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In the third year of my Ph.D., I was discussing my research in comparative contemporary Islamic education with a Hui Muslim from China, and they asked me, “Are there even different kinds?” It is true that “tawheed” (acknowledging God’s existence and unity) is always at the core of an Islamic way of learning and teaching, yet, considering the immense cultural, historical, and geographical variation among Muslims, the straight answer to this inquiry is “Yes!”

First of all, the concept of education itself is a continually evolving process as the immediate needs of our societies adjust to changing global dynamics and advancements in technology. Faith-based teaching and learning practices, including Muslim schooling, are no exception to that. Islamic schools across the world may have their own definitions, practices, and goals of how teaching and learning should be with a diversity of approaches to prioritize; and that is not a new phenomenon. Starting in the 9^th century through the 14^th, scholars such as Ibn Sahnun, al-Jahiz, Ikhwan al-Safa, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, al-Qabisi, Miskawayh, al-Ghazali, al-Zarnuji, Ibn Khaldun, and Ibn Jama‘ah in parts of the world spanning from North Africa to Central Asia produced various treatises on how education should be implemented within an Islamic context. In their perspectives, “Islam was viewed not as a discipline of religious beliefs and theology, but as a set of ideas, ideals, and ethics that encompass all aspects of human life” (Al-Sharaf, 2013, p. 278). The multi-dimensionality of human experience across geographies was already recognized in this period and prior, and Islamic education became a vibrant process, but not a static one, in its practice.

Those earlier scholars relied on transmitted hadith and the Quran in their formation of Islamic education theory. They were preoccupied with things such as teacher conduct, etiquette for learning and teaching of the religion, the relevance of other sciences, and the rules for production and transmission of scholarship, with a shared objective of understanding how a Muslim should learn without deviating from Islam (Cook, 2010). It can be difficult to discern whether their opinions represented a coherent “Islamic” educational theory both because of the large time span they covered and the different geographical regions they came from. Each produced a text based on what they deemed significant and/or necessary in their societies at the time to form a way of learning. None of them were trained in pedagogy as we think of it today, yet as Cook (2010) asserts, what they established shaped the future of Islamic education.

The foundation of their approach was that God and knowledge are interrelated. Hence, learning should lead one to God and strengthen faith in Islam. This would make it a necessity for members of the Muslim society to be accustomed to Islamic thinking and living in order for that society to flourish. However, beginning in the modern era, such concerns have been taken over by an anxiety to adjust to the needs of contemporary times. The colonization of several majority Muslim countries, modernity being negatively interpreted as Westernization, the separation of sciences now as secular subjects (even though they were already being taught prior to the modern era), the spread of socialist movements, the introduction of public schooling, and new technological developments have all together added new dimensions and priorities to education in the Muslim world. This resulted in changes to how faith-based schooling was practiced. The aims of schooling have become a matter of transitioning of Islamic societies from more of a conventional one to a modern model where “critical and scientific thinking” is valued (Rohman, 2017, p. 163).

This new approach has had its consequences. As Rahman (1998) argues, the outcome of modernization attempts has only created a paradox to modernity where the focus has been on re-construction of an Islamic philosophy from the past instead of focusing on the future. Yet, neither education nor religious education consists solely of kuttab/maktab or madrasas any longer. There are Quranic schools, weekend schools, homeschooling, school subjects dedicated to instruction of religion only, private K-12, public vocational schools, and higher education institutions all representing different forms of Islamic schooling practices across the Muslim world today. Some of them emphasize religious subjects, while some have added on sciences as secular subjects, with some others attempting to have an approach similar to medieval times where learning across various subject areas happens in accordance with a strictly Islamic focus. Islamic texts and teachings comprise a unique foundation for all of these categories defined by the educational needs of the Muslim Ummah (Shah, 2014).

Overall, the “Islamic way” of learning and teaching is a complex phenomenon that requires institutions at the K-12 and post-secondary levels to respond to the needs of communities, wider societies, eras, national values, modernization efforts, globalization trends, and technological advancements. This is due to the simple fact that every society is unique in its structure, history, and its relations with the rest of the world. Forms of Islamic schooling that may work in the United States will have to go through several adjustments and changes to be implemented in German, British, Turkish, Nigerian, Indonesian, etc. contexts. Practices that worked four decades ago may need to be re-formed now. Regardless, such an education is generally deemed necessary either by the state, by communities, or by individuals as the venue for a Muslim identity to be formed. The shared goal of Islamic education is a strengthened sense of identity and understanding of the world around them, though approaches will vary depending on the community in which educators are working. Accordingly, despite having common aims and objectives (e.g., strengthening Islamic faith and identity) at the core, Islamic education in practice differs from one community, region, and nation to the other. We should be mindful of this notion when considering its evaluation and assessment, and a fair understanding of its associated societies.

References

Al-Sharaf, A. (2013). Developing Scientific Thinking Methods and Applications in Islamic Education. Education, 133(3), 272–282.

Cook, B. J. (2010). Introduction. In B. J. Cook (Ed.), Classical Islamic foundations of educational thought (pp. ix-xxxiv). USA: Brigham Young University Press.

Rahman, F. (1998). Islam and modernity. In Kurzman, C. (Ed.) Liberal Islam: A sourcebook (304-318). New York: Oxford University Press.

Rohman, M. Q. (2017). Modernization of Islamic education according to Abdullah Nashih Ulwan. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 125, 163-167.  

Shah, S. (2014). Islamic education and the UK Muslims: Options and expectations in a context of multi-locationality. Studies in Philosophy & Education, 33(3), 233-249.   

Growing up in a small town in the south, I dealt with several instances of Islamophobia, racism, and discrimination. I had peers and teachers who consistently said my name wrong even when I corrected them, made Islamophobic jokes directed at me especially after 9/11, and constantly questioned my faith as a Muslim. These interactions made me second guess my own personal values and identity. Yet, they also propelled me towards my lifelong journey to becoming an unapologetic Pakistani American Muslim. My goal is to help create a future where Muslim students do not face the same hardships I experienced.

As a critical race scholar practitioner, my aim is to disrupt the dominant narrative of Muslims and Muslim college students which associates them with terrorism, violence, and being anti-American (Cole & Ahmadi, 2003; Saeed, 2023). This narrative has led to national, politicized events such as Muslims being physically attacked and assaulted, local mosques being vandalized, Muslim students being murdered in North Carolina, and the implementation of the Muslim travel ban.  

In my research, I use counterstories and storytelling by underrepresented and minoritized individuals such as Muslim students in order to challenge the dominant narrative that often centers White privilege (Solόrzano & Yosso, 2002). Counterstories can serve as acts of resistance and elicit transformational change (Solόrzano & Yosso, 2002). Counterstories can be shared in different forms such as journaling, oral storytelling, along with dialogue and discussions. These types of counterstories can help individuals reflect on their experiences, allowing their marginalized voices to be amplified. This can further aid in personal growth and healing. For example, journaling has been vital for me to come to terms with my identity and has allowed me to better advocate my views and dismantle the dominant narrative.

