Modern öncesi ve sonrası dönemde eğitimin muhtevası karşılaştırıldığında belirgin bir farklılaşmanın olduğunu ifade etmek mümkündür. Bunun nedeni ise eğitim ve din eğitimine yüklenen anlamın değişmiş olmasıdır. Modern öncesi dönemde eğitimin karakteri dinî idi. İnsana ve dünyaya bakışta dinin tesiri daha hâkimdi. Dolayısıyla eğitimin muhtevası da bu yönde belirleniyordu. Modern dönemde ise eğitime yön veren ana unsur, yeni süreci de omuzlarında taşıyan iktisadi ve sınai düzen ve bu düzenin beraberinde getirdiği insan anlayışıdır. Değişen bu ana unsurun eğitimden beklentisi bu düzene uyum sağlayabilecek ve öncelikle iktisadî değer üretebilecek fertler yetiştirmektir. Din eğitimi de bundan bağımsız düşünülmemelidir. O da eğitim sistemi içerisinde bu amaca hizmet edebilecek bir muhteva ile yer alabilmektedir. Bu çalışmada söz konusu farklılık geçmişten günümüze Müslüman âlim ve eğitimcilerin eğitimin (dolayısıyla din eğitiminin) muhtevasına dair görüşleri üzerinden ortaya konulmaya ve değerlendirilmeye çalışılmıştır. Erken dönem İslam âlimlerinin eğitimin içeriğine dair görüşlerinde öne çıkan konular, Kur'an eğitimi, öğretimi yapılan ilimlerin tasnifi ve edeb/adabu'l-muaşeret düşünürlerinin eğitim/din eğitiminin içeriğine dair görüşlerinin, modern eğitim sistemi ile ilgili görüşlerine bağlı olarak iki temel yaklaşıma dayandığı söylenebilir. Bunlardan birisi geleneksel dinî eğitim anlayışını esas alan yaklaşımdır. Diğeri ise mevcut durumu bir gerçeklik olarak kabul edip, mevcut şartlara dayalı olarak öneriler geliştirmeye çalışan din eğitimi yaklaşımıdır

Comparing the contents of education before and after the modern period, it is possible to say that there is a distinct diffrence each other. The reason for this is that the meaning related to education and religious education has changed. Education was also entirely religious because religious influence was stronger in human and world view. Therefore, the content of education was determined in this direction. In the modern era, the main factor that drives education is the economic and industrial order. Educational expectation of this changing main factor is to train individuals who will be able to adapt to this plan and produce initially economical value. Religious education should not be considered as a free from this perspective, either. It can also take place with a content that is able to serve this purpose in the education system. In this study, the difference was tried to be put forward and evaluated through the views of Muslim scholars and educators about the content of education (and therefore religious education) from past to present. In the views of the old Islamic scholars about the content of education, it is seen that the subjects such as education of the Qur'an, the classification of the sciences that are taught and instruction of the rules of decency ‘edeb / Âdabu’l-Muâşeret’ are dealt with. It can be said that thinkers and educators of our century base on two different approaches and offer a content depending on how they react to modern education system. One of them is an approach maintaining the traditional understanding of religious education by criticizing the current situation. The other one is an approach that takes the situation as a reality and tries to make suggestions based on existing conditions.When the history of Islamic education is examined in general, it can be seen that the content of education and training has changed in terms of periods and locations. Determinants of educational content have tended to identify a content based on the needs of the scientific, religious, cultural and geographical environment of their time. Especially in the geographies where the Islamic religion is born and spreads, the social structure that the Islamic religion has changed, transformed and influenced has turned towards an educational activity centered on the Qur'an and religious sciences. Therefore, the content of education has also been shaped in the direction of religious education. However, in the course of time, the understanding of religious education, which represents the entire educational system, has left its place to religious education as a branch of education. Within this process, different opinions have been put forward concerning how the content of education and religious education ought to be.The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the views of the various scholars and educators who have contributed to the field of education and religious education. By this way, it is also aimed to ascertain how the content of education / religious education in several Muslim societies differs from the past up to the present. In order to accomplish this task, this study is based on the views of some scholars and educators who have written any work on education or have included educational subjects in their works from past to present period. Method This research is a qualitative study consisting of the information obtained by the method of document review as it is based on a historical process. In this study, while the outstanding works which have contributed to the field of education and religious education are investigated, those works are examined not only for their related sections but in their