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Religious educational needs of Muslim Americans
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MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 1
Assessing Muslim American Religious Educational Needs and
Formal/Informal Learning Preferences
by
Jihad Turk
A Dissertation Proposal Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
GLOBAL EXECUTIVE DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2023
Copyright 2023 Jihad Turk
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 2
Dedication
Dedicated to my wife and children whose love inspires.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 3
Acknowledgments
This work has been 25 years in the making and has been made possible by the support of many
who have had more confidence in me than I have had in myself: my Parents, who have always
encouraged me, my in-laws who have provided much more than moral support, the many
students that have studied with me at UCLA over the years and kept the academic spark in me
glowing, Dr. Maher Hathout and the many teachers who have provided me with spiritual
guidance, my board at Bayan Islamic Graduate School who enthusiastically granted me the time
and flexibility necessary to conduct this research while serving that institution, my professors at
USC who set the standard for excellence in being student focused, to my mentor and patron saint
who has been relentless in serving as my champion over the years, to my children whose love
and patience inspire me to pursue excellence, and to my wife who has encouraged me through
thick and thin for almost three decades and whose love and patience fill my heart.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 4
Table of Contents
Dedication 2
Acknowledgments 3
Table of Contents 4
List of Tables 7
List of Figures 8
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 9
Background of the Problem 9
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions 10
Importance of the Study 11
Overview of the Theoretical Framework and Methodology 11
Assumptions 12
Definitions 13
Organization of the Dissertation 15
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 16
Introduction 16
Institutional and Informal Islamic Education 16
Authoritative Sources 17
History of Islamic Education 18
Sectarian Perspectives 20
Identity Formation of Muslim Americans 21
Black Muslim American Experiences 21
First, Second and Third Generation Immigrant Muslim Experiences 24
Convert Experiences 26
Muslim American Education in Secular America 26
State of the Field, Challenges of Current Muslim Education and Trends 26
Trends in American Muslim Education and Professional Development 27
Emerging Ideas and Practices in Graduate Education and Continuing Needs 28
Theoretical Framework: Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory 28
Conclusion 32
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 33
Introduction 33
Population and Sample 33
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale 34
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 5
Interview Criterion 1: Mosque-going Muslims 34
Interview Criterion 2: Southern California Mosques 35
Interview Criterion 3: Adults 35
Survey Criterion 4: Islamic Studies Students/Graduates and Islamic Learning Platform
Subscribers 35
Survey 36
Interview 37
Data Collection 38
Data Analysis 39
Trustworthiness 39
Ethics 40
Role of Researcher 40
Conclusion 41
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF DATA AND FINDINGS 42
Purpose and Research Questions 42
Participants 42
Interview Participants 45
Themes 45
Theme One: Learning and Unlearning 46
Individual Motivations to Learn 46
The Cultural/Political Influence 47
Family and Parents 49
Mosque Sunday School 51
The Role of Islamic Studies College Courses 52
Interest to Learn More 55
Theme Two: Credibility and Connection 58
Credibility of the Scholar and Institution 59
Online 61
Independently and with a Local Imam 62
Theme Three: The Traditional and the Modern 63
Religious Heritage 65
Theological Identity 66
Gender 67
Age-group 67
Ethnic/Racial Identity 68
Conclusion 68
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE 69
Discussion of Findings 70
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 6
One: Learning and Unlearning 71
Two: Credibility and Connection 72
Three: The Traditional and the Modern 73
Women and Gender 74
Culture, Identity and Children 76
Civic Engagement 77
Examining Findings Using Human Ecology Theory 78
Answering the Research Questions 80
Recommendations for Practice 81
Recommendation 1: Muslim American Educational Institutions Should Create an
Inclusive Racial and Gender Environment 81
Recommendation 2: Muslim American Educational Institutions Should Offer Relevant
Courses Taught by Nationally Renowned Scholars in a Format That Is Accessible. 82
Recommendation 3: Muslim American Educational Institutions Should Offer Traditional
Islamic Subjects with an Authentic Approach and Also Offer Courses That Deal with
Contemporary Issues that Address Modernity. 83
Limitations and Delimitations 84
Future Research 84
Conclusion 86
REFERENCES 87
APPENDIX A 95
APPENDIX B 100
APPENDIX C 105
APPENDIX D 108
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 7
List of Tables
Recommendations 69
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 8
List of Figures
Figure 1: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Map 32
Figure 2: Participants’ Religious Heritage 43
Figure 3: Participants’ Theological Identity 43
Figure 4: Participants’ Gender 44
Figure 5: Participants’ Age Group 44
Figure 6: Participants’ Race/Ethnicity 44
Figure 7: Participants’ Satisfaction with What They Learned from Their Parents 49
Figure 8: Participants’ Satisfaction with Current Level of Islamic Knowledge 55
Figure 9: Participants’ Interest in Pursuing a Graduate Degree in Islamic Studies 57
Figure 10: The Participants’ Preferred Modality of Acquiring Knowledge 58
Figure 11: Topics of Interest 64
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 9
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
Although originally founded almost 250 years ago by Anglo-Saxon Protestants, the
United States has served as a refuge for many religious communities from around the world.
Catholic and Jewish communities of faith immigrated en masse from Europe throughout the 17
th
and 18
th
centuries establishing houses of worship as well as institutions of learning from
elementary schools to colleges and seminaries (Feldman, 2001). Over the past 60 years, Muslim
Americans have become an increasing percentage of the American population with Islam
expected to be the second largest religion by 2050 (Pew, 2019). Despite the growing numbers,
there is little research concerning this group’s challenges and their needs. Given the secular
nature of society and government in the United States and the lack of centralized organization or
hierarchical structure within the Muslim community, how do Muslims learn their religion and
pass it on generationally?
This chapter will explore the background and context of the research questions (RQ’s) as
well as the purpose and importance of this study. It will explain the framework and methodology
employed in the research. As the Muslim American community is quite diverse, particular
attention will consequently be given to the group’s ethnic and racial subgroups to determine how
those aspects of identity correlate to the research.
Background of the Problem
According to the Pew Foundation (2017), Muslims make up about 1% of the US
population. Approximately one-fifth of whom are Black and two-thirds are first, second or third
generation immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. It is unclear how this diverse population
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 10
attains religious knowledge about their faith, what their religious educational needs are and what
motivates them to engage in formal or informal religious education (Pew, 2019).
The Muslim American community does not have a long, continuous history. Although
Islam in America dates back several centuries to enslaved African Muslims who were brought to
the Americas, most Muslim Americans cannot trace their religious heritage in America farther
back than the 1970’s, since the enslaved population’s connection to their African religious
heritage was severed by slave masters within a few generations of enslavement (Abdullah,
2010). Accordingly, the Muslim American community is relatively new to the West and has little
religious institutional infrastructure. Additionally, with the exception of a few small sectarian
groups, the Muslim American community does not have an overarching centralized structure.
Consequently, the religious educational needs of this community are unclear (Haddad et al.,
2009).