On college campuses, my research shows that counterstories underscore student organizations and cultural centers as avenues to building connections and creating counterspaces. Moe, a first year Pakistani Muslim student, commented, “I have been lucky enough to find a community on campus where I can feel like myself. I have found community through student organizations such as the Muslim Student Association and the Pakistani Student Association.” Another one of the participants, Aisha, remarked, “The university has been great with providing accommodations compared to other colleges that I know. The university has provided access to prayer spaces on campus, such as the Annex (cultural center), and has a ton of halal food options on campus that I take advantage of.” These stories highlight aspects that administrations can take to enhance the experience and sense of belonging Muslim students feel on college campuses across the country.

As previously mentioned, given the current rhetoric of Muslims, it is imperative for colleges and universities to provide long-lasting support for Muslim students in the United States. Below, I share my reflections on what educators, senior university leaders, faculty, and staff can do now to help support Muslim college students both at an administrative and institutional level.

1. Universities and college administrators need to do a systematic policy review to make sure current policies do not infringe on Muslim college students being able to practice their faith on campus. By doing a systematic policy review, universities and colleges can develop equitable policies that support Muslim college students. These policies include having religious holidays in the university calendar, specific Muslim student spaces, built in religious accommodations in the syllabus, and a policy on dedicated spaces for prayer. Having these policies in place demonstrates university investment in this marginalized group and precludes students having to request individual accommodations from faculty and staff for their religious needs.
   
2. Accommodations for Muslim students should include having halal food options available in the dining halls that are similar to Stanford University, Duke University, Marquette University, and Penn State University. Furthermore, accommodations in the dining hall need to be made around preparation of food where there is no cross contamination (Ali & Bagheri, 2009; Saeed, 2023).
   
3. University and college administrators must take a holistic perspective in supporting Muslim college students. Administrators need to take an intersectional lens in any accommodations that are provided. To achieve a holistic perspective of support when considering religious identity, one must take into account multiple aspects of identity such as race, gender, and disability. For example, by taking an intersectional lens, administrators recognize that the needs of Muslim women are different from Muslim men. Similarly, the needs of Muslims with disabilities vary from those without disabilities (Saeed, 2023).
   
4. Sensitivity and cultural awareness training that includes modules combating Islamophobia and deepening understanding of the needs of Muslim college students should be mandatory for university and college personnel. These trainings can provide actionable steps to support Muslim college students. Additionally, these trainings can better equip administrators to handle any specific needs of Muslim college students (Baboolal, 2019; Saeed, 2023).

These administrative and institutional accommodations are essential to helping Muslim college students adapt well to college and university life as well as feel an improved sense of belonging on campus. These important measures will also go a long way in disrupting dominant narratives about Muslims that alienate and marginalize them in public and private spaces.

References:

Ali, S. R., & Bagheri, E. (2009). Practical suggestions to accommodate the needs of Muslim students on campus. New Directions for Student Services, 2009(125), 47-54.

Baboolal, A. A. (2019). Diversity and exclusion an intersectional analysis of the experiences of Muslim students after the 2016 presidential election. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware).

Cole, D., & Ahmadi, S. (2003). Perspectives and experiences of Muslim women who veil on college campuses. Journal of College Student Development, 44(1), 47-66.

Saeed, F. (2023). With Hardship Comes Ease: Exploring Muslim Identity Development at a Private Predominantly White Institution in the Mid-South through Counterstorytelling. (Doctoral dissertation, Oregon State University).

Solórzano, D. G., & Yosso, T. J. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44.

Over two decades have passed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Since that horrific day, the US has engaged in two overt wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with several more covert drone wars in Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Pakistan. Yet when we choose to #neverforget 9/11 (at least in the US), our focus remains on the lives lost on US soil and not the hundreds of thousands dead through direct and indirect warfare elsewhere as a consequence of US actions. Particularly in light of the recent US withdrawal after a 20-year occupation of Afghanistan that has left the country worse off than before, it is important for us to teach and learn a more complete, nuanced, and inclusive history of 9/11 together with its aftermath. 

In a national survey of secondary school teachers, Stoddard (2019) found that the events of 9/11 and War on Terror are taught in US schools in an uneven manner and they are “treated rather superficially in many commonly used textbooks” (p. 2). Much of the focus on the subject is around politics, foreign policy, terrorism, first responders, and US victims. While these lessons have their place, they offer an incomplete and partial history of 9/11. This was corroborated by my team’s own research in 2019, when we conducted a curricular resources review of over 30 freely available curricula that have been published between 2001 and 2021. Similar to Stoddard’s finding, the bulk of these materials focused on US foreign policy, terrorists, and heroes. However, a glaring omission in the materials was the perspectives of people living in the shadow of 9/11. While we did find a parallel set of curricula that educate about Muslims and Islam, these seem to focus more on the basics of Islam rather than deal with issues related to 9/11, even if that was the impetus for their creation. In fact, none of the resources we reviewed paid any attention to the 387,000 civilians who have died as a direct consequence of US wars or the millions of people who have been displaced by these wars (Costs of War). It became apparent that a curricular intervention – one that was built on missing perspectives of the “other” victims of 9/11 – was needed.

In response to the lack of critical materials that focused on the ongoing consequences of 9/11, we decided to develop a curriculum that was grounded in the 20 years after 9/11. To begin our process, my team created a timeline based on a review of “newsworthy” media-reported events connected to 9/11. These included acts of war, terror, resistance, and representation of Muslims (and those presumed to be Muslim). We used the timeline (with over several hundred entries between 2001 and 2019) to identify themes that correlated with my qualitative research from the past two decades with youth from AMEMSA (Arab, Middle-Eastern, Muslim, South Asian) communities in the United States. 

These endeavors led to the creation of the Teaching Beyond September 11^th curriculum as a significant corrective to the missing perspectives and histories in available resources. The 20-module curriculum has been gradually released since August 2021 and invites learners to critically examine the history of 9/11 and to understand its ongoing consequences. Aside from the obvious themes of US Foreign Policy, US Domestic Policy, and Public Opinion, Perception, and Anti-Muslim Sentiment, we also included the themes of Media and Representation, Democracy and Rights, as well as Solidarity and Social Justice. The curriculum thus showcases young people’s activism and how organizations have been resisting discriminatory policies. Moreover, it strives to amplify the voices and perspectives that are missing or not given enough attention by the media or in the classroom. 

In fact, almost all of our curriculum partners are from AMEMSA communities. This was really important to me personally. There are many scholars and practitioners who could have written these lesson plans, but I wanted to take an anti-imperialist, decolonial stance to push back against dominant narratives. As such, I strongly felt that having a team from the very communities that have been impacted by 9/11 policies and programs, either directly or indirectly, was the only way to create the kind of curriculum that really disrupts the commonly-told stories about 9/11. 

This collaborative partnership between social justice activists and educators across the world has resulted in an innovative curriculum framework that is academically rich and pedagogically nimble, addressing both historical and current dynamics of anti-Muslim racism and structural Islamophobia. Stoddard (2019) identified several barriers to teaching about 9/11, such as lack of resources; fear about how administrators, students, and parents might react; and concerns of inadequacy when it came to facilitating discussion on this topic. With over forty lessons to choose from across our six themes, the curriculum not only provides educators with a much-needed resource, it gives them as much flexibility as possible when dealing with political and historical topics while equipping them with necessary knowledge to teach the lessons comprehensively. 

