RECONCEPTUALISING INCLUSIVE SPECIAL EDUCATION THROUGH ISLAMIC EPISTEMOLOGY: TOWARD A TAWHIDIC FRAMEWORK OF DISABILITY AND LEARNING

Author: Cyprus,Malaysia

Abstract

The global discourse on inclusive special education has been predominantly shaped by Western humanistic, rights-based, and medical-social paradigms, which, while progressive, often operate within a secular epistemological framework that may not fully resonate with the worldview of Muslim learners, families, and educators. This conceptual paper seeks to reconceptualise inclusive special education through the lens of Islamic epistemology, proposing a Tawhidic framework of disability and learning. Grounded in the doctrine of Tawhid (the absolute oneness of God), the framework integrates revelation (wahy), reason (aql), and intuition (qalb) as complementary sources of knowledge that inform how disability is understood and how learning is facilitated. Employing a qualitative conceptual analysis of Quranic verses, prophetic traditions, and contemporary scholarship in Islamic education and disability studies, this study synthesises five interrelated themes: the ontological dignity of all human beings (karamah insaniyyah), the principle of fitrah (innate human disposition), the ethics of rahmah (mercy) in pedagogy, the communal responsibility of ummah, and the educational telos of servitude (ubudiyyah) and vicegerency (khilafah). Findings suggest that a Tawhidic framework reframes disability not as deficit but as part of divine diversity (sunnat Allah), and learning as a holistic developmental process directed toward both worldly competence and spiritual fulfilment. The discussion highlights practical implications for curriculum design, teacher dispositions, parental engagement, and institutional policy within Muslim-majority contexts such as Malaysia. The paper concludes that integrating Islamic epistemology with mainstream inclusive education models offers a culturally authentic, ethically grounded, and pedagogically transformative paradigm for special education.