Educating Muslims in the UK

Islamic Education

The following article is a highly compressed summary of a paper presented at Glasgow Islamic Centre in January 1990. The substance of that paper was itself drawn largely from the series of books that issued from the First World Conference on Muslim education at King Abdulaziz University (published here by Hodder & Stoughton), to which I refer those requiring a deeper understanding of the principles of Islamic Education. Consideration of how best to apply the conclusions of the conference to the practicalities of educating muslims in Britain today are, however, essentially my own opinions.

There is a crisis in our education system. When rational man discarded his faith he also lost touch with an essential requirement for the true education of man - values. Education involves the complete growth of a personality, not just training to efficiently perform a chosen task. A qualified doctor, engineer or accountant, may still be only partially educated, unhappy, amoral, and anti-social. An educated man is outward looking, modifying his understanding and behaviour with knowledge and experience learned from the society surrounding him. He is an individual and part of a structured community, both necessary to the survival of each other. True education preserves the basic values and understandings of society, while fulfilling human needs in all their variety, by nurturing personal growth.

Secular modernists, denying universal values, cannot distinguish between education and training, whereas Humanist accept values, but believe they result from man's own rationality. Both philosophies entail the rejection of dogma, the questioning of absolutes, and the reliance on reason, thus inevitably encountering problems in those areas of human life involving faith. Despite the apparent freedom involved in challenging accepted knowledge, both movements place man in the prison of his own rationality, whereas religion sets man in the perspective of infinity and eternity, which he partakes of through his spirit.

The aim of Islamic education is the creation of "the good and righteous man" whose purpose is to worship God. Worship in Islam is not restricted to performance of rituals, but embraces all man's activity, and to give man the tools to carry out this purpose, his education must enable him to understand both his Lord, and creation. Man must acquire wisdom, training emotional, intellectual, and sensual faculties simultaneously. He is expected to learn through study and experiments the details of the process whose foundations are expressed in the Qur'an and whose living example was Muhammad. Here man can find revealed norms perfectly compatible with experience as well as rationality. Islam provides the concept of One God, one humanity, and one religion from the days of Adam, with values for all humanity in all ages, values dependent on faith in the hereafter and giving meaning and justice to creation.

In a world devoid of values it makes no sense to suggest that giving priority to love and human sensibilities is more satisfying than power and wealth. Yet this essential truth can be found at the heart of most religious traditions and the results, although hard to quantify, are open to experience and assessment. To better both himself and his society, a muslim must be taught a sensitive awareness of rights, duties, and responsibilities, with the means of acquiring this sensitivity being the love of God and the Prophet.

"Modern educational theories and practices indicate that the functions of the school as a social organization can be summed up as: transmitting heritage and shaping it to suit the needs of the day; and self-actualization of the individual, who is the nucleus of the society, so that he may utilize his talents and capabilities in the service of his society by improving his educational, social and material status. The individual can thus participate to the full in his responsibilities as a citizen." (S.A.Abu Aali)

Separation or Integration?

As muslims we may understand Islamic Education as an integrated system, but we must also consider how best we can achieve this for young muslims being educated in the UK. There would seem to be two approaches that can be taken, opting out and creating an alternative system, or transforming the existing system into one which can accommodate an integrated Islamic approach. When considering the former it is clearly desirable that any independent muslim school be capable of also integrating its education with that of the state education system. There are practical reasons, such as the need for children to compete on re-entry into the system after changing schools, or at college or university level, as well as the need for muslims to use the most advanced systems of conceptualization, communication and knowledge processing, if muslim pupils are not to remain disadvantaged.

But what educational system can muslims offer to replace or improve what is there? When we look to the education systems current in muslim countries it is clear that nowhere do they approach the high ideals of Islamic Educational theory, let alone also qualify for use in the UK context. Islamic Education is in a perilous state and the roots of this malaise are various.

"Islamic education .............. fluctuated in periods of prosperity and periods of decline, the latter being caused by the weakening of spiritual values, the disintegration of the Islamic Ummah, political and military disorders, and the weakening of the social and economic structure in most Muslim countries.

A number of factors brought about educational decay, the painful repercussions of which are being felt to this day:

(i) The Muslim mind lapsed into inertia and dropped creativity for imitation, and the substance for ephemeral appearances and style. In some Muslim countries, the purpose of education became the learning of texts by heart whether understood or not. Learners became content with the repetition of what older scholars had said, and confined their interest to interpreting a limited number of books and adding comments in the margins. Original and profound thought became rare, and very few would devote time to discovering the mysteries of nature or the laws of society which would contribute to its solidarity and prosperity, and which would help to disseminate the Islamic spirit and foster continued progress.

