Ibn Khaldun's Methodology for Reforming the Educational Process

Dr. Ruqayya Taha Jaber Al-Alwani
College of Arts, University of Bahrain

Introduction

Recent years have witnessed extensive efforts to reform education, with calls converging across various countries to overhaul educational systems. There is a growing emphasis on the necessity of basing the educational process on evaluations that reveal the strengths and weaknesses of implemented systems. The Arab and Islamic heritage has never been devoid of continuous interest in the educational process and its reform, both in ancient and modern times. Several prominent figures have emerged in this field, such as Al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina, and others. Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the most prominent Arab scholars who provided the reformist educational thought with methodological foundations that are indispensable for any researcher in educational reform, especially since his approach was characterized by realism, distance from theoretical abstractions, and a focus on linking education to its functional role in life.

Ibn Khaldun's contributions were not limited to describing the followed method or curriculum; he also addressed the fundamentals of the curriculum and various pedagogical practices with a critical and realistic mindset that transcended the frameworks of the knowledge of his time. In Khaldunian thought, education is a social process in its content, essence, goals, and function; it cannot be separated from society, as it expresses the needs of both individuals and the community. We do not intend to claim that Ibn Khaldun is the founder of pedagogy or didactics as much as we wish to reveal the sophistication reached by the Khaldunian methodology in education and the points of intersection between Khaldunian ideas and the data and foundations of modern education. This paper aims to identify the most prominent features and elements of the Khaldunian methodology in reforming the educational process. It also attempts to provide suggestions for reviewing the reality of the educational process today by looking at and benefiting from Ibn Khaldun's methodology, in comparison with modern educational data regarding values, goals, educational content, quality, and methods.

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Epistemological Preliminaries

This study addresses the issue of reform in the educational process. By reform, we mean: working to correct errors and solve problems related to the progress of the educational process in an attempt to reach the best levels. Anyone looking at the various educational ideologies and theories that have existed in human history will notice that they represent a vision for reforming education and work to apply that vision if possible.

Undoubtedly, there is a real need in every human-made methodology to reconsider it from time to time, for the purpose of formative (Initial Evaluation) or summative (Summative Evaluation) assessment, given that it is a methodology developed by humans, presented in a specific context to address specific problems, direct teachings, or instill behaviors. Education is no exception to these methodologies that require review, reform, and change periodically, especially in light of the current circumstances the world is undergoing. This is a reality called for by the thinkers and scholars of the Ummah, emphasizing that there is no reform for education except by making radical changes in the structure of education, basing the reform plan on developing the learner's various skills, focusing on teacher preparation, and intensifying spending on education.[^1]

The human being is the most important human resource in the necessary development process. Humans have sources, influences, and foundations for their upbringing and education, and education lies at the heart of those influences. Hence the importance of focusing on human education and developing all their capacities, including innovation and the ability to renew... and not just mental energy in its narrow limits based on the mere memorization of information and knowledge.

Anyone looking at ancient and modern Islamic history finds a massive amount of literature that addressed this issue from multiple angles. The importance of returning to this literature increases at present, as the reform process should spring from within the nation's value system and its reality, not from outside it, while potentially utilizing some necessary mechanisms in technical and technological matters from abroad. Relying on foreign expertise in educational reform and transplanting it without evaluation, analysis, or criticism has several risks; their curricula and experiences are the product of research into their reality, which differs from our reality, its foundations, and its values. Education remains, at its core, a national and folk industry; this industry benefits from the achievements of human civilization to improve its national production, not to plant it so that it produces a new industry in an unsuitable environment.[^2]

Chapter One: Features of the Khaldunian Methodology in Reforming the Educational Process

First: Realism

The Khaldunian methodology is characterized by realism and a distance from idealism based on theoretical conceptions. Ibn Khaldun's interest in the subject of education was not that of a theoretical researcher unconcerned with practical application; rather, he practiced it daily in teaching circles in kuttabs (traditional schools) and madrasas. He taught in Tunis and then moved to Cairo in 784 AH after facing troubles in Tunis. He engaged in teaching many times until he passed away in Egypt in 808 AH. He says regarding this: "When I entered it [Cairo], I stayed for days, and students of knowledge flocked to me seeking benefit despite my meager stock, and they did not accept my excuses, so I sat to teach at Al-Azhar Mosque."[^3]

What contributed to solidifying his realism in the matter of educational reform was his travel across several countries in the Maghreb and Andalusia and his interaction with scholars and men of letters in various arts and sciences. These journeys and tours gave him the opportunity to observe education and its conditions in different countries and provided him with means of contact with numerous scholars, which contributed to his understanding of many educational curricula and methods in the various regions where he lived and traveled. This became clear in his observations and comparisons between the methods of education in Islamic cities.[^5]

