, which enabled humankind to know the truth, ascertain right and wrong and find out characteristics and usages of other creatures.Owing to this use of wisdom and intellect that humankind was raised to superiority over all other creatures be that animals, plants, minerals, sky particles, land and water. 1 Allah Says: "And hath made of service unto you whatever in the heaven and whatever is in the earth; it is all from Him. Lo! Herein verily are portents for a people who reflect". 2 Thinking, research and quest for knowledge are humankind's natural properties.The Creator has emphasized many times in the Qur'an that humans should think of the universe and to explore its hidden secrets.The clear objective of the order of thinking is to let humankind explore the universe and recognize the Creator.Secondly, to get the knowledge of different things present in the universe and get better usage of it.Exploration of the universe has been stressed in the Qur'an more than six hundred times. 3llah says: "Say: Behold what is in the heaven and the earth!But revelations and warnings avail not folk who will not believe." 4llah in another place says: "Will they then not mediate on the Qur'an, or are there lock on the hearts?" 5 Thinking is essential for the progress and broadening of knowledge; it widens mental horizons .Due to the progress of knowledge, humankind can recognize the signs of nature and therefore can ponder and appreciate them.Humankind is invited to think over the universe and think of the Creator, Who has created the entire universe including skies, earth and all in between the two for the comfort of His creature.
In the field of struggle, Muhammad's (P.B.U.H) prayer should be clear for us, "O Allah! give us will to see them as they are". 6

Literal Meaning of Education
Education means getting knowledge.The word education is a gateway to knowledge.It means educating and teaching others.Its intrinsic interpretation is to inform or spread information and is included in the category of teaching. 7Deep interpretation of education contains all formatted/ unformatted information and experiences gathered intentionally or unintentionally from cradle to grave.Usually education is considered as reading, writing and learning.Reading and writing are the only sources to get knowledge , otherwise education can also be obtained without reading and writing. 8he benefit of learning, reading and writing is that the orally learned things that are recorded can be beneficial for educated people in the long term.The orally learned things are forgettable so in the long run they do not exist anymore while the written things exist for a long time and they can be translated to other languages and thus a large number of people belonging to different countries and ethnic backgrounds get benefit from them.Educated people get help from these books and can carry research on a wide range of subjects.They add new materials and thus knowledge increases far and wide.Finally some educated persons write books on diverse themes as is seen in today's professional fields.The research works which were written earlier had being studied and these works piled up gave rise to new field as seen today.The current fields that have risen today are a result of research and education that had been recorded and preserved for thousands of years which are been studied by educated people 9

Purpose of Education
Getting knowledge is an important purpose of Islamic education system.In Islamic point of view, gaining of knowledge is the basic message of Allah.The message of Allah started earlier as the first human being was sent to the earth as God appointed him as a messenger and gave him knowledge.As Allah says: "And He taught Adam all the names, then showed them to the angels, saying: Inform Me of the names of these, if ye are truthful." 10n this world, the foundation of human life was through a human who was sent as a messenger confirmed the fact that human had been taught to live as a result of knowledge.Since the creation, humans were guided and educated so that he could implement them in his daily life to move to the righteous path and abstain from the evil. 11he purpose of knowledge is to eradicate evils that prevail in the society and to strengthen the good and build a sound moral character so that these individuals become better personalities in an Islamic society.These personalities should have piety (taqwa) which should prevent them from committing sins whether small or big.This is necessary in any stage of educational system , and this is only possible for Islamic government to give importance to Islamic education in policy nullifications and implications.
The sole purpose of education is to obey Almighty Allah.Human ambitions should be fulfilled but within the limits that Allah commands not to cross.This is possible only if a person gives strength to his good character and keeps his morale high and an education system that rears the youth in such a way that they are able to show empathy for others, transcend beyond their own lives, delve deeper into alleviating the agony and despair of others, bridle their unruly desires, recognize the dignity of humans irrespective of their caste, creed, color is the one that produces responsible and cultured citizens that can contribute something worthy for a welfare society.

