Ma`rifat

Given the prevalence of secularist ideas in education, the present article is a re-examination of one of the axiological foundations of 'secular education,' which prioritizes ethics over jurisprudence (fiqh) and prescribes the 'moralization of society' instead of its 'jurisprudentialization.' By positing a dichotomy between the 'moralization of education' and the 'jurisprudential/religionization of education,' the paper advocates for the former. The research method is descriptive, explanatory, and critical. In describing and explaining the aforementioned perspective, the following results were obtained: The rapid process of the secularization of education, schools, and curricula has led to proposing 'moral education' instead of 'religious education,' and subsequently replacing 'moral education' with 'spiritual education.' In the meantime, secular narratives—namely 'secular religious education,' 'secular moral education,' and 'secular spiritual education'—were unveiled. Secular thought and a this-worldly interpretation of religion in Iranian society have been represented by the religious intellectual movement, which has based its claim regarding the priority of ethics over fiqh on Al-Ghazali's view of the 'worldly nature of fiqh.' In the assessment and evaluation section of this article, seven critiques are leveled, concluding that 'secular education' is flawed because it is based on the axiological foundation of the priority of ethics over fiqh and the construction of the dichotomy of 'moralization of education' or 'jurisprudentialization of education'; especially because the reference to Al-Ghazali's view is firstly incorrect and biased, failing to consider Abu Hamed's comprehensive perspective, and secondly, the inference of ethical secularism from the idea of the 'worldly nature of fiqh' in Al-Ghazali's thought constitutes an illogical exploitation.