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Abstract

Providing guidelines to the students is central for them to optimize their learning, so as to enhance the effectiveness of their learning. However, one of the contemporary issues debated within the dynamics of learning indicates the decline of instructional strategies, one of which occurs due to the ruling out of ethical consideration in learning. Traditional wisdom plays a role in strengthening ethical considerations needed in the learning process. This article aims to shed light on strategies utilized in dynamics of learning through addressing moral ethics. A critical review of peer-reviewed journals, articles, and books was conducted with special reference to al-Zarnūjī’s concept in Ta‘lim al-Muta‘allim. This concept contains several significant guidelines for teaching and learning instructions. The findings revealed that the dynamics of learning requires mechanical aids and rules with ethical consideration on the moral purpose to promote sustainable learning. Learning with holistic approach comprises rightful intention and comprehensive perseverance, which plays a significant role to strengthen ethical engagement in sustainable learning among the students. Finally, this study is expected to contribute to the conceptual framework on the Islamic literature, specifically in relation to sustainable learning by strengthening traditional wisdom.

Keywords

traditional wisdom al-Zarnūjī mechanical rules ethical consideration sustainable learning considering intention comprehensive perseverance

Introduction

There seems to be a continuous increasing need to develop instructional strategies, as it is found that fruitful learning leads to potency in skills, knowledge, and competencies (Colquitt & Simmering, 1998). Such potencies need to be transmitted through giving feedback on students’ learning achievements (Huda, 2013; Paris & Paris, 2001). Moreover, students’ and teachers’ collaboration in terms of their duties and tasks simultaneously becomes central to support the learning and teaching process. As a result, it assists in enhancing the students’ critical thinking skills (Asyari et al., 2016). An attempt to link students’ and teachers’ behaviors to the development of deeper content understanding has been made through the classrooms’ management to enable maximum impact from the pedagogical skills utilized in the learning process. In particular, the area to be further explored is personalized learning, which may enhance the students’ own learning, especially via the experiential aspect coming from their surroundings (Sabani et al., 2016; Sabki & Hardaker, 2013). As a result, the students can optimize the efficacy of their learning experiences through their learning environments. This can be extended by focusing on the ethical concerns, which may be emphasized through the application of traditional wisdom. In short, it can be said that strengthening the traditional wisdom with its significances could enable the potential engagement to ethical consideration within the learning process. Thus, the instructional strategies and ethical considerations in learning need to be combined to enhance students’ learning performances. Thus, this article aims to critically explore the concept of sustainable learning, which refers to further concern in relation to the purpose of moral engagement. This study is an attempt to construct a model of sustainable learning through the engagement with character building aspects and practices conducted in Islamic education. In doing so, we approach learning through the lens of al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim. This treatise serves as a source of guidance for Islamic education because it presents fascinating theories on teaching and learning, which are relevant to the teaching of religious values at the entire level of education in the Muslim world (Huda et al., 2016a). This work has attracted the interest of not only Muslim scholars but modern Western academics as well (Afandi, 1993; Gilliot, 2012).

About Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim

Scholars have long recognized the great contribution of Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim, which was written in the 13th century during the reign of the last Abbasid Caliph (Mu’izzuddin, 2014). In al-Zarnūjī’s work, the full title is Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim Tariq al-Ta‘allum (guidelines for students in the art of learning), in which he outlined how students and teachers can create a conducive educational atmosphere that illuminates positive characters and reflects values (Hitti, 1948). The text has generally been regarded as a monumental work among Islamic intellectuals, as well as among Western scholars. Its theories have been utilized as references and guidelines in the formulation of academic work, especially in the field of education (Yahya, 2005). Its content has been influential, especially in the Indonesian context, where it is intensively studied and practically applied in almost all Islamic educational institutions, particularly in the pesantren—traditional Salafi Islamic boarding schools (Nata, 2000). In these schools, al-Zarnūjī’s theories have served as the central reference for students in the acquisition of knowledge (Hafidzah, 2014; Huda et al., 2016b).

Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim sets itself apart from other Islamic intellectual sources through its unique theories. The series commences with the principles of the pursuit of knowledge and provides details of ethical foundations for the teaching–learning process based on religious conservatism (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015a). Thus, the content of this work focuses on the inculcation of good morality within students in Islamic educational context. Therefore, it becomes a fundamental reading for every student in pesantren or madrasah (school), during their first year, prior to commencing to the study of other subjects.

There are 13 chapters in Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim, including (a) the nature and merits of knowledge and its systematic comprehension; (b) the intention of studying; (c) the choices of the knowledge types, the teacher, the colleagues and on one’s permanent affiliation; (d) the respect toward knowledge and its possessor; (e) the importance of hard work, perseverance, and vigor; (f) the commencement of lessons; (g) the emphasis of tawakkul (trust in God) concept; (h) the time for knowledge acquisition; (i) the value compassion and advice (to others); (j) the achievable benefits of time and chance; (k) the emphasis of Godliness or divine involvement during the time of learning; (l) the process of memorization and what makes (one) forgetful; and (m) elements that affluence and benefit one’s livelihood; the agents of life’s longevity and its diminishment (al-Zarnūjī, 2008).

Why al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim?

The traditional Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim text contains many timely insights for contemporary learning theory. Despite its age, the work is still a valuable source in the field of education, mainly in the ethical discourse of classroom management in pesantren or Islamic boarding schools (Hafidzah, 2014). By emphasizing the students’ interaction within their learning sphere, al-Zarnūjī makes it clear that learning cannot be acquired only by mechanical aids, rules, and external regulations, but it requires the drive, aspiration, and passion within the student himself or herself (Huda et al., 2016a). Rather, the instructor must also uphold moral ethics as part of its teaching and learning instructions to develop students’ cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills. This leads to the profound conclusion that outstanding attainment of education should involve a balanced interaction between students and instructors to ensure sustainable level of motivation and to maintain high moral purposes.

At the time it was written, Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim served a practical purpose. By 1203, al-Zarnūjī had compiled all 13 chapters. At that time, many students were highly motivated to endeavor challenges to attain knowledge specifically and education in general. However, they were falling short in terms of their aims in learning. The students, according to al-Zarnūjī, were unsuccessful because most of them were not mindful of the right methods of learning. His view was that they did not do the right thing for themselves, and therefore wasted much of their time. As a result, al-Zarnūjī decided to explain to the students a method of study, which he had read about and listened from his own teachers (Grunebaum, 1947).

The significance of al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim is evident through the wide influence of its essential principles for students and teachers, particularly in Islamic institutions like pesantren. This necessitates a deeper study of his key ideas for the following reasons: (a) the concept of al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim has been operationalized in the world’s educational society, particularly in pesantren; (b) its model of teaching and learning has been further developed in Islamic education; (c) the basic foundation of the content is sufficiently applicable in the context of the current Islamic educational system in the Indonesian Islamic heterogeneous community (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015c).

Education and Learning Objectives in the Light of al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim

There are three words in Arabic language that are normally translated as education. The diversity in the meanings is well placed as it provides useful starting point in the analysis of Islamic education. These are tarbiya, which comes from the Arabic root rabā, meaning to grow or increase, which refers to the development of individual potential, and the process of nurturing and guiding the child to a state of completeness or maturity (Halstead, 2004). Ta’dīb comes from the root aduba, which is to be refined, disciplined, and cultured, referring to the process of character development and learning; a sound basis for moral and social behaviors within the community and society at large (Halstead, 2004). Ta’līm comes from the root ‘alima which is to know, be informed, perceive, discern, referring to the imparting and receiving knowledge, usually through training, instruction, or other forms of teaching (Halstead, 2004). One of them emphasizes knowledge, another focuses on growth to maturity, and the third underlines the development of good manners (Halstead, 2004). This diversity in terminology reflects the origin of education itself. The principles of ushūliyah (religious principles of Islam) hold that the core purpose underlying every act is al umuru bi maqashidiha, which means that each act’s purpose depends on a plan previously prepared (Kamali, 1991). This principle is applicable to education, where learners and instructors engage in efforts to achieve certain educational goals. Today, the development of a strong learning objective, or purpose, is widely regarded as necessary; the objectives allow students and teachers to know when the learning process ends, and it serves as the fundamental measurement of the success in the learning–teaching process (Olteanu, 2016). The means for achieving the goal should be developed simultaneously and dynamically with the goal itself. This goal will guide each action taken in the educational process. With a clear purpose, both student and teacher can recognize their rights and responsibilities in solving problems together.