Importance of Knowledge
Muhammad (P.B.U.H) gave great importance to knowledge.This is quite evident from the fact that after the Battle of Badar Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) asked the literate prisoners to teach ten Muslims and get themselves free.Thus many Muslims learned reading and writing. 12ducation means to learn all professional fields like medical, engineering, history, economics, sociology, trade, tailoring, cooking, etc. Beside these, learning about the revelation revealed to all the prophets, completed by the last apostle that was spread throughout the world hold a special importance in educating oneself.In other words, the actual education is spreading the message of 'Deen'.It is the duty of every Muslim to know the basis of this education: the relationship of Allah and man, belief in Allah, what are the parameters through which we get to know about Allah, what should we know about the Prophets of Allah, the belief that this world will end one day, and then one day there will be a new life in which everyone will get rewarded for their goods and chastised of their evils, what are the permitted things and what are forbidden.Prophet (P.B.U.H) preferred fresh minds for education.Children have strong memory and are more receptive than adults.The memorized information at a young age is retained longer and works better, either its orally or by reading and writing.Profession also, if learned at a young age, gives basis for further learning.That's why every nation in the world imparts education at a young age, either its religious or professional. 13There are several verses on the importance of education, like "Similarly We have sent among you a messenger of your own, reciting to you Our verses and purifying you, and teaching you the Book and Hikmah, and teaching you that which you knew not." 14

Self-Purification
According to Muhammad (P.B.U.H) education (ta'lim) and brought up (tarbiyyah) are not different.They are interrelated and complimentary to each other.Education is a base for iman and iman is a base for better and meaningful brought up.In the Holy Qur'an, the term self-purification is used for character building and brought up. 15The term self-purification is to clean and to clarify.According to the teachings of Muhammad (P.B.U.H), everyone should concentrate on education and brought up to get mental and physical character what is required in Islam. 16

Care of the abilities:
On the face of the earth, humankind is such a creature which has no comparision.Allah created human being at its beautiful structure and gave it such abilities that humankind itself do not know.Sometimes it goes deeper in its abilities up to such an extreme that it goes astray and disobeys its Lord.Every male and female has got unlimited abilities.Allah says in Qur'an: "Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His Spirit; and appointed for you hearing and sight and hearts.Little is the thanks you give " 17 Here, ears and eyes mean that these are the main sources of getting education.That is why Qur'an in different places points it is one of the main gifts of Allah.Similarly heart means a type of mind which collects different kinds of information from the five senses and gets results.In human body, heart is the combination of all the abilities of thinking.This is the power that makes the human as universal creatures in this world and they have been bestowed with signs on how to follow the Lord, the condition being if they ponder over them.If Allah gave same abilities to all then the question is why some nations or countries are rich and some are poor?Why is there a difference that some people cannot get the meal and some are wasting it due to abundance?The answer is the difference in education.If a nation is advanced as compared to another nation, the reason is the lead in education.The nation who got education, found the secret of life and made their life easier but those who did not get education, could not get the secrets and could not change their life style. 18ental abilities and physical health are equivalent in importance and a good personality is not possible without good health.Where ever Qur'an explained about the opposition of Talut, there it says: "He Said: Lo! Allah hath chosen him above you, and hath increased him abundantly in wisdom and stature." 19uhammad (P.B.U.H) also mentioned to not forget that Allah will ask for what He gave us.As He says: "(O man)! follow not that where of thou has no knowledge.Lo! the hearing and the sight and the heart -of each of these it will be asked." 20hat is the reason that equates education and brought up (tarbiyyah), which differentiates Islamic education system from others.Every Muslim, from every land and every country, is a member of Islamic system.According to the real and wide study of nationalism every Muslim is an Islamic individual.
According to the teachings of Islam, every educational institute tends to converge the society and culture.If the sources of expanding this culture are not present then the system must be started from the beginning.Civilization depends on regularity and the education institutions convert them between, facts, expertise and findings to give it regularity. 21ur'an and hadith explain the Muslims as part of the Islamic system at various occasions.Muhammad  "Just like this Muslims are the power of each other.In Islamic teachings the unity of Muslims in the current situation is very important".
The acquisition of education is basically related to individuals but, for individuals, this is common that every individual has certain needs but there may be different wants and desires among them, men and women have their own concentrations and responsibilities.There are such individuals also, who are disabled by some accident and this is the duty of the society to educate such disabled people.In the teachings of Muhammad (P.B.U.H) every individual should get attention.
In an Islamic society, there must be difference between the needs of a man and a woman according to their assigned character.Furthermore the difference between their habits and nature is also a fact.That is why in the education planning these differences are considered because after Muhammad (P.B.U.H), his companions (sahaba) and especially Ayesha (R.A) also kept in mind these differences during their lectures. 22isabled people are an important part of the society.Proper education and training of these people is the duty of the society.Muhammad (P.B.U.H) has declared to those people, who have the duty of educating, to concatenate on blind people.These teachings are indications/directives for a Muslim state to concentrate on the education of disabled people.

