NCJ Number
87253
Date Published
1980
Length
41 pages
Annotation
Islamic education in Saudi Arabia provides a thorough grounding in Muslim ethical behavior through role models, exhortation, and rewards and punishments by parents, teachers, and other authority figures, thus contributing to crime prevention.
Abstract
Islam grounds all behavior in obedience to God's mandates for all human affairs. Muslim parents who abide by Islamic morals are the nucleus of Islamic education, with the father having the primary responsibility for ensuring that the children conform to Islamic principles. Education within the family comes from emulation, direction, and exhortation. Any educator, whether parent, teacher, or university professor, must constantly observe a youth and give him/her guidance whenever an offense is committed. With a youth, educators should first use material rewards to encourage correct behavior, while immaterial and moral rewards suffice when adulthood is reached. Punitive measures should be used only when rewards have failed to stimulate the desired behavior. Punishment should begin with displays of dissatisfaction, feigned or genuine shows of anger, and threats to inflict harsh punishment. Physically painful punishment should be the last resort. Another method of moral education in Islam is the telling of parables and anecdotes. The intention is that the listeners identify with the heroes in the parables. Thus, in Islamic society law-abiding behavior is forged out of the belief that the quality of one's relationship to God is dependent upon behaving according to the teachings and role models clearly established by educators. Comments on this paper by symposium participants are provided.