Syaidatun Nazirah Abu Zahrin1, Fariza Md. Sham1, FazilahIdris2, Mashitoh Yaacob2, Shahizan Shaharuddin2, Nur Hidayah Mohd Abd Malik1
1Institute of Islam Hadhari
2Pusat Citra Universiti
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Love for knowledge motivates human to achieve success in this world and hereafter. The aspect of love for knowledge needs to be given special attention in building a strong personality among university students in the face of globalization challenges. Students are often faced with conflicts and problems either in terms of the aspect of learning or personality. Their role as agents and pioneers for upholding knowledge seems to be diminishing. Thus, this study is designed to investigate the level of understanding and devotion to knowledge among university students, as based on individual’s culture and practices in everyday life, and its relation to the personality of a Mukmin. This qualitative research focuses on students at several public and private higher learning institutions in the Klang Valley. The level of understanding and their love for knowledge and its relationship to the personality of Mukmin is measured using a Love for Knowledge Instrument and Muslim Personality Instrument developed from content analysis of interviews with outstanding individuals.
Keywords: Culture; Love for Knowledge; Personality of Mukmin.
INTRODUCTION
Islam strongly encourages its followers to equip themselves with knowledge (Syaidatun, 2013). Aminuddin & Jamsari (2012) described ‘knowledge’ as the ability to increase the prestige and standing of people and provide effective input for strengthening the faith and human spirit. This strength is capable of breaking the power of lust and desire to bring human beings close to God (Zakaria Stapa, 2012).
Love for knowledge, based on love of God and the Prophet Muhammad, is one of the factors motivating people to achieve success in life on earth and the Hereafter (Syaidatun, 2013).
Love is one of the motivating factors that can move people toward specific goals and objectives in life. Out of love for learning, knowledge and wisdom, love for thinking, learning, for the individual who provides the knowledge such as the teacher (murabbi love), a love for reading and writing among others will develop (Syaidatun, 2011).
Therefore, to realize the concept of love for knowledge, students as intellectuals should play a role as active, proactive and caring individuals who are interested in knowledge as well as spiritual and mental development, leadership, self-management and time management skills (Baharin Mesir, 2006; Wan Zah et al., 2008). The culture of love for knowledge should be
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enhanced in students’ daily lives through activities such as studying, researching and reading (Zaini Ujang, 2009).
To ensure the continuity of love for knowledge culture among students in a sustainable manner, the student must undertake a process of self-transformation toward becoming a spiritual mukmin in an Islamic sense. The Holy Quran, as stated by Uthman Najati (1983), describes this kind of personality as the best to have, for people who have it will develop greater faith in God. The traits of a mukmin include remembering God at all times, embracing humility 'in prayer, fear of Allah for any wrongdoings, citing and understanding the verses of the Quran, trust, praise, adoration for God as well as behaving appropriately (Fariza et al., 2013).
Al-Ghazali (2000) stated that to build a good personality is to achieve happiness through knowledge development and acts of charity. In this context, al-Ghazali described knowledge as encompassing all knowledge that can benefit mankind and that the most precious is the knowledge of God’s existence (Fariza et al., 2013). It has also been argued that knowledge has the power to instill strengths in the soul of individuals to take on the personality and behavior of a mukmin (Fariza, 2013). Knowledge helps people differentiate between truth and falsity of a matter, between right and wrong and good and bad. When level of knowledge is satisfactory the resulting wisdom will produce good personality.
The importance of knowledge and formation of personality as mukmins are mentioned many times in the Quran. It is clear that knowledge is a basic requirement of life. Through knowledge humans are able to get to know God better, and through acquaintance with God, man can become good, obedient and loyal Muslim by his own accord.
A. Operational Definition of Research
In this study, several terms are used to describe certain constructs and concepts. These will be defined and explained in the section that follows.
Culture
Culture refers to a situation or phenomenon which involves a way of life, the advancement of the mind, the intellect, the way you think or how to behave (Kamaruddin, 1994) .This culture means there exists a situation where all levels of society are involved, either directly or indirectly in knowledge activities on any occasion. Culture also refers to the existence of a situation where all human action both at the individual level and at the community level is decided upon and implemented based on knowledge obtained either through research or shura (Wan Mohd. Nor, 1997). Thus, the culture in the context of this study means behavior, way of thinking and way of life as Muslim intellectuals.
