Contemporary interpretation of the construction of adab through tahfiz al-Qabisi’s theory of education in Malaysia

In general, tahfiz education is the process of memorising letters, verses, and chapters of the Qur’an in a person’s memory. The tahfiz education has been applied in the teaching and learning process of the Quran among the companions of the Prophet PBUH. According to al-Qabisi, tahfiz education is in line with the development of manners. The manners development in the process of memorising the Quran, which is implemented based on al-Qabisi’s tahfiz education theory, includes a sequence of concepts: (a) al-talqin (the teaching), (b) al-tikrar (the training), (c) al-ma‘il (the love for the Quran), and (d) al-fahm (the comprehension). Nevertheless, the manners development based on al-Qabisi’s tahfiz education theory needs to be refined in detail and in-depth to fit the contemporary aspect. The objective of this study is to interpret in a contemporary way the concept of manners development in al-Qabisi’s tahfiz education. This study uses a content analysis approach to secondary data, which are scholarly documents such as journal articles and research books that analyse al-Qabisi’s work. The interpretation was made by giving contemporary meaning to al-Qabisi’s tahfiz education concept based on the usual practises of tahfiz students. The theory presented by alQabisi related to manners education in the tahfiz education process is believed to be able to be practised and adapted in the tahfiz education system. Interpretation of manners development in education encompasses manner values such as: (a) respect, from al-talqin; (b) intensity, from al-tikrar; (c) consistency, from al-ma’il; and (d) practise, from al-fahm. In conclusion, the suggestion of this study, which is a contemporary interpretation of manners development based on al-Qabisi’s tahfiz education theory, can be expanded to other Islamic educational institutions. A cross-sectional study approach is recommended to be carried out on tahfiz students to understand the level of appreciation of manners development through al-Qabisi’s tahfiz education theory for future studies. The cross-sectional study approach is believed to be more thorough and comprehensive in terms of data accuracy and more practical in evaluating the effect of the Quran memorization technique used.