An Introduction to the Recent History of Arabic Maghrib Education Based on Abid al-Jabiri

One of the first fields affected by modernism in Islamic societies over the past two centuries was education. Expansion of the modern system of education, its relative successes, and supports by governments led to a long period of passivity, imitation, and submission in Islamic societies. The late decades of the 20th century revealed drawbacks of this modern system and Islamic scholars tried to review their religion heritage, criticize the Western schools, and introduce comprehensive replacements. They were looking for something rooted in their religion and compatible with today needs. Mohammad Abid Aljabiri critically reviewed the tradition and modernism in Islamic world. He classified education in Morocco into pre-colonization, colonization, and post-colonization and further examined the latter in four fields of Taʾmim (public education), Tuhid (equalization), Taʾrib(Arabization), and Almaqribia (Moroccozation). He supported replacing modernization of social masses by the education compatible with indigenous condition. The present paper elaborates on Jabiri’s ideas about modern education.