Prophetic Educational Practices and Their Relevance to Contemporary Student-Centered Learning: A Qualitative Thematic Study of Authentic Hadiths

Abstract

This qualitative literature-based study examines Prophetic educational practices and their relevance to contemporary student-centered learning. The primary documentary corpus comprised twelve authentic Hadith narrations purposively selected from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. The narrations were selected because they describe identifiable teaching interactions involving a Prophetic educational action, a learner’s role or response, and sufficient contextual information for analysis. Using thematic document analysis, the study examines the context of each Hadith, the Prophet’s educational action, the learner’s role, and its possible correspondence with contemporary education. Four themes emerged: (1) facilitative and compassionate teaching responsive to learners, (2) dialogic questioning, reflection, and inclusive participation, (3) formative correction, repetition, and instructional scaffolding and (4) modelling, experiential learning, and integrated Prophetic pedagogy. The findings show that Prophetic teaching joined clear guidance and moral purpose with sensitivity to learners’ age, readiness, needs, and emotional condition. Learners participated through questioning, answering, observing, practicing, reflecting, and correcting their performance. These practices correspond with important features of student-centered learning, including active participation, supportive relationships, formative feedback, guided inquiry, and experiential learning. The study concludes that Prophetic pedagogy offers a balanced educational framework in which teacher guidance, learner participation, compassion, responsibility, knowledge, and practice remain closely connected.