<![CDATA[Global discourse on inclusive education has shifted from mere fulfilment of physical access toward epistemic and pedagogical justice in the classroom, yet the integration of children with special needs into religious curricula such as Islamic Education in Indonesia remains constrained by a cognitive-textual orientation that neglects spiritual actualization. This study aims to construct a character-based inclusive curriculum framework by comparatively examining the educational thought of Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali and John Dewey, particularly their conceptions of the nature of the child, teaching method, and curriculum implementation. Employing a qualitative library research method, primary and secondary texts on Al-Ghazali’s notion of fitrah and Dewey’s philosophy of inclusion and experiential learning were reduced, categorized, and synthesized through comparative content analysis. The findings reveal that both thinkers converge in rejecting the reduction of the child to a passive object, positioning the learner instead as an active subject endowed with either innate spiritual potential or adaptive experiential capacity. Their methodological orientations, riyadhah al-nafs and experiential learning, are found to reinforce rather than contradict one another, offering a pedagogical bridge between spiritual internalization and the social construction of knowledge. These findings further inform a three-stage strategy for implementing an inclusive, character-based curriculum that accommodates the rights of children with special needs without sacrificing cognitive or spiritual balance. This synthesis offers a fresh conceptual contribution for curriculum developers seeking a humanistic yet transformative model of religious inclusion.]]>
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