Perspectives of integration of Islamic sciences and values into academic curriculum: (Value-based approach)

This paper discusses the significance of integration of Islamic Sciences and value into the structure of the curriculum. In our current educational context, it is obvious that the secular worldview and approach dominates the structure of the curriculum of the contemporary human, social science and behavioral sciences. As the western approach to knowledge and education becomes the norm and mainstream in many contemporary educational systems and curricula it is crucial to revisit our educational system. This paper aims at highlighting the importance and need for the integration of Islamic sciences and values into the body of contemporary human and social sciences in particular. This is a complex process that the Islamic educational institutions ought to undertake for the sake of balancing and guiding the contemporary body of knowledge in its worldviews, objectives, theories approaches and methods, applications and products. The paper concludes that there is a need to develop an integrated value-based approach for the orientation of the contemporary human, social and behavioral sciences. As such, the Islamic value system shall play a crucial role in the processes of articulation, orientation, application and development of knowledge ensuring its balance and integration. The paper also stresses the need for the review and development of the methods and approaches of the integration of Islamic sciences and values into the current curricula of the social, human and behavioral sciences in order to build more integrated and value-based structures of knowledge. The paper calls for the use of the revelation criterion in order to guide the processes of curriculum integration ensuring the prevalence of intellectual, spiritual, ethical, behavioral and social values and norms of Islam into the new structures of knowledge