The Dialectic of Tradition and Modernity in Islamic Religious Education

Abstract

Islamic Religious Education faces the challenge of maintaining continuity in the Islamic scholarly tradition while responding to the intellectual, scientific, technological, and social demands of modernity. This study examines the dialectical relationship between tradition and modernity in Islamic Religious Education and explores integrative epistemology as a possible synthesis between the two. Employing a qualitative library research approach with a philosophical-critical orientation, this study analyzes six selected scholarly sources that address the Islamic educational tradition, modernization, knowledge integration, and contemporary Islamic education. The literature was analyzed thematically by identifying patterns, tensions, and forms of synthesis across epistemological, methodological, and axiological dimensions. The findings reveal three major patterns. First, the relationship between tradition and modernity is characterized by continuity, adaptation, and interaction rather than complete opposition. Second, their encounter generates epistemological tensions concerning the sources of knowledge, methodological tensions concerning approaches to knowledge and learning, and axiological tensions concerning educational values and purposes. Third, the literature indicates the emergence of integrative epistemology as a possible synthesis connecting revelation, reason, and empirical reality in Islamic Religious Education. The study contributes theoretically by positioning dialectics not merely as a description of the relationship between tradition and modernity but as a mechanism for constructing knowledge integration. This perspective provides a conceptual basis for developing Islamic Religious Education that remains rooted in Islamic values while responding critically and constructively to contemporary developments.