In addition to working toward a purpose, personal transformation is a standard condition of educational success. In other words, the aim of education is to transform a person’s ability to think critically with ethical consideration. Thus, the purpose of education is to construct character (attitude) and belief (spirituality) through worthwhile intention (vision), all of which influence curriculum development and its practical application (Halstead, 2004; Huda & Kartanegara, 2015a). The ultimate purpose of education, then, is to prepare the learner with both competence and techniques necessary to achieve worldly goals, and to sustain spirituality as well as religious activities. Educated persons are therefore those who have been transformed into “the perfect man [or woman]” (Adams & Govender, 2008; Buber, 2003). As a result, education should cater to spiritual, intellectual, and physical growth, both individually and collectively.

In addition, al-Zarnūjī believed that education should have the clear purpose of developing the student into a full, whole, and integrated person with moral values. He developed a formulation to suggest students’ and teachers’ duties and responsibilities throughout the education process (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015a). He tried to develop a process that would instill ethics and character values, particularly in learning and teaching, but also generally, in daily life (Huda et al., 2016c). Teachers, he argued, should be aware of their role in influencing students, acting as role models with noble character values (Mu’izzuddin, 2014). In particular, within the learning objectives, teachers must first manage the transition of the learning intention (niyyah) from heart to application. With an open mind, the student is then prepared to accept instructions in accordance with noble values and to study the effects of bad character values.

The learning intention should be oriented toward the following matters: (a) to reach the pleasure of God, (b) to achieve happiness in the hereafter, (c) to eliminate ignorance from himself and others, (d) to revive religious matters, (e) to maintain the Islamic religion, (f) to praise the blessing of aql (cognition) bestowed by God, and (g) to have gratitude for a healthy body (al-Zarnūjī, 2008). To achieve these goals, three core elements provide the fullest possible development of intellectual abilities and moral values. These are ibādah (worshipping God) as the ultimate aim, individual development, and mu‘amalah (social orientation; Huda & Kartanegara, 2015a). Trainings and practices are needed to comprehensively develop these skills, abilities, and insights (Olteanu, 2016). Through this practice, students develop a balance between their inward (emotional) and outward (practical) spheres. The emotional and the practical spheres are both core components of a well-developed personality and life (Hargreaves, 2005). A balanced personality contributes to the development of both spiritual and physical abilities (Cowan, 2005). Thus, the wise approach toward education may concern attempts to create humans with good personalities. This is to enable the dynamics of learning within the guidelines as an attempt to achieve the goal of embedding students with ethical values throughout the learning process.

Traditional Wisdom (hikmah) and Its Implications

Hikmah, which is an Arabic word meaning wisdom, has several meanings, which vary from a type of knowledge (similar to the English meaning) to a more complex concept that has operational, attitudinal, mental, philosophical, religious, and mystical implications (Önal, 2010). In other words, hikmah is the ability to determine whether an action is right and wrong, correct or false, and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge and understanding (Swartwood, 2013). In short, hikmah is defined as epistemic humility and accuracy, extensive factual knowledge and knowing how to live well through knowledge and action. The extent of one’s knowledge and understanding plays a significant role in determining one’s access to the truth. Thus, hikmah involves acquiring knowledge, using knowledge to act correctly in accordance with virtue, and, through these correct actions, attaining further knowledge.

