When we study child development, we often encounter Freud, Piaget, Erikson, Vygotsky and Bruner. These influential thinkers helped shape modern discussions about how children think, learn and develop. But the history of thinking about childhood reaches much further back, and across many societies.

Centuries before modern developmental psychology emerged, Muslim physicians, philosophers and educators were writing about children’s health, learning, habits and character. Razi and Ibn al-Jazzar examined childhood care. Ibn Sina discussed education and companionship. Al-Ghazali considered moral upbringing and play. Ibn Khaldun warned against harsh teaching and explained the value of introducing knowledge gradually.

Their writings were not modern psychological theories. They drew on revelation, medicine, philosophy and teaching experience, and their assumptions reflected their times. Nevertheless, they deserve a place in the history of education.

Looking at Muslim scholars and child development also raises a wider question: what helped learning flourish across medieval Muslim societies, and what can parents and educators take from that inheritance today?

What the Qur’an teaches about children and learning

According to Islamic tradition, the first revealed passage begins with the command iqra’, usually translated as “Read” or “Recite”. The passage connects learning with creation, the pen and the knowledge human beings receive (Qur’an 96:1–5).

Other verses reinforce the importance of knowledge. The Qur’an asks whether those who know are equal to those who do not know (39:9), and teaches the prayer asking God for an increase in knowledge (20:114). Learning is therefore closely connected with faith, reflection and responsibility.

The Qur’an also speaks directly about childhood and family care. It discusses breastfeeding for two complete years for those wishing to complete the nursing period, alongside parental responsibilities and consultation (2:233). It recognises the difficulties of pregnancy and weaning (31:14).

Luqman’s advice to his son offers an example of moral education within a caring relationship. His counsel includes worship, gratitude, patience, humility and consideration for others (31:13–19).

Verse 16:78 describes human beings entering the world without knowledge and receiving hearing, sight and hearts. This can be read as a reminder of the capacities through which understanding develops. It is a religious account of human learning, rather than a scientific description of developmental stages.

Another important concept is fitra, mentioned in 30:30. In Islamic thought, this refers to the natural disposition with which human beings are created. Its interpretation has been discussed by scholars, but it places childhood within a moral and spiritual understanding of human life.

These teachings do not provide a developmental-psychology textbook. They establish an ethical setting in which children’s care, learning and upbringing matter.

What the Sunnah adds: affection, patience and responsibility

The Sunnah, the recorded sayings, actions and example of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), gives practical illustrations of relationships with children.

A well-known report describes him kissing his grandson Hasan. When a man remarked that he had ten children and had never kissed any of them, the Prophet connected affection with mercy (Sahih al-Bukhari, 5997).

Another report describes him shortening prayer when he heard a child crying, out of concern for the mother (Sahih al-Bukhari, 708). Anas ibn Malik, who served him for ten years, recalled his patience and absence of harsh rebukes (Sahih Muslim, 2309a).

Aisha also reported that he did not strike a woman or servant with his hand (Sahih Muslim, 2328a). These reports provide important examples of gentleness, although individual narrations should not be expanded into unsupported claims about every event in his life.

The report that every child is born upon the fitra also emphasises the influence of upbringing (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1385). Within this religious understanding, adults have responsibilities towards the child’s developing character and beliefs.

Taken together, these accounts place affection, patience and attentive care at the centre of the discussion. They invite parents and teachers to consider how their own conduct affects children.

Where children learned in the medieval Muslim world

Education varied considerably between regions, periods and households.

Many children began in a kuttab, an elementary teaching setting that might operate near a mosque or in a teacher’s premises. Lessons commonly included Qur’anic recitation and basic literacy, with other subjects depending on local practice.

Further learning took place through mosque study circles, private instruction and madrasas. A madrasa was an institution of learning, often associated with religious scholarship and supported by charitable endowments.

Students could receive an ijaza, an authorisation from a teacher to transmit a particular text or body of learning. This was not identical to a modern university degree, but it recorded a relationship between a learner, a teacher and recognised knowledge.

Education was not the preserve of the wealthy. In the early Muslim world, a child or adult could begin learning in a home, a kuttab or a mosque study circle. Knowledge was transmitted directly from teacher to student, and the mosque was not only a place of worship but also a place of teaching, reading, discussion and sometimes shelter for travelling students. As waqf endowments expanded, they funded madrasas, libraries, teachers, books, food, student rooms and stipends. This made it possible for many people of modest means to pursue learning and become recognised scholars. Intellectual authority was earned through knowledge, character and a recognised chain of teachers, not simply inherited through wealth or family rank.

It was within these varied settings that scholars developed their ideas about children and teaching.

Muslim scholars on children’s care and education

The dates below are in the Common Era. “Around” indicates an approximate date.

