Reflections On Educational Transitions In Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey

Abstract

The historical intercultural encounters between Islam and the West in the Middle East have intrigued numerous historians, political theorists, anthropologists and sociologists. Within this context, one of the most debated topics has been the actual infl uences of Westernisation on the Islamic World and the actions and reactions of the Islamic World during the periods of intense Westernisation. Education was a key element of the traditional Islamic societies that underwent dramatic change. Alongside its vital role of training new generations of Islamic intellectuals, education was of major importance in the process of spreading new ideologies that accompanied the modernisation of Middle Eastern societies, and in particular, in the emergence of Islamic national movements. Since the nature of Western infl uence differed across the states that emerged in the Middle East, it is impossible to point to a single general pattern of development in national education in this area. In order to exemplify the variations and similarities in the changes of knowledge traditions, this chapter will describe and compare the essential characteristics of national education development in three Middle Eastern countries: Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon. The study will concentrate in each country on the negotiations between Islamic educational traditions and modern (Western) reforms. Generally, the crucial moment for each country was manifested in the attempt to create a national system of education, and thereby create national citizens. It will be shown that these key transitions, which occurred in the political and social spheres, and their effects, are still visible today. In their transformations into “modern” nation states, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon adapted key aspects of Western, often secular, traits into their traditional educational systems; the resulting systems refl ected the differences in the political and national developments in each state. This chapter will begin with a general overview of traditional Islamic education, which was similar in form and content in most Middle Eastern and North African societies. Islam was fundamental not only to education, but was the base of most formal and informal cultural and social institutions and practices.