Some ethnographic studies have been conducted on the Black Muslim American
community as well as on various immigrant communities, but this body of scholarship does not
paint a full portrait of the existing religious educational institutions, nor does it satisfactorily
explore the religious educational needs of the community (Curtis, 2005). Furthermore, the
relationship between this community’s relatively high level of religiosity (Pew, 2019) and their
desire and commitment to engage in a formal education is not clear.
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the body of knowledge about the growing
and diverse Muslim American community. As this community increases in number and
establishes programs and institutions to meet their needs, data and research will be helpful in
informing the decisions that the community makes about how best to use their resources. The
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 11
number of mosques has continued to increase over the past 60 years from a few hundred to
almost 3,000. In more recent decades, the Muslim American community has begun to build
elementary schools as well as institutions of higher education (Bagby, 2021).
The research questions are:
1) What are the religious educational needs of the Muslim American community?
2) What motivates and hinders this community in the engagement of formal or informal
religious educational programming?
Importance of the Study
This research has the potential to provide the growing number American-Islamic
institutions of higher education both greater insight into the educational needs of their target
demographic as well as the relevant data that can serve as a foundation for the strategic
marketing of their programs to this group. The significance of this study, should it result in a
significant increase in the financial sustainability of Muslim educational institutions, is related to
the issue of diversity, equity and inclusion. Muslim Americans are predominantly communities
of color. Effective educational institutions can contribute to their empowerment. Greater
financial capacity for these institutions could translate into an increase in financial aid for the
education of more students from this marginalized community.
Overview of the Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s framework, this research explores the relationship between
the self and systems in varying degrees of proximity to the self, including the microsystem,
mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and the chronosystem. The findings can be utilized by
Islamic educational institutions to inform their curriculum, marketing messaging, the design of
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 12
their online programing, the content/focus of their degree/non-degree programs, the format of
courses, and the empowerment of their communities.
This framework helps in the understanding of complex relationships by identifying
patterns of behavior and the connections between concentric circles of influence upon the
individual. This approach centers on the inner self or individual and explores its ever-expanding
concentric circles of interaction starting with family, school, religious community, community,
society and even temporal contexts. Employing this framework in surveying the diverse Muslim
community in the United States has reveals differing needs for the various subgroups of this
population.
Assumptions
This research was predicated on a few assumptions. The first is that Muslim Americans
who attend mosque will have similar religious educational needs as those who do not. Although
it can be argued that Muslims who attend mosque regularly might be more religious or more
practicing than those who do not, I was assuming that they have an interest in passing on their
faith to their children and, therefore, with religious education. Additionally, although there are
many cultural, racial and generational differences among the members of this group, I believed
that common religious educational needs would be identified. Similarly, I was assuming that this
research can discover common motivating factors behind this group’s pursuit of structured
Islamic education; factors that include the format, the quality of the content, the quality of the
faculty, as well as the sense of community with their fellow learners.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 13
Definitions
There are several terms that are particular to the subject of my research that are important
to define to ensure that the reader fully appreciates the nuances of the study. Many of these terms
are Islamic and Arabic terms.
Hawza
The Shi’i seminary system.
Hujjatul-Islam
A religious clerical ranking in the Shi’i sectarian tradition.
Ijma’
The consensus of Islamic scholars that serves as the basis for law and doctrine.
Islam
This is the name of the Muslim faith.
Madhhab
Sunni school of Islamic thought and law.
Madrasa
A traditional Islamic educational institution that teaches religious subjects and disciplines
beginning at an elementary level and progressing through more advanced studies. These
institutions employ rote memorization of scripture and classical Islamic manuscripts and issue
ijaza, or traditional credential, to the graduates of their program.
Muri’i al-taqlid
A high-ranking Shi’i Muslim cleric who received the zakat alms and distributes the funds
to the poor, charities and educational institutions.
Muslim
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 14
One who believes in the creed of Islam, namely, “There is no god but God and
Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
Religious Economy
I have coined this term to describe the financial structure that exists in Shi’i Muslim
practice in which religious authoritative figures aggregate the tithings from their followers and
use the funding to support religious educational institutions and other activities.
Riba
A legal term of art in Islamic jurisprudence referring to usury or interest.
Shi’i
A minority sect of Islam that shares much of the same creed as the majority of Muslims,
but with a particular reverence for the descendants of Muhammad, Islam’s prophet.
Sunnah
The collection of teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Sunni
The majority sect of Muslims. This sect has several main schools of law and several
schools of theology.
Zakat
A religiously obligatory alms tax that Muslims give annually as charity. In the Sunni
tradition, the money is provided directly to the poor or a number of other eligible recipients. In
the Shi’i tradition, the money is provided to a recognized religious authority who then distributes
the money to charitable causes, often including religious educational programming.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 15
Organization of the Dissertation
This study has been organized into five chapters, followed by the references and
appendices A through D. The appendices A and B contain the survey and interview protocols
respectively. Appendix C contains the information sheet. Appendix D has the email recruitment
script. Chapter One provides background information, states the problem and the reason for the
study. Chapter Two surveys literature related to Islam, Muslim Americans and what is known of
their educational interests and needs. Chapter Three focuses on the methodological approach of
the study as well as the protocols and the selection of participants. Chapter Four presents the
findings of the study as well as its analysis. Chapter Five summarizes the study, discusses the
implications of the findings, makes recommendations, and includes a conclusion. The appendix
includes the survey questionnaire and interview protocol.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 16
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
In this chapter, I explore literature that provides context and understanding that informs
my research which is focused on assessing the religious educational needs of the Muslim
American community and motivations for their continued learning. I begin with a broad
assessment of literature that provides a global and historical perspective on institutional and
informal Islamic education. Then, I move on to the context of the US and focus on the identity
formation of Muslim Americans with an emphasis on Black, immigrant and convert
perspectives. My focus then shifts to a review of literature that discusses the many ways in which
Muslim Americans currently receive a religious education in a secular environment in America.
Lastly, I expound upon the theoretical framework of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems
Theory to explore how individuals operate within a greater set of contexts.
Institutional and Informal Islamic Education
In assessing the religious educational needs of the Muslim American community, it is
important to understand the core position that education holds in the faith tradition as well as the
authoritative sources and institutions that have developed over the past 1,400 years of its history.
This section traces the integrated Islamic civilizational approach to knowledge that included both
religious and secular fields, how institutions developed, in both the Sunni and Shi’i traditions,
and how modernity has impacted how Muslims learn about their faith.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 17
Authoritative Sources
The Islamic civilization is one in which education is at the core. Muhammad (d. 632
C.E.), the founding prophetic figure of the faith, was born into an aural society that was almost
entirely illiterate. Muhammad’s message focused on three main ideas: Monotheism, the hereafter
and morality. The core of his teachings was transmitted via the Qur’an, the Divine scripture of
Islam, whose first verse communicated the importance of education through the commandment
to read. This emphasis, over the course of just a few generations, transformed Arabia,
Muhammad’s birth place, into one of the most prolific centers of learning the world had seen
(Goody, 1977).