Razi: recognising children’s medical needs

Abu Bakr al-Razi, around 865–925, was associated with Rayy and Baghdad.

Razi wrote an early independent treatise on children’s diseases. His better-known medical writings include a work distinguishing smallpox from measles.

His contribution to this discussion is primarily medical: childhood illness deserved particular attention and observation. His writings form part of the early history of medical care for children (Ullmann, 1978).

Ibn al-Jazzar: feeding, sleep and everyday care

Ibn al-Jazzar, around 898–979, worked in Qairawan, present-day Tunisia.

His Siyasat al-Sibyan wa Tadbiruhum, often translated as The Management of Children and Their Upbringing, discusses feeding, weaning, teething, sleep, bathing and childhood care.

These concerns remain familiar to parents. The medical recommendations themselves belong to their historical setting, but the work shows sustained attention to children’s particular needs (Ullmann, 1978).

Ibn Sahnun: the responsibilities of teachers

Ibn Sahnun, 817–870, was associated with Qairawan.

His Adab al-Mu’allimin, commonly translated as The Conduct of Teachers, is an early surviving Islamic work devoted to teaching.

It considers teachers’ responsibilities, relationships with pupils and the organisation of instruction. Its disciplinary discussions reflect medieval practice and should be read historically, rather than adopted as present-day guidance (Günther, 2006).

Al-Qabisi: education and access

Al-Qabisi, 936–1012, was also associated with Qairawan.

His educational treatise examines learners’ circumstances and teachers’ duties. It addresses questions involving girls’ education and provision for children from poor households.

These discussions show that access and responsibility were concerns within medieval educational thought. They do not establish that equal educational opportunities existed in practice (Günther, 2006).

Ibn Miskawayh: habits and character

Ibn Miskawayh, around 932–1030, lived in the intellectual world of Rayy, Baghdad and Isfahan.

In Tahdhib al-Akhlaq, translated as The Refinement of Character, he examines moral development, habits and self-discipline.

His discussion of childhood emphasises how repeated conduct and social surroundings shape character. Education, in this account, includes learning how to live and behave, alongside acquiring knowledge (Miskawayh, 1968).

Ibn Sina: learning with other children

Al-Ghazali: moral upbringing and time to play

Al-Ghazali, 1058–1111, was associated with Tus, Nishapur and Baghdad.

In the Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din, or The Revival of the Religious Sciences, Al-Ghazali presents the child as a trust in the care of adults.

His discussion of upbringing includes good habits, companionship, praise, correction and opportunities for play after study. He recognised that relentless instruction could burden the child.

His central concern was moral and spiritual formation. Learning should help shape conduct and character, rather than serve achievement alone.

Al-Zarnuji: purpose and study habits

Al-Zarnuji was active around 1200; his birth and death dates are uncertain.

His Ta’lim al-Muta’allim, often translated as Instruction of the Student, discusses intention, respect for teachers, perseverance and the organisation of learning.

The work is concerned with how a learner approaches study. It reminds us that educational traditions have long considered motivation, discipline and relationships, as well as the content of lessons (Al-Zarnuji, 1947).

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya: care and upbringing

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, 1292–1350, lived in Damascus.

His Tuhfat al-Mawdud bi Ahkam al-Mawlud addresses matters concerning newborn children and their upbringing, including naming, nursing and care.

It brings together religious obligations and practical concerns about childhood. Its historical medical and disciplinary advice should be distinguished from contemporary professional guidance.

Ibn Khaldun: gradual teaching and the harm of harshness

Ibn Khaldun, 1332–1406, was born in Tunis and died in Cairo.

In the Muqaddimah, he discusses educational practices across different regions and explains the value of introducing a subject gradually.

He describes beginning with an outline, returning with greater detail, and developing fuller understanding through further teaching. He also warns that harsh treatment can encourage fear, concealment and dishonest behaviour.

These observations make his work especially relevant to discussions about teaching methods and the relationship between authority and learning (Ibn Khaldun, 2005).

Earlier Muslim educational ideas and later Western theories

Muslim scholars discussed children’s care, learning, habits and moral development many centuries before the modern Western theorists listed below. The comparison therefore begins with their earlier contributions, followed by related ideas in later developmental psychology. These connections show shared concerns and differences; they do not establish identical theories or direct borrowing.

