AN EVALUATION ON THE CHANGE OF THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CONTENT FROM PAST TO PRESENT PERİOD

Comparing the contents of education before and after the modern period, it is possible to say that there is a distinct diffrence each other. The reason for this is that the meaning related to education and religious education has changed. Education was also entirely religious because religious influence was stronger in human and world view. Therefore, the content of education was determined in this direction. In the modern era, the main factor that drives education is the economic and industrial order. Educational expectation of this changing main factor is to train individuals who will be able to adapt to this plan and produce initially economical value. Religious education should not be considered as a free from this perspective, either. It can also take place with a content that is able to serve this purpose in the education system. In this study, the difference was tried to be put forward and evaluated through the views of Muslim scholars and educators about the content of education (and therefore religious education) from past to present. In the views of the old Islamic scholars about the content of education, it is seen that the subjects such as education of the Qur'an, the classification of the sciences that are taught and instruction of the rules of decency ‘edeb / Âdabu’l-Muâşeret’ are dealt with. It can be said that thinkers and educators of our century base on two different approaches and offer a content depending on how they react to modern education system. One of them is an approach maintaining the traditional understanding of religious education by criticizing the current situation. The other one is an approach that takes the situation as a reality and tries to make suggestions based on existing conditions.When the history of Islamic education is examined in general, it can be seen that the content of education and training has changed in terms of periods and locations. Determinants of educational content have tended to identify a content based on the needs of the scientific, religious, cultural and geographical environment of their time. Especially in the geographies where the Islamic religion is born and spreads, the social structure that the Islamic religion has changed, transformed and influenced has turned towards an educational activity centered on the Qur'an and religious sciences. Therefore, the content of education has also been shaped in the direction of religious education. However, in the course of time, the understanding of religious education, which represents the entire educational system, has left its place to religious education as a branch of education. Within this process, different opinions have been put forward concerning how the content of education and religious education ought to be.The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the views of the various scholars and educators who have contributed to the field of education and religious education. By this way, it is also aimed to ascertain how the content of education / religious education in several Muslim societies differs from the past up to the present. In order to accomplish this task, this study is based on the views of some scholars and educators who have written any work on education or have included educational subjects in their works from past to present period. Method This research is a qualitative study consisting of the information obtained by the method of document review as it is based on a historical process. In this study, while the outstanding works which have contributed to the field of education and religious education are investigated, those works are examined not only for their related sections but in their totality. To fulfil this in the working process, the following aspects are also taken into account: the period and region in which the writers of the related works lived, writers' sect, the relationship between the formation & development of religious sciences and their teaching, developments and being a subject in education. Findings In the views of the old Islamic scholars about the content of education, it is seen that the subjects such as education of the Qur'an, the classification of the sciences that are taught and instruction of the rules of decency ‘edeb / Âdabu’l-Muâşeret’ are dealt with. There is Qur'an education at the center of education in the old (premodern) period. Other learned areas are tools to understand and learn the Qur'an better (İbn Sahnun 1996: 39-41; Kabisî tarihsiz: 14-17; 90- 93). Moreover, according to the majority of scholars, it is necessary to start the education with the education of the Qur'an (İbn Cemâa 1997: 23-24). The general practice has often been that way. By means of this, it is aimed that faith in children's hearts will be placed before everything else. Thus, information learned at a young age is predicted to be more lasting and beneficial. Ibn Khaldun, on the contrary to the majority, criticized the practice of education based on Qur'anic teaching in terms of priority. He pointed to the benefit of the transition to teaching the Qur'an after the children reached the scholastic competence and level of understanding and then they could understand the Qur’an. For this, he has suggested that education be started with the development of language and mathematical skills. He stated that students with improved language and mental thinking skills will be ready to understand and learn the Qur'an (İbn Haldun 1997: c.III, 158-159). It can be argued that the early scholars have generally taken the relevant provisions of the Islamic religion as a basis for classifying the scholarly subjects. In doing so, they have expressed their judgment by taking the teacher or student as center. Teaching subjects are listed in the form of obligatory, permissive, or non-permissive. According to Ibn Sahnun, for example, what the teacher s