Education and Peaceful Protests: A Conceptual Framework for Peace Education

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Building peace through protest

Proposal

Introduction and Objective

The relationship between peace education and protest in Islamic philosophy is not widespread. In Arabic lexicons, protest is derived from hajja and ihtajjah meaning to prove, plea, and to defeat someone with proof. Its verbal noun is al-ihtijaj, which means to rely on the establishment of proofs in situations that require a debate and victory to support opinion and achieve an aim. Protest is also used as al-muzaharah, which means declaring an opinion or gathering people to declare their satisfaction. Peace education in the Islamic sense may be associated with protest, which is a plea of an intense emotional request from a mass of people of why a matter of concern should be done. Hence, protest can potentially be a device to plead for peace education. In Islamic philosophy and jurisprudence, Muslims, like others, have the right to collectively stage protests and demonstrations to express their legitimate demands and needs to those charged with authority. The reason is that the individual’s voice may not be heard, but the group’s voice is too strong and influential to be ignored. Limited amount of literature has dealt with the philosophical foundation of peace and security in Islam in Arabic sources but non-existing in English sources. Few studies in Arabic sources do not address this topic of peace education and protest with the aim of a conceptual framework for understanding how education can encourage peaceful protest. This paper examines the relationship between peace education and peaceful protest in the contexts of Islamic education and philosophy.

Methodology

This paper adopted a qualitative conventional content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Creswell, 2003). About twelve published books and articles, as well as commentaries from Muslim philosophers on peace education and protests in Islam, were analysed. These documents were sourced from journals such as the Journal of Islamic Studies, the International Journal of Contemporary Islamic Education, and published books (i.e., Islam and Peace in Human Society and War, Peace and Non-Violence: An Islamic Perspective). About 35 sample articles and books were downloaded and examined based on the key words: “peace education in Islam”, and “protest in Islamic education”, among others. However, only 12 of them were used in the analysis based on established inclusion and exclusion criteria. All articles and books that had a direct focus on peace education and protest in Islam and published in the 20th to 21st centuries were included in the analysis. No articles and books that did not meet this inclusion criterion were used. Following strictly the Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), and based on the exclusion and exclusion criteria, all twelve final articles and books were read thoroughly before data extraction. Key themes such as how education can lead to peaceful protest were explored. Coding categories were derived directly from the text data that emerged and analysed to draw conclusions (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).

Findings

The qualitative content analysis revealed that Islamic education seeks to develop personal success and happiness in the world and particularly in the hereafter (e.g., Daud, 1998; Al-Attas, 1993). This goal has shifted to the needs and interest of society, especially under the influence of western idea and institutions, which has resulted in the training of students whose personalities are not shaped by education or education inculcating ethics and values among students to function meaningfully in society based on their cultural contexts (Abu-Nimer & Nasser, 2017; Abu-Nimer et al., 2016). Al-Attas (1979) argued that an educated man should be a good man, who has ‘Adab’ in the all-inclusive sense (including spiritual and material life). Contemporary education should also train individuals who can function meaningfully across contexts. Therefore, there is an ongoing academic protest on how moral values and ethics can peacefully be prioritised and integrated into both Islamic and western thoughts. Moral values and ethics were also found to be achieved through peace education and peaceful protests (see Koylu, 2007; Friedens-Warte, 2010). Indeed, educational experiences that violate moral and ethical principles can be protested, but the protests should be done in a more peaceful way. Education is one of the best mediums to actualise peace. It socialises and instills valuable ideas in learners not only to be responsible member of society but also to live in harmony with one another (see Arkoun, 1994; Abdalla & Ahed, 2009; Abu-Nimer & Nasser, 2017). Protests are indispensable, but peaceful education should encourage and manifest in (a) a firm establishment of human values, (b) execution of justice and equality, (c) living in harmony, (d) the primacy of the values of tolerance, fraternity, and mutual cooperation among human beings, and (e) knowledge exchange and information leading to progress and advancement.

Scholarly Significance

This paper provides a conceptual framework to understand the philosophy of peace and protest in Islamic education. Given the cruciality of equitable and multi-cultural education regardless of religious and economic backgrounds, as well as a potential protest that may occur in educational experiences, the principles of peace and security and conflict management such as, mutual co-existence, justice, tolerance, mediation, and reconciliation in the provision of education remain critical. This paper potentially adds to the literature by addressing the missing link between peaceful education and peaceful protects, especially in Islamic education. It argues that while protests in educational delivery is inevitable; education is more likely to encourage peaceful protest through non-violent ways. It orients the minds of mankind towards a full comprehension of peace and security through socialisation, which acts as a force that could influence the behaviour of learners to achieve the moral and ethical values that have been the motivation of Islam education.

Author

• Suleiman Mohammed Hussein Boayo, Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali