Developing Research Strategies In

Islamic Education
MF7 224

Critical review of Exploring the

religious life-world and attitude
toward Islam among British Muslim
adolescents, by Abdullah Sahin
and The world of British hifz class
student: observations, findings and
implications for education and
further research, by Bill Gent.

In this article I will present a critical review of two pieces of research. The first piece of research I
will explore is titled; Exploring the religious life-world and attitude toward Islam among British
Muslim adolescents, conducted by Abdullah Sahin. The second piece of research is titled: The
world of British hifz class student: observations, findings and implications for education and further
research, by Bill Gent.
I will examine the research questions and aims of both pieces, I will also discuss the originality of
the research and how both writers have sough to justify their respective questions. The review will
then move on to analyse the research design and methodology adopted by both researchers.
Reflections on the data collection, analysis and results will be presented followed by a critical
comparison of both researches.
Gents research focuses on the experiences of British hifz class students. His research initially
stated off as a broader piece in which he was carrying out exploratory fieldwork in a sunni mosque
in Ilford, Essex. It was there he was introduced to a boys hifz class which then became the focus of
an ethnographic fieldwork which he records and analyses in his article.
Gents original research question was - what is the educational significance of their experiences in
hifz class of a group of north-east London Muslim boys in mid-2004?. However, upon reflection
Gent realised the question was too broad. Five questions were used to structure the research:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

What pattern of operation was observable in hifz classes?

How did students come to be in the hifz class?
How did the students explain the significance of what they were doing?
To what extent did striving to become a hafiz involve hardship?
How did participation in hifz class effect the rest of students lives, including school life.

Gents research is original in that there has not been any previous research carried out in relation
to the experiences of students in this particular hifz class. Gent acknowledges the difficulties other
researchers have had in the past attempting to gain access to Muslim educational establishments,
he sought to overcome this challenge by having the Imam act like a gatekeeper, thereby assisting
him to gain access to the class and students.
Gent chose to utilise qualitative research methods in the form of semi-participant observations and
semi structured interviews. Qualitative research methods are designed to gather data that provide
in-depth, and contextualised representations of human behaviour in natural settings and to assist
in understanding the reasons for these behaviours. Thus, provided the context of the research to
be undertaken by Gent qualitative methods are appropriate and effective.
Semi-structured interviews consist of several key questions that help to define the areas to be
explored, but also allow the interviewer to diverge in order to pursue an idea or response in more
detail. There are a number of advantages in adopting such an approach, having key questions
prepared before the interview allows the interviewer to be prepared and direct the interview. Semi
structured interviews allow the interviewee the freedom to express their views in their own terms.
Looking at the 5 questions Gent used to structure his research it is clear that semi-structured
interviews provide the most suitable way to attain the personalised and individual responses
required to form an understanding of students attitudes to hifz class.
Semi-participant observations allow the researcher to balance between insider and outsider
roles, furthermore he is given the chance to observe participant interactions first hand
Data was collected through the above mentioned methods, namely, semi-structured interviews and
semi-participant observations. The research states that 13 students met face to face with the
author during the course of the 11 hour long observations. The interviews were conducted on a
session by session basis whereby the teacher asked individual students to meet the author, on a

few occasions students were interviewed in pairs. The primary method of recording the data was
through hand-written field notes.
The author presents his findings in the form of answering the five questions stated above. With
regards to the pattern of operations/routine of the hifz class the author made the following findings:
Students attended the mosque for two sessions, a 45 minute session in the morning and a 3 hour
session in the evening. There was a degree of flexibility in terms of attendance to the sessions, for
example some students did not attend all the sessions due to other commitments. The method of
delivery was primarily oral and there was no use of the blackboard. The teacher sat in one position
with his back against the wall, students went in turns to recite what they had memorised to him.
In relation to question two and how students came to be in the hifz class the author found the
following; There were two routes in to the hifz class, self selection and teacher selection. The
author holds that the students were emphatic in stating that there had be no pressure placed on
them t enter hifz classes.
With regards to question three and how students perceived the significance of what they were
doing the author found the following: Students responses varied, some gave religious reasons for
studying in the hifz class, reasons such as; in order to receive blessings and entry into paradise.
The author also found there to be some social, educational and personal responses.
Question four sought to uncover some of the hardships faced by students of a hifz class. Two of
the students described the journey to becoming a hafiz as a sacrifice which had to be made.
Students made reference to the tremendous dedication and commitment required to maintain the
hifz class over the period of many years.
The final area the researcher sought to explore was how the hifz class effected the rest of the
students life. The results show that none of the students voiced any concerns about the impact of
involvement in hifz class on the rest of their lives. Furthermore none of the participants believed
that hifz was having an adverse effect on their respective school studies, on the contrary, some of
the students actually stated that hifz helped them in memorising school material.
Exploring the religious life-world and attitude toward Islam among British Muslim adolescents,
conducted by Abdullah Sahin seeks to address the main issues of what it means to be educated
Islamically in a multicultural society. The findings presented by Sahin are the culmination of a three
year research project undertaken in three sixth form colleges in Birmingham. The two key aims of
the research are to firstly investigate the construction of religious identity and attitudes towards
Islam among a group of Muslim adolescents. Secondly Sahin seeks to investigate if there is any
evidence of intergenerational differences concerning the perception of Islam.
The research carried out by Sahin is original as there ceases to exist a similar study conducted on
these three particular sixth for colleges. Furthermore, Sahin presents in his literature review the
various studies carried out within a race framework, yet there was a gap in the previous literatures
in that they did not approach the issue from a religious identity framework. Sahin discusses the
findings of Jacobson (1998) who conducted research into the religious/Islamic dimension of the
Muslim community in Britain. However, Sahin found that neither the religiosity of young British
Muslims nor their attitudes towards Islam had been properly researched. There was also a lack of
empirical research in this particular area which further drove Sahin to conduct the said research.
Sahin adopted a mixed methods approach in his research design. A mix method research design
seeks to bring qualitative and quantitative approaches together. The particular instrument utilised
by Sahin to gather quantitative data was a questionnaire titled; You and Your Faith. The
questionnaire was completed by 383 participants 219 of whom were male and 163 of who were
female, all aged between 16 to 20. Sahin utilised semi-structured interviews as his qualitative data
collection instrument. Fifteen students were selected at random (nine male and six female) to
participate in the interview.

