Abstract:
: The main purpose of this article is to portray Islam
as a paradigm of higher religious education. This paper is a
result of a long research initially aimed at finding new
perspective on the development of teaching and learning
process in Indonesia. The paper finds that the Holy Qur’ân
is ample with references on education at all level. It is
actually a book of education. The history of Islam has shown
that the system, method, and materials of education in the
Islamic world are all derived from it. It is this that the paper
is interested to discuss. In doing so, it takes into account the
conventional distinction between the religious and natural
science as far as education is concerned. While the Qur’ân
does not make a clear-cut distinction between the two
sciences, the difference between the two does serve as a
meaningful entry—at least methodologically—into the world
of education. The paper goes on to classify some Islamic
universities in Indonesia along the line of this distinction. It
finds that some of these universities believe in this
distinction, while others do not. This belief will in turn shape
the way these universities design their vision and carry on
their mission.