totality. To fulfil this in the working process, the following aspects are also taken into account: the period and region in which the writers of the related works lived, writers' sect, the relationship between the formation & development of religious sciences and their teaching, developments and being a subject in education. Findings In the views of the old Islamic scholars about the content of education, it is seen that the subjects such as education of the Qur'an, the classification of the sciences that are taught and instruction of the rules of decency ‘edeb / Âdabu’l-Muâşeret’ are dealt with. There is Qur'an education at the center of education in the old (premodern) period. Other learned areas are tools to understand and learn the Qur'an better (İbn Sahnun 1996: 39-41; Kabisî tarihsiz: 14-17; 90- 93). Moreover, according to the majority of scholars, it is necessary to start the education with the education of the Qur'an (İbn Cemâa 1997: 23-24). The general practice has often been that way. By means of this, it is aimed that faith in children's hearts will be placed before everything else. Thus, information learned at a young age is predicted to be more lasting and beneficial. Ibn Khaldun, on the contrary to the majority, criticized the practice of education based on Qur'anic teaching in terms of priority. He pointed to the benefit of the transition to teaching the Qur'an after the children reached the scholastic competence and level of understanding and then they could understand the Qur’an. For this, he has suggested that education be started with the development of language and mathematical skills. He stated that students with improved language and mental thinking skills will be ready to understand and learn the Qur'an (İbn Haldun 1997: c.III, 158-159). It can be argued that the early scholars have generally taken the relevant provisions of the Islamic religion as a basis for classifying the scholarly subjects. In doing so, they have expressed their judgment by taking the teacher or student as center. Teaching subjects are listed in the form of obligatory, permissive, or non-permissive. According to Ibn Sahnun, for example, what the teacher should teach is believing in Allah and reading the Qur'an. Optionally, the subjects that the teachers are be able to teach are Writing, Mathematics, Arabic, Nahiv, poetry, story and literature that do not contain ugly things. Those which are not allowed to be taught are Ebced and reading the Qur'an like a song. (İbn Sahnun 1996: 75). In addition, there are those who classify the sciences as being either allowed or not allowed in accordance to be paid for teaching. Kâbisî states that it is only permissible to pay for the teaching of the Qur'an, and it is unacceptable to receive a fee to teach Fiqh, Feraiz, Poetry and Nahiv. Only tuition for the education of Qur'an is charged because it has a scope and a limit. Other sciences have no end. Nevertheless, what should be taught with the Qur'anic education are the basic knowledge of religion, prayer, i'rap, good writing, reading, and useful reading styles of the Our’an. In addition, the topics the teacher can teach, depending on his/her wishes, are ethics, oratory, moral advice, account, poem, and Arabic. Those who are not allowed to be taught are Ebced and reading the Qur'an like a song. (Kabisî tarihsiz: 28, 89-90). Classifications of knowledge were made in the form of compulsory, appropriate and inappropriate to learn. For example, according to Gazzâlî, knowledge that a believer should learn obligatorily is the beliefs, and behaviors that the believer must perform and must abandon. The knowledge that some of the believers are sufficient to know, i.e. the fardi-kifaya, are divided into two as religious or non-religious. Religious sciences are Fiqh, Qur'an, Tajwid, Hadith, Morality, and Sufism. Nonreligious sciences are divided into three parts: nice, appropriate, and nonappropriate. The ones that are nice & advised to learn are Medicine, Mathematics and other arts. The ones that are appropriate are nonobscene poetry and History. The non-appropriate ones are magic, amulet, fortune-telling, hand speed, hypnotism, and eye shadowing (Gazzâli tarihsiz: I, 43-44, 48-49). Ibn Khaldun divides the sciences into basic sciences which are essential, and sciences which are used as a tool to learn those basic sciences (İbn Haldun1991:II, 1293). He also categorizes science from a different perspective depending on the roots of sciences, one is transcripts-based sciences and another one is mind-based natural sciences (İbn Haldun 1997: c.II, 455-459). One of the important concepts that early scholars put forward in the educational content is decency ‘edeb’. The emphasis has been placed on the teaching of the rules of âdâb-ı muaşeret, which are visible aspects of edeb in the social life. Religious education aims to educate good people (Edîb) first and foremost. In addition, by this way, the adaptation to the habits and values of the Muslim community life will be ensured (Gazzâlî 2002; Amâsî 2002). As one can see, it can be said that according to Islamic scholars in early period, the main factor influencing education was religion. Islamic scholars have classified the knowledge to be taught/learned based on the