Tarbiyah for Shakhsiyah
My Masters in Educational Research project explored the theory and practice of Shakhsiyah Schools. I also began to explore how Muslim educational researchers could adopt a coherent ideology, epistemology and research paradigm through devising research principles.
Abstract: Drawing upon Islamic epistemology to confront the challenges of a postcolonial world, some European Muslims are rejecting existing educational provision, seeking to formulate culturally-coherent pedagogy. This paper contributes to the debate on Islamic schools in Britain through the findings of a qualitative study of a British Muslim community education project initiated by home-schooling mothers who believe in ‘Holistic Islamic Education’. The study demonstrates parallels between the experiences and motivations of these mothers and indigenous education movements in that they seek to provide a ‘Qur’an-centred’ worldview, reviving classical Islamic education and synthesizing it with modern pedagogy as a defence against the dominant secular culture. Their pedagogy involves the nurturing of shakhsiyah (personality/identity) through tarbiyah (holistic upbringing) as a means to navigate the complexity of multiple identities and the challenges of modernity faced by Muslims in Britain.
Publications
Ahmed, F. (2014). Exploring Halaqah as research method: A tentative approach to developing Islamic research principles within a critical ‘indigenous’ framework. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27:5, 561-583, https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.805852
Ahmed, F. (2012). Tarbiyah for Shakhsiyah (educating for identity): seeking out culturally coherent pedagogy for Muslim children in Britain. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 42:5, 725-749, https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2012.706452
Ahmed, F. (2014). “That’s not what I want for my children”: Islamic schools as a parental response to childhood experiences of mainstream British schooling. In Salili, F. and Hoosain, R. (Eds.), Growing up between two cultures: Issues and problems of Muslim children. Charlotte NC: IAP
Publications for Educators
Ahmed, F. (2016) Principles of Shakhsiyah Education
Conferences and Events (* by invitation)
*19 February 2013 Exploring Halaqah as research method: A tentative approach to developing Islamic research principles within a critical ‘indigenous’ framework. Invited to present for the Public Lecture Series, Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, Cardiff University, UK Video Link: http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/islamukcentre/virtual-centre/public-lectures/2013-public-lectures/farah-ahmed/
*23 May 2013 Reflections on the Interface: Experiences of a religiously observant Muslim woman educator. Collaborative partnerships between universities and Muslim institutions: Dismantling the roadblocks, University of Derby ESRC Research Project, London, UK
10-12 September 2013 Educational research within an Islamic paradigm - Exploring Halaqah (oral study circle) as research method, contributing to culturally relevant research for development. 12th UKFIET Conference on Education and Development - Post 2015: Reflecting, Reviewing, Re-visioning, Oxford, UK
3-5 April 2013 Islamic epistemology and the modern secular university. Religion and the Idea of a University, University of Cambridge, UK
26 October 2011 Tarbiyah for Shakhsiyah (Educating for Identity) – Devising culturally coherent pedagogy for Muslims in Britain.Interpretation, Imagination and Islam Conference, Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, Cardiff University
13-15 September 2011 Tarbiyah for Shakhsiyah (Educating for Identity) – Seeking out culturally coherent pedagogy for Muslims in Britain. 11th UKFIET Conference Global Challenges for Education: Economics, Environment and Emergency, Oxford, UK
24-26 June 2011 Educating Muslim Children for Life in Contemporary Britain. Empowerment and the Sacred – An interdisciplinary conference. Institute of Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Leeds, UK