Freedom of getting knowledge
Allah granted human mind the ability of thinking and continuously addressed in the Holy Quran to do thinking and exploit the functions of mind.Education strengthens this ability of mind and humans can work better with this ability. 23uhammad (PBUH) meant to say that wisdom is the lost property of Muslims.He must obtain it from wherever it comes. 24

Quality of Education:
In Islam, the quality of education is also emphasized.As getting expertise and abilities are important in education, similarly getting good behavior and character are also important.
We can imagine the importance of education from this verse of the Qur'an: "Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Are those who know equal with those who know not?But only men of understanding will pay heed." 25 This verse establishes that Allah gives importance to education and hence categorizes them into the learnt and ignorant and these both are not equal.In the teachings of Islam, education got the primary importance.One can imagine this from the first message of Allah to Muhammad (PBUH) which is "Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth, Createth man from a clot.Read: And thy Lord is the most Bounteous, Who teacheth by the pen, Teacheth man that which he knew not." 26 Islam does not allow the differences of race or any kind of superiority and inferiority but if the differences exist that must be only on the bases of piety and education.

Allah says in His Book:
"Allah will exalt those who believe among you, and those who have knowledge, to high ranks.Allah is informed of what ye do" 27 Allah gives more importance to taqwa, means how much a person is afraid of Allah which then deters him from committing sins.Qur'an says that those who get more education have more taqwa.
"The erudite among His bondmen fear Allah alone." 28his means how much a person knows about his obligations towards Allah; His grants and His system of rewards and punishments and how much he has the knowledge of Qur'an, Sunnah and universe.Being erudite he will be more inclined towards the worship of Allah, because he would better know about both the mercy and punishment.
Similarly studying Qur'an, it is clear that Allah had given Yusuf (A.S) the knowledge to get the understanding of dreams.Because of this knowledge, he told the king the meaning of his dream and then made it possible to get to the kingdom.King was impressed by his knowledge and then as a result he was made the ruler of Egypt. 29ur'an copied the words of Yusuf (AS) which he said to Allah for expressing gratitude.
"O my Lord!Thou hast given me (something) of sovereignty and hast taught me (something) of the interpretation of events -Creator of the heavens and the earth!Thou art my Protecting Guardian in the world and the Hereafter.Make me to die Muslim (unto Thee), and join me the righteous". 30s Islam is the guarantor of victory in this world and in the Day of Judgment as well so Allah, wherever, explained the necessities for the Day of Judgment, there he also explained what should we do to achieve goodness in this world.
Benefit of knowledge and education in the light of Qur'an and hadith: Besides the explanations of meaning and introduction of education, Qur'an and hadith taught the benefits of getting and expanding the knowledge as well. 31It is not (possible) for any human being unto whom Allah had given the Scripture and wisdom and the prophethood that he should afterwards have said unto mankind: Be slaves of me instead of Allah; but (what he said was): Be ye faithful servants of the Lord by virtue of your constant teaching of the Scripture and of your constant study thereof.And he commanded you not that ye should take the angels and the prophet for lords.Would he command you to disbelieve after ye had surrendered to Allah?" 32 At other place Allah Says: "And the believers should not all go out to fight.Of every troop of them, a party only should go forth, that they (who are left behind) may gain sound knowledge in religion, and that they may warm their folk when they return to them, so that they may beware". 33adiths: 1. Narrated from Abu Huraira (RA), Muhammad (PBUH) said; "Men are ears like ears of silver".Means that ears are of different categories according to hearing ability, some are from demons, some from gold, some from silver and some from the white clay.Just like this, men are also different in the dualities according to the categories of character. 34. Narrated by Ibn Masud (RA), Muhammad (PBUH) said: "Jealousy (hasad) is not allowed but if it would, it would be for two persons.One whom Allah made rich and gave him the power to spend it in the right way and the other whom Allah gave knowledge and he goes through it and teaches it to the other". 35. Anas (RA) says that Muhammad (PBUH) said "this is the duty of every Muslim to get knowledge and giving knowledge to someone who is not capable of, is like someone who hangs people by golden rope". 36