(ii) Another factor was the failure to promote technical and scientific knowledge although it flourished at one time in the Muslim world, and the renunciation of the branches of knowledge which were formerly studied by the Muslims, such as medicine, mathematics, chemistry and astronomy, on the erroneous assumption that they would lead to scepticism, uncertainty and unbelief.

(iii) Failure to educate women in a planned and regular manner as required by Islam.

(iv) Colonization...........................

If Islamic education is to revive and resume the role it played in the past, it will have to reconsider the way teachers are trained and qualified, to infuse a religious spirit into every subject and course, to adopt suitable Islamic teaching methods, to organize student brotherhoods, to acquire the necessary techniques and skills for the advancement of society, to foster spiritual and moral values among both teachers and students, and to fill their hearts with the love of God and reliance on His support to serve Islam and humanity." (A.H.Khaldun Kinnany)

Curriculum Matters

What concepts might such a revivified Islamic education system share with the present UK systems? Let us start by looking at the Curriculum.

A curriculum lays out the educational requirements to teach a system of thought, defining its principles, aims, objectives etc. The White Paper `Better Schools' (1985) suggested that what children learn between the ages of 5 and 16 should help them, among other things, to develop lively, enquiring minds; use language effectively; develop tolerance of other races, religions and ways of life; understand the world in which they live; and appreciate human achievements and aspirations.

HMI in Curriculum Matters 2 outlines a general approach to the nine areas of learning and experience which will need to be used as a general framework throughout the full range of educational subjects (aesthetic and creative; human and social; linguistic and literary; mathematical; moral; physical; scientific; spiritual; and technological).

"whatever the approach and whatever the age of the pupils there are two main reasons for studying (a subject): its intrinsic interest, and its capacity to increase pupils' understanding of themselves and of the world in which they live."

"The primary objective is not to attempt to dictate ideal solutions but for pupils to be in command of a range of knowledge and understanding so that they can order priorities, predict some of the likely consequences of decisions being made and begin to develop self-confidence in dealing with challenging situations."

Similar aims and objectives can be found in the Islamic educational tradition, itself a pupil-centred teaching system, following pupils' inclinations and preferences, and using this interest to teach them how they can educate themselves in other areas.

"There are certain truisms about education, regarded as a cultural process, which it is necessary to recall ........ First of these is that we must educate our students in such a manner that they acquire the capacity to educate themselves for the rest of their lives." (A.K. Brohi)

Other extracts from National Curriculum documents remind that "The aim that pupils should learn to work in a systematic way does not clash with the aim that they should learn to show imagination, initiative and flexibility of mind; the two aims are complementary."

Pupils should "develop tolerant but not uncritical attitudes towards customs and practices unlike their own".

Education should "kindle their imagination .... and stimulate a personal response; develop an open and sympathetic attitude towards the .... unfamiliar; develop a critical and reflective understanding of the world in which they live".

HMI suggest that Education should be "an experience from which pupils derive pleasure and enjoyment", but is it possible to teach Islam this way?

"Training in the mosque university was a combined activity in which both student and teacher took part. The student had to be persuaded rather than instructed and the teacher had to argue his case rather than dictate it. In this way the personality and the intellectual ability of the student was allowed to develop and grow..........traditional Islamic education measured its activity by the fact that it stimulated the community as a whole to take an interest in the higher issues so fundamental to its nature and survival." ( Zaki Badawi)

" Islamic education must build into the minds of Muslim youth a resilience, an adaptability and a mechanism for adjustment in worldly matters other than fundamental beliefs. The Arabs were the first people to demonstrate such a resilience and adaptability during the heyday of Islamic intellectual effervescence. They acquired the Greek learning, subjected it to investigation, experimentation and expansion in such diverse fields as algebra, geometry, astronomy, navigation, chemistry and medicine and evolved the scientific principles of empiricism. The essence of empirical scientific attitude consisted of moving away from dogmatic beliefs and practices in worldly matters and raising healthy doubts about all propositions. By questioning everything that could be questioned, by asking at every step: `is that so?' this empirical attitude gave immense freedom to human curiosity and became the cause of major scientific discoveries. Scientific beliefs came to be held tentatively rather than dogmatically, in the hope that further investigation and experimentation would lead to alternative beliefs. The Arabs carried this new empirical scientific attitude to Spain among other places and from there this attitude burst out into Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and caused the Renaissance.

