Schools around the world encourage students to think and learn. Their assessments, however, often reveal different priorities: answers matter more than questions, recall more than reflection, and test scores more than the ability to apply learning to life.
Educators and parents raise similar concerns: students are under pressure to perform well in examinations yet struggle to think independently, apply knowledge, and exercise sound judgment. Standardised testing, ranking, and now artificial intelligence have further widened the gap between performance and understanding.
A hadith of the Prophet Mohammed ﷺ states: "Asking a good question is half of knowledge." Fourteen centuries ago, this laid the foundation for Islam’s approach to education: learning is not a one-way transmission but a dynamic, collaborative process where asking the right questions is crucial.
Within the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, this has been a guiding principle for centuries. At Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, the community's premier educational institution, learning is meant to progress from recall to forming understanding through tafakkur—contemplation and critical thinking. At the culmination of each academic year, students participate in imtihan, an annual examination that is inspired by the same Prophetic wisdom. Through enquiry and discourse, it reveals how students think, question, and connect knowledge to life.
Tafakkur: The key to knowledge
In essence, tafakkur addresses a central issue of modern education: information may accumulate, but understanding often may not. According to Islamic and Fatimi philosophy, knowledge can exist in either a potential state or an actualised state. Similarly, a student may possess information, but until it is reflected upon, contextualised, and actively formed through questioning and contemplation, it remains inert—a seed that has not yet taken root.
Tafakkur, encouraged in the Holy Quran 17 times, is a process by which potential becomes actual. It is not a supplement to learning; it is learning itself.
This is why the Fatimi tradition holds that “there is no knowledge like tafakkur.” Contemplation gives knowledge direction, transforming information into insight, and insight into character. And at the heart of tafakkur is enquiry: asking not just "what" but "why," "how," and "so what?"
In a discourse narrated by the Fatimi Imam al-Muʿizz, he recalls the extent to which his father, the Imam al-Mansur, encouraged thoughtful enquiry and debate:
Al-Mansur, when he would impart knowledge and wisdom, would sometimes say to me: 'Come back to me with it. Question me about its meanings. Argue against me, and show me that you have not fully grasped it—even if you have. And do not let favour for me prevent you from questioning me in such matters, for by this the benefits will become greater for you.
This extraordinary pedagogical relationship inverts conventional authority, where the teacher demands to be challenged, examined, tested. Because “good questioning is half of knowledge,” the student's role is not passive reception but active interrogation—and through this dynamic exchange, the benefits of knowledge multiply.
At Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah and throughout the Dawoodi Bohra community, this philosophy shapes pedagogy in profound ways. Students are encouraged to engage with texts as living conversations, asking: What does this mean? Why does it matter? How does it connect to other ideas, to my own experience, to the world I live in?
The community takes immense pride in its tradition of hifz al-Quran, or Quranic memorisation. In the last 20 years, over 10,000 members have been certified as hafiz al-Quran, having memorised the Holy Quran in its entirety—an achievement that reflects the community's commitment to preserving sacred knowledge. For the community, memorisation is understood as a foundation, not a finish line. The meanings, values, and ethical imperatives of the Quran are continuously explored through classes, sermons, sessions of learning during al-Istifada al-Ilmiyya, and Aljamea’s annual imtihan. Each memorised verse becomes like a seed, for contemplation.
Self-reflection is central to this process of education. Learning is both outward—acquiring new information—and inward, shaping how one thinks and acts. Students develop the habit of self-assessment and enquiry, as important as any formal examination.
Imtihan: Learning through thought
At Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, examinations function as more than summative evaluation, but as a formative process that reveals how students think, reason, and apply knowledge. Aljamea’s annual imtihan, which consists of a written examination followed by oral examinations led by the rectors of Aljamea, is presided over by His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, the leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, and attended by community members in the thousands.
The oral imtihan emphasises dialogue—it is a live, dynamic exchange. In addition to being assessed for their understanding across a variety of subjects, students are expected to contextualise classical texts to contemporary issues. In this year's imtihan, for example, students addressed how Islamic principles apply to environmental responsibility, civic engagement, and social welfare. The examination bridges the timeless and the timely, showing that knowledge must always be in conversation with the world. It reveals that learning extends beyond texts: through the dialogue of imtihan, students further develop their capacity to communicate effectively, build relationships, and serve their communities.
