Very slightly modified and updated paper, planning to submit to AJISS -- Asad Zaman -- DMSSS02 attached below sent to Ovamir Anjum on 10th June 2018 for preliminary comments prior to submission to AJISS.
Invited paper for the Proceedings of ATCOSS -- Third Arab Turkish Conference on the Social Science, March 2013. --- However, I could not attend -- an the paper was not published. As a result, paper can be re-written and re-packaged for other audiences.
Popular Version: Three Myths Fostered by a Western Education, published in 3 parts in the Intellect
For closely related materials, see also Social Sciences, Western Social Sciences
Abstract: The European Enlightenment led to the development of several views which are incompatible with Islam. These views are part of a Western education. It is an urgent need for Muslim scholars to develop alternative methods and subject materials for the education of Muslim children
the vast majority of Muslim children face the practical necessity of acquiring a Western education. However, Western educational processes developed over centuries have been designed to inculcate a world view which is strongly opposed to Islamic teachings. Here we want to focus on three key background messages built into a western education:
1. The Enlightenment Myth: The human race was living in primitive ignorance and superstition, until the light of reason first dawned in Europe around the sixteenth century. With the Enlightenment of Europe, mankind as a whole became mature, and able to think for itself.
2. Deification of Science: The idea that all valid and useful knowledge is scientific knowledge as developed in the West.
3. The Myth of Progress: Over the past three centuries, people of European origins have developed spectacularly and have achieved pinnacles of glory. The rest of us must strive to emulate their path so that we too can become like them.
Each of these myths runs counter to central messages of Islam. Substantial research is required by Muslim scholars to create a body of knowledge which counters misconceptions generated by a Western education. In this paper, we will sketch the directions of research that are needed.
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