Earlier Muslim contribution	Later Western thinker	Relationship between the ideas
Ibn Miskawayh, around 932–1030, and Al-Ghazali, 1058–1111, discussed how upbringing, habits and companionship shape character. Islamic accounts also placed childhood within the religious understanding of fitra.	Sigmund Freud, 1856–1939, emphasised bodily drives, early experiences and conflict in personality development.	Both gave childhood experiences lasting importance, but their explanations and aims differed. Muslim writers emphasised moral and spiritual formation; Freud developed a psychoanalytic account.
Ibn Sina, 980–1037, and Ibn Khaldun, 1332–1406, discussed gradual instruction and teaching suited to the learner’s developing understanding.	Jean Piaget, 1896–1980, explained changes in children’s thinking through a theory of cognitive development.	Earlier Muslim scholars recognised the importance of readiness and gradual learning. Piaget later proposed a distinct model of cognitive stages, rather than simply repeating their educational advice.
Al-Ghazali, 1058–1111, and Ibn Khaldun, 1332–1406, considered adult guidance, correction and the effects of harsh treatment on young learners.	Erik Erikson, 1902–1994, described psychosocial development, including trust, autonomy and initiative.	The earlier writings recognised that adults’ treatment of children affects their behaviour and character. Erikson later organised social and emotional development into a particular sequence of psychosocial stages.
Ibn Sina, 980–1037, emphasised the benefits of children studying together and learning through companionship.	Lev Vygotsky, 1896–1934, emphasised social interaction and learning with assistance within the Zone of Proximal Development.	Ibn Sina discussed the educational value of companionship centuries earlier. Vygotsky later developed a distinct theoretical explanation of how social interaction supports learning.
Ibn Khaldun, 1332–1406, recommended introducing a subject broadly, then revisiting it with increasing detail and depth.	Jerome Bruner, 1915–2016, proposed a spiral curriculum in which learners revisit subjects at increasing levels of complexity.	Ibn Khaldun’s earlier teaching method offers a clear parallel with Bruner’s later spiral curriculum, although their frameworks and historical settings differ.

The classical Muslim contribution deserves recognition on its own terms. These scholars explored important educational questions long before modern developmental psychology emerged, even though their writings did not constitute the same theories or use the same research methods.

Muslim scholars had already discussed gradual teaching, companionship and adult guidance centuries before modern developmental psychology emerged. Their contributions deserve recognition in the history of educational thought.

The later term scaffolding is associated with Wood, Bruner and Ross’s work in 1976. It is often linked with Vygotsky’s ideas, although he did not introduce the term. Earlier discussions of guided learning offer useful parallels.

Neither tradition represents a single approach. Al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina and Ibn Khaldun differed in their priorities, just as Freud, Piaget and Vygotsky later did.

The classical Muslim writings connected education with care, character, faith and social responsibility. Modern developmental theories brought different explanations and research methods. Comparing them helps us recognise the earlier contributions and understand how educational thinking developed across different times and societies.

How learning flourished during the Islamic Golden Age

The scholars discussed above belonged to wider networks of learning.

Across Muslim-ruled societies, scholars made major contributions to medicine, mathematics, astronomy, optics and engineering. Arabic was an important scholarly language, alongside Persian and others. Participants included Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of different backgrounds.

The term Islamic Golden Age is useful shorthand, but it should not suggest a single uninterrupted period of progress everywhere.

Among the figures associated with these achievements were:

• Al-Khwarizmi, around 780–850, whose writings helped develop algebra and transmit methods of calculation.
• Hunayn ibn Ishaq, 809–873, a Christian physician and major translator of Greek medical works.
• Al-Zahrawi, around 936–1013, whose surgical writing became influential in Arabic and Latin medical traditions.
• Ibn al-Haytham, around 965–1040, whose Book of Optics combined mathematical reasoning with investigations of light and vision.
• Al-Jazari, 1136–1206, whose illustrated work described clocks and ingenious mechanical devices.
• Ibn al-Nafis, 1213–1288, who described the passage of blood through the lungs.

Several conditions helped this scholarship develop.

Religious encouragement and practical questions

Qur’anic encouragement to reflect and seek knowledge gave learning religious significance.

Practical questions also stimulated inquiry. Prayer times, the direction of prayer, calendars and inheritance calculations created demands for astronomy, geography and mathematics. These were contributing influences, rather than a complete explanation of scientific achievement.

Translation and engagement with earlier knowledge

The translation movement brought Greek, Persian and Indian learning into Arabic scholarly settings, sometimes through Syriac intermediaries.

Scholars did more than preserve texts. They discussed, criticised and extended earlier work. Hunayn ibn Ishaq and other translators helped make medical knowledge available to new readers (Gutas, 1998).

Paper and the circulation of books

Papermaking spread from China into the Islamic world and supported the growth of book production.

More available writing materials helped copying, scholarship and the circulation of texts. Libraries, booksellers and personal collections formed part of this intellectual environment (Bloom, 2001).

Patronage, institutions and charitable endowments

Rulers, officials and private patrons supported scholars and institutions.

