Presenting a Jurisprudential Model of Moral and Devotional Education in the Family Based on Jurisprudential Principles

Abstract

Islamic jurisprudence, as a body of knowledge concerned with the discovery and explication of divine rulings, possesses extensive capacities for regulating behavior within the domain of education. The present study aims to design a “jurisprudential model” for moral and devotional education within the family context. This model is structured based on jurisprudential principles, educational methods, and overarching legal maxims, with the objective of providing a comprehensive framework for parents to educate their children in a scientifically grounded and religiously legitimate manner. Furthermore, “educational jurisprudence” is regarded as one of the most significant and contemporary domains of jurisprudence in the cultivation of the human being, considered the ultimate purpose of divine creation. Within this sphere, jurisprudence encompasses clearly defined and systematized guidelines that have received comparatively limited scholarly attention to date. The jurisprudential model of “moral” and “devotional” education in the family, grounded in a careful engagement with the primary sources of Islamic jurisprudence, offers a transparent and coherent approach to constructing an integrated and dynamic system of human education, with particular emphasis on children within the family setting. This model seeks to critically examine educational realities through a jurisprudential lens and to assist parents in achieving educational objectives in accordance with the perspective of the Lawgiver. The research adopts a descriptive–analytical methodology and draws upon authoritative jurisprudential, hadith-based, and foundational legal sources. Initially, the theoretical foundations of jurisprudence and education were examined in detail, followed by the design and analysis of a three-layered model for moral and devotional education in the family. The model comprises normative, operational, and regulatory layers. The findings indicate that Islamic jurisprudence, beyond its focus on individual rulings, can provide a strategic framework for family-based education. Within the normative layer, five foundational principles—sincerity, justice, patience, consideration of the learner’s capacity, and preservation of dignity—are identified, which are operationalized through educational methods such as gentleness and forbearance, affection, role modeling, enjoining and forbidding, and disciplinary measures. In the third layer, jurisprudential maxims such as the negation of hardship, the prohibition of imposing unbearable obligations, the principle of no harm, and the prohibition of causing injury function as regulatory mechanisms governing educational methods and obligations.