The fifty-minute lesson plans (and extension activities) can be adapted to suit many different age groups though the target groups are 11^th and 12^th graders along with first year college students. The curriculum encourages a more nuanced understanding of the world since 9/11 so that learners can recognize the ways in which events across time and different communities are connected. As mentioned earlier, we used a timeline as the backbone of the curriculum and so each of the 20 modules is grounded in a particular event during a year between 2001 and 2020. For example, the 2006 module is anchored in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal that emerged between 2004 and 2006. We then connect it to the US Senate torture report that came out 10 years later in 2014. This allows students to see how events are linked through time and space. 

Currently, 16 of the 20 modules are available and are free to download. There are multiple entry points for educators beyond social studies, history, and politics to include subject areas such as media studies, ethnic studies, religion, women’s studies, etc. The majority of the lessons are stand-alone and need not be taught sequentially. At the same time, we do build connections within the curriculum across events, time, and space in the hope that such wide representation will allow for at least aspects of the curriculum to resonate around the world. The curriculum thus serves as an invaluable intervention to support young people in developing a global point of view on issues such as anti-Muslim racism and xenophobia that extends beyond remembering 9/11. 

To access the curriculum, please sign up here. For questions about the curriculum or to request a professional development workshop, please email: TeachBeyondSept11@gse.upenn.edu

Works cited:

September 11th Curriculum | Penn GSE. (n.d.). Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://www.gse.upenn.edu/academics/research/september-11-curriculum

Stoddard, J. (2019). Teaching 9/11 and the War on Terror National Survey of Secondary Teachers. https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/79305

The Costs of War (n.d.). Summary of Findings | Costs of War. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/summary

When New American Muslim Youth (NAMY) come to the USA as refugees, they try their best to integrate and assimilate in their new communities. Generally, many NAMY might lack adequate literacy or formal education due to personal or societal factors that made them flee their homelands and seek refuge in other countries. While many NAMY may already be literate in their native language such as Arabic or Kurdish, they are introduced and exposed to a new language which they have to learn and use properly in their host countries. In this post, I reflect on some of my observations as a volunteer English instructor at The New American Consortium for Wellness and Empowerment Center (WE) in the Fargo/Moorhead area in North Dakota and Minnesota while I was taking a course in Participatory Action Research (PAR) as part of my PhD graduate work at North Dakota State University (NDSU). The Center is one of the main interventions in the area that aims to help new Americans in achieving integration and assimilation in their refugia by addressing some of their essential needs such as employment, literacy, and citizenship.

The Pursuit of Literacy in Refugia

Donna Haraway (2016) defines refugia as “one way to live and die well as mortal critters in the Chthulucene is to join forces to reconstitute refuges, to make possible partial and robust biological-cultural-political-technological recuperation and recomposition” (101). Thus, recuperations and recompositions should be accessible with a view to help NAMY to feel at home in their refugia.

Literacy reflects an essential educational objective for NAMY. During my work at WE, I noticed that many NAMY struggled in their new educational milieu in relation to the instruction and schooling they received. For example, one female student could not do her homework because her high school teacher had not provided clear guidelines. Further, while I was trying to help her understand the work, I noticed that she wrote with no spaces between words making her English illegible. When I asked her about it, she answered that she did not receive any instruction or guidance about how legible writing in English should be. Another male student was frustrated because other students in the class made fun of his English due to grammatical mistakes. He mentioned that his teachers did not bother to address or remedy such a situation or guide him to the best resources to facilitate him. Such students seek out the WE center for assistance in literacy that the school failed to provide. 

These and many other examples made me wonder whether the immediate placement of NAMY in their new educational systems could compensate for what has been lost. After all, without their struggles being properly addressed by their teachers and educators in refugia, learning to read the world and the word cannot be accomplished. When considering some of the NAMY challenges, I find myself reflecting on Bigelow’s studies about Somali Muslim communities in the USA where she sees them as “assets” willing to learn the language but unfortunately are subject to “the high incidence of limited formal schooling” due to their previous history as refugees which in turn reflects “serious implications for learning academic content through traditional means” (2010, 42). Bigelow asserts that there are certain false assumptions and myths about these newcomers that presume that “[they] can and do learn academic content through reading and producing academic texts” and that “students begin schooling with a certain amount of background knowledge and experience with academic content” (42).

Lack of Academic Content and PAR

NAMY, thus, can have a serious lack of academic content leading to struggles with speaking, reading comprehension, and writing. In this regard, Bigelow contends that secondary schools “are often overwhelmed when they receive a newcomer adolescent who has never been to school” leading to his/her “needs being left unaddressed or addressed inappropriately” (Bigelow, 121). Here, PAR can be useful in enabling the educational system and educators to learn/know more about NAMY so certain training can be recommended for educators to become more aware, prepared, comfortable, and encouraged to address NAMY needs and contribute positively and actively towards their literacy in their refugia. PAR employs non-traditional academic approaches to work collaboratively with communities to make social change involving both the participatory action researchers as well as the subjects to offer some solutions to their needs and problems; in this case, in NAMY’s “first experience with literacy … in a language that they are only just beginning to learn” (Herr and Anderson, 2014, 42). PAR researchers can offer assessments to determine the actual levels of academic content that NAMY possess to place them on the correct levels in their refugia. PAR can also create special intensive programs that can address NAMY literacy issues before taking formal schooling. In this way, I suggest, it will not be overwhelming for the student, the educational institution, or the teacher. This initiative should be undertaken in collaboration with recognized local, state, and/or national institutions or organizations to offer expedited solutions and remedies to the problems of literacy and lack of prior formal education of NAMY.

The Role of PAR in Refugia

Refugia, thus, is not only a physical place where people feel safe from harm, but rather it is a unique constellation of various factors that work hand in hand to create that space along with the many evolving interactions, reactions, and actions that can transform NAMY rhetorical and academic needs into something they can feel and see. PAR can investigate the phenomenon of NAMY’s lack of literacy and offer tangible solutions to create new American citizens who can function and contribute confidently and productively in their refugia. 

Works Cited

Bigelow, Martha H. Mogadishu on the Mississippi: Language, Racialized Identity, and Education in a New Land. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Haraway, Donna J. Staying with Trouble, Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016.

Herr, Kathryn, and Gary L. Anderson. The Action Research Dissertation: A Guide for Students and Faculty. Sage Publications, 2014.

Many college campuses across the United States have a Muslim Students Association (MSA), a student-led club that is formed to build a Muslim student community that engages in spiritual, social, and university activities. Like other campus clubs for students, they often identify a faculty advisor who will provide advice to adhere to university guidelines. After two years into my faculty appointment at American University, the MSA asked me to be their faculty advisor. I accepted, and then prayed for guidance to conceal the lack of training I had for this work.

American University’s campus is not unique. We do not have a Muslim chaplain who can lead prayers, provide spiritual mentorship, and offer advice on the integration of faith in student life.  This creates a challenging environment for the MSA because Muslim communities need spiritual leaders, socio-political advisors, and religious advocates to develop the foundations for a thriving community. Without a knowledgeable and capable Muslim chaplain on campus, a faculty advisor to the MSA needs to revise their expectations for this role and be prepared to lead the development of a Muslim campus experience beyond simply ensuring alignment with university protocols. 

After three years in this role, I’ve developed 5 competencies that promote a campus environment needed for Muslim college students to thrive—spiritually, socially, and academically. 