Second: Authenticity

Ibn Khaldun noticed that the curricula and programs followed in his time were not in a state of balance, whether in form or substance, due to the neglect of many eternal principles brought by Islam. He believed that the educational process should begin with teaching the Quran; this is a clear indication of the authenticity of the reformist methodology in Khaldunian thought, as it is a thought emanating from the methodologies of the Quran and Sunnah. He says: "Know that teaching children the Quran is a symbol of the religion, which the people of the faith have adopted and followed in all their cities, because of the firm belief and its doctrines from the verses of the Quran and some texts of Hadith that take root in the hearts. The Quran has become the foundation of education upon which subsequent faculties are built. The reason for this is that learning in childhood is more firmly rooted and is the basis for what follows; because the first thing to reach the heart is like the foundation for faculties, and the state of what is built upon it depends on the foundation and its methods."[^6]

As for their method of teaching children in the kuttabs, the scholar Ibn Khaldun describes it by saying: "As for the people of the Maghreb, their method with children is to limit themselves to teaching the Quran only, and during the study, they teach them calligraphy and its issues and the differences of the Quranic reciters in it. They do not mix that with anything else in their teaching sessions—neither Hadith, nor Fiqh, nor poetry, nor the speech of the Arabs—until the child masters it or stops short of it."[^7]

The importance of this feature in reforming the educational process today is evident, as calls for educational reform in our countries have multiplied. This necessitates the need to adhere to authenticity and emanate from the original values of the religion represented in the Book and the authentic Sunnah in reform and change processes. Transplanting various reformist curricula without considering the fundamental differences and structural foundations is not without many risks, as previously mentioned.

Chapter Two: Reforming the Educational Curriculum in Khaldunian Thought and its Modern Approaches

Introduction

The educational curriculum is defined as: the effective tool in achieving the goals of education aimed at building the human being, developing their various abilities and skills, and acquiring ways of thinking. Therefore, the curriculum is considered the actual translation of the goals and orientations of education in society. The curriculum in its modern sense is: the set of diverse experiences provided by the educational institution to students inside and outside it to achieve comprehensive and integrated growth in building the individual, according to specific educational goals and a planned scientific scheme—physically, mentally, psychologically, socially, and religiously.[^8]

This definition—adopted by this study—takes a broader scope than traditional trends that view the curriculum as based on knowledge only.[^9] This makes the curriculum synonymous in its concept with "syllabi" and limits the teacher's role to transferring information, explanation, interpretation, and clarification only. The narrow concept of the educational curriculum neglects the various activities that take place outside the classroom and confines the learner between the covers of the prescribed book without focusing on helping the learner understand their environment and its problems, or developing their value and social orientations consistent with their society and lived reality.[^10]

From here, looking at the educational curriculum includes the curriculum's ability to achieve the goals of education, which should precede the process of developing and describing curricula, educational strategies, and the roles of teachers and learners. Ibn Khaldun addressed these levels in a style characterized by brevity and depth simultaneously. Ibn Khaldun dedicated the sixth chapter of his famous Muqaddimah to researching sciences and their categories, education and its methods, and all its aspects, and he addressed the differences in educational methods across Islamic cities. The Khaldunian methodology for reforming the educational process can be divided as follows:

First: Goals of the Educational Process

The goals of the educational process should not be limited to the formation of knowledge only; rather, they should extend to include all aspects of human behavior. This importance of educational goals is emphasized in our current era, characterized by openness to revolutions in information, communications, technology, and media... which requires the educational process to contribute to forming a qualified cultural personality, capable of skillfully dealing with the tools of the current era, and qualified professionally, educationally, and technically.

It is worth noting in this context that the problem of defining general educational goals is still present in modern schools of education. The scholar Ronald Corwin reviewed the details of the dispute over defining these goals among educators and sociologists. Some see them limited to mere mental achievement, others see the necessity of focusing on the link between educational effectiveness and career success, and a third group believes they should focus on developing character independence, precision in work, and adaptation to the requirements of technological change and utilitarian pragmatism.[^11]

However, Ibn Khaldun, in his educational methodology, presents clear goals that arise from the heart of the needs of the individual and society. Ibn Khaldun focused on social aspects in his writings and considered them a source from which educational goals are derived. This Khaldunian methodological insight is emphasized in our societies where the youth are subject to mental, intellectual, and value influences all related to an educational pattern far from their mother identity. The blatant interference in shaping the youth mentality in our societies imposes on educational and pedagogical institutions the building of an independent education that preserves the identity of the youth and their pattern of thinking. The goals of the educational process in the Khaldunian methodology can be summarized as follows:

• Moral Preparation
  Ibn Khaldun emphasizes the importance of religious education, which is the basis of the learner's moral preparation. He believes it should start from childhood and considers teaching children the Holy Quran a priority of education. The Quran is the foundation of education upon which subsequent faculties are built, given that learning in childhood is more firmly rooted. Ibn Khaldun is interested in forming behavioral habits and virtuous values so that character becomes an innate nature in the individual. He says: "Man is the child of his habits and familiarity, not the child of his nature and temperament. What he becomes accustomed to in circumstances becomes a character, a faculty, and a habit that takes the place of nature and instinct."[^12]

