Every idea has its method of execution. As for styles, they are specific non-permanent modes of performing the action. Styles within the subject of education means all types of directed activity that the teacher undertakes with the objective of assisting his students to realise the goal, namely communicating thoughts, concepts and diverse knowledge quickly and successfully. The teacher can choose diverse styles according to what suits the education situation, so he heeds the level of students and chooses the best style to achieve the goal e.g. styles such as debate, discussion, narration, story telling, problem solving, experimentation, direct practical exercises, etc. Often styles require one or more means to perform the action. Means and styles are not permanent; they change, evolve and ennumerate according to circumstances, people and possibilities. Just as a method must exist to execute an action, means and styles play an important role in executing this method. Accomplishing the action quickly and successfully depends upon innovating suitable means and styles to perform this action.
For instance, the method of education, namely the teacher’s rational address and the student’s intellectual learning was historically accomplished via means and styles such as pen and paper, or orally, and/or through imitation and writing. Nowadays means and styles are also employed to accomplish it but they differ from previous means and styles e.g. printed and moving pictures, audio cassettes, laboratory experiments, etc. The school must use appropriate means and styles to consolidate the rational method in students since this is the basis both for enlightened thinking as well as revival upon the Islamic basis. Enlightened thinking solves man’s greatest problem; and it also provides man the comprehensive idea about man, life and the universe, what preceded earthly life and what follows it, and its relationship with what preceded and what follows it. Thus he attains, via the rational method, the Islamic ‘aqeedah that is the basis for the State, Ummah and system in Islam.
From the 19th century Christian Era, Europe and thereafter America and Russia succeeded in innovating the Industrial Revolution in a breathtaking manner, itself a result of scientific research styles that became known as the “scientific method.” Upon examination, the scientific method proves to be correct and effective in empirical sciences only; similarly it is not wrong to call it a method as it is a specific and permanent research technique. However, the error lies in taking it as a basis for thinking in place of the rational method as that leads to negating the existence of numerous facts and knowledge whose existence man proved via the rational method e.g. the existence of Allah and the Prophethood of Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). Thus the scientific method is a correct method but specific only to tangible materials (madda) susceptible to experimentation in order to know the material’s reality and attributes via experimenation. Nevertheless the rational method with its four (constituent) elements remains the basis for thinking as it is employed not only in researching tangible materials e.g. in physics etc, but also in researching thoughts like the intellectual doctrine (‘aqeedah), legislation and history as well as in researching language e.g. literature etc. If a rational conclusion happens to contradict with a scientific conclusion with respect to a thing’s existence, the rational conclusion is adopted since its judgement with respect to a thing’s existence is definitive.
The scientific method is restricted to use in empirical sciences e.g. chemistry and physics to realise the reality and attributes of the universe’s materials that Allah ta’ala subjugated to man’s service in order to derive benefit from such materials and their attributes according to the Islamic rules.
Some philosophers, particularly the ancient Greeks, consider the “logical method” a method of thinking, whereas logic is neither a method of thinking nor does it reach the level of scientific research (the scientific method). Rather logic remains one style of the rational method (i.e. building one idea upon another idea to reach a conclusion), but it is a complicated style with the potential to err, deceive and mislead. It can also reach the opposite of the reality, thus it is better to avoid it. If used, its conclusion must be subjected to the rational method.
The designer of the curriculum for schools and teachers must pay attention to the following thoughts when choosing the teaching means and styles for any subject:
- Means and styles are temporary, so the teacher must innovate useful means and styles to make students understand the adopted thoughts, while taking their circumstances and individual differences into account.
- Senses (hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste) are a fundamental element in thinking used to transfer the sense of the reality to the brain. The teacher should enable students to use most of these senses—as much as possible—to sense the reality of the subject of study (thinking) if the reality is accessible to them as they study. If the reality is not accessible, one should bring this reality closer to their minds using all possible means and styles until they imagine it as if they sensed it, since sensing the reality is a fundamental element of thinking. Whenever more senses are involved in sensing the reality, the person’s sensation of the reality deepens and his judgement upon it and its attributes becomes more precise.
- Taking into account the students’ linguistic achievement in writing the curriculum and in addressing them.
- Taking into account human understanding of the comprehensive form (seegha kuliyya) of things before understanding its details, particularly for students between six and ten years old, which necessitates:
- Teaching students the words denoting meanings before teaching them the letters. After they understand that the meaning of a word signifies its specific reality, the process of word analysis begins: which is the explanation of letters and syllables that constitutes that word. This is accompanied by the composition process; namely composing new words from the letters learnt and composing new sentences from the words learnt. This merges two methods of teaching the language: The letter method and the sentence method.
- Teaching them the description of apparent things before teaching their specific elements and attributes.
- Teaching them the summarized biographies of personalities before teaching the detailed lives and actions of these personalities.
- Teaching them the general meanings and basic thoughts in the text before teaching the details and branches.