In addition, hikmah has a distinct integration of cognitive, reflective, and affective personality characteristics. In short, the acquisition of hikmah is concerned with all the virtues that derive from nature. Consequently, achieving hikmah requires “virtues inquiry” (Ardelt, 2004). In addition, the Qur’an identifies virtuous conduct in terms of relationships that promise “peace” and “integration” for individuals and communities as well as its capacity to guide individuals through a “straight path” to “peace” and “integrity” in conduct (Choudhury, 2001). As wisdom functions in enabling us to overcome the ingrained perspectives of our habitual thinking, it empowers us to make a broad assessment of the facts, perceive the essence of an issue, and steer a certain course toward happiness. Simply put, wisdom dispels our delusions of separateness and awakens in us a sense of empathetic equality with all living things.

In the field of education, there are four core stages to represent the philosophical pillar, namely how to learn, how to do, how to be and how to live together with others in the collective consciousness toward encouraging sincere human relationships (Baidhawy, 2007). This perspective refers to the relationship in the way which covers the educational and societal context. With this regard, the concept of hikmah should be thoroughly comprehended by both teacher and student. As a “person with experiences,” the instructor should employ whatever means possible to help learners in the search for hikmah (al-Zarnūjī, 2008, p. 117), which is not limited to learning facts. As Ardelt (2004) underlined, “the term hikmah should be reserved for wise person rather than knowledge expert” (p. 257). From this perspective, wisdom is related to how one should react to the situations with which one is presented. A wise person has many positive characteristics, not only including extensive factual and theoretical knowledge but also including knowledge of how to live and it is successful at living well (Bergsma & Ardelt, 2012).

Considering Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics, as discussed in this section, is a distinct form of ethical discourse relevant in addressing the emerging global context of human consciousness. In virtue ethics, moral inquiry focuses on the ethics of a person or a community, which reflects the fundamental convictions of that person or community. Both Gülen and Aristotle seem to have emphasized a concept of the virtues, which encompasses both human commonality and diversity (Conway, 2014). One goal of virtue ethics is to strike a balance between the individual and social performance. As a result, it emphasizes the role of character in determining and evaluating ethical behavior instead of deciding rightness or wrongness from the outcome of the act itself. Each of the virtues focuses on a sphere of human experiences, which plays a role in all human life and growth (Swartwood, 2013). Each sphere deals with a particular human circumstance, in which persons face choices and may choose wisely or unwisely on how one perceives one’s choices in such circumstances, depending on the extent of one’s knowledge.

Aristotle put forward an account of virtues that encompassed both universal virtues, derived from the human condition; and cultural virtues (e.g., manners), which is acquired from particular cultural-historical traditions (Conway, 2014; Solomon, 1988). Expanding on the idea of moral virtue, Aristotle stated that a person should act knowingly and do the right thing, because morally correct and incorrect aspects are intellectual concepts that require conscious applications. Choudhury (2001) argued that, distilling the wide variation of discourse on virtue ethics, the following positions represent the virtuous approach to moral inquiries:

Virtues signify moral identity in terms of character, which is demonstrated in our actions.

Virtues are drawn from cultural traditions. Thus, virtues exist as moral choices to be affirmed in conduct. Individuals exhibit and impart virtues when they excel in practicing what they profess and become the exemplar of particular virtues.

Virtues vary in the nature and range of relationships within, which a person finds oneself. This range varies depending on the socialization of exemplary practices and their institutionalization in the civic culture.

This perspective is relevant to the education field because, with an understanding of the virtues, instructors can appropriately praise the students’ individual development along virtuous lines. Moral virtue is a helpful framework for explaining the importance of acting correctly; for example, instructors can explain that “the time for praying at night” is morally virtuous if individuals use the time for “soul-reflective thinking” (al-Zarnūjī, 2008, p. 117). With this knowledge of moral virtue, students are empowered to engage in correct conduct, in terms of acquisition of virtues as the ultimate priority.

As a contemporary student of the subject has written, virtue ethics has a significant value in terms of developing a person to achieve certain understanding and moral conduct. As a result, education should transform learners, imparting the ability to respond virtuously and with wisdom to certain situations; this is fundamental to human character, more so than either the assessment of the rightness of actions or the assessment of the value of the consequences of action (Hardaker & Sabki, 2016; Solomon, 1988). Instead of engaging in intellectual judgments, we apply this knowledge of moral behavior through our practice and habituation of moral virtues, which leads, over time, to the development of desirable personal qualities.