1. Spiritual Example

I don’t assume that all Muslim students in our MSA practice Islam as I do, nor do I speculate on their knowledge of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Students come from many diverse backgrounds, and they expect to be welcomed into a faith community that accepts them as they are. I respect them for their commitments to participate in a faith community on campus by generously giving greetings of “As’salaamu Alaikum (peace be on you)”. I prioritize allocating time for prayer and dua’a (supplication) in our campus events, and refrain from addressing students’ choice of clothing, social habits, or political beliefs. I choose to pray in the campus musallah (prayer room) as often as I can, shoulder to shoulder with students. Although I am not qualified to engage in counseling services with students, I am committed to mobilizing resources for spiritual and mental health counseling in the local Muslim community upon request. Our beloved Prophet showed us that the best form of dawah (invitation to faith) is in our character and our interactions with others. This gives me comfort that I don’t need to have expertise in Islamic Studies to embody a spiritual example of a practicing Muslim in a professional context which may offer the guidance and support students are seeking.

2. Campus Advocacy

Most college campuses are not established to promote the practice of Islam among students, and as a faculty advisor my role is to advocate among campus leadership to establish an environment that fosters Muslim student identities. This past Ramadan it meant meeting with deans and directors of Undergraduate Studies, Residential Life, and Dining Services to create a platform for students to identify their fasting needs. Students asked for more halal (permissible) meal options, access to food for sahoor (pre-dawn meal), and accommodations to break their fasts during evening classes. After years of successful collaboration, University leadership solicits my advice on responding to other student requests for religious accommodations. This work requires me to consider what students need to practice their faith on campus and ways to navigate the university bureaucracy to create sustainable solutions for all Muslim students.

3. Interfaith Bridge

Under the leadership of our University Chaplain, there are campus-wide efforts to increase understandings and relationships between faith groups. In the absence of a campus Muslim chaplain, I’m often called upon to represent the Muslim community and build bridges of understanding to the faith of Islam. This work is also placed upon MSA students, who seek out opportunities to be in community with other faith groups on campus, eager to foster bonds through their shared faith-based worldviews and academic experiences in an otherwise secular space. On occasion, interfaith work includes conflict resolution to address larger socio-political issues that intersect with Muslim communities globally. In these times, my work as faculty advisor is to mobilize local resources to support students’ efforts to build bridges and contribute to a campus environment that promotes interfaith collaborations.

4. Antiracist Disruptor

Muslim students face anti-Muslim racism on college campuses. They describe experiencing bias and discrimination from their professors, from their peers, and often in the local community surrounding their campus. The readings they are assigned in class and the curriculum they are required to complete is often replete with anti-Muslim biases and marginalization that create hostile classroom climates for Muslim students. Racist discourse cannot be tolerated, and anti-Muslim racism must be called out to be disrupted. As a faculty member, I have institutional powers that position me to speak out against marginalization and oppression when it occurs. My role as an advisor to the MSA demands that I address these injustices whenever they are brought to my attention, and that I maintain a commitment to teaching my colleagues how to identify such biases and racist practices to disrupt discourse and (in)actions commonly experienced across campus. It is through this leadership that I hope to model for the MSA how to confront bias and discrimination, particularly within their own academic and professional settings.

5. Protecting Activism

Muslim students have strong political commitments that often reflect their Islamic worldview and relationship to the ummah (Muslim community) around the globe. Students use their time on campus to deepen their commitments and engage in activism to promote the causes they seek to champion.  Whether it is advocating for the liberation of Palestine, challenging anti-Muslim state policies in France and India, or speaking out against American immigration policies, MSAs need faculty advisors who will support their campus activism. This work does not always exist in friendly political environments, and there are times when my role as a faculty advisor to the MSA requires that I protect students’ right to express their activism by negotiating with campus leadership to ensure students’ safety and wellbeing. Further, since our campuses do not exist in social vacuums, this work also demands attending to the protection of students on social media when their political commitments are challenged in online spaces.

Serving as a faculty advisor to a campus MSA today requires a (re)visioning of work to meet the complex needs of Muslim students today. No longer can Muslim faculty resign themselves to solely advancing their academic pursuits. MSAs need faculty advisors who are engaged advocates, spiritual examples, and campus bridgebuilders who will work effectively to establish campus environments that foster the practice of Islam among students. If our ummah (Muslim community) is to thrive in future generations, it’s time to construct effective practices that support the advancement of Muslim Students Associations.

The human being is hardwired to form relationships (Kline, 2008). Our neurobiological systems predispose us to cultivate nurturing relationships, as our brains and hormones react to facilitate deep bonds with other human beings. Healthy parental and peer relations have been known to be essential for positive youth development. In addition to parental and peer connections, strong student-teacher rapport empowers our youth to thrive. Teachers play a central role in the fostering of their students’ beliefs and values (Patall et al., 2013). One of the biggest takeaways from my years of researching motivation is the profound impact that student-teacher bonds have on student motivation, well-being, achievement, and identity (Eccles et al., 1993). Students who perceive their teachers as warm, caring, and supportive become motivated learners who benefit more from their schooling and are more invested in the subject matter taught (Roorda et al., 2011).

Islamic studies teachers have the potential to influence their students’ motivation to learn and engage with their faith. Motivation is not a term that merely implies excitement or enthusiasm, but it includes core beliefs about one’s self-efficacy and value for a particular behavior (Umarji et al., 2021). Within the context of Islamic studies classes, motivation leads to an increased interest in the subject and confidence that one can succeed in learning about Islam. One of the most profound ways that Islamic studies teachers can motivate their students is through inculcating a warm and caring personal relationship that is based on kindhearted concern and warmth. In this way, teachers will facilitate students to value the content that the Islamic studies curriculum contains. One may wonder why a warm and caring relationship is so important to motivation. Zimmer-Gembeck & Locke (2007) have shown that youth absorb the values and emulate those whom they love and feel an attachment towards. In our own research, we found that teachers who are perceived as warm and caring by their students at the beginning of the school year feel more efficacy and value both in the moment and at the end of the year (Umarji et al., 2021). Thus, teachers can influence student motivation both in the immediate present and in the future.

How do teachers build these nurturing relationships that support students? When Islamic studies teachers genuinely value each student and recognize their uniqueness, the students notice it and reciprocate. This means that teachers get to know each student directly, including their life stories and interests. Students will naturally bond with a teacher whom they perceive as personally interested in them. This involves asking students about their feelings and what is on their minds. It entails listening to them attentively and responding to their concerns with empathy and kindness. It means having amicable conversations with students and helping them overcome any challenges they are facing in life (Noddings, 2012; Umarji et al., 2021). If teachers of Islam show an interest in their students’ lives, they will find their students showing an interest in Islamic studies as well. Previous research finds that effective teachers touch the minds and hearts of their students, as well as model behaviors and create a safe space for students to critically engage with the content (Nasser, Miller-Idriss & Alwani, 2019). These types of caring teaching practices are much needed in Islamic studies classes as well (see Zahra Rafie’s blog post).

