Islam in Southeast Asia : A Comparative Study of Islamic Education in the Philippines and Thailand

Abstract

Not every country has developed in terms of Islamic education.  This is one of them because Islam is a minority religion so it affects the progress of the development of Islamic education.   Such is the case with Islamic education in the Philippines and Thailand.  This paper aims to analyze the entry of Islam into Southeast Asia, namely the Philippines and Thailand, and compare the education systems in the two countries based on aspects of curriculum, educational institutions, and Islamic subjects. This type of research is a literature study with data collection techniques through the process of collecting writings books, articles, or other sources supporting the discussion topic. After the data is collected, the researcher analyzes it based on the content and then draws conclusions. The results showed that Islam entered the Philippines and Thailand because of the process of Islamization. The existence of this process, in both countries began to form an Islamic education system that has its own characteristics. The Philippines implements the K to 12 curriculum with Islamic educational institutions consisting only of madrasah with Islamic subjects, namely Islamic studies. Thailand implemented a 1980 curriculum with educational institutions consisting of Quranic education, madrasah that underwent development into cottages. Islamic subjects are related to reading classical books in Arabic and Malay that have written jawi. These differences reflect how each country integrates Islamic education within a predominantly non-Muslim society, influenced by cultural, political, and historical contexts. Strengthening institutional support and government recognition remains a challenge for advancing Islamic education in both countries.