Narrated by Abu Huraira (RA), Muhammad (PBUH) said "O people! Learn
Qur'an and your duties mean to say that learn the orders which are your duties by yourself and also teach them to others because I am about to go from this world". 375. Ibn Masud (RA) says that Muhammad (PBUH) told me to learn knowledge and teach to others, learn orders and duties and teach people, teach Qur'an to others because I am about to leave the world and soon knowledge is also about to end and it will in such a way that two persons will have controversies not only in the sunnah and nawafil but also in Faraiz (obligations) and will not find a person who can solve the problem and get them clear. 386. Narrated by Abu Huraira (RA), Muhammad (PBUH) said "Talking of knowledge and wiseness is the lost thing of a wise man, so he where ever could find it would better get it". 39. Narrated by Abu Huraira (RA), Muhammad (Pbuh) said "the one who is questioned about a religious matter from a scholar and he does not answer properly on the day of Judgement their mouths will be tied to straps of fire 40 8. Umar (RA) bin Khattab Said "One who got knowledge is not capable to leave his wishes means that leave wishes in the knowledge and don't forward it to those who deserve". 419. Ali (RA) said: "Forward hadith in such a form which is its original form would you like people to make Allah and Muhammad (PBUH) leers". 4210.Abd Allah b.Masud (RA) said to his students "When you explain hadith to a nation in such a way that they cannot get then it would be wrong for them".There are two categories of knowledge according to Imam Ghazali (RA): the one is Farze Ain and the second is Farze Kifaya.
Farze Ain is the need of everyone, for example, Prayer is ordered to all and knowing its orders also is the duty of everyone and Farze Kifaya is that there must be some people everywhere who had knowledge to solve the Islamic problems of locals and to answers the doubts and questions of the opposition. 43

Literal meaning of brought up/training (tarbiyyah):
Literally brought up or training means increasing and rearing up or taking care and feeding to convert form one state to another and it is possible only because of the brought up.Just like we say that father did brought up of his son; this means that he fed him and took care of him, he protected him and brought him up.
Brought up is not only the feeding, taking care and protecting but it also includes all the aspects of brought up of personality whether its mental or physical.That's why the necessary meaning of the brought up is physical grooming along with spiritual cleansing and the duo makes a person to be socially acceptable and finally an integral and a worthwile part of the society.
Brought up is the name of instilling moderate, perfect, social, mental and physical qualities in personalities who make a place in the aggregate society. 44

Islamic meaning of brought up:
Brought up, in Islamic point of view, is streamlining of human wishes within the limits of Quran and sunnah and taking care of all the social, mental and physical aspects while achieving the height of quality.
"These are the people who boost up the level of wisdom and educate others.The basic goal of training in Islam is to make a believer with a complete personality who looks onto life positively.Such a believer (momin) who has strong courage and final decision rather than the weak courage and cheating.If he relaxes, he thanks Allah and if he faces hard time, he prays for help from Allah or bravely faces the hurdles until Allah fulfills their expectations". 45

