A Comparative Study of the Epistemological Foundations of the Islamic and European Thought and Culture and its Relation to the Higher Education Institutes

The goal of this article is to indicate the significant impact of Islamic and European culture and their epistemological foundations on the higher education. There is a relationship between the creation and growth of culture, epistemological founfations. what distinguishes Islamic, and European culture has root in their epistemological perspectives. Therefore, to become acquainted to the differences of these two cultures, it is better to refer to their epistemological structures, and it is the contribution of this relation, which makes it possible for us to become familiar with the function of higher education. The method of investigation is descriptive and analytic, by which the researcher attempts to gain suitable answers to research questions. Epistemological foundations in Islamic culture can be divided into empirical, rational, intuitive and revealed. In Islamic thought, God is the origin and purpose of the world and the whole cosmos is under the will of Allah. Human kind as the best creature with aid of wisdom can reach to an accurate comprehension of the world of existence. In Islamic thought human knowledge is always tend to ripen. Historically the Islamic educational institutions have been always influenced by the Islamic epistemology. Islamic educational institutions, in a reciprocal relationship with Islamic knowledge, have increased both their wealth and have caused to spread the Islamic culture. In turn, the foundations of thought and culture of modern Europe is based on some kind of humanism. The most influences of humanism on higher education institutions are to unload the spiritual attitude in universities and to exploit sciences and specialized knowledge in order to fulfill the needs of economic enterprises.What make Islamic higher education different from higher education in the west are its moral and spiritual tendencies. The European universities are more concerned to make things agreeable to human secular needs in the life. This way of education can never be perfect.