A Purificative-Integrative Model of Islamic Educational Epistemology: Synthesizing al-Attas and al-Faruqi

Azizurahman Azizurahman; Masnun Masnun; M. Sobry

doi:10.62159/ghaitsa.v7i3.3110

Azizurahman Azizurahman Postgraduate Program in Islamic Religious Education, Universitas Islam Negeri Mataram, Mataram, Indonesia
Masnun Masnun Postgraduate Program in Islamic Religious Education, Universitas Islam Negeri Mataram, Mataram, Indonesia
M. Sobry Postgraduate Program in Islamic Religious Education, Universitas Islam Negeri Mataram, Mataram, Indonesia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62159/ghaitsa.v7i3.3110

Keywords: Adab; de-Westernization; Epistemology; Islamic education; Knowledge integration

Abstract

Contemporary Islamic education faces epistemological tensions concerning knowledge, values, and educational purposes. This study constructs a conceptual model through a critical synthesis of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas and Ismail Raji al-Faruqi. It uses a qualitative library-research design centered on five primary works. The texts are categorized, compared, and synthesized, with Muhammad Abid al-Jabiri’s bayani, burhani, and irfani distinctions used as a qualified heuristic. Al-Attas emphasizes meaning, the Islamic worldview, the hierarchy of knowledge, and adab. Al-Faruqi emphasizes tawhid, disciplinary reconstruction, and institutional reform. The analysis interprets these emphases as potentially complementary while retaining their differences. It proposes the Purificative-Integrative Islamic Educational Epistemology model (EPIPI, from the Indonesian Epistemologi Pendidikan Islam Purifikatif Integratif). Its six pillars connect tawhid, worldview, conceptual critique, knowledge sources, adab and disciplinary reconstruction, and the formation of persons of adab capable of social contribution. The contribution lies in linking these pillars to five analytical dimensions, tracing selected components to primary texts, and specifying questions and evidence for educational review. These features extend earlier syntheses without claiming priority for combining the two thinkers. EPIPI remains a proposed framework for future audit-instrument development; its measurement properties and educational effectiveness are untested. The model offers a basis for examining curriculum, pedagogy, research, and academic culture, subject to expert review and empirical validation.

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