European Journal of Scientific Research - EuroJournals

Islam and Education from Religious Man’s Perspectives 377
politeness, the attempt of trying to become a good person both in this material world and in the
spiritual world we will all join after death.
Moreover, they view education as a period that starts with cradle and continues till grave and
among all creatures in life, human being is the only creature who needs education extremely. That is
why the prophets came with the books to educate humans. Imams say that education is learning, adding
that the first requirement of Koran was to “read” to emphasize the importance of education for a
Muslim. In Koran, Zumer verse 9, it says:“Can those people who know be the same as who do not
know?”. This is given as another good example to show the importance of education in Islam.
According to Imams, God defines knowledge as light and ignorance as darkness and education as the
end of the ignorance.
Education should involve….
Furthermore, Imams claim that the word education should involve various things such as learning the
Muslim culture, gaining experience on everything, to read and write, studying science, to be open to
new developments, to follow technology, to love, to respect others, to behave appropriately, to have
self-confidence and to be a useful society member. From some of their perspectives, the focus of
education should be to reveal humans the rationale behind their own creation existence and living in
this world. Apparently, Imams do not only indicate that education should involve the character
treatment of a person but also science knowledge, as well. They predict that an educated person can not
harm anyone. Furthermore, many Imams believe that a person should improve, renew and educate
himself/herself as if he will never die but work as if he will die tomorrow.
Imams definition of the word “Muslim”
Imams define the word “Muslim” as a person who is surrendered to God, who fulfills five pillars of
Islam and who prays aloud. A Muslim person adores God, Prophet and angels, acts as an example
member of the Muslim society, has got cultural intelligence and contemporary civilization. A Muslim
should not only be honest in his/her religious beliefs but also in politics, law, trade and in business life
as well. Only then he is accepted as a Muslim. One other aim of Islam is to make people act as mature.
In short, majority of Imams repeated saying that a Muslim should be a mature, honest, respectable,
clean person who should also be devoted to his nationality and religion as well as his culture and
traditions. According to one of our hadith interpreted by Buhari, Muslim is defined as “a person who is
confident from another person’s hand and tongue”.
The Importance of Having a Clean Heart
Many Muslims who do not practice their religious requirements claim that the most important thing for
a Muslim is to have a clean heart. Majority of Imams accept that clean heart is a priority for our
religion but add that it should reflected to the outside by worship. Another Imam feels that everything
starts from heart and adds that heart is like a small tree which needs to be watered to grow up.
Similarly, a heart needs to be watered by carrying out religious requirements. An Imam makes a
comparison on this issue by saying that a body needs water and soap to be clean and similarly a soul
needs worship in order to be clean. When we worship, we show our thankfulness to God. The
fulfillment of our religious requirements displays the beauty of being a Muslim. However, at this point
majority of Imams confirmed that there is no forcefulness in our religion and it is not fair to judge a
person considering his/her worship. This issue is between God and his human beings.
On the other hand, a few Imams reacted to this question by saying that those people who do not
worship are lazy, anti Muslim people. Saying that “my heart is clean” and doing nothing in terms of
religious requirements is meaningless for them. One Imam clarifies the issue with the help of a verse
from Koran. He says that in our holy book, there is Red SURESI verse 28: “Heart can only relax by