Islam as Education: Pedagogies of Pilgrimage, Prophecy, and Jihad (by A. J. Ghiloni)

Abstract

A. J. Ghiloni’s book Islam as Education is an interfaith and interdisciplinary account of the Islamic religious tradition’s focus on education and knowledge seeking. Ghiloni, a student of John Dewey, the American philosopher and educator, takes as his task to become a student of the Islamic religious tradition. In doing so, he brings together different readings of what it means to an educated person across Muslim and Christian philosophical texts. Ghiloni notes at the beginning of the book that “[e]verything written here, I learned from someone else. This book is a book about education, but it is as much a record of being educated” (p. xv). Ghiloni’s education includes exploring the Islamic philosophical tradition, the readings of contemporary philosophers, and frequent references to the Qur’an and hadith tradition. Ghiloni’s studies led him to make the major argument of his book, which can be summed up by the following quote: “There is a better way to understand Islamic knowledge—as paideia, as a way to cosmopolitan learning in a universe inscribed with signs” (p. 47). With this statement, Ghiloni explicates that Islam as education is an avenue through which non-Muslims can find touchpoints to connect with and understand the Islamic tradition and faith.