Not only did the masses become literate in order to read and study the Qur’an, but centers
of learning arose to study the natural world, an idea also commanded in the Qur’anic scripture.
Schools of thought and theology sprung up as the Muslim empire expanded and encountered and
responded to the Greek philosophical and scientific tradition. Institutions, such as the House of
Wisdom (Dar al-Hikmah), were established to perpetuate and develop these intellectual strands.
Rigorous intellectual debate ensued and became the hallmark of the Islamic civilization over the
centuries (Hodgson, 2009).
Sources of authority co-evolved along with these institutions of learning. The sacred
scripture of the Qur’an, by the consensus of Muslim scholars, stands out as the most important
and primary source for Islamic doctrine and law. Muslim scholars produced thousands of
voluminous commentaries on the Qur’an employing hermeneutics in their exegesis. Alongside
the scripture of the Qur’an, Muslim intellectuals compiled, authenticated, and analyzed the
teachings of Muhammad, collectively known as the sunnah (Cochrane & Adams, 2018). These
teachings, individually called hadiths, captured discrete sayings and accounts attributed to
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 18
Muhammad. They were passed along orally for a few generations until they were written down
and preserved into vast collections that became canonized over the centuries. They are the
second most important Islamic source of authority (Hodgson, 2009).
Even though Muslims make up almost one-fourth of the world’s population and Islam
has spread around the globe, there is no centralized authoritative Islamic body that serves to
define orthodoxy. Islam, in many ways, is one of the most disorganized organized religions on
the planet (Ahmed, 2015). That being said, the broad consensus among Muslims on the
authoritativeness of the Qur’an and the Hadith literature has served as a unifying foundation.
Muslims often invoke one further authoritative source, ijma’ (scholarly consensus). These three
sources have served as the basis for the establishment and development of many institutions of
education throughout the history of Islam (Cochrane & Adams, 2018).
History of Islamic Education
As early as the 9
th
century, Muslims established universities and institutions of learning
(madrasas) that absorbed and expounded upon the cumulative knowledge of humanity and the
societies that Muslims encountered across the known world (Hodgson, 2009). Al-Azhar,
established in 972 C.E., the world’s oldest continuously operating university in the world, and
Qarawiyyin university (est. 859) are two of the most prominent examples. The House of
Wisdom, or Dar al-Hikma, established in 850 C.E. by the Muslim ruler in Baghdad to translate
the scientific works of the ancient Greeks and Persians, also played an important role as an
institution of knowledge and learning. These institutions along with madrasa schools promoted
both sacred and secular disciplines, from the humanities to the hard sciences (Hodgson, 2009).
These institutions were often operated independently of the state (Makdisi, 1984). They
were funded by private endowments and accommodated a variety of schools of thought. This
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 19
independence allowed them to endure over many centuries and changes in political regimes.
These institutions were also able to attract the best and the brightest intellectuals to teach and
students from beyond the borders of the Islamic empire (Makdisi, 1984). Princes and elites from
medieval Europe traveled to these institutions in places like Muslim Andalusia/Spain to study the
cutting-edge sciences of the day. In the large halls of the mosques of these institutions,
prominent scholars in philosophy, theology, history, sociology, astronomy, mathematics,
geometry, chemistry, physics, optics, and medicine sat in chairs surrounded by their students.
These Islamic institutions heavily influenced the formation of colleges in Europe (Makdisi,
1984).
Modernity and colonialism have had a profound impact on these historic Muslim
educational institutions (Makdisi, 1984). Most of these institutions, including al-Azhar in Egypt,
became nationalized by the nation-states in which they are located. Previously autonomous and
independently endowed institutions such as al-Azhar were co-opted by the governments and
became instruments of the state, thereby compromising their integrity. Along with colonialism’s
negative effects on the political economy of Muslim lands, Muslim religious educational
institutions experienced a decline and their curricula did not maintain its relevance to the
profound changes in the societies in which they were located (Makdisi, 1984). In modern times,
the weakening of these institutions and their function in serving political regimes has left a gap in
the education of Muslim religious leaders globally. As for the Muslim Americans who travel to
these historic institutions of religious education that are still functioning, they are finding that
their curriculum is not very relevant to the context of Islam in the West in the contemporary era
(Stark, 2015).
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 20
Sectarian Perspectives
Approximately 87% of Muslims globally identify as Sunni and 13% as Shi’i (Pew, 2017).
The Sunni community has established respected institutions of learning from which scholars and
religious leaders have emerged historically. These institutions include madrasas, universities and
independent study networks with nationally renowned scholars (Makdisi, 1984). In this informal
system, independent yet reputable master teachers issue endorsement certificates (ijazah) to their
students signifying competency and mastery of the subject of study. These ijazah can signify a
competency over a very narrow subject/topic or mastery of an entire field of study (Moore,
2010). Obtaining a credential or ijaza in the Sunni tradition, however, is not an ordination or
signifier of religious rank.
The Shi’i community’s religious authority, however, is much more structured and
hierarchical. The Shi’i seminary system (hawza) provides a formal conferring of religious rank
or ordination, such as hujjatul-Islam or ayatollah (Heern, 2017). In addition to the relatively
more organized structure in the Shi’i educational system, another important difference
distinguishes religious authority in this community. The religious ranking system in Shi’i Islam
is tied to their system of mandatory alms-giving (zakat). A Shi’i religious scholar with the rank
of muri’i al-taqlid is qualified to receive the zakat charity from his followers and determine how
to distribute those funds. This structure, which I refer to as a “religious economy,” is very
different from the Sunni community (Sindawi, 2009).
Unlike the nationalization of the historic religious centers of learning in the Sunni world
in the post-colonial era, the Shi’i community, in many instances due to their religious economy,
has been able to maintain the integrity of their educational institutions (Heern, 2017).
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 21
Accordingly, it should be expected that Shi’is globally as well as in the American context,
therefore, have a different set of educational needs than do Sunnis.
Identity Formation of Muslim Americans
The identity formation of Muslim Americans varies widely as they comprise the most
ethnically and racially diverse religious group in the United States (Pew, 2017). Muslim
Americans demographically are almost equally divided into groups that identify as Black, Arab,
or Southeast Asian. The Black community are primarily converts and their descendants, whereas
the Arab and Asian communities are typically more recent immigrants and their descendants.
Additionally, there is a growing number of converts whose context is important to explore. The
Black Muslim American community identity involves a narrative that begins in Arabia, has a
Pan-African element and then is introduced into the US through Black power movements of the
early 20th century (Jackson, 2005).
Black Muslim American Experiences
For people of color in today’s United States of America, navigating one’s identity is often
challenging. Black Americans, in particular, contend with the racist roots of America and the
continuing legacy of slavery, White supremacy and systemic inequity (Mu’Min, 2019). Although
Islam, as a religion, also faces negative perceptions by many Americans (Pew, 2019), many
Black Americans have embraced the faith as a way of reclaiming a sense of self, dignity, and
power (Jackson, 2005).
