ABSTRACT

Abstract

The conventional History taught as a subject and course of study at secondary and tertiary institutions is mostly concerned with the study of past events. This is to say, it is solely geared towards the study and narration of events which occurred in the past, with perhaps a view to shaping and determining the future. Having a cursory look at the History course content, one can easily discern that it is devoid of any semblance of recognition of the Divine Being as a source of knowledge, thus depriving students and larger consumers of the rich and insightful accounts of history as modelled by Allah (SWT) and complimented by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Extraordinarily, even the form of Islamic History taught as a component of Islamic Studies is obviously a reproduction of a conventional paradigm of History presented with a narration of Islamic symbols, figures and events. This article attempts to appraise what may be considered as an ideal Islamic conception of History, which transcends the simple narration of past events to an in-depth perception of life in three dimensions namely; pre-terrestrial life, terrestrial life and post terrestrial life, otherwise regarded as a narration and a study of the past, present and future events. To highlight the inherent disregard of the Divine role in shaping and determining the content of History, the research relies on mainly the curriculum used for teaching History in Nigerian educational institutions, especially the universities. Drawing on the Qur’an and Sunnah, it reveals that the Islamic conception of History is unique and tells more about the wide gap that exists in conventional History, which is centered on one aspect out of the three that are supposed to form the broader edifice of the discipline. Similarly, the essay argues that lack of recognition of God as the supreme and ultimate source of knowledge has done too much anthropological harm to the world, just as it has done to other areas of academic endeavours. It is recommended that the project of knowledge integration should summon adequate courage in investing commensurate effort to History through incorporating Islamic dimensions in the discipline.