Young Muslims around the world are grappling with clarifying their religious identities in the globalised world, now more than any time in the past. They have to face the dilemmas of modern life, which sometimes seem contrary toâor are often absent fromâthe classical Islamic education. Moreover, regardless of the country or nation they belong to, they are surrounded by diverse religious and secular worldviews due to constant changes in the economic, political, and cultural dimensions of contemporary societies. Islamic Religious Education (IRE) in both Muslim and Western secular contexts does not seem to be catching up with or appear suitable for addressing the ever changing religious and pedagogical needs of modern young Muslims.
As a Turkish researcher and having taught religious studies to young Muslim girls in Turkey, I have been able to closely observe the problems and challenges of IRE in practice and have become particularly sensitive to pupilâs questions and dilemmas about their faith and practices. Living in a Muslim country, yet surrounded by Western-secular values, they are struggling to identify their relation to God and to the world in general. However, IRE as it is currently practiced has hardly moved away from the classical rote learning that was once the methodology adopted in the madrasas of the medieval era in the Muslim world. Moreover, while IRE holds fast to the ultimate truth claims of Islam that were laid down in the Qurâan and Sunnah, it fails to engage with the diverse historical, sectarian, and cultural understandings of the Islamic scripture, which has a significant influence on contemporary Muslimsâ identity formation. Furthermore, it does not enable learners to engage with religious phenomena in an attentive, intelligent, and reasonable manner. These issues motivated me into pursuing this research. In order to address these problems, this book offers a new theoretical and pedagogical framework for IRE based on the philosophy of Critical Realism (CR), and the theories of Critical Religious Education (CRE) and Variation Theory (VT).
The focus of this study is IRE, explored with references to teaching of Islam in Muslim-faith and non-confessional community schools in the UK, in Turkish formal education, and some practices in Europe such as in Finland and Sweden. The UK and Turkey have been particularly taken into consideration in order to give a better insight into IRE in both Muslim and non-Muslim contexts. Before presenting the aim and structure of this book, the following sections discuss the issues regarding teaching and learning of Islam in confessional and constructivist RE as well as absence of diversity in the IRE curriculum. Moreover, the challenges faced by Muslim pupils regarding the issues of secularism and radical, fundamental Islam are addressed throughout the sections.
1.1 Problems of Teaching Islam in Confessional and Constructivist Religious Education
Confessional IRE refers to teaching according to Islam. The content and resources of IRE are mainly based on the Qurâan and Sunnah. Learners are trained to acquire knowledge not merely for intellectual and worldly purposes, but more importantly, for evolving as rational and righteous beings who relate and submit to the will of God in accordance with His teachings (Hussain & Ashraf, 1979; Halstead, 1995). In that sense, knowledge is not an end in itself, but rather means to reach the reality and knowledge of God. Accordingly, in Islam, all knowledge is believed to come from God and thus functions to raise awareness of Him and His relation to the world and human beings (Qutb, 1979). âThe pursuit of knowledge should stimulate the moral and spiritual consciousness of the student and lead to faith (iman), virtuous action (amal salih) and certainty (yaqin), which are constantly emphasized in the Qurâanâ (Halstead, 2004, p. 525).
The aims of IRE can be examined in terms of different levels. At the individual level, it provides young people with religious and spiritual guidance by which they are expected to form an Islamic identity consisting of faith, virtuous action, and morality. This form of education is called as tarbiyah in Arabic and refers to Islamic education in general, aiming to âfacilitate growth by guiding and attending to the needs of the learner in the hope of bringing about a balanced and faithful personalityâ (Sahin, 2013, p. 183). Thus, its aim is ânot to cram the pupilâs minds with facts but to prepare them for a life of purity and sincerityâ (Badawi, 1979, p. 110). Yet, IRE is not only focussed on individual development, but also seen as a means for social integration and belonging. The word ummah pertains to a religious community bound by Islamic faith and religious and cultural traditions.