Modern educational philosophies have addressed this aspect and studied it extensively between two trends: the first represented in pragmatic philosophy, which saw that the individual's desires are virtues in themselves, and they have the opportunity to practice whatever they wish; and the second, which saw virtue as mental creations left to the individual themselves. Specialists face a crisis in defining the "minimum of morality." John White believes that the individual should be left to determine the level of morality they practice; if individual interest conflicts with the minimum of morality, the individual can lower the minimum to zero. White believes that this moral education will be adopted by a large sector of the world's population.[^13]

• Mental Preparation
  One of the most prominent tasks of the educational institution at present is preparing the individual intellectually and mentally, and developing the learner's mental abilities for scientific thinking, so that they become capable of solving problems they face, linking phenomena, and extracting the laws that govern them. Developing the mind is considered one of the most prominent means of human development. The difference between the Khaldunian methodology and modern methodologies is quite clear; modern educational institutions have not been concerned with producing a human being characterized by moral and value constraints as much as they focused on dealing according to interests and desires regardless of the moral value system. It is noted that these outputs have leaked into many Arab countries today. Dr. Ammar says: "Education became linked to the degree that measures what a person has acquired of information, and the degree became the sole right to grant the citizen a specific job. The degree was also limited to a certain amount of knowledge that a person memorizes, allowing them to join a specific job, while production for this job requires values including perseverance, giving, and sacrifice, and all these values are not present in our educational curricula in the Arab world... rather, the educational process is limited to memorizing information and granting degrees that evaluate the citizen by the information they acquired. Consequently, other aspects are completely neglected and must take their place in our educational systems, whether physical education, spiritual and social education, or political and cultural education. Without that, our educational efforts in the sound and correct formation of the Arab citizen's personality will not lead to the required success."[^14]

It is fair to say that educational institutions in the West have made significant progress in the field of studying mental abilities and areas of their development, and have made a huge leap in employing the mental abilities of learners in a way that suits the scientific revolution and the massive cognitive information explosion. Among the modern educational trends in this regard is developing mental preparation through:

• Adopting the principle of self-learning and continuous learning to keep up with the challenges of the information explosion era and the rapid development associated with it.
• Developing the learner's ability to link what they learn inside the educational institution with the problems of their real reality outside it, which is known today as Authentic Learning.

The Khaldunian methodology appears advanced through its suitability for the latest educational contributions in the mental preparation of the learner, and even its precedence over them, but without entering into great details as is the case for our current era in which specializations have branched out. Ibn Khaldun advocated for the importance of dialogue, debate, and discussion between the teacher and the learner. Dialogue helps in opening the mind, expanding perceptions, and loosening the tongue through which knowledge is transferred. Ibn Khaldun also focused on explaining the tools of knowledge such as the senses and experience and their role in developing mental abilities, such as mental reflection, experimentation, and observation. In fact, Ibn Khaldun focused on defining the levels of the human mind: the discerning, the experimental, and the theoretical. For Ibn Khaldun, the important thing is not knowing the rules, laws, and terminology in themselves, but rather the ability to use them and benefit from them practically, i.e., application. Hence his distinction between the "industry of language" represented in its rules, laws, and terminology, and the "faculty of language."

The process of mental preparation is extremely important in forming the seriousness that negates extremism; rationality makes a person deliberate, patient, and not hasty in making decisions. Knowing the role of the mind and adopting seriousness that negates extremism are important matters in educational aspects. This educational insight is very important today, where education and its institutions have often turned into backwaters where freedom is absent, and the spirit of initiative, creativity, training, and skill formation is killed. The educational system should not be based on memorizing and storing information; rather, it should seek to encourage thinking skills—analytical and synthetic—and direct these skills toward individual research, taking into account individual differences, each according to their abilities and potential. Education is not indoctrination, and learning is not memorization. Rather, it is, on both sides, the exercise of mental abilities and the gaining of time in order to master knowledge in this field or that.

The fact that educational institutions at various levels stop at the ability to memorize and recite, and fall short of mental processes, produces negative effects, including:

• The inability of graduates to interact, understand, and dialogue with the various parties and segments of society. Discussion, analysis, and dialogue require mental skills that cannot be developed by sufficing with the ability to memorize only.
• The inability of graduates to maintain their identity in the face of incoming currents and the fierce winds of globalization.
• The inability of graduates to build bridges between authenticity and modernity and the interaction between the past and the present.[^15]

Ibn Khaldun proposed practical models for consolidating and developing mental abilities, including his focus on interest in writing and arithmetic as components of mental education and the development of intellectual capacities. Ibn Khaldun emphasizes the importance of teaching these two crafts because they are beneficial to the mind. Writing involves a transition from written letters to verbal words in the imagination, and from verbal words in the imagination to the meanings in the soul. This happens constantly, resulting in a faculty for transitioning from evidence to the signified, which is the meaning of mental reflection through which unknown sciences are acquired. Thus, a faculty of reasoning is gained, which is an increase in intellect, and it results in increased insight and cleverness in matters due to what they have become accustomed to in that transition.[^16]