Love for Knowledge
Al-Ghazali (2009) in "The Alchemy of Happiness" defines love as an inclination for something fun. He also defines love as the lure of the mind towards something interesting and insightful. When love is stronger there will exist deep love (Syaidatun, 2013).
Love can also help people achieve self-actualization at the highest level of human civilization as attested by Abraham Harold Maslow. Maslow (1970) posits that the best man is the
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individual who tries to achieve self-actualization in which the need for love, a sense of ownership and belonging, protection and basic needs are met.
According to Al-Ghazali (2002) the love that is main, as a slave to the creator, is the love of God. It is love that has earned the highest place in the heart; the feelings of overwhelming love to the point that should this not be the case, love of God should be the most dominant love above all other things. This means that if someone wants to love, he must love God. If someone loves knowledge more than any other, that love should be based on his love for God (Syaidatun, 2011).
Knowledge is defined as knowledge about the world, the afterlife, ‘zahir’ and ‘batin’ among others (Kamus Dewan, 2010). Al-Ghazali in his book Revival 'Ulum al-Din defined knowledge as the ability to make generalizations, conceptualization of abstract ideas and the ability to obtain intellectual truths (Hamid, 1990). Al-Attas (1978) in turn defined knowledge based on the definition given by Fakhruddin al-Razi - "When referring to God as the source of all knowledge, it (knowledge) is the arrival of a meaning into one's self. On the other hand, when referring to oneself as the interpreter, knowledge to a person is about reaching the meaning of things. "
In the context of this study, love for knowledge refers to students who have the passion for seeking knowledge, including new knowledge, and the ability to think based on knowledge of God.
Personality
Personality comes from the English word personality that means whole nature of character of person and distinctive attractive characteristic in a person. Personality in English also means behaviour that has become ‘tabi'ei’ or habitual including those interesting behaviours in a person (John, 1991).
Personality from an Islamic perspective refers to the Arabic word 'personality' or 'morality' possessed by an individual (Fariza et. Al, 2013). Personality is also known in Malay as individuality. Individuality is defined as a characteristic, trait or behaviour normally exhibited by a person (Khairul et. Al, 2009).
Personality can be regarded as existing traits possessed by a person such as the way he thinks, his perceptions, and his emotions and others that can differentiate him from the rest.
Personality is said to exist in such a way that the thought, perception, and emotions of individual can be differentiated from others. Personality describes the physical, emotional and cognitive development of an individual (Mahmod, 2001). Personality in this study is the personality, character, behavior and morals held by students that fit the personality characteristics of mukmins.
B. Problem Statements
Students are the generation that will inherit future leadership of the country. The group forms an important asset for ensuring the continuity of civilization, knowledge, nationhood and religion. Indeed, knowledge is an important entity in a civilization. Without knowledge, a nation and a civilization will not be recognized. Such is the role of students in the development of self obtained through knowledge and lifelong education (Mohd Taib, 2008).
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Aspects that led to the construction of first class mentality and culture of knowledge among students and academic communities such as discourse, discussion, debate and a friendly intellectual environment are increasingly marginalized and are no longer a trend or important asset. In fact personalities of that nature are no longer prominent on campus (Zaini Ujang, 2009). According to Azhar & Zawawi (2009) youths are often labeled as having lost their idealism and fervor to fight, the charismatic leadership that is resilient and mature, and speech that is fluent and eloquent.
In this context, focus and commitment of most academically qualified students is academic achievement thus catapulting an increase in "degree disease" (or diploma disease) among graduates only interested in paper qualifications. Their goal at university is to get a job alone.
Instead of knowledge acculturation and the development of first class mentality essential for humanity, there is growing weakness in soft skills. Students and graduates of public higher education institutions have often been said to be lacking the communication skills, the ability to think critically, lacking in teamwork skills andhaving no sense of the idea of continuous learning in life. They also lack entrepreneurial spirit, as well as questionable ethics and leadership ability (Zaini Ujang, 2009; Siti Nazilah et al., 2006).
These deficiencies have led employers to lose confidence in the competence of students (Mohamad Zaid et al., 2011) bringing about graduate unemployment. Many graduates are forced to work in fields that do not fit their qualifications. Unfortunately, graduate employability is now associated with graduates that have the soft skills (Shaharuddin Ahmad et al., 2011; Norazmi Anas et al., 2013) than can be used to apply the knowledge they have acquired during their study.