Confessional RE differs from liberal, constructivist RE on many levels. Firstly, there is a stark difference between the way knowledge is acquired in confessional approach and the way it is done in constructivist approach. Influenced by liberalism, in constructivist RE knowledge is constructed; it is contextual and fallible. Confessional RE, on the other hand, adopts a realistic take on the acquisition of knowledge claiming that the reality of the world exists regardless of human interest and knowledge. Learners are believed to be âdiscoverers who build copies or replicas of reality in their mindsâ (Bodner, 1986, p. 3). In confessional IRE, all knowledge comes from God, while human beings are only expected to receive and interpret this knowledge (Al-Attas, 1979). Therefore, knowledge is imparted to students in order to cultivate faith. The methodology of IRE is prescriptive in nature, with the Qurâanic verses, hadith, and the scholarly interpretations of these being used to explain content. For instance, in Turkey, the focus of RE has been Qurâan centred and content oriented, and the identification of content is grounded in the main Islamic sources of the Qurâan and Sunnah (MEB, 2010; Zengin, 2013).
Influenced by the classical madrasa tradition, the pedagogy of IRE has been based on listening, rote memorisation, and regurgitation, a method that still remains an influential mode of delivery in many Muslim countries (Talbani, 1996). The majority of IRE teachers, who come from a confessional background, are perceived as the deliverers of religious knowledge and respected authorities. They usually adopt teacher-centred/subject-matter focused strategies in their teaching and are not usually open to interactive and challenging teaching and learning methods (Selçuk & Valk, 2012). Their pedagogic focus is mainly on the delivery and transmission of knowledge regarding Islamic beliefs and practices. As such, they tend to view learning as acquiring and accumulation of information, which mostly involves memorisation, recall, and reproduction processes. Accordingly, studentsâ prior knowledge is not considered important; they are simply expected to learn pre-established facts, but not given any real chance to challenge these or to reconcile them with their prior knowledge and understanding of the learning subjects. Therefore, they are not able to develop an intelligent and mature faith understanding. However, the Qurâanic discourse itself embraces a learner-centred strategy that aims to lead the listeners to critically reflect on religious issues, moral issues, and their life choices, so that âthey engage with a process of self-transformationâ (Sahin, 2013, p. 181). For instance, the Prophet was led through the Qurâanic guidance to reflect on his life and to experience psychological and spiritual transformation (Sahin, 2013). The Qurâanic methodologyâincluding the arrangement of verses, the use of storytelling method, considering the learnersâ personal qualities and needs, and adaptation of a critical, reflective discourseâcan be seen as learner-centred (Sahin, 2013). The same strategy was followed by the Prophet and the early Islamic scholars as well. However, over time, the classical Islamic education grew distant from its primal practices, came to constitute the well-known madrasa tradition and influenced deeply the current IRE practices in many Muslim contexts.
In general, there is a tendency of shifting from confessional to liberal RE in Europe (Rissanen, 2012). However, it has been argued that the IRE curriculum for minorities in the Western countries still represents a confessional character. It is because there is a demand for Islamic education in Western countries, which accelerated recently due to the increasing number of Muslim pupils. For instance, in Finland Muslim students are entitled to receive RE according to Islam. The first IRE curriculum, founded in 1995, was claimed to be confessional as it merely included Islamic theology and practices aiming to raise committed Muslim pupils (Sakaranaho, 2006). In the recent IRE curriculum, the goal is still to strengthen the Islamic identity of pupils. The difference might be the adoption of constructivist learning theory in teaching Islam as well as âthe overt emphasis on toleranceâ for other religions and worldviews (Sakaranaho, 2006, p. 361).
The confessional way of teaching and learning had been useful and sufficient in the past since the authoritative body of knowledge was alive and responding to the problems of Muslims (Kaymakcan, 2007). However, it does not meet the needs and expectations of young Muslims today due to it being so deeply instilled in the traditional-historical form of Islam (Selçuk & Valk, 2012). Over and above this, it does not include inter- and intra-religious as well as socio-cultural diversity within the Islamic community. Simply delivering facts and information about Islam does not help these students to form a well-informed and dynamic Islamic identity. IRE is required to promote a deeper understanding of Islamic principles, while at the same time developing the minds of the young by introducing them to the diverse perspectives around them (Thobani, 2007). Hence, it is argued that the pedagogy of confessional IRE generates an appreciation of the Qurâanic knowledge but fails to provide a critical and attentive learning environment in which pupils will be able to develop a deeper discernment of their faith (Selçuk & Valk, 2012). Consequently, there appears an urgent need for young Muslims to be well educated so as to make sense of their religious, spiritual, and moral lives in the contemporary world.