Repeating this mental process involved in writing—from the drawn letters to the pronunciation of the drawn letters, and from the pronunciation of the drawn letters to the mental image or meaning and vice versa—forms the faculty of rapid transition between signifiers and signifieds. This faculty increases the mind's reasoning, insight, and intelligence. What Ibn Khaldun proposed several centuries ago is very close to what the international educator Mortimer J. Adler[^17] pointed out and emphasized in his articles and books about developing the teaching of reading and writing, their laws, and their effects on the learner, including his saying:

One learns to write and read only by performing these acts, but since reading and writing are intellectual arts, the habits must be formed under the discipline of rules of art, moreover, intellectual habits cannot be formed intelligently unless the rules themselves are understood.[^18]

Ibn Khaldun also focused on the means of learning arithmetic, as in its craft there is "manipulation of numbers by addition and separation, and a craft that needs many proofs and deductions." From this analysis, Ibn Khaldun concludes that writing strengthens mental reflection, and that arithmetic strengthens the mind (formal, structural, or logical mental operations); therefore, attention must be paid to teaching them.[^19] We can build on this by saying that every science or skill that can develop the mental abilities of learners should be given attention and provided to them within the framework of various educational institutions, such as studying computers in our era and other modern mechanisms.

Second: Strategies of the Educational Process

• The First Strategy: The Educational Method
  Ibn Khaldun grew up with the method of indoctrination and reliance on quantitative education and focusing on the volume of information that flows into the minds of learners. Ibn Khaldun believes that the focus should be directed toward building correct thinking, even with little knowledge. He says: "Know that the teaching of sciences to learners is only beneficial if it is gradual, bit by bit and little by little. First, issues from every chapter of the art are presented to him, which are the foundations of that chapter, and they are explained to him in a general way, taking into account the strength of his mind and his readiness to accept what is presented to him until he reaches the end of the art. At that point, he acquires a faculty in that science, but it is partial and weak, and its purpose is that it prepared him to understand the art and acquire its issues. Then he returns to the art a second time, and the teacher raises him in instruction from that rank to a higher one, completing the explanation and clarification, moving away from generalization, and mentioning the differences and their perspectives, until he reaches the end of the art and his faculty improves. Then he returns to it again after he has become proficient, leaving no difficult, vague, or closed matter without clarifying it and opening its locks for him; thus he finishes the art having mastered its faculty."[^20]

Hence his interest in focusing on understanding and exercising the mind and operating the powers of imagination, more than stuffing the memory. The reality of education for us today is often based on accumulation, stuffing, imitation, and revolving around the minds of predecessors, far from developing the spirit of creativity, discovery, observation, experimentation, insight, discovering error, and building an independent personality. Education for us revolves around indoctrination, memorization, and sharpening the memory away from reflection, comparison, distinction, and developing thinking, while memory and memorization are the primary functions of the mind, and thinking, analogy, and comparison are the highest levels of thinking. Insisting on memorization and memory means stopping at the first levels of the mind and acting as an obstacle that contributes to driving away those with intellect and thinking. This necessitates the importance of reviewing all educational means and curricula of a rote nature in an attempt to solve this crisis gradually.

• The Second Strategy: Content of the Educational Syllabus
  Ibn Khaldun considers education as one of the "crafts," and it is an art whose principles and rules must be mastered so that the teacher who practices it can perform their task as required. Ibn Khaldun knows how to link the level reached by the art of education with the civilizational environment in which it is active; the relationship between them is direct, and whenever a group reaches an advanced stage in the civilizational race, the art of education advances with it and its market flourishes. Ibn Khaldun believes that education means communicating cognitive facts between two parties. He pauses at two types of communication formulas: the oral formula that takes place directly between the teacher and the learner, and the written formula that takes place indirectly between them through books and compositions. This formula is more widespread and common; the textbook is more permanent and more capable of spreading.

Ibn Khaldun takes a middle path regarding the educational book characterized by flexibility, focusing on what is known today as the psychology of learning and the psychological capacities of the learner. Accordingly, Ibn Khaldun rejected the concept of excessive authorship and overloading educational curricula with more books addressing a single subject, because of the resulting confusion in the student's mind and the waste of time on what is unjustified. Ibn Khaldun elevates this approach to modern levels that impose on curriculum designers the necessity of differentiating between scientific necessities and luxuries, which Ibn Khaldun expresses as the "simple" and the "complex," saying: "Furthermore, crafts are either simple or complex. The simple is that which pertains to necessities, and the complex is that which pertains to luxuries. The one that comes first in education is the simple, because of its simplicity first, and because it pertains to the necessary for which there is a strong motivation to transfer it."[^21]

Ibn Khaldun continues his criticism of stuffing and accumulation processes in education, saying: "This is the face of beneficial education, and it—as you have seen—is only achieved in three repetitions. It may be achieved for some in less than that according to what is created and facilitated for them. We have seen many learners in this era we have reached who are ignorant of the methods of education and its benefit; they present to the learner at the beginning of his education the closed issues of science and demand that he focus his mind on solving them, thinking that this is training in education and correct in it, and they task him with observing and acquiring that. So they confuse him by presenting the ends of the arts at their beginnings, and before he is ready to understand them..." until he says: "The teacher should not give his student more than the understanding of the book he is dedicated to learning according to his capacity and the rate of his acceptance of education, whether he is a beginner or advanced, and he should not mix the issues of the book with others until he understands it from beginning to end and achieves its purposes, and masters a faculty through which he can proceed to others: because if the learner acquires a certain faculty in one of the sciences, he becomes ready to accept what remains."[^22]