The Islamic education system must now adopt the same scientific empiricism in worldly matters which the Muslims had themselves invented but had forgotten during the past five centuries. The values of adaptability, experimentation, and tolerance (as opposed to dogma) must be embodied in the new system. This will, in all probability require the institution of ijtihad or interpretation of the Islamic law..............The new educational system must be an integrating force and must prepare men for ijtihad where it is due." (Dr.A.M.Khusro) 

At the moment, Islam is rarely seen to be taught this way and such thinking is discouraged. Teachers traditionally tend to enforce rote learning with no concern for understanding, and prefer acceptance and repetition of dogma without question, rather than curiosity and the challenge of the unfamiliar.

"It is difficult to resolve this conflict if the traditional religious attitude is either discarded or ignored in favour of the empirical, because this will magnify conflicts and lead possibly to further bloodshed. Those disciplined in the old system and not fully aware of the complexities of modern civilization, and those disciplined in the new system who have never cared to appreciate their own heritage, can never come together or resolve the conflict. All attempts in the past have proved false and hypocritical. The traditionalists either exploited the name of religion for irreligious purposes or were exploited by the modernists for their own secular ends. What is therefore necessary is the emergence of a third group who are acquainted with their own traditions but are willing to acquire any wisdom that modern civilization can offer. Only then will it be possible for a modern Muslim to integrate the principles of moral and spiritual behaviour with current intellectual knowledge. ................. People belonging to this third group, however, are still to a large extent disjointed and extremely limited in number. As they have to work within the context of modern life, they have to `reconstruct' protective philosophical and theological systems and reinterpret religious thought in terms of modern life. .............. Only by doing this will they be able to save modern Muslims from the tension and insecurity in which they are living today."

"Unless an attempt is made now to Islamicize the humanities, social, and natural sciences by producing basic concepts and by changing the methodology of approaching them or teaching them, it will not be possible to create a viable group intellectually capable of resisting the onslaught of secularist teaching." (Syed Ali Ashraf & Syed Sajjad Husain)

The Way Forward

Before we can provide a relevant Islamic education for UK muslim children, whether in independent muslim schools or in the classrooms that our children are using at the moment, there are four essential areas where work needs to be done.

(i)     Curriculum: If the educational aims of muslims or the multicultural aims of the National Curriculum are to be possible, more work must be done on the integration of Islamic knowledge throughout the UK curriculum

(ii)    Educational Materials: Much of the difficulty of introducing Islamic aspects of knowledge into the present system is due not to lack of will, but lack of Educational Materials on which to base a class, which despite the finest of intentions makes the task extremely difficult. 

Before any reasonable education can be given to young muslims (even in a muslim school), source texts, text books and resource materials for different subjects will need to be produced. At the moment, these hardly exist at all in English, let alone in sufficient variety and quality to provide for a comprehensive Islamic education. 

(iii)   Teachers trained in system: These will have to be knowledgeable in the Islamic background to their subject, as well as being at ease living as part of the UK culture.

(iv)    Parental Education: A major part of a children's Islamic education comes from their parents in the home. For the school to successfully function as the educational centre for the community, it would seem necessary for parents not only to involve themselves in the running of the school, but actively participate in a course of self-education in order to understand more fully the principles involved in the teaching.

It will be necessary for muslims to achieve some measure of success in these areas whether our children are to be educated in separate schools or not, but I must declare that my personal preference is to put our energies into converting the existing system rather than creating a new one.

When considering the good of the whole community, it is important to clarify our priorities. We must ensure that the advantage of the few does not disadvantage the many. We should be careful that concentration on a model school for a small group of children does not detract from what needs to be done for the overwhelming majority. Many of the resources which will be needed in their entirety for a complete Islamic education may be introduced piecemeal into the existing school system. Specialist teachers could move between schools. Syllabus and Curriculum reform should be worked out in partnership and co-operation with those working in such fields at present. Demands for assimilation will be countered by clear signs of muslims working towards practical integration, as opposed to social  isolation.

In this way, the benefits of any work towards a model Islamic school would be spread throughout the community as soon as possible. Teachers training for such a school would benefit from the front-line experience when trying to implement their theories in the existing cultural surroundings. Muslim educationists working towards a model school would benefit from the expertise of UK specialists, and non-muslims in the UK education systems would benefit from the insight and understanding they would gain from their increased contact with the Islamic heritage. Ultimately, the development of a more flexible multicultural approach would also surely benefit other minorities and society as a whole.

In the short term, the educational requirements of the vast majority of young muslims will need to be met by the existing system. It would therefore seem urgent for our resources and energies to be directed towards helping convert the environment of the British education system into one in which muslim children can be educated as British muslims.