Child Development and Pedagogy from the Islamic (Shi’a) Perspective

Abstract

Pedagogy is a set of instructions that should be taken at the beginning of birth and even before birth so that human beings’ latent talents are discovered and cultivated. Islam has provided principles to educate and develop an exemplary community. These principles are applied as life’s rulings and provisions before birth, before family formation and some are used after marriage and baby’s birth. According to the Islamic perspective, childhood plays a significant role in the formation of the human character, and hence requires great care and attention. In many Islamic hadiths, the role of inheritance, mothers, and close members of family is highly emphasized. Children pedagogy from the Islamic perspective can be defined in the form of virtue ethics, upon which the formation of ethical characteristics is the prerequisite of ethical behavior. Ethical characteristics are developed by following ethical samples rather than through discussion, thinking or direct ordering and prohibition. In the present study, the necessity of children pedagogy and the formation of their character is investigated in the Quran and Islamic hadiths issued from the Prophet and Imams.