What Ibn Khaldun points out is what can be called the "arrangement of priorities" in the educational process, and knowing what should be given priority for teaching at a certain stage, and what should be postponed to later stages according to the goals of the educational process—a matter that should be considered and cared for when developing various syllabi. Modern learning theories have noticed this scientific fact, considering the Hierarchical Approach developed by Robert Gagné as one of the most prominent and important approaches to organizing content; where the syllabus content is organized in a hierarchical, gradual form starting from the simplest level to the most complex and complicated.[^23]

Ibn Khaldun divides the prevailing sciences in his era into two main parts:

• The First Part: Sciences intended for themselves, expressed as "transmitted sciences" such as Sharia sciences.
• The Second Part: Sciences not intended for themselves, expressed as "rational sciences" such as the Arabic language, arithmetic, and logic, which are tools for other sciences intended for themselves.

Ibn Khaldun believes that expansion should be in the first part, saying: "And this is what the later scholars did in the craft of grammar..." Thus, Ibn Khaldun strongly criticizes the prevailing means in his era in which the focus was on tool sciences and their branches without regard for the learner's readiness and ability. He views education with a utilitarian view that aspires to achieve the faculty in the shortest time and with the minimum of necessary sciences without diving deep into the tool sciences.[^24]

In this context, Ibn Khaldun proposes the importance of defining the foundations and procedures required by the educational stage through deriving science by its subject, dividing its chapters and sections, and following its issues, or deriving issues and investigations that occur to the investigating scholar, and being keen to communicate it to others so that benefit can be achieved through it. This review is considered one of the most important problems of educational reform that strongly imposes itself at present, represented in the current knowledge explosion and the major challenges resulting from it. Hence Ibn Khaldun's description of the person who undertakes this work as a "scholar"; deriving a science from much knowledge requires arduous work and a brilliant mind. Ibn Khaldun believes that this derivation requires many other stages, including division and categorization. Through this deep and concise description, Ibn Khaldun is talking about the stage of preparing syllabi that should start from the base reaching the summit. It is not a process of imitation, transfer, or transplanting syllabi from different environments. From here, it is imperative for syllabus designers in every era to perform review and auditing processes in an attempt to rectify errors or excesses that occurred in the syllabi. This is a clear-featured and currently important matter in many of our educational syllabi. This necessitates taking several measures for review and correction, which Ibn Khaldun expresses with a precise term: "organizing those sciences," where he says: "That the issues of science be scattered in their chapters from other sciences, so some virtuous people notice the subject of that art and all its issues, so they do that, and through it appears the one who organizes it among the total sciences that humans adopt with their thoughts."[^25]

Ibn Khaldun proposes the mechanism of summarization and abbreviation in educational syllabi by linking the selected foundations to each other; without that, the foundations remain scattered and lacking in the formulation of their contents in a way that makes them a single whole with scientific harmony and cognitive arrangement, to suit the stage of their employment and the circumstances of their use. This is what Ibn Khaldun expresses as "summarization." It means presenting issues of a general and summarized nature from every chapter that serve as the foundations, while taking the learner's mental level into account and observing their readiness to accept that science. The goal of this initial presentation is for the learner to acquire a partial and weak faculty that helps them enter the studied science or art and acquire its issues. This matter should be observed when developing and designing curricula and syllabi; every syllabus has its various references, differing in their levels in terms of scientific material and simplicity. The best way to benefit from them is to summarize what is in them without prejudice to their scientific material: "That something from the compositions that are mothers of the arts be long and detailed, so the composition aims to summarize that, by abbreviation and brevity and deleting the repeated, if it occurs, while being careful not to delete the necessary so as not to prejudice the purpose of the first author."

Ibn Khaldun believes that neglecting this can lead to dangerous educational pitfalls, resulting in other lengthy works that do not suit the nature of the intended stage, or useless stuffing, which results in the necessity of constant review and evaluation of syllabi. Among the problems that educational syllabi suffer from today is the large number of compositions and the multiplicity of methods and styles of their designers and the duplication of efforts. Despite the importance of encyclopedic knowledge and cognitive abundance, it does not, in fact, suit all stages and levels. Ibn Khaldun points to this by saying: "Know that among what has harmed people in acquiring knowledge and reaching its ends is the abundance of compositions, the difference in terminology in education, and the multiplicity of its methods, then demanding the learner and student to recall all that. Only then is the position of acquisition granted to him, so the learner needs to memorize all or most of them and observe their methods. His life would not suffice for what was written in one craft if he dedicated himself to it, so deficiency occurs."[^26]

It is appropriate for us to adopt this saying of Ibn Khaldun in designing our curricula and syllabi today. Whoever has struggled with the differences in compositions and syllabi realizes the importance of Ibn Khaldun's words. From here, the task of the syllabus designer is not limited to the preparation stage and sufficing with designing the major frameworks for authoring the scientific material or refining terminology, or clarifying some of them or explanation and interpretation; rather, it extends to the evaluation stage, through auditing, scrutiny, and refining the knowledge it contains. Ibn Khaldun says: "The later scholar finds a mistake or error in the words of the predecessors among those whose virtue is famous and whose reputation in benefit is far-reaching, and he confirms that with clear proof in which there is no room for doubt, so he is keen to communicate that to those after him, as it has become difficult to erase and remove it due to the spread of the composition across horizons and ages, and the fame of the author and people's trust in his knowledge, so he deposits that to stand on the clarification of that."

