Key Principles
Fitrah
Each child is endowed with a God-given nature, known as the fitrah. Like the seed of a tree, it contains the essential programming needed to grow. In the right environment, it will naturally unfold and develop. This is contrary to the notion of tabula rasa (blank slate) of John Locke and others and suggests instead the complementary blend of both nature and nurture.
Uniqueness
Each child (and each brain) is unique, based on the child's unique genetics, natural talents, and life experiences. Each child has his or her personality, temperament, and abilities. This is the individualized part of the child’s fitrah, the part that makes him or her a unique creation of God. Education must acknowledge this unique aspect of each child—and that children are not identical objects on an assembly line.
Holistic
Tawhīd.Authentic education must encompass and engage the whole child—spiritually, morally, intellectually, physically, emotionally and socially. It must open up to the child a “big picture” view of the world as a network of interconnected and interdependent relationships and systems. Ultimately, holistic education must seek to connect the heart, mind and soul of the learner experientially to the Source of all wholeness, holiness and wellbeing.
Integrative
Tawhīd. Education must be integrative in the broad range of topics it addresses and its treatment of these topics; integrative across time, place and cultures; integrative across the curriculum; integrating knowledge, beliefs, and values with action, application and service. These integrative aspects have the potential to truly enhance the power of the learning experience. Additionally, learning is mind-body integrated. All learning is dependent on the body's physiological state. Nutrition, hormones.
Developmental Stages
Tarbiyah. Developmental windows for learning exist but vary between children. Children develop in stages as a function of natural gifts, genetics and environment. As noted earlier, the word tarbiyah itself conveys this idea of developing from “stage to stage” until reaching one’s full potential.
Emotion-based
Ayat Allah. Emotion drives attention, motivation, meaning and memory. Emotional experiences code our learning as important. The Quran draws our attention to the fact that awe, wonder and “being there” experience is the natural starting point of the learning process. Conversely, stress & threat inhibit normal learning and thwart its effectiveness.
Pattern & Meaning Seeking
Sunnat Allah. We gain meaning through patterns; meaning comes from understanding the larger pattern of things. In search of meaning, the brain seeks patterns, associations and connections between new data and prior knowledge. This search for meaning is innate.
Intelligence and understanding are the ability to make connections and construct patterns. The Quran calls us to discover the recurring “patterns” in nature and human history.
Challenging (Enrichment)
Ibdā’. Students must be challenged to thoughtfully examine what they are studying, participate assertively in group discussions, work productively in cooperative learning activities, and come to grips with controversial issues. Such activities and experiences help foster the skills needed to produce competent citizens able to present and defend their beliefs and principles effectively. Challenging, authentic learning stimulates curiosity, creativity and higher-order thinking.
Higher-Order Thinking (Problem Solving)
Ijtihād. Higher-order thinking involves the manipulation of information and ideas by synthesizing, generalizing, explaining, hypothesizing, or arriving at conclusions that produce new meaning and understanding. Of course, the brain is continuously responding and adapting to the changing requirements of the environment; humans have survived throughout the ages by problem-solving and flexible thinking.
Deep Knowledge
Hikmah. Understanding (and wisdom) is a key goal of knowledge and education. “Deep knowledge” involves addressing the central ideas of a topic or discipline with enough thoroughness to explore connections and relationships, and to produce complex understanding. The Quran (62:2) notes that the real goal of knowledge is deep understanding (hikmah, or wisdom), not information.
Hands-on (Active)
Amal. Like the roots of a tree, children must get their hands dirty for knowledge and understanding to take root. This is done through active learning experiences. Effective teaching and learning must emphasize hands-on and mind-on activities that call for students to interact with what they are learning and use it in their lives in some meaningful way. Teachers must be prepared to take advantage of unfolding events and teachable moments to develop examples that relate directly to students and to implement other practices that facilitate active and meaningful instruction. One of the major, recurring themes of the Quran is the importance of joining theory with hands-on practice and application.
Real-world Connections (Relevance)
Students should feel that the content they are studying is worth learning because it is directly meaningful and relevant to their personal lives (lifestyle/lifeway). Students must see the usefulness and potential application of knowledge to their everyday lives. Real-world connections involve making connections between the knowledge gained and the larger issues of the world outside the classroom.
Values-based
Akhlaq. By focusing on values and by considering the ethical dimensions of topics, education becomes a powerful vehicle for character and moral development. Educators need to realize that every aspect of the teaching-learning experience conveys values to students and provides opportunities for them to learn about values.
Social Brain (Substantive) Conversation, Cooperative Learning
Hiwar, Ta’awun. Language is the primary means of human communication. A great deal of learning takes place by talking and interacting with others, especially in learning communities. Substantive conversation involves dialogue and extended conversation with peers and experts about a particular subject or topic to build shared understanding. Groups, teams and cooperative learning experiences benefit our understanding of new learning and its application. Essentially, the Noble Prophet (ﷺ) utilized similar notions as the social brain, substantive conversation, and cooperative learning in formulating the learning communities of early Islam.
Non-conscious Learning (Modeling)
Qudwah, Suhbah. Much of what we learn is not taught directly, but simply "picked up." Real learning is not forced but orchestrated. This highlights the importance of association, role- modelling and mentoring. The Companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) received their special designation of sahabah because of their association with him in this type of learning community.