al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wal-Hadir

al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wal-Hadir (The Methodology Between Past and Present) is an Islamic educational and civilizational treatise written by Abd Allah ibn Ahmad Qadiri, Dean of the Faculty of Arabic Language at the Islamic University of Medina, published under the overarching theme Mas'uliyyat al-Ta'lim ("The Responsibility of Education") in the Journal of the Islamic University of Medina al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1. The work examines the ideological foundation of Islamic education, contrasts early Islamic learning with modern Westernized educational paradigms, and analyzes the historical causes of intellectual decline in the Muslim world al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1.

Foundations and Purpose of Education

The treatise establishes that the primary objective of human creation is the worship of God, encompassing spiritual, mental, and physical activity al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…. Citing Quranic verses and prophetic traditions, the author argues that all human disciplines and worldly crafts must be tied to divine servanthood (ubudiyya), citing Ibn Taymiyya's comprehensive definition of worship al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1. Consequently, all educational curricula and institutions must be oriented around Islamic creed (aqida) and ethics, training specialists—whether jurists, physicians, politicians, or industrialists—to view their vocations as acts of worship al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1.

To illustrate the civilizing effect of the Islamic methodology, the author quotes Abu al-Hasan al-Nadwi's Madha Khasira al-Alam bi-Inhitat al-Muslimin (What the World Lost by the Decline of Muslims), noting how the Prophet's ﷺ teachings transformed a fragmented pre-Islamic society into an organized, just civilization al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1.

Classification of Sciences

The work divides knowledge into two broad categories:

• Human Sciences (ulum insaniyya): Disciplines concerning human belief, morality, social systems, and relation to the Creator. These must derive directly from the Quran and the Sunnah and be studied only under trustworthy Muslim scholars al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…. The author divides these into individual obligations (fard 'ayn)—such as knowledge of God, the Prophet ﷺ, the pillars of Islam, and basic rules of transactions—and communal obligations (fard kifaya), such as the judiciary and giving fatwas al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1.
• Empirical and Practical Sciences (ulum kawniyya): Fields including agriculture, industry, commerce, medicine, chemistry, and physics. These are communal obligations (fard kifaya) essential for safeguarding the Muslim community from dependency on external adversaries al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa….

The author argues that while Muslims should ideally learn empirical sciences from Muslim experts, acquiring them from non-Muslims is permitted under strict necessity (darura), akin to eating carrion, provided that students are well-grounded in Islamic creed to avoid adopting foreign cultural and ideological premises al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa….

Historical Trajectory and Critique of Westernization

The treatise outlines the historical divergence between Islamic and Western intellectual histories:

• Early Islamic Golden Age: Early Muslims converted theoretical knowledge inherited from antiquity into empirical, applied sciences driven by a religious motive, as noted in the orientalist writings of Sigrid Hunke al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa….
• Decline and Stagnation: Stagnation later afflicted the Muslim world due to the influx of Greek philosophy, Persian and Indian mystical rituals into Sufism, rigid juridical imitation (taqlid), and the cessation of Islamic conquests al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa….
• Western Renaissance: Western Europe adopted Islamic scientific advances through the Crusades and Andalusia, citing Gustave Le Bon's La Civilisation des Arabes (The Civilization of the Arabs) al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1. However, due to conflict with Church authority, Western civilization separated religion from science, resulting in a purely materialist framework that, as Sayyid Qutb observed in Fi Zilal al-Qur'an (In the Shade of the Quran), led to destructive applications such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1.

Modern Crises in Education

When modern Muslims confronted Western technological dominance, three responses emerged: unconditional imitation of the West, total isolation, and selective adoption of beneficial empirical sciences while preserving Islamic faith al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+1. The author laments that widespread poverty, disease, and illiteracy caused the unconditional westernizing trend to prevail al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa….

The work concludes by criticizing the state of educational, legal, and media institutions across colonized and post-colonial Muslim lands, asserting that foreign-designed curricula alienated students from Islamic principles, replaced divine law with secular codes, enabled brain drain to the West, and promoted superficial entertainment over serious moral and scientific achievement al-Manhaj bayn al-Madi wa…+2.