In contrast, Ibn Khaldun does not consider education based on abbreviations as the alternative; rather, he believes that excessive abbreviations are detrimental to education. He attributes this to the fact that they prejudice "conveyance" (Eloquence: the communicative relationship between the sender and the receiver, the teacher and the learner), and make understanding more difficult, in addition to the fact that they skip methodological stages and present the ends to the beginner in learning before they are mature enough to receive and understand them. The result is that the specific faculty of education in those abbreviations, if done correctly and not followed by an ailment, is a faculty deficient compared to the faculties obtained from simple, detailed subjects.[^27]

We conclude from Ibn Khaldun's words three stages of learning: the stage of beginning, the stage of deepening, and then the stage of completing experience. We point out here that Ibn Khaldun did not fail to warn that acquiring a strong faculty is not necessarily linked to this order (sequence); rather, a strong faculty can be acquired without the need for these stages.

Third: Teacher Preparation

Professor Adler approaches Ibn Khaldun's ideas on this specific point. His position can be summarized by his emphasis that education is continuous and not a dose given once and for all; rather, it needs continuity because science always has something new to provide us with, and the appropriate teaching method is the one that relies on dialogue, problem-solving, and self-learning. The professor believes that school curricula must keep pace with the changes that occur in life. The curriculum changes, the goals change, and the methods change.[^28]

Ibn Khaldun provides good material in this field, emphasizing the inevitability of the existence of the "teacher" as a basic party in the educational process, whether it aims to graduate scholars or craftsmen.[^29] It is not just any teacher, but the skillful and capable teacher who is required to achieve the best result. We find Ibn Khaldun focusing the issue on a clear, simple, but necessary principle: that according to the quality of education and the faculty of the teacher, so shall the learner be. Thus, the teacher occupies their appropriate place. Ibn Khaldun goes on to say that the task practiced by the teacher is not an independent work in itself; it needs auxiliary factors as it needs time. The teacher's task is not limited to teaching this or that aspect of knowledge only; rather, it extends to include all aspects, i.e., what is scientific and what is practical at the same time. Ibn Khaldun addressed several issues related to teachers and their role in the educational process, which can be summarized in the following points:

• First: Qualifying and developing educators in a way that suits the proposed approach; because one cannot give what they do not have, and because there is a defect in this aspect, it was necessary to work on establishing qualification institutions that graduate, re-qualify, or develop the male and female educators and teachers who oversee the educational process.
• Ibn Khaldun realized the importance of the teacher in the success of the educational process, and that reforming curricula loses its importance if the competent teacher is not available. The teacher is required to be: proficient in the sciences and arts they undertake to teach, understanding their details and branches, and familiar with the principles of education, so they can influence their students and treat them according to what suits them in cognitive and behavioral aspects.
• Among the most important things needed in this regard is knowledge of methods of explanation, understanding the psychology of learners, being gentle with them, and taking their understanding to where he wants them to go, according to their degree and readiness.
• Ibn Khaldun preceded modern educational theories in this, which emphasized the importance of considering the learner, their circumstances, and their ability.
• Second: Ibn Khaldun criticized several wrong educational practices carried out by some educators and teachers, such as their practice of authoritarianism and consolidating negativity in the minds of learners. Among the issues resulting from rejecting authoritarianism by the educator is teaching and raising generations to reject authoritarianism and ease the restrictions of rejected extremism, by adopting moderation and balance as a methodology for scientific, cultural, and practical life as well.
• In his Muqaddimah, he dedicated a chapter to the fact that severity toward learners is harmful to them. He pointed out the serious damages that return to the individual in adulthood and to society as a whole as a result of severity and violence in disciplining children in childhood, and the resulting corruption, bad character, and habituation to lying, malice, cunning, and deception.[^30]

Ibn Khaldun analyzes the phenomenon of violence and its negatives in a style that amounts to precise psychological analysis, saying: "Whoever was raised with harshness and coercion among learners, slaves, or servants, coercion overcomes them and restricts the soul in its expansion, takes away its activity, and calls them to laziness, and carries them to lying and malice, which is pretending to be other than what is in their conscience, for fear of hands being extended in coercion over them. It teaches them cunning and deception for that, and this becomes a habit and character for them. The meanings of humanity that they have in terms of social and civilized life are corrupted—namely, pride and defending oneself and one's home—and they become a burden on others in that. Rather, the soul becomes lazy in acquiring virtues and beautiful character, so it shrinks from its goal and the extent of its humanity, and reverts and returns to the lowest of the low."[^31]

The bold Khaldunian approach to the teacher's role and the importance of staying away from practices of authoritarianism and intellectual coercion is no less than what Professor Adler proposed when he criticized various coercive practices practiced by some teachers on their students by imposing a single truth that does not accept some kind of dialogue and discussion. He also pointed out the effects of those negative practices in stifling intellectual freedoms.