general terms and principles of Islam. In fact, scholars have a common opinion on teaching and learning science as a field of religious obligation. Furthermore, while determining the content of education, they also reflected different religious understandings and secterian interpretations emerging in their time and environment (religious, cultural, physical)Also, depending on the development of the sciences in their circumstances, they have included these sciences with their independent names in their educational content. Since the Qur'an is taken as the center of education, other learned sciences have been seen as means to understand the Qur'an better. Because Islamic religion encourages and values learning sciences, it is also important to learn positive sciences as well as religious sciences. Hence learning and specializing in positive sciences has also been seen as a natural part of education, whose main feature is religious. Faithbased education is based on living in this world as a good human being and acquiring vocational information to rescue his life, and finding out to learn enough information to prepare a good life in the Hereafter. It is aimed to educate decent people who know how to behave and adapt to the society through teaching the rules (Âdâb-ı Muâşeret) that regulates the relations between people and social life according to the Islam. In spite of the time difference, all scholars include Qur'anic sciences, Tafsir, Hadith, Fıkıh as an educational content. Because these sciences were formed immediately in the early period and developed later. Gazzâlî (Gazzâlî tarihsiz: I. 48-49) and Ibn Khaldun(İbn Haldun 1997: c.II, 455-459) add Sufi Knowledge to these sciences which are allied on learning; Ibn Cemâa adds History of Sects to them (İbn Cemâa 1997: 49). Ibn Cemâa aims to teach the views of the four major sect imams through the History of Sects. In other words, he emphasized teaching the opinions of different juridical sects that were formed in that period, especially in the teaching of the issues related to juridical matters. Although the Theology (Kelam) was formed in a period that can be called early, it has been criticized in two respects. The first is the method of rational induction that the Theologists use to reach the existence of God (İbn Haldun 1991:II, 1073-1092), and the second is that they lead to a contradiction between the sects (Gazzâlî tarihsiz: I, 104). Cedel, is generally mentioned by scholars as an inapproprate science because it leads people to bad feelings and behaviors and dismisses from science of Fiqh (Zernûcî 2003: 84; Gazzâlî tarihsiz: I, 109-124), even if it is mentioned by some scholars as an approprate science (İbn Cemâa 1997: 31). When we look at our era, three things stand out. The first is that the character of education is not as religious as it was in the past. The second is that religious education has taken its place among other fields as an independent area. The third is that religion courses have become lessons like other courses. It can be said that thinkers and educators of our century base on two different approaches and offer a content depending on how they react to this situation. One of them is an approach maintaining the traditional understanding of religious education by criticizing the current situation. The other one is an approach that takes the situation as a reality and tries to make suggestions based on existing conditions. The thinkers who adopt the first kind approach such as Attas, Kutup and Bayraklı emphasize that the type of human being which the contemporary education system wants to cultivate and the type of human being aimed at religious / Islamic education do not match. In fact, as the early scholars, they rank the sciences to be learned according to their importance in the direction of religious judgments. By advocating the concept of decency (Edep), they suggest an educational content that will serve to cultivate good people with decent qualities to form Muslim societies. They state that this content can be taught entirely; not only with a few hours of religious instruction but also with the contribution of all the courses. (Attas 1991; Kutup 1975; Bayraklı 2002). Educators who set out the second kind of approach accepts a current situation as a reality and suggests a content considering the developments in educational sciences. The current situation means the existence of religious education as an independent field, the present state of religion in schools, and the ability of these courses to serve the general goals and objectives of the contemporary education system. In doing so, it can be said that they are based on two separate methods. The first is that Bilgin, Selçuk and Tosun proposed a content based on the aims / faoundations that express the reasons and importance of the existence of religious education in the education system. Selçuk’s “Idea Tree of Religious Teaching” details for us the theoretical foundations of religious education as the religious education model. This model promotes respect for human beings, thought, freedom, general morality, and cultural heritage. According to this model, religious education is formulated to enable students to make decisions, discover the meaning of life, think independently, integrate beliefs and rationality, and develop a critical mindset. This theoretical framework will help when determining the learning objectives/achievements of religious education. Thus, a content that students can use to solve their life's problems can be determined with this therotical foundation (Selçuk 2000: 13-19). Moreover, according to Bilgin and Tosun’s religious education’s aims/foundations, the following informations should be taught to suit each objective:  The interpretation of life, the knowledge of giving meaning to life, and the development of religious feelings for humanistic purpose/ anthropological basis.  