1st Edition

A History of Islamic Schooling in North America Mapping Growth and Evolution

By Nadeem A. Memon Copyright 2020
    236 Pages
    by Routledge

    236 Pages
    by Routledge

    This insightful text challenges popular belief that faith-based Islamic schools isolate Muslim learners, impose dogmatic religious views, and disregard academic excellence. This book attempts to paint a starkly different picture. Grounded in the premise that not all Islamic schools are the same, the historical narratives illustrate varied visions and approaches to Islamic schooling that showcase a richness of educational thought and aspiration.

    A History of Islamic Schooling in North America traces the growth and evolution of elementary and secondary private Islamic schools in Canada and the United States. Intersecting narratives between schools established by indigenous African American Muslims as early as the 1930s with those established by immigrant Muslim communities in the 1970s demonstrate how and why Islamic Education is in a constant, ongoing process of evolution, renewal, and adaptation. Drawing on the voices, perspectives, and narratives of pioneers and visionaries who established the earliest Islamic schools, chapters articulate why Islamic schools were established, what distinguishes them from one another, and why they continue to be important.

    This book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics, teaching professionals in the fields of Islamic education, religious studies, multicultural education curriculum studies, and faith-based teacher education.

    1 Introduction

    Context of Islamic Schooling in North America

    2 Protest

    Resistance and Renewal: Schooling in the Nation of Islam

    3 Preservation

    Preserving Identity: Indigenous and Immigrant Muslim Educators Meet

    4 Pedagogy

    Models of Islamic Schooling Emerge

    5 Praxis

    Reviving the Tradition of Learning and Teaching in Islam

    6 Conclusion

    Potential and Possibilities of Islamic Schooling in North America

    Biography

    Nadeem Memon is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education, University of South Australia, Australia.