The Epistemology of Islamic Education in Shaykh Nawawi al-Bantani's Thought and Its Relevance to Islamic Education in the Digital Era
Abstract
The rapid expansion of digital technology has transformed Islamic education while creating epistemic challenges, including information overload, fragmented religious authority, and the spread of unverified knowledge. This study aims to reconstruct the epistemology of Islamic education in the thought of Shaykh Nawawi al-Bantani and examine its relevance to the digital era. Using a qualitative library research approach, the study analyzes Shaykh Nawawi’s major works through a hermeneutic framework inspired by Hans-Georg Gadamer. The findings show that Shaykh Nawawi’s educational epistemology is grounded in the integration of revelation (naql), reason (‘aql), and spiritual experience (kashf) as complementary sources of knowledge. The study also reveals that adab functions as an epistemological foundation for acquiring knowledge, while sanad serves as a mechanism for ensuring the credibility of knowledge transmission. Furthermore, knowledge is understood not merely as cognitive attainment but as a transformative process that integrates intellectual, moral, and spiritual development. These findings suggest that Shaykh Nawawi’s epistemology provides a relevant framework for strengthening digital literacy and developing a critical, ethical, and spiritually grounded model of Islamic education in the digital era.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.56114/al-ulum.v7i3.13401
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