Unfortunately, Islamic studies is often seen as boring and irrelevant to students. In classroom observations I have done over the years, I have seen students half-asleep or distracted as teachers attempted to convey the lesson as is from a textbook. However, the role of the teacher is not to only lecture and teach from books. Rather, teachers must demonstrate to students how Islam matters in their lives, and this requires the teacher to deeply understand their students’ lives (Kazmi, 1999). Warm and personal teachers focus on being responsive to students’ needs (Noddings, 2006; Noddings, 2012), instead of centering the curriculum alone. The messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) won the hearts of the youth with compassion and care. He joked with them and showed them affection. He cared for them personally. He didn’t just tell them what Islam was but rather he was a walking Qur’an – someone who role-modeled his teachings in his daily practice. Ultimately, the motivation to practice Islam emanated from his students’ love and attachment to him. Teachers who aspire to impact the minds of their students must begin by connecting with their hearts through care and warmth.

References

Eccles, J. S., Midgley, C., Wigeld, A., Buchanan, C. M., Reuman, D., & Flanagan, C. (1993). The impact of stage-environment on young adolescents experiences in schools and in families. American Psychologist, 48(2), 90-101.

Kazmi, Y. (1999). The notion of murabbī in Islam: An Islamic critique of trends in contemporary education. Islamic Studies, 38(2), 209-233.

Kline, K. K. (2008). Hardwired to connect: The new scientific case for authoritative communities. In Authoritative Communities (pp. 3-68). Springer, New York, NY.

Nasser, I., Miller-Idriss, C., & Alwani, A. (2019). Reconceptualizing Education Transformation

in Muslim Societies. Journal of Education in Muslim Societies, 1(1),3–25. DOI 10.2979/jems.1.1.02 • Copyright © 2019 International Institute of Islamic Though

Noddings, N. (2006). Educational leaders as caring teachers. School leadership and management, 26(4), 339-345.

Noddings, N. (2012). The caring relation in teaching. Oxford Review of Education, 38(6), 771-781.

Patall, E. A., Dent, A. L., Oyer, M., & Wynn, S. R. (2013). Student autonomy and course value: The unique and cumulative roles of various teacher practices. Motivation and Emotion, 37(1), 14-32.

Roorda, D. L., Koomen, H. M., Spilt, J. L., & Oort, F. J. (2011). The influence of affective teacher–student relationships on students’ school engagement and achievement: A meta-analytic approach. Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493-529.

Umarji, O., Dicke, A. L., Safavian, N., Karabenick, S. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2021). Teachers caring for students and students caring for math: The development of culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents’ math motivation. Journal of School Psychology, 84, 32-48.

Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Locke, E. M. (2007). The socialization of adolescent coping behaviours: Relationships with families and teachers. Journal of Adolescence, 30(1), 1-16.

“Verily, I have only been sent to perfect righteous character.”

–Prophetic Tradition

The call for a holistic, student-centered, and justice-oriented education in public schooling (Miller 2019) has necessitated a reexamination of the approaches to Islamic education both in the Muslim and non-Muslim world. Educators have come to realize not only the need for change, but the importance of transformational learning approaches centered on engagement as well as self-awareness, identity, security, and belonging (Mahmoudi et. Al, 2012). Examining its implementation is relevant not only for full-time Islamic schools but also Islamic weekend schools in non-Muslim majority countries.

My research in this latter area was inspired by numerous years of involvement with Islamic weekend schools as a parent, educator, and researcher. The aim was to understand the challenges faced by Islamic weekend schools and to study how this holistic approach could be integrated in the design of their curricula in the US and the UK where Muslim youth face challenges of bigotry, prejudice, and Islamophobia (Elkassem et. Al 2018). Theoretically, most Islamic weekend schools are designed around the core components of character education, identity, and belonging; yet they fail to address these crucial issues in meaningful ways (ISPU 2017). Research suggests that character development and an overall lack of focus on contemporary social justice issues are the missing links in weekend schools’ Islamic studies curricula (ISPU 2017).

The personal and professional relationships I have formed over the years with many Islamic weekend schools enabled me to access their curricula, conduct classroom observations, and interview staff members. I analyzed the Islamic studies curricula employed by 37 weekend schools in the greater Washington metropolitan area and in London, England. I systematically evaluated 14 of the above-mentioned Islamic studies curricula employed by various weekend schools and homeschool organizations. I also interviewed scholars, educators, Imams, university professors, and social activists. Based on curricular analysis, observations, and interviews, these are the themes that emerged repeatedly:

1. Rote memorization of the Qur’an without contextual understanding. The primary focus when teaching the Qur’an is reading and rote memorization. There is little emphasis on meaning, in-depth understanding of content, or its applicability to everyday life.

2. Emphasis on “tradition,” from the perspective of the particular school of thought, with little or no reference to other Islamic traditions. Parents choose weekend schools and mosques that adhere to their way of thinking as they wish their children to receive religious instruction that emulates their religious beliefs and practices. Thus, children do not learn about different sects, ideologies, and perspectives. Due to this reason, Islamic weekend schools tend to be insular, often exclusive and excluding, with diminutive theological diversity. This poses an immense challenge for weekend school educators: how to teach doctrinal diversity while being authentic to their particular tradition, without causing confusion among their students or offending parents.

3. Uncritical employment of history and historical facts to “prove” a particular narrative.  Most Islamic weekend schools tend to function as theological and ethnic enclaves, where only one theological school of thought is taught which may not be the best way to prepare children for life in a multi-religious, multi-ethnic society.

4. Little or no critical engagement with moral responsibility or ethical questions and how they relate to the “real world.” There is a great emphasis on rituals, laws, and obligations, without contextualization or application to real life. In many schools, there is an underlying transactional prominence in the way in which Islamic doctrine and rules of conduct are taught only in reference to permissible and non-permissible actions, without much attention to character, morality, ethics, or contemporary social justice issues. The content and methodology offer students very little guidance in navigating the challenges they encounter daily.

5. Lack of emphasis on the universal message of Islam or analysis of other religions, religious dialogue, or co-existence. There is little or no interconnectedness of various Islamic principles from a holistic perspective resulting in the universal message of Islam being undermined and often ignored.

6. Teacher-centric pedagogy rendering students as inactive participants. Teachers employ top-down methodology, and students remain silent and passive receivers of knowledge. Students are not allowed to challenge or question the authority of the teacher or the material.

Some of the reasons for the above-mentioned common themes are challenges faced by Islamic weekend schools which are beyond the control of the staff and administrators of the schools. Based on my observations and involvement with Islamic weekend schools, the following logistical issues are contributing factors:

1. Most Islamic weekend schools do not have a permanent premises which makes teaching and instruction unstable.
2. The children have very little opportunity to engage and interact outside of the classroom.
3. Islamic weekend schools meet once a week for nine months, which does not allow adequate time to meaningfully cover material or engage with students.
4. Islamic weekend schools tend to be overcrowded, underfunded, and understaffed with little onsite parental involvement.
5. Islamic weekend schools are often administered by volunteers who are not educators by profession.
6. The administrators and faculty tend to be highly educated and accomplished professionals but have insufficient training in classroom management or educational pedagogies.
7. There is very little professional development offered by the schools due to lack of funds and resources.

