Pedagogical Possibilities of Muslim Science Epistemologies and Storywork Curriculum

• In Event: Islamic Epistemologies, Decolonial Pedagogy, and Many Ways of Knowing

Abstract

This paper argues that Ibn Ṭufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqẓān serves not only as a metaphysical allegory but also as a decolonial curricular method aligned with Indigenous storywork and relational science education. Bridging Islamic philosophy, decolonial theory, and culturally sustaining pedagogy, the paper positions Hayy as a story-based framework that interrupts colonial binaries of mind/body, sacred/secular, and human/nature (Mignolo, 2011; Archibald, 2008). Using al-Ghazzālī’s epistemological model as a scaffold, the narrative becomes a pedagogical tool that invites students into a layered learning journey—beginning with perception, moving through reason and testimony, and culminating in intuition and ethical awareness.

The narrative challenges Western models of science education that emphasize extraction, control, and compartmentalized knowledge. Hayy’s evolving relationship with the natural world transitions from dissection to reverence, signaling an ontological shift from domination to stewardship. This trajectory aligns with Indigenous calls for ecological consciousness and reciprocal knowledge systems (Wilson, 2020; Bang & Medin, 2010).

By centering Hayy in science curricula, the paper models epistemic disobedience (Mignolo, 2011) and offers students an experience of story-as-theory that counters the decontextualized rationalism of dominant schooling. This approach cultivates what Ghazzālī calls the inner eye—the intuitive faculty that sees through ethical and spiritual discernment. As a curriculum, Hayy ibn Yaqẓān invites learners to hold multiple truths, integrate divergent epistemologies, and engage in reflective, relational inquiry. Ultimately, the paper presents Hayy as a site of curricular resistance and renewal that affirms Muslim and Indigenous knowledge systems as vital to the decolonial project in education

Author

• Ebtissam Oraby, The George Washington University