General Education: A Demystified Approach

At Zaytuna College, we believe the specific concerns of a holistic general education curriculum, particularly in the areas of the social sciences and the humanities, have always been Islamic concerns. A glance back at Muslim intellectual history only reinforces this. Scholars and thinkers from our tradition have always been occupied by the study of social life and human groups, a focus that today comes under the rubric of the social sciences, as well as by discussions that are now considered the central pursuits of the humanities.

In doing so, they upheld a prophetic legacy. Our Prophet ﷺ introduced themes that have been at the heart of the humanities into his articulation of the goals of a society pleasing to God. These themes—such as justice, aesthetics, the social and intellectual goals of language and poetry, and what constitutes a good life—all occupied a prominent role in the “prophetic” worldview, and are found in the Qur’an as well as the prophetic tradition (hadith).

Similarly, when the Prophet ﷺ discussed issues related to tyranny, oppression, economic inequalities, and the social schemes that facilitate them, he ﷺ did so in political, social, and economic terms. While his discussions were always contextualized by a religious-based ethical framework, he ﷺ did not limit his discourse about these issues to strictly religious terms. For him, issues of social betterment were not “alien” issues, whose pursuit led to intellectual conundrums. Rather, he ﷺ presented them as issues of relevance in particular spheres of life, and he ﷺ advanced policies that projected good, or limited damage, in the social sphere. These objectives have been the highest goals of modern social science research.

As Islamic history progressed from the prophetic epoch, the major schools of Islamic thought came to advance sophisticated theories about humanistic, social, and political concerns that were always viewed as indigenous elements, not foreign appendages, of a distinctly “Islamic” core of thought or knowledge. History tells us that the Sunni community developed theories of social and political stability and continuity, the Mu’tazilites and Shi’ites theories of justice and good governance, and the Kharijites a complex theory of justice and equality. All of these theories revolved around questions that are central to the contemporary social sciences and humanities. Indeed, Muslim thinkers of the past never felt the need to “Islamize” or “Tawhidize” these concerns as many modern Muslim thinkers have, a development that has led to an unnecessary Western/secular vs. Islamic/revelatory dichotomy.

Moreover, as Muslim intellectual traditions matured, scholars and thinkers began to take an even more rigorous view of human societies and institutions. Ibn Khaldun’s book, al-Muqaddima, would in modern terms be described as a book of historiography and sociology. Al-Marwardi’s Tashil al-Nadhar and to a lesser extent his al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya, as well as al-Tartusi’s Siraj al-Muluk, were books that today would be considered proper works of political science. Al-Muhasibi, Abu Talib al-Makki, al-Ghazali, and many others wrote books that contemporary scholars describe as works of moral or analytical psychology. None of these works have been viewed as embodying the Islamizing of non-indigenous ideas or concerns.

At Zaytuna College, we approach general education from this realistic and “demystified” perspective. The subjects of our general education curriculum are areas of human intellectual concern that have been present in many societies. In the modern West, these subjects have been critical in providing refined analytical and methodological tools for the study of society and in informing the language of intellectual discourse. At Zaytuna College, we endeavor to teach our students the best use of these tools and to convey to them a fruitful knowledge of this language. We want to train students to relate to the world in all of its multiplicities, while not losing sight of divine purpose. Ultimately, it is our desire that our graduates see in our general education curriculum valuable areas of human knowledge, which can work synergistically with the traditionally religious elements of Muslim thought to foster unique and valuable insights into the human condition.

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