To improve Islamic weekend schools, here are my recommendations:

1. Expand educational focus from rote memorization of the Qur’an and prayers to include wider ethical and moral behavioral instruction to build Islamic character and develop students’ identity.
2. Improve theological literacy among teachers and encourage tolerance of doctrinal diversity by developing multi-perspective teaching methodologies.
3. Connect curricular content with contemporary issues Muslim youth face through raising awareness of social justice issues.
4. Invest in professional development for teachers and administrators while encouraging parental involvement and engagement.
5. Utilize “student-centered pedagogy,” rather than teaching religion as something separate and disconnected from student context and lived experience. 
6. Support community service projects and community engagement as teaching tools through fostering the principles of social justice.
7. Strengthen administrative practices by encouraging parents, community members, teachers, and students to engage regularly, share expertise, and collaborate to improve teaching skills and students’ academic performance.
8. Promote policies that ensure consistency of instruction and minimize conflict in how individual teachers interpret Islamic teachings and impart knowledge to students.
9. Foster women’s leadership, as most Islamic weekend schools are led by women.
10. Encourage engagement and cooperation with other faith-based and community organizations.

Islamic weekend schools need to adopt curricula that nurture critical thinking, empower young adults to meet contemporary moral and ethical struggles, and articulate thoughtful, God-conscious responses to these challenges, especially in handling prejudice and stereotyping (Gallup 2011). Incorporating a holistic social justice approach into Islamic weekend schools’ curricula is necessary to develop a sense of security, identity, and belonging among Muslim youth in order to lay the foundation for high self-esteem, a moral system of beliefs, and social engagement. We must remain mindful of these three concepts and implement them where possible in our pedagogical techniques for improving teaching practices and enhancing outcomes for our youth (Bennett 2015). Additionally, educators need to help students develop skills, such as critical thinking, self-reflection, and cooperation, which are vital to foster a better society.

References

Miller, John, The Holistic Curriculum, Third Edition, 2019

Mahmoudi, Sirous, et. al, “Holistic Education: An Approach for the 21st Century”. International Education Studies, Volume 5, No. 2; April 2012.

Elkassem, Siham, et. al, “Growing Up Muslim: The Impact of Islamophobia on Children in a Canadian Community”. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, Volume 12, Issue 1, Summer 2018.

Weekend Islamic Schools: Are They Preparing Children for Life Ahead? The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), July 25, 2017.

https://www.ispu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ISPU-Weekend-Islamic-Schools-Are-They-Preparing-Children-for-Life-Ahead.pdf

Bennett, Christine I. Comprehensive Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice. Upper Saddler River, NJ: Pearson, 2015.

Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West, Gallup 2011.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/157082/islamophobia-understanding-anti-muslim-sentiment-west.aspx

Youth Empowerment, Ethics and Islamic Education: A Conversation with Dr. Zahra Seif-Amirhosseini https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtGAZBSQJd4

Once upon a time, according to a traditional story, there was a meeting of the nobility at court. Then, someone dressed poorly was invited by the King to sit in the best corner of the hall, while others marvelled at this. To justify his actions and to show that person’s worth, the King asked the strange visitor to present his talents. So, the visitor took out a couple of pieces of wood from his pocket (or bag) and assembled them to conduct an instrument. At his first performance, he made the audience laugh. Then he dismantled the instrument and assembled it in a different shape. While playing the second time, the listeners began to cry. Finally, when he formed the instrument with another new shape and played, then the audience found themselves in a deep sleep. When they awoke, the strange visitor had already disappeared.

While this story is told to glorify al-Farabi’s skill in music, it is of course not seen as strange that music affects humankind’s mood. This might be because Islamic thought accepts the power of music in inducing emotions, in music therapies, and for religious purposes.

Mozart or Music?

When Rauscher et al. (1993) coined the term ‘Mozart Effect,’ it gave hope to people that human capabilities could be expanded. The researchers showed that listening to Mozart’s music can basically increase college students’ achievements. This was considered amazing for educational advantages and beyond. However, the whole picture is quite different.

Despite the original findings, the Effect was widely criticised for its supposed role in the enhancement of intelligence. Rauscher et al. (1993) originally argued that listening to Mozart music can temporarily increase college students’ spatial reasoning, such as mental imagery and temporal ordering. However, without a scientific base, the commercial industry produced and sold many records, CDs, and books with the assertion that exposure to Mozart’s music stimulates the minds of children and has a positive impact on their IQ, creativity, and intellectual abilities. In this blog post, I argue that the pedagogical implications of the Mozart Effect need more attention.

The basis of the Mozart Effect denies the listener’s conscious and intentional awareness of his/her own emotions and response to music. Whatever happens with the Mozart Effect happens without listeners’ active engagement and involvement. Even if everything related to the Mozart Effect is scientifically proven, I do not favor using music in such a way that puts listeners (students) in a passive and unconscious position. For educational implications, bringing a piece of music into the classroom will not make teaching easier or students smarter. So, for learning and teaching settings, we still have a fundamental question: what does music mean to us and how can we utilize it in an active manner, especially in religious education (RE)?

Re-Considering the Musical Implications in Religious Education

Beyond the meaning of musical extracts, for the listeners who are informed by religious beliefs or cultural attachment, music is a subject of evaluation. The halal–haram dichotomy is an example where religious thought is the driving force in evaluating music. A listener’s knowledge about music (or musical excerpt) itself can direct his/her response which is also true for cultural norms and practices that may accept music as an educational tool. Similarly, due to the social representations of various musical styles, listeners see themselves (or would like to be seen) in ways that confirm they have the same values, attitudes, and beliefs as other listeners.

Emotions occur in cultural, religious, as well as personal contexts and recognising the interplay between an individual and his/her social environment may foster the connectedness of students, with the help of their own emotional experiences. This implies that musically accessible emotions (such as happiness, sadness, awe, passion, love, etc.) can be utilized for meaning-making within the teaching/learning process, for which students are neither passive learners nor just directed by music without their conscious experience, during the musical activities in RE or other school subjects (Ogretici, 2021). I suggest studying with children, rather than on children, with the idea of promoting their emotional response and their self-evaluation during class activities where students are required to be active listeners and participants to facilitate the learning environment. In other words, their conscious and deliberative experiences will be part of the meaning-making process in the RE context. For instance, students listen to music and interact with it through activating the knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to the specific piece they listen to. Learning about the musician, expressing the emotions that it activates, and reflecting on attitudes about the musical piece as well as connecting it with the content learned may benefit students in regular or religious education. In this example, the students learn how to derive meaning and analyze information.

Emotions, knowledge, and meaning making, in line with musical experiences, are important themes in the context of RE, since music has a relationship with these in almost all cultures (Yob, 2020). From its basis in music and Islamic theology, there is a distinctive theoretical foundation for the concepts of ‘musical emotions’ and ‘communication of knowledge with music’––which then highlights ways of using music in RE. Thus, musical activity of RE requires students’ involvement, not (only) by singing and listening but also by active thinking for meaning-making and feeling through music. In this regard, music is here to enhance the students’ educational benefit, owing to its capacity of emotionally triggering listeners and promoting the meaning-making process.

Contrary to the Mozart Effect, I argue that educators should not plan their teaching upon an unconscious cognitive enhancement with music listening in the classroom context. However, students’ emotional and cognitive responses to music listening clearly identify and prioritize the significance of their conscious engagement (Ogretici, 2021). Teachers cannot perform this on behalf of students. Students must consciously and attentively deal with this experience. Otherwise, without this attention, the musical experience (of emotion and cognition) would not be an authentic part of teaching and learning. Assuming that emotions are successfully induced by music listening, and valued in the classroom, we need to integrate these experiences into the learning process. This stresses the connection between the processes of emotional response and the elements of cognition in relation to the musical experiences.