The narrative regarding Islam, Muhammad and race is an important part of the appeal of
Islam by Black Americans (Jackson, 2005). Although Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, was an
Arab from Mecca, he tackled race and racism as a core aspect of his teachings. He had Black
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 22
followers, many of whom he had freed from slavery. At one point early on in his preaching and
while facing resistance to his message by the leadership of Mecca, Muhammad sent a persecuted
segment of his followers to Africa to seek the protection of a local king there. Later, when
Muhammad became the head of the community in Medina towards the end of his life, he did his
best to instill the value of dignity for all human beings. He would intervene whenever an Arab
follower would express entitlement or supremacy over a fellow believer that was Black. In his
final pilgrimage sermon, Muhammad, highlighting the key aspects of the message of Islam,
emphasized the equality of human beings and preached against the superiority of any race over
any other race (Jackson, 2005).
Also important to the perception of Islam among Black Americans is its long history in
Africa (Jackson, 2005). Islam began to spread throughout Africa, including sub-Saharan Africa,
since its earliest days in the seventh century. Black African Muslims developed an integrated and
well-adjusted culture, contributing greatly to the intellectual traditions of Islam. Many Muslims
were among the millions of Black Africans that were enslaved and brought to the Americas
(Mu’Min, 2019). Although that religious identity was literally beaten out of them over the
centuries, several Black power movements in the 19th and 20th centuries sprang up that
harkened back to those Islamic-African roots (Jackson, 2005). Some of these movements, which
aimed to lift both the self-esteem of Black-Americans as well as increase their economic and
political power, tapped into the narrative of Islam as a counter-narrative to the dominant
Christian culture that they viewed as responsible for the enslavement of their ancestors. In 1914,
Marcus Garvey, through both the Negro World and the United Negro Improvement Association,
drew a connection between Pan-Africanism and Islam. The ranks of his followers grew to over
100,000 members who established 800 chapters around the world. In the 1920’s, Noble Drew Ali
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 23
established The Moorish Science Temple of America that promoted similar narratives and
counter-culture ideas that drew upon an Islamic-African narrative (Jackson, 2005).
The Nation of Islam, however, is the most important movement to study in order to
understand the contemporary connection of the Black American community to Islam today, a
demographic that makes up approximately one-fifth of the Muslim American community (Pew,
2019). The Nation of Islam gained the most momentum of “proto-Islamic” Black power
movements (Jackson, 2005). W. D. Fard founded the movement in 1930, but it was Elijah
Muhammad, its spiritual leader and visionary, that grew the organization nationally to over
300,000 members by the time of his death in 1975 (Jackson, 2005). Many high-profile Black
Muslims were influenced by this movement, including Malcom X and Muhammad Ali. Although
Islam is in the name of the organization, the theology of the movement had very little connection
to orthodox Islam until the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975, which led to the transition to
mainstream Islam under the leadership of his son and successor, W. D. Muhammed.
As part of the transition to Sunni/mainstream Islam, the Nation of Islam temples
nationally were converted into mosques. Ministers became imams and received a more
traditional Islamic education via correspondence designed by W.D. Mohammed. This education
was very much rooted in the Black American context, a stark difference from the training
received by immigrant imams from abroad, an issue that will be explored in more detail later. In
Islam, many Black Americans see both a connection to Africa as well as faith that promotes
racial equity and social justice.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 24
First, Second and Third Generation Immigrant Muslim Experiences
Although waves of Muslim immigrants from places like Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Turkey,
and Albania arrived to the United States throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most
of those communities were absorbed into the melting pot of the American culture after a
generation or two. They did not establish many mosques or institutions that survived
generationally (Cury, 2017). Immigration from majority Muslim countries was restricted by law
in the 1920’s and it was not until the civil rights legislation of the 1960’s that immigration
demographics changed dramatically (Jackson, 2005). The Civil Rights Act of 1965 resulted in
the immigration of approximately two million Muslims from Arab and South Asian countries.
Many of these immigrants were professionals or sponsored/scholarship students in medicine or
engineering. Some returned to their countries of origin, but many stayed and became American
citizens (Cury, 2017).
Given the relative wealth of this highly educated immigrant Muslim population, many of
these communities established mosques in the suburbs, a very different reality than the Black
Muslim communities who lived in impoverished inner cities. At first, these immigrant mosques
were somewhat diverse, and were attended by a mix of immigrant communities. As the critical
mass of each ethnic group was reached, splits often occurred in these communities along ethnic
lines (Cury, 2017). Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Egyptian, Syrian, and Indonesian mosques, amongst
others, were formed across the country. These mosques, in many ways, were not only religious
communities, but also cultural oases that served as places of familiarity for Muslim immigrants
in the midst of the hegemonic American culture (Dana et al., 2011).
These immigrant Muslims attempted to pass on their Islamic values and cultural identities
to their children who were born in the United States. Some mosques developed a culture of
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 25
isolationism in which a “back-home” culture predominated. Many 2
nd
-generation Muslim
Americans resisted that environment since they identified more as Americans than they did with
the culture of their parents’ home countries. American culture is so hegemonic that it has created
rifts within the psychological and cultural identities of many Muslim American youth (Sirin &
Fine, 2008). Many 2
nd
-generation Muslim Americans pushed back against both cultures, and
others tried to separate the Islamic teachings from their parent’s overseas cultures (Karam,
2020). Some Muslim Americans, for the sake of their children, created in their mosques a more
integrated Muslim American culture (O’Brien, 2017). Some communities even became
politically active and civically engaged (Dana et al., 2011).
Beginning in the late seventies, the Muslim American community also began to establish
other institutions to serve their needs. The larger congregations established advocacy
organizations that dealt with civil rights, media, government, and interfaith relations (Grewal,
2014). Muslims Americans established free medical clinics and international relief organizations
and local charities (Cury, 2017). In recent decades, more Muslim Americans are telling their
stories in Hollywood, media and music (Karam, 2020), especially in the wake of increased
Islamophobia (Pew, 2019).
The growing numbers of Muslims in America, along with the increase in the number of
mosques and other Muslim institutions, has created a demand for a distinctly Muslim American
religious leadership. Imams are needed who not only have traditional Islamic knowledge, but
who also have a cultural competency that enables them to connect to younger generation. These
imams need the training on how to be inclusive of women in leadership of the community. They
also should have training on how to lead the community in civic engagement and have the skills
to bring the community together across racial and ethnic divides (Stark, 2015).
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 26
Convert Experiences
There are a growing number of converts to Islam, but relatively little research on this
demographic and their needs. McGinty (2009) and Galonnier (2017) explored the experiences of
Western women who have embraced Islam, but much more needs to be understood about the
religious educational needs of this growing segment of the Muslim American.
Muslim American Education in Secular America
The West, in general, is becoming increasingly secular (Pew, 2017). For Muslim
Americans who are interested in maintaining their faith and passing it on to future generations,
this becomes a challenge, one that they are attempting to overcome through the establishment of
institutions of learning.