Difference between education and brought up:
Education and brought up are two sides of the same coin.Education is like a part of the brought up or we may say that brought up is an extension of education.Brought up provides the power of getting the experience of mental vision and its neatness.So, it imparts maturity/ awareness of getting good company / job and leaving the bad characters. 46rought up is wider in action than education and it is specific also because the target of brought up is the care and neatness of all the aspects of human being.There is a saying of Muhammad (PBUH)."The example of Allah to give me knowledge and then sending me is like the water of rain on earth and there a part of land absorbs water and ground grass, plants and other parts store the water from which people use water for drinking and irrigation and then there is another part which is not fertile and which does not store the water neither grows the plants.These examples are like such people who got the knowledge of Islam and gave benefit to others from what Allah gave me and sent.So, these are the people who got knowledge and taught to others.The second example is like a person who did not even look at it and did not accept the orders of Allah which he gave me and sent". 47uhammad (PBUH) explained both education and brought up in this hadith and declared a teacher as high category scholar who applies his knowledge himself practically and the second category of scholar is the one who listens a hadith once, forwards it without any change in words or meanings.Muhammad (PBUH) praised these two kinds of scholars because they combine both education and brought up and condemned the third one because he does not have any of the both properties.If the difference between education and brought up would not exist, then education would be merely a bunch of information and for a moderate and complete human personality it would have no benefit. 48imilarity in education and brought up: Allah sent Muhammad (PBUH) as such a teacher, who is provider of knowledge of Holy Qur'an.All the prophets sent to the world are teachers but Muhammad (PBUH) is the best among them. 491.Muhammad (PBUH) said "A scholar who performs prayer then sets to teach the knowledge is better than a person who is fasting at day and at night does not sleep and does worship". 502. Muhammad (PBUH) further said "Definitely Allah and His Angels and the creatures of sky and earth even ants and fishes pray for that person who teaches good to people". 51rom these verses and sayings, it is clear that at the time of Muhammad (PBUH) there was a special meaning of education.Teaching Qur'an, meanings of verses and their explanation was the core of education.The dissemination of information through ahadith (sayings) of Muhammad (PBUH) and by his Companions (Sahaba) to all Muslims was also education.
Thus the argument of some critics of Islam is that education in Muslim traditions has been limited to listening Qur'an and reciting to others is entirely wrong because education in Islam is a complete code of life encompassing all social, ethical, cultural, moral, political, economic and, of course, religious aspects.We see that at the time of Muhammad (PBUH) writers and teachers were given great importance; after all, the most important task was the training of teachers.The aim was to organize such a community which not only had the awareness of Islamic order but also could live day and night with Muhammad (PBUH) to learn his way of life.That is why from every cast of Arabs, communities came to spend time with Muhammad (PBUH) and were equipping themselves by his teachings and his way of life. 52ccording to a saying of Ibn'Abbas (RA) from every cast of Arabs at least one person used to come and live with Muhammad (PBUH) to learn Islamic orders and get knowledge.It is clear from these ahadiths that continuity of teaching was a special way of education.The suffa was considered as a school in which the students were living permanently.There were two types of groups: one group was training practically and the other was teaching.In the second one, people used to come for some time and asked questions about problems and confusions from Muhammad (PBUH).According to the terminology of that time these students were called "Qur'aa" i.e learners.According to a saying, there was another place except Suffa where the people of Suffa used to get education day and night. 53u'wiyya (RA) says that I heard Muhammad (PBUH) saying that whoever Allah wants to do good with Him, He gives him the awareness of Islam.I am the distributor All the things are there because Islam is the method of nature.As Allah says, "This is the nature of Allah by which he created human.There cannot occur changes in the creation of Allah.This is complete but most of the people do not understand".63 Because of this successful way of education and brought up, Islam and Muslims reached their highest mark and became invincible in the whole world."The companions of Muhammad (PBUH) were hard for non Muslims and soft with each other.You will see then during and , that they want the praise and blessings of Allah, there are signs of the one on their faces".64 These are the teachings of Prophet (PBUH), who always kept education and brought up side by side and set such examples of education and brought up which will last till the end of the world.
The history of Muslims proves that their nurturing involved both education and brought up.
The present Western way of education in which values and knowledge are separated, is not useful for human personality.
Actually, because of this concept, the West is the victim of digressions morally and spiritually.Despite of that the West is very good economically but the human values and ethics are missing there.Old parents are eager to see their children; they are being excluded from house and sent to old age houses.Sometimes they greet them through a phone call or send them flowers at Christmas or birthday.Neighbors don't know the condition and circumstances of each other.Husband and wife pay their own bills of food.This relation is not on the basis of sympathy and humanity but on the basis of economy and need.In the current situation the amalgamation of education and brought up is very important.In this regard, the character of Muhammad (PBUH) gives us the leading principles; his is the path of quality and progress for us. 65onclusion Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) had great emphasis on education and training of the Muslims so as to prepare them for this world and life in the hereafter.Great stress was laid on all aspects of human life.Muslims were taught how to live in family and society and were educated about different aspects of cleanliness, economy and politics.