Two fundamental aspects of human inner life were highlighted in this post: reason and feeling, or cognitive and affective, or mind and heart. There are mutual empowerment and enrichment between them––as most of the world’s great religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions teach. Human thought rarely excludes one from the other (Yob, 1997). Therefore, we should not separate cognition from emotion in education. Instead, we need to promote and strengthen the connection between emotional and cognitive faculties by means of music in RE classroom interventions.

References

Al-Ghazali, (2003). On Listening to music. Trans. Muhammad Nur Abdus Salam, with an introduction by Laleh Bakhtiar. Great Books of the Islamic World, series ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr. n.p.: Kazi Publications.

Al-Ghazzālī, (1910). The alchemy of happiness. London: John Murray.

Al-Qaradawi, Y. (198-). The lawful and the prohibited in Islam [Al-halal wal haram fil Islam]. Indiana: American Trust Publications.

Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., & Ky, C.N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365(6447), 611.

Siddiqui, M. (2012). The good Muslim: Reflections on classical Islamic law and theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ogretici, Y.Z. (2021). Bridging theory, experiment, and implications: Knowledge and emotion-based musical practices for religious education. PhD Thesis, University of Glasgow, UK.

Uludağ, S. (2004). İslam açısından müzik ve sema [Music and sama’ from an Islamic perspective]. İstanbul: Kabalcı.

Yob, I.M. (1997). The cognitive emotions and emotional cognitions. Studies in Philosophy and Education. 16(1), 43-57.

Yob, I.M. (2020). Religion and music in an education for social change. In. A.A. Kallio, P. Alperson & H. Westerlund. Music, Education, and Religion. Indiana University Press (http://www.jstor.com/stable/j.ctvpb3w6q.20)

American Muslims are split between those who attend the mosque at least once a week (45%) and those who attend only for Eid or even less (40%) (Pew Research Center, 2007, 2011, 2017). To explore why some Muslims are engaged in their communities—what I call embeddedness—while others stay away, I conducted life history interviews with 80 adult Muslims in 2016/2017 and 2021/2022. I limited my sample to those born between 1971 and 1985, who grew up in the United States, and resided in NY, NJ or CT. I purchased data from a firm that uses a global name algorithm to identify voters with likely-Muslim names. I randomly selected a subset of this sample and invited them to participate in life history interviews. Life history interviews are designed to capture events over time, gathering as close to longitudinal data as possible. Interviews focused on people’s experiences in their communities and their relationships with Islam across their lives, what I call trajectories of embeddedness.

Table 1. Participant Demographics

Gender	Men – 42% Women – 58%
Highest Degree	High School – 11% College – 26% Post-Graduate – 63%
Marital Status	Never Married – 30% Married – 45% Separated or Divorced – 11% Other – 14%
Race/Ethnicity	Central Asian – 14% Arab – 27% South Asian – 42% Black – 8% Other – 9%

Trajectories of Embeddedness

Four trajectories of embeddedness emerged in my data – Outsiders (9%), Insiders (29%), Departures (31%), and Detours (31%). Often children of mixed marriages, Outsiders’ parents rarely socialized with other Muslims or attended the mosque. These respondents remained peripheral to Muslim communities throughout their lives. In some cases, they did not identify as Muslim while in others they saw being Muslim as a racial and/or political identity (Love, 2017).

In contrast, Insiders (29%) were always embedded in Muslim spaces, from childhood into adolescence, early adulthood and up to the time of the interview. Departures and Detours, who together made up 62% of the sample, were respondents who were embedded with other Muslims in childhood but then disengaged with Muslim communities in adolescence and/or early adulthood. While Departures (31%) continued to build that distance over time, never re-engaging with other Muslims, Detours (31%) were those who returned in later adulthood after a period of drifting away from Muslim communities.

Embedded Childhoods & Compartmentalization

Insiders, departures and detours (91% of my sample) all started their childhoods embedded in Muslim communities, simply because their parents’ social lives revolved around other Muslims—either friends or extended family members. Embedded children usually received formal Islamic education either through weekend schools (62%) or full time Islamic school (10%); others had lessons at home with a tutor or with parents (15%). Since most children attended public schools (90%) where Muslims were a small minority, they usually also developed friendships with non-Muslims. These relationships tended to be compartmentalized. As one woman said, “I had my school friends, and I had my home friends.” Home friends were typically Muslim co-ethnics, whereas school friends were usually not Muslim.

Divergence at Adolescence

For departures and detours (62% of my sample), embeddedness in Muslim communities started to weaken as the balance between “Muslim friends” and “school friends” shifted in high school. Other friendships built around interests such as sports or school clubs took precedence over Muslim friendships. Teenagers stopped attending Sunday school and usually began decreasing their mosque attendance. For those who exited, leaving was not purposeful or ideologically motivated. Instead, respondents described their ties to Muslim communities simply fading away in adolescence.

Unlike departures and detours, insiders were those who stayed embedded during adolescence (29%). The teenagers who stayed embedded were exposed to multi-dimensional mosques which offered a lot more than prayer; they had youth groups, sports clubs, and outings. They gave young people opportunities to hang out with friends, making them—as one participant put it, “the place to be.”

Departures, Detours and the Gender Double Standard

In my study, even though women and men both disengaged from Muslim communities at similar rates during adolescence, their trajectories differed in adulthood, as shown in Table 2. Among departures or detours, only 35% of women return (i.e., detour) compared to 79% of men! Looking at the qualitative evidence, I argue this gender inequality is explained by differences in boys’ and girls’ experiences at home and in Muslim spaces.

Table 2 – Departures and Detours by Gender

	Detour	Departure	Total
Men	14 79%	4 21%	18 100%
Women	11 35%	21 65%	32 100%
Total	25 50%	25 50%	50 100%

When boys strayed, parents and the broader community turned away and gave them privacy—an approach I call “don’t ask, don’t tell.” On the other hand, teenage girls faced intense scrutiny, surveillance, and pressure both at home and at the mosque. Parents monitored their behavior, who they spent time with, and what they wore. Likewise, girls received unwanted comments on their clothing and felt watched in mosques.

This double standard led to conflict with families. Girls on Departure trajectories outwardly fought their parents to establish more autonomy or started building secret double lives. For many, college was a chance to get away. Others pursued job opportunities or graduate school away from home. Since parents usually justified their monitoring and surveillance in Islamic terms and Muslim spaces like the mosque maintained the same double standard, many women came to associate this conflict not just with their families and communities but with Islam itself. As they gained more independence with age, many stopped attending mosque or began disassociating from Muslim institutions.

Men Returning and Women Staying Away

Over time, as second-generation Muslims reached their mid and late twenties, they started to settle down. For men, this often meant trying to return to the Muslim community. Many shed prohibited activities, like non-marital sex and drinking alcohol, and sought Muslim wives that would help them rekindle their religiosity. Men spoke of wanting to build households similar to those in which they grew up. When they returned, men were welcomed back and given the benefit of the doubt.

On the other hand, women faced a hard time re-engaging with other Muslims, even in the many cases when they wanted to. Some attempted to find Muslim partners but were met with unrealistic double standards. Others were already too turned off by their past experiences with Muslim communities to even consider a Muslim spouse. Among my participants, women were much more likely than men to permanently depart from Muslim communities and to marry non-Muslims.

