Tarbiyah Qalbiyah and the Reconstruction of Moral Education

The Perspective of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

Abstract

This study reconstructs the concept of tarbiyah qalbiyah in the thought of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah and positions it as a foundational framework for contemporary character education. Employing a qualitative library-based approach, the research applies content analysis to classical Islamic texts alongside recent scholarship in moral and character education. The study argues that prevailing approaches to character education remain overly centered on cognitive transmission, thereby neglecting the inner dimension of moral formation. It demonstrates that moral failure among students is less a deficit of knowledge than a failure of internalization. Within this framework, the heart (qalb) is conceptualized as the core locus of moral consciousness, integrating cognition, emotion, and spiritual orientation into a unified structure of ethical agency. Building on this analysis, the study proposes the Integrative Model of Tarbiyah Qalbiyah (MITQ), operationalizing moral formation through purification (tazkiyah), internalization (tarbiyah), and habituation (ta’wīd), mediated by reflective pedagogy and ethical role modeling. Theoretically, this study contributes to bridging classical Islamic moral psychology with contemporary educational theory by introducing qalb as an analytical category in moral education. Practically, it advances a shift from instructional to transformational paradigms, emphasizing sustained inner change as the basis of character development