State of the Field, Challenges of Current Muslim Education and Trends
The growing number of Muslim Americans has resulted in an increase in the
establishment of institutions such as mosques, weekend religious schools, full-time schools,
advocacy organizations, charities, civic and interfaith organizations (Bagby, 2009). This has
created a demand for Muslim educators, chaplains and a religious leadership that can relate to
those born in America. The thousands of weekend schools that have been established have relied
primarily on untrained volunteers with few educational resources to teach Islam in a manner
relevant to the youth who have grown up in America (Haddad et al., 2009). There are now
hundreds of full-time Islamic parochial schools and few teachers with the expertise to provide a
culturally relevant Muslim American education to these students (Hammer & Safi, 2013).
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 27
Trends in American Muslim Education and Professional Development
Less than half of the nearly 3,000 mosques in America have a full-time imam. More than
90% of these imams were born, raised and educated abroad in traditional Islamic institutions of
higher education (Bagby, 2021). A growing number of 2
nd
and 3
rd
-generation Muslim Americans
have traveled abroad to acquire a formal Islamic education in a handful of historic centers of
Islamic learning, such as al-Azhar in Egypt. Others have pursued Islamic studies at secular
universities in the United States. A third trend has emerged in which first, second and third
generations of Muslim Americans are pursuing chaplaincy degrees at Christian seminaries
(Mobeen et al., 2019).
A challenge with all three of these trends is one of translation. Those who study abroad
are not trained on how to understand and apply the Islamic tradition in a Western context. As for
the secular education, it is designed to produce scholars who can describe Islam, but it does not
prepare the graduates to be religious leaders who can assist with identity and spiritual formation
(Mobeen et al., 2019). As for the chaplain training, most of those programs lack the Islamic-
specific content courses that would prepare the graduates for leadership positions (Stark, 2015).
A growing number of Islamic institutions of higher education has arisen in America over
the past few decades in order to meet this need. Some offer an education that is identical to
traditional madrasas that can be found throughout Muslim-majority countries. They focus on the
memorization of the Qur’an and its recitation in Arabic (Haddad et al., 2009). Others, like
Zaytuna College in California which was established as a liberal arts college in 2009, provide
accredited bachelor’s degrees in traditional Islamic studies, but with some American cultural
context (Kabba, 2016). Bayan, an Islamic graduate school offering accredited Master’s degrees
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 28
Islamic studies and Islamic chaplaincy, was established in 2011 to serve as a pipeline for Muslim
American religious scholars, leaders and educators (Cadge et al., 2020).
Emerging Ideas and Practices in Graduate Education and Continuing Needs
There are a number of promising practices in graduate education that can make a quality
program accessible and affordable. Hybrid-intensive formats, online degree programs and on-
demand learning platforms provide exciting possibilities for researchers looking to expand the
accessibility of education (Roback, 2016).
The purpose of this study is to discover the continuing religious educational needs of the
Muslim American community, but I anticipate that the needs will include a few essential
elements. Given the racial and ethnic diversity of the community, there will most probably be a
need for a culturally informed approach to the teaching of Islam for the various demographic
groups (Grewal, 2014). Secondly, also given the sectarian diversity of the community, there will
probably be a demand for a broadly inclusive approach that welcomes both Sunni and Shi’i sects.
Thirdly, given the general leadership skills involved in running religious communities in the
United States, non-profit management training will also probably be needed. Lastly, given the
challenges of identity formation of the youth, a training on spiritual development and chaplaincy
will also probably be important.
Theoretical Framework: Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory
Given the focus of this dissertation study, which is assessing the religious educational
needs of the Muslim American community, and given the particular sub-cultures of that
community, namely, immigrants of color and the Black community, the bioecological systems
theory provides a helpful framework to understand the complicated relationships involved in the
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 29
negotiation of this community’s connection to Islamic education. Bronfenbrenner (1979) argued
that the individual is not an island unto herself. In some ways, this is the classic “nature and
nurture” paradigm (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).
Although Bronfenbrenner’s theory has evolved over the decades, the main thrust of his
framework has remained intact and has proven to be popular among many social scientist
researchers who are looking to understand complex human behavior and the factors that
influence it (Rosa & Tudge, 2013). Bronfenbrenner published several works in which he tweaks
his original theory (Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000; Bronfenbrenner, 2005). Rosa and Tudge
(2013) suggested that the ecological systems theory went through three phases. In the first phase,
the individual with her natural/inherent traits and characteristics interacts with her immediate
environment called the microsystem. This includes family, religious community, friendships,
schooling, neighborhood, etc. This mutually accommodating and reciprocal relationship between
the self and the microsystem evolves along with the individual’s development. The interactivity
between elements of the microsystem is called the mesosystem. In turn, the microsystem is
located in the context of the exosystem. To give an example, the father of a child is part of her
microsystem. His process of his involvement with the daughter’s school and religious
community is called the mesosystem. The father’s long hours at work or low wages, all of which
has an indirect impact on the child, makes up the exosystem. The larger cultural environment in
society is the backdrop that comprises the macrosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). In this first
phase, Bronfenbrenner also suggested, counterintuitively, that research should be guided by
social policy (Rosa & Tudge, 2013), an idea that provides an opportunity to observe the impact
of policy on human development.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 30
In phase two, from 1980-93, Bronfenbrenner’s perspective on this model changed and he
began to emphasize the role of the individual as well as the factor of how time and life
circumstances influenced her interaction with the microsystem. He developed the Process-
Person-Context (PPC) model. This model was further refined and expounded upon in the final
phase (Rosa & Tudge, 2013).
In phase three (1993-2006), Rosa and Tudge (2013) argued that Bronfenbrenner refined
his model by adding time (Process-Person-Context-Time, PPCT) and by focusing on the
proximal process. This process describes, in more detail, the sustained interactive and reciprocal
interplay between the evolving biopsychological individual and her immediate environment. The
proximal process emphasizes the evolving nature of the individual human organism and the
growing complexity of her relationships over time and life circumstances. The graphic below
provides a visual representation of this theory and how all of the systems interrelate.
Figure 1
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Map
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 31
(Santrock, 2008)
One exciting prospect of this framework is its forward-looking nature. Much of the literature in
this chapter has focused on what Bronfenbrenner would call the macrosystems and
chronosystems of the diverse Muslim American community. The intent of this research is to both
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 32
understand the current religious educational needs of this community and to anticipate what
those needs will be in the future. The changing demographics, politics, economics and
mainstream culture of America along with the growing and evolving Muslim American
community, the establishment of more and more Islamic educational institutions and the
advancement of educational technologies and platforms provides a complicated landscape that
this community will have to navigate to fulfill their psycho-social-spiritual-educational needs.
Conclusion
The review of the literature in this chapter highlights the important role that education
plays in the Islamic faith. It also provides an overview of the educational institutions that the
Muslim civilization has produced over the past 1,400 years and how those institutions relate to
Muslims in the United States. It discusses the demographics of the Muslim American
community, their religious and educational institutions and the sparsity of research on the
religious educational needs of this community.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 33
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the methodology employed by this research study. I restate the
research questions. I then describe the population being studied and how I selected the sample
participants. Afterwards, I explain the protocols and instrumentation and the process I used for
collecting and analyzing the data.
