Abstract
This essay explores the philosophical thought of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd and its significance for reforming the tasks and processes of learning about Islam, learning from Islam and teaching about Islam. A brief biography introduces Abu Zayd, his intellectual context as well as his major works. The second section leads through exemplary Muslim attempts at reformation within the field of education. This is followed by Abu Zayd’s philosophical efforts in the reform debate. The fourth part shows how Abu Zayd bases his reform project on the central notion of the human character of the Quran, and the application of educational hermeneutics. Here we see how Abu Zayd’s concepts cater for a student-oriented hermeneutic instruction of religion that promotes competence-oriented learning. A pedagogy informed by Abu Zayd’s philosophy will enhance student empowerment and self-responsibility, equipping the youth to shape their socio-political surrounding. Given the concrete challenge for the state to provide Islam education to millions of Muslims currently living in Germany, Abu Zayd’s vision can assist in crafting a curriculum that provides both educational content and method. By rejecting the possibility of absolute religious truths, Abu Zayd’s hermeneutic opens the door for respectful inter-religious and inter-denominational learning. The final thoughts of this chapter reflect on Abu Zayd’s contribution to current Muslim scholarship.
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Notes
- 1.
Rahman was not the only thinker of his time to take on the task of rethinking education inspired by Islamic principles. Ismail al-Faruqi and Seyyed Hossein Nasr are known for ‘Islamisation of knowledge’ and ‘Islamisation of science’, respectively. Cf. Völker 2016. Chapter on Rahman’s reform: ‘Education and Islamic Metaphysics’.
- 2.
cf. Völker 2016, chapter on Arkoun’s reform: ‘Society beyond Education’.
- 3.
Similar views can be traced from Hegel on ‘creating knowledge’, to J.P. Sartre, F. Fanon and P. Freire.
- 4.
Kraemer refers to Miskawayh, Tahdhīb al-akhlāq, 49–50.
- 5.
For discussions between Abu Zayd and his teacher Hassan Hanafi about socialist realism, compare ibid.
- 6.
Some teachers of Al-Azhar are so closely linked to political power that they instrumentalise Islam in various ways to support political schemes. Despite Al-Azhar’s claim on monopoly over the interpretation of Islam, Abu Zayd hopes that secularism will enable a multiplicity of interpretations freed from political influence and mutual backups between political and religious interests.
- 7.
Abu Zayd’s ideas are informed by the philosophies of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ferdinand de Saussure, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Wilhelm Dilthey, Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricœur and Toshihiko Izutsu.
- 8.
After oneness (tawhīd), justice is the second chief principle of God’s nature, according to the Mutazila. It is the nature of the Quran as God’s words to essentially entail divine justice.
- 9.
For a comparison of ideas on Muhammad’s contribution to the revelation process between F. Rahman and N.H. Abu Zayd, see Völker 2015.
- 10.
The traditional practice of studying the occasions of revelation and the distinctions made between Meccan and Medinan verses proves how Islamic scholarship recognises this link between the message and history.
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Völker, K. (2018). Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd’s Philosophy on Islam and Education. In: Smeyers, P. (eds) International Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72761-5_3
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