Sustainable Learning as a Mechanical Process With Ethical Consideration

Learning With a Holistic Approach

As with most human characteristics, learning ability can be improved continuously throughout a person’s lifetime (Asyari et al., 2016). Because learning is an individual attempt to acquire knowledge, to think critically, and to develop useful skills (Olteanu, 2016), it is important to understand what happens to the individual as a result of a learning experience. Physical, intellectual, and longitudinal aspects of learning contribute to behavioral abilities, which lead to obtain new experiences and may assist to improve students’ skills, which were practiced in solving problems. As scholars make progress in explaining how people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes, it becomes possible to improve the learning process (Runesson & Runesson, 2015). More specifically, understanding how students learn and understanding the type of learning environments are most effective in the learning process. This may assist to determine integrated principles of learning, which can act as core guidelines for developing programs and training. Alternative tools such as peers and networking can also support learning, given an appropriate understanding of how learning works (So & Kim, 2009). The optimization of education requires an effort to create ever-evolving supportive environments where children and students can learn. For instance, the learning aid can be engaged with organising the good instruction such as using technology of mobile phone (Anshari et al., 2017). This aims to make sure the process to run well in the way which is consistent with addressing moral purpose. Consequently, the concrete guidelines are needed to ensure that learning development is aligned with its moral purpose.

Al-Zarnūjī (2008) believed that moral purposes should underlie the learning process in the way that the students must have certain aspirations and goals to reach, and this may be achieved through perseverance and repetitive study. From this perspective, education is a mechanical aid and set of rules from which students can achieve their learning goals. Success in learning, then, comes from learning with purpose in mind, which gives students the sense of being well prepared. In the field of education, there is a gap in our understanding of how to increase learning achievement by engaging students with this core, purpose-driven element of sustainable learning; integrating intention and perseverance is a key to successful instruction.

Educators should view exploration of sustainable learning as the core of the learning process (al-Zarnūjī, 2008). On this view, the learning process involves teachers’ lectures on particular subjects, students’ perseverance through listening and carefully observing, and divine involvement (tawakkal) (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015e). These processes are of value because learning requires action to acquire knowledge, behaviors, skills, and preferences (Slade & Prinsloo, 2013), which may occur as part of education, personal development, schooling, and training (Asyari et al., 2016). It can be pointed out that the learning process progresses through procedural stages. It is pivotal to note that through rules governing students’ interactions with their environment, the quality of classroom experiences becomes a fundamental element to sustainable learning, allowing students to reach self-awareness and depth of understanding.

Considering Intention

Another aspect in the concept of sustainable learning based on al-Zarnūjī’s work is its reflection in virtue ethics, whereby there is the idea that the validity of deeds depends on the intention of which they are enacted (Paramboor & Ibrahim, 2014). Therefore, the practical (outward) and spiritual (inward) aspects of education must be aligned in the learning process. In designing learning, educators should aim primarily at the permanent satisfaction of God’s pleasure, at removing the darkness of ignorance in individual development, and at contributing positively to society (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015b). Maintaining this intention can help ensure educators to design effective learning and teaching activities. As a result, students must begin their learning endeavors of becoming educated persons by purifying their own intentions, if they wish to be successful.

Because learning depends on managing intentions, habituation, and more complex activities (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015f), educators must understand the role of conscious awareness in transforming inward goals into behavioral learning to develop character values (Roslan Mohd Nor & Malim, 2014). As a result, the quality of learning depends on the degree to which the classroom experience trains students to manage the balance between the inward and outward aspects of their lives. Students and teachers must work together to adapt classroom instruction and curriculum to promote learning, self-management, and responsibility. The student, as an active participant in the learning process, should be aware of himself or herself when he intends to study. This is considered in the seventh and eleventh chapters of Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim, where a student should have true faith in God Almighty before he starts learning. Only under such a condition can the student remain aware of his intention during the entire study period.