The teaching of Islam in constructivist contexts gives rise to some significant problems as well. The focus of constructivist RE is on the individuality of learnersâ experiences and their autonomy in creating meaningful learning for themselves (Grimmit, 2000). Consequently, teachers of RE who adopt a constructivist approach to their teaching, are mainly concerned with adopting student-centred teaching strategies through which they aim to improve studentsâ cognitive reasoning skills and to provide them with the opportunities to construct their own understanding. A liberal/constructivist approach has deeply influenced teaching of Islam in the multi-faith and multi-cultural RE classrooms in the UK, through the learning âaboutâ and learning âfromâ religion targets. The main goal of this approach has been to encourage students to create their own accounts of religious phenomena so as to achieve meaningful learning. It is also aimed to fulfil learnersâ personal development and develop social cohesion. Therefore, students are highly encouraged to be empathetic, tolerant, and appreciative of different religious and non-religious worldviews (Barnes, 2001). Similarly, although the goal of the curriculum for Islam in Finland is described primarily to be strengthening studentsâ Islamic identity, it is also aimed at helping students encounter diversity in the classrooms (Rissanen, 2012).
However, such an approach to RE is criticised for disregarding the ultimate truth claims of religions in order to avoid and suppress any conflict among students from diverse backgrounds. With regards to teaching of Islam, this results in Muslim pupils gaining only superficial and common knowledge about their faith, whilst also limiting the opportunity of critically engaging with other faith traditions. For instance, in Norway, Islam is taught along with other religious traditions and secular worldviews in the same compulsory module. The curriculum mostly represents Christianity as the major religion in the country. Therefore, Islam is taught only in a simplistic way, including information about basic Islamic faith issues, practices, and symbols (Gelici, 2018). Another problem with teaching Islam in constructivist contexts, particularly in Western countries, is the way this religion is portrayed within the curriculum. In Norway, the RE textbooks have been reported to include controversial theological discussions and historical facts regarding Islam, such as issues related to women and jihad, while this is not the case for other religious traditions. For instance, when discussing the relationship between radicalism, fanaticism, and religion, examples are only given from Islam, as in the example of ISIS (Gelici, 2018).
Influenced by the Western-liberal tradition, the constructivist, pluralistic approach has been also adopted as the pedagogical approach in Turkish RE since the 2000s. The idea was that in a democratic and secular society RE should have inclusive and pluralistic characteristics, thus mirroring the religious, denominational, and cultural diversity in the country, in order to empower âreligious citizenship developmentâ (Genç, ter Avest, Miedema, & Westerman, 2012, p. 292). With the new curriculum proposed in 2000s, it aimed to move away from the traditional denominational Islamic education that was simply based on delivering Islamic knowledge and beliefs to pupils towards a modern, constructivist, and pluralistic approach (Ev, 2010). The new programme had promoted the values of tolerance, critical thinking, and reflection on traditional Islamic sources and references were provided from other holy books regarding ethical matters (Kaymakcan, 2002). However, other religions were only taught on a basic level such that students would acquire basic academic knowledge about them (Genç, ter Avest, Miedema, & Westerman, 2012). It is argued that despite adopting a constructivist, learner-centred approach in theory, due to some practicalities, such as lack of necessary teacher qualifications and an inadequate curriculum, RE could not move away from the traditional, teacher-centred approach (Buyrukcu, 2006; Ev, 2010). The majority of RE teachers were reported as not having sufficient knowledge about the objectives of the constructivist approach and depending mainly upon direct teaching methods (Kaymakcan, 2009). Moreover, the curriculum does not submit a proof of having included satisfactory information on religious and denominational differences in the content (Kaymakcan, 2007).
Similar to confessional IRE, constructivist IRE is limited too, in addressing the problems of young Muslims. The tendency of liberal constructivist RE to view all religious perspectives as equally valid manifestations of the same truth gives rise to a serious problem for Muslim minorities in Western countries (Yousif, 2000). Moreover, this approach emphasises the cultural representations and individual experiences of believers, which in turn effectively discredits the ontological reality of religious phenomena as learning is reduced to self-expression deprived of the transformative potential of ontological reality (Wright, 2016). Personal autonomy in decision making and critical thinking skills become essential during the process of learning. That being so, a focus on mere methodology that does not consider content and its relation to the learner is inadequate in generating an engaging and transformative learning environment for students. Consequently, once again, we are facing a RE that is not engaging students with complicated and diverse religious understandings (Wright, 2016). Students do not get the real chance to negotiate and discuss the contrasting truth claims of Islam and other traditions in the classroom. Howe...