Along with advances in knowledge and technology, the problems plaguing the students are associated with the challenges of globalization and advances in communication and information technology, not to mention western ideology and secularisation (Ghulam, 2013;
Khaidzir & Khairil, 2011). Students are said to be weak, crippled and lazy because of advances in technology. Graduates’ tendencies for knowledge have switched to interest in social media and entertainment (Mohd Ridhuan, 2009) as well as hedonistic behavior that emphasizes the enjoyment of life and liberty in excess (Siti Raba'ah et al., 2013). Muslim communities are often exposed to inaccurate, false and deviant information that can corrupt their minds resulting in loss of identity and nobilty among a number of community members (Wan Norina et al., 2013).
Failure to deal with and manage relationships also cause teen and young adults to be caught up in social problems such as adultery, unwanted pregnancies, births outside marriage, abortion, and so on. Apart from that, mismanagement of love relationships often cause many students to experience school failure. Busy with entertaining their partner and being too caught up with their own feelings cause them to waste time, become lax and to neglect their responsibilities as students such as concentrating while studying, participating in class, completing assignments, preparing for exams or even interacting with the lecturer (Zainuddin et al., 2008). This finding is supported by Azhar & Zawawi (2009); Zeenath (2005) and Ahmad Redzuwan (2003) in that the Muslim community especially Malays is the group that is most involved in incest, murder, neglect of the family, baby dumping, rape, drug abuse and so on.
Zamzuri (2003) found that delinquent behavior involving entertainment is the most frequent followed by rude behavior, poor groooming,violation of university rules, vandalism, sex and
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crime. Included in this outrageous behavior is frequenting the disco, entertainment centers, dating to social parties, attending 'black metal' parties and singing in nightclubs (Zamzuri, 2003).
According to Wan Su Haron (2009), the percentage of youth in the universities involved in deviant behavior such as skipping college (89.5%), driving without a license (41.4%) and smoking (39.5%), who had been detained by the authorities due to offences (30.5 %), 18.1%
were smokers. The study showed a significant correlation between the variables of personality and deviant behavior among youths. It was found that the higher the level of youth personality, the less they were to engage in deviant behavior.
In addition, there is a problem of plagiarism, which in the academic world is becoming more serious with the development of technology. There are many sites that allow students to buy completed projects papers on a diversity of subjects. This shows that on-line plagiarism is the biggest problem in universities and higher education institutions (Zamzuri, 2003). In a study conducted on the students’ perception on the notion of plagiarism, their understanding regarding plagiarism was still vague and unclear, although the frequency of plagiarism was low (Arieff Salleh et al., 2008). Plagiarism is an academic misconduct taken seriously by most advanced universities. Included in this academic misconduct is fraud in writing a paper, copying information without acknowledging its author, and the repeated submission of papers to different lecturers (multiple submission) (Melati & Zaharah, 2006).
Lack of motivation and interest in learning prevented university students to deal with the challenges at university (Salasiah et al., 2011), giving rise to various problems such as deterioration of interest in learning, personality and moral deterioration, inconsistent academic achievement and academic adjustment problems. The repercussion has always been that these students left university without graduating, and involvement in various other social problems (Maria et al., 2006).
University students are also seen to pursue secular knowledge and objectives to the exclusion of subjective knowledge to obtain intellectual and material gain at the end of their studies.
They lack individuality/personality, identity, good behaviors and strong spiritual values (Mohd. Yusof, 2013). Students and youth are also likely to be involved with psychological problems involving personality such as lack of patience, fear of making mistakes, difficulty in decision making and the difficulty in accepting failure causing the individual to lose control of his emotions and anger. They often become rebellious resorting to social behaviours as outlet to release the pressure (Fariza 2005 & 2013).
The problems mentioned above is the result of a lack of appreciation of Islam. Studies show that most students understand the demands of religion but does not practise Islam (Asmawati Buhid et al., 2013). In addition, the social problems facing youth today is closely linked to religious factor, namely, belief in God and in faith. According to Siti Syaznira (2014) religious beliefs and behavior in closely related to a person's character. The lack of appreciation for religious worship results in various forms youth decay of today. Therefore, it can be said that the inculcation of Islamic values, faith and spiritual practice has an influence on the development of Mukmin personality among university students (Salasiah et al., 2013;
Ab Halim et al., 2013).