Comprehensive Perseverance

It has been widely recognized that, with regard to determining which actions should be taken, education is underdeveloped, such that students face a fundamental dilemma in and out of the classroom (Slade & Prinsloo, 2013). There is a need for further development of approaches to action-oriented education and solutions to this dilemma, so that students can develop social and individual personality and ability through skills-based learning (Asyari et al., 2016). Customized learning agendas should be developed, including extensive use of multiple skills in resolving complex problems. Al-Zarnūjī (2008) believed that, through many training and development programs, students will become educated and prepared to face complex challenges. These programs include cognitive, moral, and spiritual aspects which can be applied through exercise and learning (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015b).

Among the characteristics of such training and development programs is muwazabah which means a whole effort involving mental, physical, and spiritual construction (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015d). In line with the customized education described above, self-regulation should become a central part of motivated learning (Olteanu, 2016), which refers to getting started and remaining engaged with learning duties such as planning, observing, and evaluating. By emphasizing this process, teachers can give students self-control during the learning process. Strengthening the students’ ability to absorb the knowledge has to be conscisely engaged into the learning style with preferred ways which can be implemented among the students (Othman et al., 2016). It is necessary to note that through the instruction of a highly skilled professional, using the standard strategy, students can develop creativity and collaborate in the classroom. To develop students with such abilities and qualities, al-Zarnūjī underlines that both ethical and technical aspects should be well organized in thought, feeling, and action (al-Zarnūjī, 2008). This will lead to genuine education involving self-criticism, self-discipline, self-motivation, and willingness to be responsible for one’s own decisions. In particular, this encourages increasing the students’ ability in terms of thought, feeling, and willingness to aim for perfect personality (insan kamil).

Ethical Consideration in Sustainable Learning

Following the self-determined, customized view of learning, students should be responsible for choosing their subjects of study and their teachers. According to al-Zarnūjī, because the purpose needs to be clearly defined in earlier periods of the learning process, ethical consideration requires selecting beneficial knowledge, experienced teachers, and educated and trained peers (Huda & Kartanegara, 2015d). In the third chapter of his Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim, al-Zarnūjī describes how the student should go about selecting these learning conditions, and insists that the student should approach these choices with careful consideration and consultation. There are three types of individuals which can be used as selection criteria: the perfect human being, the half human, and the one who is nothing. These types refer to the extent to which instructors are capable of uniting and developing skills and vision within the instruction (Paramboor & Ibrahim, 2014).

The perfect human is one who possesses correct opinions and often consults with intelligent people (al-Zarnūjī, 2008). Such a person is highly capable and provides good counsel, which results in a good, tolerant, and wise personality. Students of such characteristics will feel engaged with the school’s instructions and teacher’s guidance (Runesson & Runesson, 2015). The half human refers to a person who has correct opinions but makes no effort to consult with people, or who consults with others but does not form his own opinions. Students themselves often fall into this category when they hold opinions in line with good critical analysis and are able to recognize and solve problems, but when they are not open-minded enough to listen, see, and consider new ideas (Olteanu, 2016). The third type of human neither possesses knowledge leading to right opinions nor consults or seeks information from others. Therefore, such a person must make an effort to search for knowledge by engaging the instruction of one with experience in the subject (al-Zarnūjī, 2008). Thus, such a person’s primary responsibility is to refer to whoever has expertise and to remain open-minded. Moreover, blessings will come to those who study in this manner, in the form of knowledge which enables one to think and feel in a profound manner (Halstead, 2004). The point is that learning and teaching involve dynamic relationships between different types of people who can work together in goal setting and prayer setting, such that learners develop into wise people with ethical consideration.