From the questionnaire Sahin found that the majority of patricians did not pray regularly, the
findings also demonstrate that on the whole young women were engaged in prayer less frequently
than young men. Sahin also explored the issue of intergenerational differences in understanding of
Islam. The results show that 54% of adolescents agreed that their understanding of Islam was the
same as that of their parents whereas 24% said their understanding differed from their parents, the
remaining participants were unsure. Sahin argues that similarity with the parents faith construction
is thought to indicate identification with traditional form of Islam, while dissimilarity is assumed to
indicate the presence of a personal construction of faith. A very high percentage (+95%) of
participants answered positively when questioned on key aspects of faith such as I know that God
helps me, I want to obey Gods law in my life, Allah means a lot to me, I think salaat is a good
thing, and I am happy to be Muslim.
Through the semi-structured interviews Sahin sought to examine the religious subjectivity of the
participants. The author measured responses by using phenomenologically observable signs and
characteristics of commitment and exploration processes as experienced in participants religious
life-world. Analysis identified a fourfold typology of religious subjectivity as foreclosed
commitment, achieved commitment, diffused commitment, and moratorium non-commitment.
Results revealed that three participants expressed they were culturally Muslims thereby falling
under the diffused commitment category. Three of the participants expressed features of a
foreclosed type of religious subjectivity, thus, the idea of having a understanding or interpretation of
Islam was unacceptable, they simply followed what was handed down to them from generations.
None of the participants displayed an achieved mode of Islamic subjectivity, which indicated a lack
of understanding of Islam. Finally the author notes that the majority of female participants were
experiencing were experiencing Islam in an exploratory and questioning mode. This indicated
young Muslim womens increasing detachment from Islamic religious practice.
Sahin concludes by deducing from his findings that a great majority of British Mulsim youngsters
hold high positive attitudes towards Islam. However this positive attitude and emotional attachment
does not correspond to the actual degree of religious practice. The author also concludes that the
majority of those interviewed had an exploratory mode of Islamic subjectivity. The onus according
to Sahin is on Islamic educators to help young Muslims come out of this exploratory mode with a
mature understanding of Islamic faith. Reference is also made to the lack of a well worked out
Quranic pedagogy in English and the need for Islamic education moving to a more critical and
dialogic form.
Comparing both pieces of research we find that Sahin adopted a mix-methods research design
whereas Gent went for a purely qualitative approach. The use of a mix methods approach allowed
Sahin to understand in greater depth the context of answers through the use of the qualitative
research method of semi structured interviews. This method was also adopted by Gent however
where they differ is that Sahin also utilised the quantitate research method of questionnaires. The
questionnaires provide Sahin with a greater sample and therefore more representative of the
cohort. Gents research would have benefitted form such a quantitative method by providing more
statistical data for analysis. By simply adopting semi structured interviews the risk for Gent is the
possibility of making personal interpretations as well as the difficulty in generalising findings to a
large group because only 13 participants were interviewed.
Another key difference between the two pieces of research is the inclusion by Sahin of a literature
review. Sahin discusses previous relevant studies as well as identifies a gap in the existing
research. This is a key aspect for any research as it demonstrates to readers that the writer is
aware of the key studies in that field. Gent does not provide such a review and this detracts from
the completeness of the research. However, both studies offer interesting insights to their
respective fields as well as provide suggestions for future researches.

Bibliography
Sahin, A. (2005), Exploring the religious life-world and attitude toward Islam
among British adolescents (University of Wales Press, Cardiff).
Gent, B. (2010), The world of the British hifz class student: observations, findings
and implications for education and further research (University of Warwick, UK).