The research questions are:
1) What are the religious educational needs of the Muslim American community?
2) What motivates and hinders this community in the engagement of formal or informal
religious educational programming?
Introduction
There are approximately 3.5 million Muslims in the United States, but little is known
about the religious educational needs of this community (Pew, 2017). It is also unclear what
motivates or hinders this population in the engagement of religious educational programming.
This study included both a survey and interviews. This mixed-methods sequential
explanatory design (Creswell, 2015) provides insight into several important aspects of the
“what” (Hoy, 2010) as well as the “why” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I collected demographic
information on the participants through the survey and attempted to achieve a proportional
representation of the various ethnicities, races and national origin for this community through
purposeful sampling for the interviews.
Population and Sample
The population for this study is Muslims 18 or older in the United States who are
affiliated with local or national Muslim organizations, those who attend mosques in Southern
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 34
California, and Islamic seminary students. I have identified four stakeholder groups from which
survey participants were recruited: Southern California mosque-goers, degree seeking students at
an Islamic graduate school, subscribers to Islamic on-line learning platform, and members of
several local and national Muslim organizations (including but not limited to the Islamic Society
of North America, the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim American Society, and the
Islamic Circle of North America).
For the interviews, I selected purposeful samples from each major segment of the Muslim
American community in rough proportion to their demographics according to Pew (2017): equal
numbers of men and women, one-third Asian, one third Arab, one fifth Black, 85% Sunni and
15% Shi’i.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Participation for interviews was solicited from 29 mosque-going individuals. All
interview participants were selected from among the survey respondents who positively
indicated their willingness to be interviewed. I selected a purposeful sample of these individuals,
one that approximately reflects the racial and ethnic demographics of the greater Muslim
American community. These qualitative interviews focused on the second research question that
deals with what motivates them to engage in structured Islamic learning.
Interview Criterion 1: Mosque-going Muslims
Given that Pew (2017) estimates that about 80% of Muslim Americans attend a mosque,
targeting participants from this group gives access to a majority of the members of this
population. Friday congregational prayers provided a weekly opportunity to solicit participation
in this study. As a practical consideration, it would be very challenging to identify, contact and
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 35
solicit Muslim Americans that are not mosque-going or affiliated with a local or national Muslim
organization.
Interview Criterion 2: Southern California Mosques
The Southern California Muslim American community is easily accessible to me as the
researcher given that I live in this area. Focusing on this region has allowed for the research to be
completed in a timely fashion. This regional population is also quite large and reflective of the
diversity of the Muslim American community writ large. There are over 100 mosques and
diverse ethnic and racial communities in Southern California (Bagby, 2021).
Interview Criterion 3: Adults
Although many mosques offer religious instruction to children, the pool of participants is
limited to adults. This avoids challenges involved in soliciting underaged participants and has not
missed out on the religious educational experiences that children have as this study’s protocols
include questions that cover those childhood experiences.
Survey Criterion 4: Islamic Studies Students/Graduates and Islamic Learning Platform
Subscribers
The study included a survey of Islamic Study students/graduates and Islamic learning
platform subscribers. This population has opted to engage in a formal religious educational
program. Researching this group gives insight into both of my research questions regarding their
educational needs as well as their motivations.
I solicited participation from eight mosques in the Southern California community,
one Shi’i mosque and seven Sunni mosques. Of the Sunni mosques, two are
attended primarily by Black Muslims, three by Asian immigrants and two by Arab immigrants. I
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 36
requested from the mosques’ administrations to make announcements after the Friday
congregational prayers, the most highly attended weekly community event, and to solicit
participation in the survey. I requested from these mosque leaders to email my solicitation email
to their respective congregations. My solicitation email contained the purpose of the study, an
information sheet and a link to the electronic survey. The survey itself contained demographic
information which I used to screen the participants. At the end of the survey, I included a
question asking if they would be willing to participate in an interview and, if so, to provide
contact information.
My solicitation of the group was well-received. The community members expressed
interest in helping with research that could inform better religious educational programming for
their community. I asked the several organizations’ administrations to email their students as
well as the subscribers to the learning platforms to solicit their participation in the survey.
This mixed method study included both a survey and an interview. It was a sequential
explanatory design (Creswell, 2015). Bronfenbrenner’s framework informed the nature of the
survey and interview questions, which have a focus on the individual and the expanding spheres
of interaction with him or her.
Survey
The survey, which is included in appendix A, is composed of 16 questions. The first
seven questions explored the participant’s historical experience in Islamic education and learning
as well as their interest in pursuing further knowledge about their faith. At the heart of this study
is knowing what religious knowledge Muslim Americans have obtained and what they perceive
to be lacking in this regard. Questions 8 and 9 respectively dealt with how the participant prefers
to learn (the format) and from whom. Question 10 looked at barriers to pursuing structured
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 37
Islamic education such as location and economics. Questions 11 through 15 were demographic in
nature. This allowed for the data collection of the correlation between race, age, national origin
and educational needs. The final question asked if the participant would be willing to participate
in a follow-up interview.
Interview
The interview also consists of 16 questions that were designed to go deeper into the
participant’s religious educational experiences, motivations to learn as well as their ongoing
needs. The first two questions explored how important learning is for the participant and the role
of their theological identity/affiliation. One assumption behind the design of this study was that
Muslim Americans have a desire to learn more about their religion but are generally dissatisfied
with what and how they have been taught to date. Question 3 examined whether or not the
mainstream media’s portrayal of Islam has had an impact on the motivation for Muslim
Americans to know more about their faith. In other words, do Muslim Americans feel societal
pressure to respond to the negative image of Islam that is prevalent in American culture?
Question 4 explored the role of the family in passing on the faith. Question 5 asked what the
most important Islamic subjects that should be taught are. Questions 6, 7 and 8 asked what role
the mosque, online videos, and college courses have played in the participant’s religious
education. Question 9 explored motivations to pursue religious knowledge. Finally, questions 10
through 16 pursued, in depth, experiences related to specific courses of study that the participant
might have undertaken. If the participant had answered yes on question 10 and had engaged in
some structured courses on Islam, questions 11 through 16 explored how the course was
marketed, its format, content, quality of instruction, and cohort experiences. These findings are
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 38
extremely useful for Islamic institutions of higher learning in understanding the motivations of
their target market and how to develop a curriculum that will serve their needs.
Data Collection
In April of 2022, the survey participants were solicited at eight local mosques in the
Southern California region, from the membership of local and national Muslim organizations and
from Bayan students and Bayan On-Demand subscribers. I arranged for announcements to be
made after the Friday sermons in eight select mosques in Southern California whose
congregations reflected the broadest demographic diversity possible; Masjid Ibadullah in South
LA (Sunni, Black), Bilal Islamic Center in South LA (Sunni, Black), Peace Center is Santa
Clarita (Sunni, South-Asian), Chino Valley Islamic Center (Sunni, South-Asian), Corona
Mosque in the Inland Empire (Sunni, South-Asian), Mission Viejo Mosque in South Orange
County (Sunni, Arab), Anaheim Mosque (Sunni, Arab), and the Shi’i mosque in Orange County
(Arab, Shi’i). The announcement encouraged the adult community members to participate in the
study that was provided to them via my solicitation email.