"teachers who expect students to accept what they tell them simply because they occupy the position of teachers"[^32]

Fourth: Vocational Education

Ibn Khaldun, in his educational methodology, focused on industrial sciences, emphasizing that they must be based on thought. Science is essential for industrial progress and prosperity. Industrial sciences in Khaldunian thought are considered among the "mothers of crafts," which is expressed in our time as applied and vocational sciences. Ibn Khaldun points out in his Muqaddimah two types of crafts: the simple and the complex. The simple is the necessary, such as agriculture, construction, and carpentry; and the complex is the luxury aspect, such as bookbinding and the like.[^33]

It is worth noting that UNESCO called for an international conference on technical education and training, aiming to address the issues raised. The conference was held in Berlin, Germany, where member states agreed to develop an international action plan to promote technical and vocational education and develop foundations for international cooperation in this field, so that a new agency called the United Nations Vocational Education Program (UNEVOC) would undertake this task. Among the most prominent things the conference called for was the necessity of innovating methods and styles and improving the technical and vocational education system in the concerned countries. It also emphasized the importance of providing vocational education for the qualified workforce within the constantly changing labor market, as a result of continuous technical development.

In the past, technical education and training policies aimed to develop the competencies and qualifications of graduates so they could join jobs. They are more capable of production, and to become keeping pace with technical progress and competitive with others in the fields of work, they should be following and in constant contact with the fields of education and training. Furthermore, they must continuously seek to research and investigate information and absorb new knowledge and modern possibilities that fall within their specialization, in addition to training, which has become a vital element in employee recruitment policies. In fact, there are institutions that invest in training employees, as the process of developing their human resources allows them a greater opportunity for competition.[^34]

What the mentioned conference proposed approaches what Ibn Khaldun pointed out several centuries ago when he discussed the importance of learning industries and how to learn them, explaining that proficiency and skill in industry can only be achieved through actual practice and exercise, or what is known today as training. He says: "The transfer of observation is more comprehensive and complete than the transfer of report, and the science and faculty resulting from it are more complete and firmer than the faculty resulting from report."[^35]

The steps for reforming the educational process in Ibn Khaldun's methodology can be summarized as follows:

• Conducting review, auditing, and correction processes continuously to identify areas of strength and weakness in the path of education.
• Reforming the teacher and focusing on their preparation is one of the most important reform steps. Education should not be viewed as a source of livelihood or gain only; rather, it is primarily a mission whose importance must be felt by those who perform it. Hence, teacher specifications should not be limited to university degrees only; rather, they must extend to include all their scientific, moral, spiritual, and cultural abilities, and a sufficient degree of awareness of what is happening in their society and the world around them.
• Focusing on primary education, which is expressed in our time as elementary, as it is the base of the educational pyramid and the foundation of the educational structure. Hence, Ibn Khaldun's interest in teaching children and focusing on them was extremely intelligent and realistically deep; focusing on primary education reflects its effects on secondary, preparatory, and university education as well.
• Focusing on vocational education and training and the continuous link between applied and intellectual education.

Conclusion of the Study

This study attempted to reveal the most prominent features and elements of the Khaldunian methodology in reforming the educational process. It also attempted to provide suggestions for reviewing the reality of the educational process today by looking at and benefiting from Ibn Khaldun's methodology, in comparison with some modern educational data regarding values and goals, educational content, its quality, methods, styles, and the characteristics and qualifications of the teacher. The study resulted in a set of findings, the most prominent of which are:

• Confirming that the Khaldunian educational perspective includes original and advanced ideas compared to the historical era in which it appeared (1332-1406 AD). When Ibn Khaldun wrote what he wrote, neither sociology, nor psychology, nor dialectics, nor behavioral goals, nor others had appeared, yet despite all that, he criticized many of the specific educational realities of his era with a unique critical spirit in its presentation and cognitive precedence.
• Ibn Khaldun's theories in pedagogy and education included a large part of contemporary theories. What Ibn Khaldun mentioned is suitable to be a pivot for a common Arab educational philosophy, because he started his theories from an Arab-Islamic environment that resorts to reason, logic, and psychological sciences in discussing and addressing its issues.
• Ibn Khaldun gave science and education the functional role they play in life. It plays a constructive, formative role through acquiring the unique mind and forming the faculty through "linking education and practice," a matter for which the need is increasing today.
• The subject of education in Ibn Khaldun's work has not received great attention from many educational researchers despite the importance of the educational ideas mentioned in the Muqaddimah, given their strength and logical coherence, as well as their distinction, precedence, and effectiveness at present. This requires conducting more studies and research in this field.
• The comparison between the Khaldunian educational perspective and models of modern educational means reveals a strong symmetry in concepts that almost reaches the point of claiming that the Khaldunian methodology was the pioneer of the educational reform system.
• Reconsidering curricula and the educational process is one of the most important reasons for intellectual development among generations and is considered one of the necessities of the current stage. It is an extremely important and necessary cumulative process that requires the formation of several specialized committees in various colleges and departments.

