Education is one of the most important aspects in one's life. Through education one gains many privileges and is respected in the society. One who holds a PhD, Doctorate, Master’s Degree etc. is given so much respect and honor by society, and education leads the person to worldly success. In the same manner, in Islam, those who are engaged in Islamic education are honored and respected and they gain not only worldly success but success in the hereafter. Consider the following verse,
إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْعُلَمَـٰٓؤُا۟ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ
“Indeed those who fear Allah from amongst his servants are the Knowledgeable, Indeed Allah is all-mighty all forgiving.”
Adding to this, Rasulullah (SAW) said,
فضل العالم على العابد كفضل القمر على سائر الكواكب
“The virtue of the scholar upon the worshipper is like the virtue of the moon over all the stars.”
ومن سلك طريقا يلتمس فيه علما سهل الله طريقا إلى الجنة
“Whoever treads a path searching for knowledge, Allah will make easy for him a path to paradise.”
From these Ahadeeth, among others, we can ascertain the honor of knowledge and how high a position the people of knowlege hold within Islam.
So what is the importance of Islamic education and why is Islamic education given such high rank?
Reasons why Islamic education is important:
One reason why Islamic education is so important is that it enables one to fully understand and implement the injunctions which Allah has placed upon him. In secular education, they do not teach their students how to pray Salah or how to recite Qur’an or the like, rather they teach only secular subjects such as math, science, social studies and the like. Though the study of math, science and social studies is important, and is needed to gain Islamic knowledge, secular institutes lack religious education and therefore Muslims are not taught simply, how to be muslims. In an Islamic institute, we learn the commands of Allah upon us, such as praying Salah, giving Zakah, fasting in the month of Ramadan. Without Islamic education, Muslims wouldn’t know what they were obligated to do by Allah and would be engaging in constant sin.
Another reason why is because Islamic education teaches its students the knowledge of the Qur’an and the Sunnah traditionally. In no other institution is the sciences of Islam taught according to the Sunnah. In Islamic institutes, students learn the manners of seeking knowledge and how to conduct themselves as students. They learn to respect their elders and seek advice from their teachers, these qualities are not found from those students who are educated in secular schools. When a student is taught according to Islamic education, you can visibly see the difference in his characteristics and mannerisms from the person who studied according to secular values.
The third reason why Islamic knowledge is important is because it is the basis of al-Amr bil Ma’ruf wal-Nahi ‘an al-Munkar, in an era where innovations and shamelessness is common. It is necessary for a person to be able to defend his beliefs and to defend his deen against shamelessness, against bid’ah and against disbelief. In the West, the fitna of LGBTQ has spread all throughout the education system, spreading evil and corruption all throughout, the one who is armed with Islamic education knows what’s right and what is wrong and is able to differentiate between them, and he is able to denounce such actions. Without proper Islamic knowledge, the Muslim will fall into the trap of Bid’ah, and he will begin to believe in that which he was taught.
Now that we have outlined why Islamic education is so important, now we will talk about why secular education is harmful to the child’s wellbeing
Reasons why secular education is harmful:
The first reason is because secular education is designed to indoctrinate the student to support and to believe in Western values, which are contrary to Islam. The secular education system in America was inspired by the education system of the Kingdom of Prussia in what is now Germany, the Prussian education system was designed to subjugate the people and nurture loyal, unquestioning citizens. The Americans were inspired by this system and implemented it all across public schools in America. The effects of these can be seen today. In public schools, books supporting and encouraging LGBTQ behavior, which is completely Haram in Islam, are widespread using education as a weapon. Without proper Islamic knowledge, Muslim students fall into this trap as stated above.
Another reason is the environment nurtured in secular schools is harmful for Muslim students. In Islamic institutes, students are taught to follow the injunctions of Qur’an and Sunnah, to respect their elders and to treat others with kindness and humility while being firm on their deen. In secular schools, students are taught according to Western values, and as a consequence the environment becomes poisoned, men and women intermingle and often women are teachers of Baaligh (Mature) men. Due to the education system employed in America, students in secular institutes spread Western values to their classmates and friends. An example of this, is the fitnah of Liberalism and Modernism, these values are totally against the values of Islam, they advocate to change Islam and make it lean towards so called “modern” values. As a consequence, Muslim students begin to disregard the Hijab and the prohibition of gender-mixing, and start engaging in open sin and fahishah. This is all facilitated by the environment of secular institutes which support such actions.
Conclusions:
Islamic education teaches one how to live his life according to the Sunnah, teaching that which Allah and Nabi (SAW) taught us, and secular schools teach according to secular and western values. We should not compromise our values for the sake of worldly education, though it is important and needed, we should not compromise our deen for the sake of Dunya. May Allah give us tawfiq to act upon what has been said. Ameen