The solicitation email included an information sheet along with a link for the online
survey. The survey included demographic questions and a verification that they are over the age
of 18. In addition to demographic information, for the mosque-goers and the members of the
national Muslim organizations, the survey had a question related to the participant’s interest in
participating in a follow-up interview. I scheduled Zoom video conference calls with a
purposeful sample of those who expressed an openness to being interviewed. These interviews
were recorded. The participant was informed that he or she could opt to either not have it
recorded or to withdraw at any time without penalty. The survey data was anonymized except for
those participants who agreed to be interviewed. Their identifiable information is being kept in
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 39
confidence. The data is in a password protected database and will be destroyed within two years.
There was no incentive offered to participants to take the survey or agree to an interview.
Data Analysis
I analyzed survey data utilizing a chi-squared group comparison based upon the
participants’ race, age, ethnicity, theology and Islamic heritage. This analysis allowed for the
discovery of significant findings for each demographic category. The interviews/qualitative data
video and audio recorded and transcribed shortly after each interview (Grewal, 2014). Data were
coded by a priori categories that derive from the Bronfenbrenner research method that is framing
my study. These codes relate to the individual as well as the expanding concentric circles of
interaction that surround the individual.
Interview questions were mapped to the various circles of influence ranging from the
individual to the chronosystem, which aided the analysis. Some questions were tied more
directly to the research questions and were coded accordingly. I grouped the coded responses
together into themes, and incorporated the themes that emerged into subsequent interviews as
part of the iterative and inductive process (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Trustworthiness
I triangulated the data collected in this study vis-à-vis existing research. To increase the
trustworthiness of the data, I examined findings from both data sources, the survey and the
interview, and compared how the four groups of participants, (the Muslim organization
members, the mosque-goers, Bayan students/graduates and Bayan On-Demand subscribers)
match up against each other. I increased the trustworthiness of the data by member-checking the
responses from the interviews to make sure my understanding and interpretation was accurate. I
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 40
also included lengthy quotes as samples of the responses and provided a rich narrative of the data
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Ethics
In following best ethical standards and norms, I provided the participants with an
Information Sheet (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), which included the purpose of the study and
ensured that the participants knew that their participation was fully voluntary. It also let them
know that they were able to withdraw at any time without penalty. I also informed them that the
survey data collected will be anonymized, confidential and kept in a secure database that is
password protected. This was done in order to protect them from any potential harm that may
result from their participation in the research. They received no incentive for participation
(Glesne, 2011).
Role of Researcher
As the researcher/instrument, I acknowledge my own biases as a 2
nd
-generation, Muslim
American with an Arab Muslim immigrant father and Caucasian American Christian mother. I
was raised in a practicing Muslim home and attended a mosque growing up. I learned about
Islam from my father, my local mosque’s Sunday school, and also studied Islam in college in the
United States as well as in seminaries in Saudi Arabia and Iran. I have served as an imam in the
past and now currently head up an Islamic institution of higher education. Although I have a
personal and professional perspective on the research questions, I did my best to create an
environment that minimized the influence of my biases.
The nature of the research was one that explored motivations for having enrolled in a
structured learning program and also inquired as to the religious educational needs that the
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 41
participants have. There is not an ethical conflict with me personally conducting the interviews
and administering the surveys with the mosque-going participants. I play no authoritative role
over them. I ensured that each participant knew that their participation was completely optional
and that they could have withdrawn at any time without penalty or repercussion (Glesne, 2011).
I do not believe that this research has caused harm to the participants. This was not a
particularly vulnerable group. Although Muslim Americans might feel that they are marginalized
in society, (Pew, 2019), participation in a study of this nature, one that focuses on their needs,
would not likely have made them feel uncomfortable or made them feel at risk. This research, in
fact, might actually have made the participants feel empowered and encouraged by the fact that
their religious educational needs were being assessed (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
I was raised as a Muslim and have served as a religious leader in the community for
many years. This might have bias the analysis of the data. Ultimately, I was most interested to
know, with accuracy, whatever the data showed, and, to the best of my ability, to have been
mindful of my biases in the discussion section of my dissertation (Glesne, 2011).
Conclusion
This chapter describes the research population, instruments, protocols, data collection and
analysis methods as well as ethical considerations and the trustworthiness of the researcher.
Muslim Americans will be surveyed and interviewed in order to better understand their religious
educational needs and what motivates them to engage in structured religious educational
programming. Looking at the relevant aspects of their individual characteristics, their immediate
and more removed social contexts as well as their place in time (Bronfenbrenner, 1999), this
research sheds light on an important aspect of the religious and community life of this group.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 42
CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF DATA AND FINDINGS
This chapter presents the data that was collected via surveys and interviews of Muslim
American adults. It includes a review of the study, its purpose and the research questions as well
as a description of the participants. The findings are organized by three themes 1) Learning and
Unlearning 2) Credibility and Connection and 3) The Traditional and the Modern. Each theme is
introduced then quantitative data findings are presented followed by the significant inferential
findings that were identified using the Pearson chi-square test. Finally, qualitative data is
provided that gives richer texture to each theme.
Purpose and Research Questions
The purpose of this study is to better understand the Muslim American community and
their interests in religious learning. It explores how and with whom they prefer to learn, as well
as the factors that influence their engagement in religious educational programming. The two
research questions are:
1) What are the religious educational needs of the Muslim American community?
2) What motivates and hinders this community as it relates to their engagement in
formal or informal religious educational programming?
Participants
I followed the solicitation protocols outlined in Chapter 3 in order to solicit a
representative sample of the Muslim American population. More than 1,000 individuals
responded to email and social media solicitations and submitted surveys. Of the 1,005 responses
submitted, 226 were incomplete, four were underaged, 14 were non-Muslim, one was a duplicate
and two were eliminated for responses that are clearly invalid (dates of birth are listed as 1900
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 43
and 1901). Seven hundred and fifty-eight participant surveys were found to be valid. The
demographics of the participants are displayed in the five charts below reflecting 1) their
religious heritage, specifically, if they were 1
st
, 2
nd
or 3
rd
-generation converts or immigrants 2)
theological identity, 3) gender, 4) age-group and 5) ethnic/racial identity. Age of the participants
ranged from 18 to 87. The participants were aggregated into three age-groupings, 18-45 years,
46-60 years and 61-87 years, which allows for a better understanding of the educational interests
and needs of these adults at different phases of life. The 18-45 years age group is a primary
target demographic for student recruitment for Islamic graduate programs. This study aims to
reveal findings that would give Islamic educational institutions insight into this age group’s
particular religious educational needs and their motivations for engaging in structured
programming. The other two age-groups have distinctive needs and motivations/hindrances as
well, which will be discussed in the following sections.