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Endnotes

[^1]: See what was written, for example, by: Hamid Ammar, the Sheikh of Arab Educators, in a meeting on "Concerns of Education in the Homeland," Al-Ma'rifah Magazine, Issue (11), Sha'ban 1419 AH - December 1998 AD.
[^2]: Adapted slightly from Hamid Ammar, previous reference, p. 7. And Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun, Al-Ta'rif bi-Ibn Khaldun wa-Rihlatuhu Gharban wa-Sharqan, edited by Muhammad ibn Tawit al-Tanji, Committee for Authorship, Translation, and Publication Press, 1951 AD, p. ?, quoting Abdullah al-Amin, Al-Manahij wa-Turuq al-Ta'lim 'inda al-Qabisi wa-Ibn Khaldun, Jihad Center, 1980 AD, p. 24. (Page number unclear in the original for the second citation).
[^3]: Previous source (Al-Ta'rif bi-Ibn Khaldun), p. 248 (This is supposed to be the page number in the edition of Al-Ta'rif, not the Muqaddimah itself, but this is how it appeared).
[^5]: Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun, Al-Muqaddimah, Dar al-Qalam, Beirut, 5th Edition, 1984 AD, Vol. 1, p. 537.
[^6]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 527.
[^7]: Previous source, Vol. 1, p. 538.
[^8]: Adapted from Fathi Younis et al., Al-Manahij: Al-Usus, al-Mukawwinat, al-Tanzimat, al-Tatwir, Dar al-Fikr, Jordan, 2004 AD, p. 17.
[^9]: The curriculum in traditional trends is considered limited to the information and knowledge received by learners inside classrooms; as for other aspects of various activities necessary for developing skills, they are no longer within the curriculum. See: Sarhan al-Demerdash and Mufid Kamil, Al-Manahij, Dar al-Hana for Printing, Egypt, 2nd Edition, 1969 AD, pp. 4-8.
[^10]: Regarding criticisms directed at traditional definitions of the curriculum, see: previous reference, p. 16.
[^11]: Ronald G. Corwin, Education in Crisis, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, 1974, p. 13.
[^12]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous reference, Vol. 1, p. 125.
[^13]: John White, The Aims of Education, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1982, pp. 80-86.
[^14]: Hamid Ammar, previous reference, p. 5.
[^15]: Adapted significantly from Majid Irsan al-Kilani, Ahdaf al-Tarbiyah al-Islamiyyah fi Tarbiyat al-Fard, International Institute of Islamic Thought, USA, 1997 AD, p. 106.
[^16]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 429.
[^17]: A famous American polymath in the field of educational development and philosophy, born in 1902 and died in 2000. He is considered one of the most prominent educators who had the greatest impact on developing and reforming education in America in the twentieth century. He taught at many American universities and worked as an administrator in them, which made his writings characterized by realism in his handling of educational reform issues. He worked on editing and reviewing the famous Encyclopaedia Britannica. He authored an important number of books and articles in the field of educational development, including: The Crisis in Education, Reforming Education, The Opening of the American Mind, How to Speak, How to Listen, How to Read a Book, The Idea of Freedom, and many others. See his biography in the Encyclopaedia Britannica on its website.
[^18]: Adler, Mortimer J., "Britannica Student Encyclopedia" 2006. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium. Also quoted or paraphrased in: Social - Mortimer J. Adler, THE CRISIS IN CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION, The Frontier, February, 1939, Vol. V, No. 42, pp. 140.
[^19]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 179.
[^20]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 532.
[^21]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous reference, Vol. 1, p. 100.
[^22]: Previous source, Vol. 1, p. 522.
[^23]: Fathi Younis et al., previous reference, pp. 103-104.
[^24]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 401.
[^25]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, p. 20. (Page number seems inconsistent with the context, there might be an error in the original or it is a general reference to a concept).
[^26]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 531.
[^27]: Al-Muqaddimah, same source, same page.
[^28]: Mortimer J. Adler, THE CRISIS IN CONTEMPORARY Education, The Social Frontier, February 1939, vol. V, no. 42, pp. 140-145.
[^29]: Al-Muqaddimah, p. 431.
[^30]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 430.
[^31]: Al-Muqaddimah, same source, same page.
[^32]: Mortimer J. Adler, Teaching, Learning, and Their Counterfeits. (http://www.dilext.com/adler/llc.html).
[^33]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous reference, Vol. 1, p. 400.
[^34]: Report on Vocational Education and Training in Europe at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Al-Alfiyyah, a group of researchers and specialists, published by the United Nations Vocational Education Program, 1998 edition, presented by: Abdullah bin Muhammad al-Huwaishal, Deputy Director of the Research Department at the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training in Riyadh.
[^35]: Al-Muqaddimah, previous source, Vol. 1, p. 100.