In addition, ethical consideration has a significant role to play in spurring the student’s desire to learn. Moreover, an attempt to addressing the moral engagement delivered in the teaching and learning process has to be conscised in the way which can be transformed among the students (Mohamed, Jasmi, & Zailaini, 2016). It should be entirely configured with the moral purpose. Al-Zarnūjī (2008) believed that the moral purpose of the learning process is to broadly prepare students to face life’s challenges. When the student has a goal toward which he or she aims, the effort of perseverance and repetitive study is bolstered by the student’s will to achieve that goal (Colquitt & Simmering, 1998). As a result, by incorporating high aspirations, this leads to assiduity, interest, and exertion. Consequently, the student will be successful in achieving the goal, as arranged with prayer setting through divine involvement. This means that learning tasks should always be approached from the perspective of considering the ultimate goal of the learning process. Al-Zarnūjī pointed out that sustainable learning should be wholeheartedly developed to encourage students’ motivation to learn, as well as to guide their actions (al-Zarnūjī, 2008). The student is encouraged to always combine the specific subject of learning with underlying ethical considerations, such as discipline, spirit value, and respect. Thus, by encouraging perseverance and removing ignorance, educators can impart students with intelligence.

Conclusion

This article has broadly described sustainable learning conscisely engaged into traditional wisdom with strengthening the moral purposes. This is based on the findings that a number of contemporary researches within sustainable learning focus unrelentingly on instructional strategies and lack attention to ethical considerations in learning. It is urgently necessary, therefore, for researchers to critically explore sustainable learning referring to the traditional wisdom with moral purpose. The concepts put forward in al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim are helpful in constructing the model of sustainable learning with moral purpose, which we have done in this article. Our comprehensive determinants of the learning process began with the core of al-Zarnūjī’s view on education and learning objectives, which underlie the ethical consideration of learning dynamics. The key point is that sustainable learning needs a dynamic balance between mechanical strategies and ethical consideration, necessitating a holistic approach. In this regard, we identified intention and comprehensive perseverance as behavioral approaches that, when integrated into the learning process, encourage the development of skills and spiritual abilities through practice and training programs (muwazabah). Educators should attempt to comprehend the learning process to better maintain students’ motivation to learn. This should be undertaken wholeheartedly, with an emphasis on underlying ethical considerations such as discipline, spiritual values, and respect. Through the instruction of a highly skilled professional using a standard strategy, students’ creativity and collaboration in the classroom, both ethical and technical goals involving thought, feeling, and action can be achieved. Developing students with such abilities and qualities will lead to the genuine education involving self-criticism, self-discipline, self-motivation, and a willingness to be responsible for one’s own decisions. Students should be encouraged to increase their own abilities in terms of thought, feeling, and willingness to acquire perfect personalities (insan kamil).

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article

Author Biographies

Miftachul Huda is a researcher at the Faculty of Islamic Civilisation, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). His main research interest is learning theory and education, including Islamic, moral and multicultural education.

Kamarul Azmi Jasmi is a senior lecturer of Islamic education and Arabic, civilization studies, and qualitative research methods at UTM. He has been teaching for over 15 years, and published books and many articles in refereed journals.

Ismail Mustari is an associate professor of Islamic da’wah (making invitation) and Islamic education at the Faculty of Islamic Civilisation, UTM. He has been working in teaching for more than 15 years on Islamic education.

Bushrah Basiron is a senior lecturer of comparative religion and Islamic education at the Faculty of Islamic Civilisation, UTM. She has been working in teaching for more than 15 years.

Noraisikin Sabani is a PhD fellow in Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Her project focus is in Islamic Pedagogy and Personalized Learning Technology. She received BSc in teaching English as a second language from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UNIMAS) and MEd from Edith Cowan University. She is on study leave from Curtin University Sarawak, Malaysia.

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Traditional Wisdom on Sustainable Learning

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

About Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim

Why al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim?

Education and Learning Objectives in the Light of al-Zarnūjī’s Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim

Traditional Wisdom (hikmah) and Its Implications

Considering Virtue Ethics

Sustainable Learning as a Mechanical Process With Ethical Consideration

Learning With a Holistic Approach

Considering Intention

Comprehensive Perseverance

Ethical Consideration in Sustainable Learning

Conclusion

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

Author Biographies

References