A Qualitative Evaluation on Fiqh Education from İmam Hatip High Schools to Theology Faculties

Abstract

Fiqh (Islamic law) has a central place in religious education. This paper attempts to attract attention to the central position of fiqh, which is defined as knowing one’s rights and duties; for this purpose the historical background of fiqh education from Ottoman madrasahs to the present is briefly covered, and its relation with basic Islamic sciences and Arabic, which is known as instrumental sciences, is displayed in the context of quality of education. In the paper the negative and positive aspects of the reflection of acquisitions on faculty education of İmam Hatip high school graduates in the case that they enter theology faculty are examined. Fiqh is related to such disciplines as construction, hadith and kalam based on religion; but it is also connected with such disciplines as philosophy, sociology and psychology which are not based on religion. The paper emphasizes the importance of including new fields such as Islamic law sociology and Islamic law philosophy in theology curricula and discussion is made on the necessity to open a space in the curriculum for these fields. The purpose here is to examine the problems in fiqh education in the process from İmam Hatip high schools to university and evaluate them from the perspective of students, lecturers and the curriculum.