The religious features in our culture and the effect of religion on our culture for cultural purpose /basis.  The knowledge about the worship which provides to adapt for the religious life and different understandings about the religion in the society for the social purpose /basis.  The knowledge about different religions and sects in the context of intercultural and interreligious education for the universal basis. (Bilgin 1991; Tosun 2002). The second method is that Yavuz suggests a content based on the main topics of Islamic religion, which are taught to be important. Accordingly, the content of religious education is the Qur'an and faith, morality, and worship based on the methods of the Prophet. In this context, it can be taught some knowledge such as the faith of Allah, the religious experiences, the worship, the prayer, the sentences of thankfulness, the poems parallel to the topics, the diviner, and the fairy tales (Yavuz 1998).Based on the above information, when the opinions of the early scholars and the religious education experts of today are compared with the opinions of the religious education, it can be said that: 1. The meaning attached to education and religious education has changed. The religious education that was a lifestyle or understanding prevailing in the pre-modern period of life was seen as an education itself supported by other fields or natural basis. In our age, even the presence of religious education as a branch within the general education system has become debatable. Since, according to modernism, religious education in general is neither the main element of education nor the part of education in modern schools. Religious education specialists are obliged to develop and offer a religious education under these conditions. Therefore, in the midst of these debates, they were first forced to justify the legitimacy of the existence of religious education in the general education system, and then to offer appropriate content. 2. In the past, the purpose of education, with harmony for the sake of religion, was to train individuals who are decent, knowledgeable about religion, and fulfilling the requirements of religion and their responsibility of being on earth. The content of the education was also determined in this direction. In the modern period, the primary expectation of modern states for education is to raise good citizens who are compatible with social life. Also, the economic and industrial order generally expect from these good citizens to produce economic value. Consequently, the educational system has focused on the purpose of getting profession in line with this expectation. Because of these reasons, religious education is meaningful and valuable only in proportion to the contribution to the stated purposes. In other words, religious education has to serve the situation in order to keep up with the new production and consumption society. There is no country in the world that is not affected by this phenomenon. Turkey is also one of the countries that are much affected. In Turkey, which has a different experience of modernization and understanding of religion, the existence of religious education in formal schools has been a subject of debate and has been partially or totally abolished from schools in a certain period. The purpose and content of the curriculum of Religious Culture and Moral Knowlege which is currently being applied as a compulsory course in Turkey has been determined and applied in line with the general aims of Turkish national education. This course can take part in the formal training only with the contribution to raise good citizens who are loving his nation and country and harmonious with the society. 3. In the past, such sciences as Tafsir, Hadith, and Fiqh were seen as scientific knowledge that every Muslim should know, even at a minimum level, and they took their place in the educational content. These sciences have begun to be seen in the modern era as special fields of knowledge that can be learned by those who study religious services or education like other professions. As a result of this, these sciences are included in the curriculum of the Faculty of Theology and Faculty of Islamic Sciences and Imam Hatip High Schools which is defined as a vocational school.4. It is seen that when compared to the past, more importance is attached to the determination of a religious education content in accordance with the age, developmental characteristics of the learner, the situation of the children with special educational needs, and the development of field of religious education.