Charitable endowments, known as waqf, also helped sustain education and other public services. Mosques, madrasas, libraries and hospitals provided different settings in which knowledge could be studied and transmitted (Makdisi, 1981).

Connections across regions and communities

Travel, trade and pilgrimage brought scholars and texts into contact.

A shared scholarly language helped ideas circulate between distant centres. Later, translations into Latin carried important Arabic-language works into European intellectual life.

This history was a collective undertaking. It involved receiving knowledge, examining it, developing it and passing it on.

Scientific activity also continued beyond the periods commonly highlighted in popular accounts. A simple story in which scholarship ended with the destruction of Baghdad in 1258 overlooks later work and regional differences (Saliba, 2007).

Where this intellectual legacy survives

The most dependable traces of these scholars are often their writings.

Manuscripts, translations and printed editions preserve ideas even where personal buildings or graves cannot be securely identified. A monument may commemorate a scholar without proving the location of their home, classroom or burial.

Historic institutions also help us understand the settings of learning. Al-Azhar in Cairo and the surviving Mustansiriyya building in Baghdad connect visitors with parts of that history, although their buildings and roles have changed over time.

Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez is traditionally associated with Fatima al-Fihri and a foundation date of 859. It is important to distinguish the early mosque, its developing scholarly activities and the modern university.

For readers in Britain, museums and manuscript collections offer another route into this history. The British Museum’s collections include Islamic astrolabes, instruments used for astronomical observation and calculation. London’s Wellcome Collection holds Arabic manuscripts on medicine and science, providing another connection with this intellectual inheritance.

Beyond Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York provides online images and records of illustrated manuscript leaves from al-Jazari’s work, including his design for an elephant clock.

These collections can be explored through their online resources. For visits or research access, check each institution’s website: objects and manuscripts held in a collection are not necessarily on public display.

What parents and educators can take from this history

The value of these texts lies partly in the questions they ask.

Are we teaching at a pace the child can follow? Are we allowing time for play and companionship? Does correction help a child understand, or merely make the child afraid? Are we developing character alongside knowledge?

Several practical lessons emerge:

• Introduce learning gradually. Begin with something manageable, then return with greater depth.
• Make room for learning together. Children can benefit from observing and helping one another.
• Attend to relationships. Affection, patience and respectful communication deserve deliberate attention.
• Allow time for play and rest. Education should not occupy every moment of childhood.
• Keep character in view. Honesty, responsibility and consideration for others matter alongside attainment.

These are contemporary lessons drawn from historical reading. Muslim scholars did not develop modern child psychology in its present form. They did, however, make substantial contributions to thinking about children’s care, education and moral development.

Their work gives us a fuller history of learning, and a reason to ask what kind of adults our education helps children become.

References and further reading

Abdel Haleem, M.A.S. (2004) The Qur’an: A New Translation. Oxford University Press.

Al-Ghazali, Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din, especially the discussions of knowledge, moral discipline and children’s upbringing.

Al-Zarnuji (1947) Instruction of the Student: The Method of Learning. Translated by G.E. von Grunebaum and T.M. Abel. King’s Crown Press.

Bloom, J.M. (2001) Paper Before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World. Yale University Press.

Bruner, J.S. (1960) The Process of Education. Harvard University Press.

Bruner, J.S. (1966) Toward a Theory of Instruction. Harvard University Press.

Erikson, E.H. (1950) Childhood and Society. W.W. Norton.

Freud, S. (1905) Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.

Günther, S. (2006) ‘Be Masters in That You Teach and Continue to Learn: Medieval Muslim Thinkers on Educational Theory’, Comparative Education Review, 50(3), pp. 367–388. Publisher’s record.

Gutas, D. (1998) Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society. Routledge.

Ibn Khaldun (2005) The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History. Translated by F. Rosenthal; abridged by N.J. Dawood. Princeton University Press.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Tuhfat al-Mawdud bi Ahkam al-Mawlud.

Makdisi, G. (1981) The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West. Edinburgh University Press.

Miskawayh (1968) The Refinement of Character. Translated by C.K. Zurayk. American University of Beirut.

Piaget, J. (1952) The Origins of Intelligence in Children. International Universities Press.

Saliba, G. (2007) Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance. MIT Press.

Ullmann, M. (1978) Islamic Medicine. Edinburgh University Press.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press.

Wood, D., Bruner, J.S. and Ross, G. (1976) ‘The Role of Tutoring in Problem Solving’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(2), pp. 89–100. Publisher’s record.

Hadith references: Sahih al-Bukhari 1385, 5997 and 708; Sahih Muslim 2309a and 2328a.

Collection resources: British Museum: Astrolabes and the Islamic World; Metropolitan Museum of Art: Al-Jazari’s Elephant Clock Manuscript Leaf.