112 C. Research Objective
This study aims to assess the level of love for knowledge among students with the personality of Mukmin. The objectives are as follows:
1. To identify the culture of love for knowledge among students.
2. To study the characteristics of mukmin personality based on the perspective of Islamic Psychology.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research carried out at this early stage of the study has been qualitative. Data was obtained from expert interviews and references from the Quran and hadith, books, academic writing, journals, articles, papers, newspaper articles and the internet. The methodology used in collecting data for the analysis is content analysis. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed thematically to uncover the views of Muslim scholars on love for knowledge of love and its relationship with the personality of mukmin. Data from these interviews were taped and transcribed verbatim. The respondents were selected through purposive sampling method that focuses on the acquisition of the 'information rich cases’, where respondents were selected based on specific objectives of the study and their own ability to provide feedback based on their knowledge and experience related to the topic of study. A series of six interviews were held, involving respondents from academic leaders and experts in their respective fields, namely Prof. Dr. Muhaya (Lasik and Eye Specialist), Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amin Embi (Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology University), Prof.
Dato 'Dr. Sidek Baba (Professor of Educational Institutions, the International Islamic University Malaysia), a student of Islamic School Al-Amin, Bangi 2013 Ruwaidah binti Mohammed Saadon and students who won the Royal University award in 2013 and 2014, Nurshazweena Kamarudin and Kamal Anuar Mohd Nurul Iman.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Features of Knowledge Lovers
Ruwaidah (2014) who achieved excellent SPM student status in 2013 said that the features she believed characteristic of knowledge lovers included persistence ( not easy to give up), interests in activities and functions dealing with knowledge and appreciation and respect for those who give knowledge, either in formal or informal ways. She had this to say:
"Do not give up if does not excel in studies, as a lover of knowledge, he will learn not because of exams but because of knowledge".
"Lovers of knowledge like activities to do with knowledge".
"He will respect and honor those who teach something new. Whether formal or informal education".
According to Nurshazweena (2014), features of knowledge lovers are the ones who are committed to continued acquisition of knowledge and have a clear goal for acquiring knowledge for the good of this world and the hereafter.
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"Istiqamah to get the knowledge right because in this world there is true knowledge and false, but he tries to seek for the truth. Second, he has a goal to acquire knowledge for the good of this world and hereafter. "
According to Nurul Iman (2014), the lovers of knowledge are people who work hard, are diligent and focused on getting knowledge.
"First, he has to seek knowledge diligently, earnestly. Which means whatever he does, he has to focus hard, play it all out until he is satisfied. If this means he can not do the normal things he wants tu, that is the challenge. This means we will strive until we can achieve yhings. But if we do not get that there may be virtue and wisdom behind it ".
B. Personality of Successful Mukmin
Prof. Dr. Muhaya (2014) states that personality of succesful mukmin is someone who has strong faith, are useful and often prays as ‘jemaah’. She also stressed that outstanding mukmin seeks to develop themselves and others by adopting the concept of ummati.
"faith, someone who is useful, and often prays as jemaah"
"outstanding Mukmin develops her self and others. Practises the concept of ummati"
According to Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amin (2014), outstanding mukmins are those who fear Him and believe in the creator that none other is worthy of worship except Allah.
"Mukmin who is outstanding. .. maybe we can look at the few things that we discussed earlier. (Overlaps: taqwa is essential) Taqwa I think that goes without saying, because we are mukmin. Ok, so first the person has taqwa. I think the person who has taqwa does not only think of himself. How could one person ..
who is aware of his creator believes that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah. So people who are really devoted will not be comfortable if he sees those who do not worship Allah. "
He also believes that the outstanding personality of mukmin is a person who is not individualistic, has ‘fikrah’ for progress and the good of others and to make people knowledgeable.
"To me another characteristic of an outstanding mukmin is not only thinking of himself alone. He is not individualistic, that’s the terminology. So, the mukmin is he thinks – worried – what about others? how are things with other people? So, first he wants other people to be good, to have taqwa, the second he is a knowledgeable person, and he wants people to be too. "
A successful mukmin is also someone who will strive for the best and work hard. The outstanding mukmin knows that he will be judged for his efforts and not on the outcome as he believes in Qada 'and Qadar of Allah swt.
"But mukmins will strive for the best, works hard, and knows that he will be judged not by the results he gets. He will be judged on the effort that made.
Because he believes in Qada 'and Qadar. "