This inversion of the typical exam structure is elucidated in a verse of Syedna Abdeali Saifuddin, who established Dars-e-Saifee, the precursor of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah, in 19th-century Surat. He expressed:
Here, imtihan is not only a test of the student by an authority, but a test by the student of what has been conveyed. Like in the counsel of the Imam al-Mansur, the student is invited to enquire, with faith and intellect working in tandem. When the knowledge comes from a revered source, the test is not to gauge whether it is beneficial, but how to actively engage with the knowledge to reap its benefits.
The presence of Syedna at imtihan, and the participation of thousands of community members, connects the teachings of Aljamea to the lived experience of the entire community. It makes tangible the fruits of tafakkur—not merely as abstract principles, but as understanding expressed through thoughtful questions and answers.
Critical thinking and education today
Modern educational theory is rediscovering what the Fatimi tradition has long espoused: that reflection and critical enquiry are not a complement to education, but its core.
Many education systems rely on standardised tests to assess students’ learning. Teachers, under pressure to meet institutional benchmarks, may teach to the test, leaving little room for reflection. Research increasingly shows that high-stakes standardised testing degrades students' capacity for ethical reasoning and critical thinking. When education is reduced to recall, students may perform well on exams but struggle with judgment, nuance, and applying knowledge to real-world problems.
Another issue in education today is the impact of technology. In the Dawoodi Bohra community, contemporary tools and methods are embraced when they prove beneficial; technology, including artificial intelligence, offers potent tools for learning. But the community is also cognisant of its drawbacks. We have more access to answers than ever, but less practice in the labour of thinking: weighing sources, questioning and connecting ideas, and considering ethical implications. Research has demonstrated that over-reliance on screens and cognitive offloading—such as outsourcing our thinking skills—erodes learning capacities, particularly memory and the very ability to think deeply and critically.
This tension was also explored during this year's imtihan: how does technology both enable and threaten learning? Guided by the rectors of Aljamea, students engaged with this contemporary question through the lens of Islamic principles, exemplifying how tafakkur connects timeless wisdom to present challenges. Their reflections revealed a powerful counterbalance: hifz al-Quran.
AI cannot pray on our behalf or internalise sacred knowledge for us. However, it can—when used wisely—create space for what matters most. Memorising the Quran is itself a contemplative experience: the sustained concentration, rhythmic recitation, and engagement with sacred text become a form of tafakkur. It strengthens the very faculties that screens weaken—memory, focused attention, and patience. Where “smart” devices encourage cognitive offload, Quranic memorisation builds mental strength. Where algorithms offer instant answers, hifz demands enduring effort and self-reflection.
Guided by this understanding, the community encourages creating screen-free environments for young children, prioritising reading, conversation, and play, cultivating the undistracted attention that learning and thinking requires.
Today, in a time of information overload and ethical complexity, the ability to think clearly and act responsibly is more urgent than ever. The balance lies in using technology to support, not replace, the difficult, transformative work of learning.
From reflection to responsibility
In the Fatimi tradition, tafakkur is not an end in itself—it leads to sound judgment, ethical conduct, and social responsibility.
This reflects a fundamental understanding of education's purpose. Historically, learning was about the ethical formation of a human being, not merely vocational training. If education is about growth, development, and meaning, then contemplation becomes essential—because it forms not just what we know, but who we become.
A well-known hadith from the Prophet Mohammed states: "An hour of contemplation is better than a year of worship."
Alluding to the reflection and understanding necessary for acts of worship, this hadith emphasises the ethical formation that contemplation provides. Here, tafakkur becomes spiritual—an act of worship in itself.
Knowledge, in this view, is fulfilled when it forms thoughtful, responsible, ethical individuals who benefit others, who understand their obligations to their communities and to the world.
During the annual imtihan at Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah in Nairobi, the President of Kenya Dr William S. Ruto indicated in his address:
"When I visit institutions such as Aljamea I am reminded that education is more than the transfer of knowledge. It is the shaping of character. It is also the cultivation of values and the preparation of citizens to serve society with integrity, passion, and commitment."
This is why imtihan does not end with graduation. The habits of thought it cultivates—reflection, enquiry, judgment—continue in professional life, social responsibility, and everyday moral choices. Exams end, but tafakkur continues.
