Estado del arte de la evaluación formativa

The Islamic reform agenda took root in the second half of the 19th century in Africa and had repercussions on the growth of higher Islamic education in coastal Kenya. The goal

of Islamic reform movement was to safeguard Islam and Islamic institutions from encroachment of western European cultural imperialism. The Ulema spearheaded the Islamic reform agenda through a conscious effort to incorporate aspects of western scientific and technological innovations in Islamic social, economic and political institutions.

The Islamic reform movement was well developed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In Egypt, Al Azhar University was the center of Islamic learning. For a long time, Al Azhar was associated with the pursuit of traditional forms of Islamic education. However, in the period 1880-1900, Muhammad Abduh, a chief Mufti in Egypt and a luminary of Al Azhar University introduced reforms in the curriculum of Al Azhar University. In accordance to the reforms, students were to receive formal certificates in contrast to the Ijaza, which had been previously awarded by individual scholars. The reforms provided a basis upon which Al Azhar University incorporated modern scientific and technological concepts and theories in its curriculum. He argued that higher Islamic education must move away from religious philosophies and incorporate science (Vatkiotis, 1969, p. 185).

In the works of Muhamad Abduh. he called for improvement of the quality of written Arabic language. He advocated for introduction of natural and social sciences in Islamic curriculum. He emphasized the need to initiate changes in Islamic doctrine and sheria so that justice, reason and pragmatism could be upheld in Islamic societies. Muhamad Abduh emphasized the importance of protecting Islamic original purity and simplicity of belief (Tawhid) such as oneness of God and also to initiate a process of infusing modern

rationalism into the quran in order to produce a viable social philosophy on which to build a modern social and political reform program.

The reform agenda introduced by Muhammad Abduh was given impetus by Jamal al Din Afghan who appealed to Muslims to expand the curricula of educational institutions by embracing critical philosophy and scientific methods of enquiry. He observed that reforms in Islamic education would empower the Muslim world to compete with Western Europe. While pursuing the adoption of modern science into Islamic philosophy, he reiterated that basic principles of Islam were compatible with reason as postulated in Western European and North American scientific philosophies. The writings of Al Afghan contributed to Islamic socio-political thought of humanism that runs through Islamic reform movement (Rahman, 1977, pp. 213-234).

These two Muslim reformists set the stage for innovations, transformations and improvements in the institutional and curriculum structures of higher Muslim education. Rahman (1977) raised the following pertinent issues as baseline determinants in the Islamic movement reform agenda;

i. Modernizing Islamic society through learning and where necessary borrowing and adapting from western European scientific and technological innovations.

ii. The need to initiate comprehensive social and religious reforms in Islamic societies as a prerequisite of fostering socio-political change that would put Islamic nation states on the same plane with western European countries.

iii. Islamic theory of knowledge does not contradict philosophies of science and technology and thus Islamic society should not confuse western European science with Christian religious and cultural heritage

These reform agenda had an impact in the establishment and growth of Islamic education in Kenya. There was constant interaction of Muslim scholars from Egypt, the Hadramawt and East African coast. Most of the Muslims in Egypt went to Mecca for the AL Hadji annually. East African Muslim scholars did not only go to Mecca for the AL Hadji but also took the opportunity of being in Mecca to pursue higher Islamic education. By 1900 the Islamic reform movement had spread into East African coast and thus influenced the development of Islamic higher education (Hashmi, 2011).

Higher Islamic education in Coastal Kenya emerged from the strong establishment of elementary and secondary Islamic education. The elementary Islamic education which was also referred to as Quranic schools had the following structural organization; there were four levels in Islamic education namely the Kuttab, institutions elementary and

Madrassa and higher Islamic education. The Kuttab was the first stage where a child was

introduced to reciting of the Quran.

The next stage was elementary education which was conducted in the royal palaces and homes of distinguished Muslim personalities. The father of the child determined what was to be taught to the child. The child learnt the Quran, then poetry and traditions of the society. The next stage was the Madrassa which was conducted in Mosques.Higher Islamic education was the last stage in the structure of Islamic education. It was conducted in the houses of the Ulama and also in Mosques. There were also formal

institutions spread in Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Eastern Africa that offered higher Islamic education (Hashmi, 2011, pp. 94-95).

There is evidence that higher Islamic education had began developing on the East African Coast as early as 1850. Higher Islamic education at the coastal region of Kenya had two forms: Non-formal and formal. Non-formal higher Islamic education was provided in tutorials that were conducted at night early hours of the morning in the house of Ulama (Abreu, 1982,p. 22). This education was provided in urban centers of Lamu and Mombasa because Islamic scholars who travelled from Arabia to Zanzibar and Comoro Islands used to pass through these towns.

This education was open to members of the clan with a literary tradition such as the Mazrui and Maamin. Students did not pay fees, but gave services and gifts to the Ulama. Prior to the formation of the Riyaadhi Lamu Mosque College, students from Kenya who were interested in pursuing higher Islamic education had to travel to Egypt, Hejaz and

Hadramawt to qualify as scholars. Students who sought traditional higher education

outside Kenya included personalities such as Seyyid Abubakar bin Abdul-Rahman Al Hussein and Sheikh Ali bin Abdallah bin Nafi Al Mazrui. The students pursuing higher non-formal education were taught by various scholars who had different specialization. Students were allowed to specialize once they were admitted to higher Islamic education (Pouwell, 1987).

Formal higher Islamic education began at the coast with the establishment of the Riyaadhi Lamu Mosque College. The initial objective of the college was to give basic education to children of ex-slaves who were discriminated against in the society. The

college later changed its focus to secondary and later higher Muslim education. In 1946 another formal institute of higher Islamic learning was established through the initiative of His Highness the Aga Khan, the colonial government and Muslim businessmen. This institute was called Mombasa Muslim Technical institute, which later became Mombasa Polytechnic (Overseas Education Volume XXI, 1949, p. 1056).

However, the British colonial government was hostile to Islamic education, both elementary and higher education. The colonial administrators and missionaries introduced western education in coastal region without taking into account the numerous Koranic schools and Mosque colleges in the region. This affected the development of Islamic education on coastal Kenya.

3.4. 1 Salient features of Traditional Higher Islamic Education 1850-1900

There were a number of aspects of Islamic Higher Education in the period 1850-1900. They included; emergence of institions of learning with regular teachers and students, these institutions had a uniform curriculum.