Takeaways

There are several important lessons from these findings. 1) Community matters! Religiosity and engagement went hand in hand. Muslims with strong ties to other Muslims were more likely to have a solid belief in God, to pray, to fast, and to restrict from pork and alcohol. While there were many people in my study who were embedded with other Muslims but not very practicing, over time there were none who maintained religious practice without other Muslims. 2) Gender double standards harm women’s ties to Muslim communities. The more monitoring and surveillance women experienced, the more likely they were to leave and the less likely they were to come back.

References

Love, E. (2017). Islamophobia and Racism in America. New York University Press.

Pew Research Center. (2007). Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream. Pew Research Center. http://www.pewresearch.org/2007/05/22/muslim-americans-middle-class-and-mostly-mainstream/

Pew Research Center. (2011). Muslims in America: No Sign of Growth in Alienation or Support For Extremism. Pew Research Center.

Pew Research Center. (2017, July 26). U.S. Muslims Concerned About Their Place in Society, but Continue to Believe in the American Dream. Religion & Public Life. http://www.pewforum.org/2017/07/26/findings-from-pew-research-centers-2017-survey-of-us-muslims/

Who am I? Where do I belong?

These are the existential questions faced during adolescence by all youth—and become particularly important questions for Muslim American youth as they come of age in a heated sociopolitical environment.

What helps Muslim youth thrive as they try to answer these questions and become the best version of themselves? What promotes their healthy well-being and successful thriving?

These are the questions that have been of interest to me for the past decade. In this blog post, I highlight some of the findings from my team’s work and conclude with some questions for all of us to consider as we help youth thrive. The research summarized here began with my dissertation study in 2013, continued through 2020 with my colleagues, Charissa Cheah and Merve Balkaya-Ince, and The Family & Youth Institute. We are currently collaborating with Baylor University on additional projects.

Although American Muslims are a heterogeneous group with varying backgrounds and experiences, this blog post only focuses on research among immigrant-origin American Muslim youth (i.e., first or second-generation South-Asian and Arabs) aged 14-22 years old. I discuss considerations for other sub-groups of Muslims in the Conclusion. Any use of the phrase “Muslim youth” refers to American Muslim youth (and not all Muslim youth globally).

What does Muslim youth’s well-being and mental health look like?

Muslim youth are experiencing mental health challenges, such as anxiety, mood disorders, eating disorders, adjustment disorders, and suicidal ideation (Basit & Hamid, 2010). However, Muslim youth also thrive and engage in their societies. Learn about some factors impacting their mental health in The FYI’s Muslim Youth Mental Health Fact Sheet (see excerpt below).

What helps Muslim youth thrive and promotes their well-being?

The focus of our work has been to understand factors that promote youth’s well-being and thriving. We specifically focus on identities as they are blossoming during adolescence and the role of parents during this stage. Our various studies on high schoolers and college students consistently find that Muslim youth endorse dual identities, reporting a strong sense of belonging to Muslim and American cultures (Balkaya, Cheah & Tahseen, 2019; Tahseen & Cheah, 2018), which was associated with the highest level of well-being. This means that youth who feel like they belong in their Muslim communities (masjid, friends, social circles) AND in their American communities (school, non-Muslim friends, social circles) have greater well-being.

Religious identity is protective. Interestingly, religious identity is protective for religious minority youth, similar to what others have found. A higher level of Muslim identity was related to less externalizing problems (e.g., smoking, drinking; Balkaya et al., 2019). Experiencing discrimination does not significantly impact youth’s Muslim identity (Balkaya et al., 2019). In fact, a strong religious identity actually empowers youth to be more engaged with their societies, especially in the face of discrimination. For instance, in one of our studies, we found that Muslim youth who identify strongly with their religion in their daily lives are more likely to be civic-minded and engage in civic behaviors, such as volunteering, belonging to or donating money to nonprofit organizations, and expressing their opinions on political issues (Balkaya-Ince, Cheah & Tahseen, 2020). These findings directly contrast all public narratives about how being actively Muslim pulls youth away from being American or contributing to American society. 

American Identity is protective, too. In fact, youth who have a strong sense of religious identity may heighten their American identity to counter any Islam-based discrimination they experience. American identity refers to how youth believe they connect and belong to the mainstream culture in America, such as being with their non-Muslim friends or engaging in “American” extracurricular activities. When youth experience personal discrimination AND believe America to be an Islamophobic culture, we found that they respond by increasing their American identity, which protects them from engaging in risky behaviors. In other words, they express greater pride in being American and endorse American cultural beliefs and activities. Motivated to reduce the unfair treatment of all stigmatized Muslims, they may use their American identity as an empowering strategy and to reaffirm that Muslims do indeed belong to the American tapestry. In sum, this body of work shows that Muslim youth’s identities are complicated and should be treated as such in intervention and prevention programs. 

Supportive Parents. The family is a central component in the lives of Muslims, with a lot of divine as well as prophetic emphasis and guidance on creating a healthy family unit. Based on this, our team focuses on the role of supportive parents in helping youth thrive. The parent-child relationship is critical in helping Muslim youth develop healthy identities and mental health outcomes. Supportive Muslim parents empower their children to have a stronger Muslim identity, engage in civic behaviors, and ultimately have greater well-being (Balkaya et al., 2019). Parents’ religious socialization efforts positively shape their children’s religious identity and religiosity, especially their day-to-day feelings about their religious group. These include talking to children about religion, engaging in religious practices together, encouraging friendships with other Muslim children, and engaging in social activities with Muslims. . Youth who received positive messages about Islam from their mothers had (1) more favorable attitudes about their religious group and (2) stronger beliefs that belonging to the Muslim group was an important part of their self-image on a daily basis (Balkaya-Ince et al., 2020). Parents can also protect youth from the adverse effects of discrimination. In one study, we found that mothers’ supportive conversations strengthened youth’s identities and well-being when they faced discrimination.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Our body of research for the past decade shows that Muslim youth are indeed thriving. Healthy identities with multiple groups serve as protective factors for youth when they experience discrimination. Parents play a crucial role in socializing youth and strengthening their identities.

However, not all Muslim youth are the same. They differ in individual characteristics, cultural backgrounds, generation levels, socioeconomic status, and the different environments within which they reside. We must consider the interaction between these factors to understand their experiences truly. Finally, American Muslim youth comprise many underserved subgroups that require special attention: young women, African American or Black youth, converts, and refugee youth. For much more information on the needs of these subgroups, please see The FYI’s State of Muslim American Youth report.

References

Basit, A., & Hamid, M. (2010). Mental health issues of Muslim Americans. The Journal of IMA, 42(3), 106–110.

Balkaya-Ince, M., Cheah, C. S. L., Kiang, L., & Tahseen, M. (2020). Exploring daily mediating pathways of religious identity in the associations between maternal religious socialization and Muslim American adolescents’ civic engagement. Developmental Psychology, 56(8), 1446–1457. 

Balkaya, M., Cheah, C. S. L., & Tahseen, M. (2019). The role of religious discrimination and Islamophobia in Muslim-American adolescents’ religious and national identities and adjustment. Journal of Social Issues, Special Issue: To Be Both (and More): Immigration and Identity Multiplicity, 75, 538-567. 

Tahseen, M., & Cheah, C. S. L. (2018). Who Am I? The social identities of Muslim-American adolescents. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 35(1), 31-54.