An Islamic perspective on educator-learner relationships

M.Ed.This study grew out of a growing concern of Muslim parents that a dual system of education, namely a secular system and an Islamic one, inherently teaches Muslim learners that life is divided into the material world and the religious or spiritual world. On the contrary, the Shari'ah (Islamic law) teaches that there is no separation between secular and religious education. A Muslim's entire life is guided by a unified system of laws. Islamic education, then, seeks to help a Muslim learner succeed in this world and in the next. A significant vehicle for Islamic education is the relationship between educator and learner. This is an aspect that this study intended to clarify. Therefore, the research question is: What is an Islamic perspective on educator-learner relationships? In the attempt to answer this question, the study employed a qualitative research design. A qualitative design was considered suitable because the nature of the study was exploratory and descriptive. In other words, the researcher sought to explore the experiences and opinions of Islamic educators and learners concerning their relationships with one another. As the primary instrument for data collection, the researcher conducted focusgroup interviews with learners from the Johannesburg Muslim School and individual interviews with those educators who W!3re mentioned during the focus-group interviews. The researcher returned to the research site, namely the Johannesburg Muslim School, in order to verify the data and results. This served as a triangulation strategy. The empirical investigation was followed by a literature review, which provided a review of the existing educational literature on. educator-learner relationships. The literature review served to identify and describe significant issues influencing the topic being examined, namely, educator-learner relationships. The literature review in this study was conducted after the empirical investigation in order to avoid possible bias and pre-judgement