TY - JOUR
T1 - Al-Kindi on education
T2 - Curriculum theorizing and the intercultural Minhaj
AU - Abdul-Jabbar, Wisam Kh
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - This article presents Al-Kindi as the first Arab intercultural curriculum theorizer, rather than the first Arab philosopher as is often argued. He envisioned an intercultural and interdisciplinary curriculum within the Arabic intellectual tradition. This article proposes Al-Kindism as a conceptual framework for education that revisits interdisciplinary and intercultural possibilities geared toward conflict resolution and synthesis. It also explores how Al-Kindi was arguably the first in the Arabic intellectual tradition to initiate a move from Majlis to Minhaj, that is from Masjid learning practices centered on theological studies to schooling. In other words, in the absence of actual schooling, his educational vision offered a possibility of a conceptualized curriculum to be taught. Al-Kindi’s scholarly eagerness was driven not necessarily by, as generally perceived, the desire to promote philosophy, but more importantly, by the need to develop an intellectually responsive educational tradition to accommodate emerging intercultural encounters. He believed that the acquisition of true knowledge could only be achieved through intercultural competence and that such competence would eliminate the tension between Greek thought and Islamic culture. Thus, as a curriculum theorizer, Al-Kindi initiated a Minhaj marked by indebtedness to intercultural encounters, by a shift away from Majlis, and by the implementation of interdisciplinarity.
AB - This article presents Al-Kindi as the first Arab intercultural curriculum theorizer, rather than the first Arab philosopher as is often argued. He envisioned an intercultural and interdisciplinary curriculum within the Arabic intellectual tradition. This article proposes Al-Kindism as a conceptual framework for education that revisits interdisciplinary and intercultural possibilities geared toward conflict resolution and synthesis. It also explores how Al-Kindi was arguably the first in the Arabic intellectual tradition to initiate a move from Majlis to Minhaj, that is from Masjid learning practices centered on theological studies to schooling. In other words, in the absence of actual schooling, his educational vision offered a possibility of a conceptualized curriculum to be taught. Al-Kindi’s scholarly eagerness was driven not necessarily by, as generally perceived, the desire to promote philosophy, but more importantly, by the need to develop an intellectually responsive educational tradition to accommodate emerging intercultural encounters. He believed that the acquisition of true knowledge could only be achieved through intercultural competence and that such competence would eliminate the tension between Greek thought and Islamic culture. Thus, as a curriculum theorizer, Al-Kindi initiated a Minhaj marked by indebtedness to intercultural encounters, by a shift away from Majlis, and by the implementation of interdisciplinarity.
KW - Al-Kindi
KW - Intercultural education
KW - Muslim education
KW - curriculum studies
KW - medieval Islamic philosophy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092077952&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03626784.2020.1809966
DO - 10.1080/03626784.2020.1809966
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092077952
SN - 0362-6784
VL - 50
SP - 262
EP - 280
JO - Curriculum Inquiry
JF - Curriculum Inquiry
IS - 3
ER -