Figure 2 Figure 3
Participants’ Religious Heritage Participants’ Theological Identity
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 44
Figure 4 Figure 5
Participants’ Gender Participants’ Age Group
Figure 6
Participants’ Race/Ethnicity
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 45
Interview Participants
Of the 758 survey participants, 416 provided their contact information and agreed to be
interviewed. Based upon key demographic considerations identified in Chapter 3 for purposeful
sampling, 29 of the survey participants were selected to be interviewed. Interview participants
included 16 females and 13 males, and ranged in age from 18 to 45. Interview the participants in
the youngest age-group were selected in order to gain insight into this key target demographic
for graduate student recruitment. Seven were Asian, seven were black, ten were Arab, two were
white, two were Latino, and one was of mixed race. Six were Shi’i, 21 were Sunni and two
identified as non-denominationally Muslim (although four of those interviewed who originally
identified as simply Muslim on the survey did specify a Sunni identity when pressed in the
interview). Nine were 1
st
-generation converts, three were 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation converts. Five were
1
st
-generation immigrants, 12 were 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation immigrants. In the citations below, all
names have been changed to ensure anonymity of the participants.
Themes
The mixed-method approach to this study is descriptive in nature. The survey explored
the “what” and the interviews examined the “why.” I also utilized inferential statistical analysis
using a chi-square test to determine significant group differences. And integrated the
presentation of the data by presenting it thematically beginning with the quantitative findings,
followed by any group significant data and then qualitative texture and richness through
representative interview quotes. Many recurring issues and ideas emerged and were consolidated
into three main themes: learning and unlearning; credibility and connection; the traditional and
the modern.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 46
Theme One: Learning and Unlearning
The first set of survey questions explore a few issues related to the theme of what Islamic
knowledge the participants have learned and how satisfied they were with that knowledge. These
questions, presented in both the survey as well as the interview protocols, pertain to the
participants’ attitude towards learning as well as their experiences in obtaining knowledge about
their Islamic faith. They explored the participants’ motivations to engage in learning about Islam,
the influence of parents and their experiences of learning about Islam that they had at the mosque
Sunday school or in college. As will be demonstrated in the data in this section, the participants’
attitudes towards what they learned as children was mixed. Some appreciated what they learned;
however, others felt that what they learned was influenced by their parents’ cultures abroad,
especially regarding issues of gender, and therefor expressed interest in “unlearning” that
expression of Islam and “relearning” a more contextual version of their faith.
Individual Motivations to Learn
All of the survey participants indicated that learning about Islam was important to them.
There were no significant group differences on this question. The interview responses provide
perspective on why it is important to them. One interview participant, Tarek, expressed a
common sentiment of those interviewed stating,
So, to me, it's extremely important, because you can't practice and
uphold the deen and worship Allah subhana wa taala without
proper Islamic knowledge. I mean, before, before you can do
anything in life, it requires knowledge.
Ahmed articulated the desire to learn so that he can be a resource for his family,
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 47
I'm also raising a daughter in western America. Even before I
became Muslim, it was [sic], I didn't really care for the culture that
kind of pervades modern society. You turn on the TV, and you
know exactly what I mean, you know. So I don't want my daughter
to act like that. Yeah. So the more I know, the better resource she
has inside of the house.
The Cultural/Political Influence
A significant majority of survey respondents, 88%, also cited prevailing political and
cultural contexts as a factor in their motivations to learn more about their faith. There were no
significant differences in responses by the various demographic categories of participants
regarding the impact of the cultural/political context on their pursuit of Islamic knowledge.
Saira’s comments were representative of what many said,
…that comes from a place of one being a Muslim in America and,
unfortunately, being able to know enough about my religion in a
context where it is constantly attacked. And that makes me
stronger in my faith, but in order to be able to engage in
conversation with others, especially people who are misinformed
about Islam, I think it's what drives me to know about it, but also
just for my personal, you know, relationship with God with my
religion. Yeah, knowing about it is definitely important for me.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 48
A few of the interview participants indicated that they are impervious to the mainstream
media’s portrayal of Islam and Muslims and at the same time admitted that they had to respond
to popular societal perceptions. A representative example of this attitude was expressed by one
interview participant, Jose,
I don't think it's affected how I learn or what I learn about the faith.
I think, you know, Western media just does a lot of negative things
to portray people as very negative, very dark, right, like immigrant
communities, Black people, Muslims, right. So if anything, like
anything that the Western media has to say about Islam, you know,
I don't believe none of the things that they say, I do my own research,
and I read on my own.
He also acknowledged the impact of societal narratives about Islam and Muslims,
I feel like I gotta learn in order for me to understand my deen and
for me to educate people in my communities or people in my life
about Islam. Right, as a convert, like, none of the people in my like
family or friends are Muslim. So I, you know, the more I learn, the
more I educate them on Islam. And you know, just like they also
like, they have these very extremist conservative views of what
Islam is. Islam as ISIS, Islam as this, Islam as that, right as a result
of like, Western media. So like, whatever I learned, like I just
educate them like now like, Jihad does not mean holy war, right?
You have been struggling, right? Like struggling towards Allah. It's
little things like that.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 49
Family and Parents
Nearly all survey respondents, 90.9%, indicated that their parents played a role in their
acquisition of Islamic knowledge. As indicated in the chart below, the largest percentage of
participants indicated dissatisfaction with what their parents taught them.
Figure 7
Participants’ Satisfaction with What They Learned from Their Parents
A chi-square analysis revealed a significant gender difference in this issue (2, N = 689)
= 7.022, p = .030. More female respondents indicated dissatisfaction with what they learned
from their parents (54.8%) as opposed to the 44.4% of male respondents who were dissatisfied.
Khadija expressed that what she has to correct or “unlearn” what she was taught by her parents
about Islam and the issues of gender and race,
And so some of those things that are just more complicated to
teach to a child, I think are the things I wanted to learn as an adult.
And then also, I think that religion can be for a lot of people,
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 50
regardless of what their culture is, religion can be really
intertwined or embedded in cultural practices. And so, because,
like, I grew up with Islam, and because I was taught Islam as like,
just things you do as you grow up. Some of those things were also
harmful, like, you know, pressure to fit into certain gender roles.
And so, as an adult, I've also wanted to learn more about how to
separate those kinds of harmful ideas from Islam. And learn more
about what is actually in Islam.
A chi-square analysis also revealed a significant age-group difference in this issue
(4, N = 691) = 10.796, p = .029, with the oldest category, ages 61 to 87, expressing a more
favorable satisfaction level with what they learned from their parents (53.7%). Unfortunately, I
did not interview anyone from this age-group and have no qualitative data to present on this
significant finding.
A chi-square analysis also revealed a significant difference among the various heritage
groups regarding the satisfaction with what they learned from their parents (6, N = 635)
= 19.328, p = .004. Second and 3
rd
-generation converts indicated a greater satisfaction with
learning from their parents than all other heritage groups (52.9% as opposed to 43% average for
all other groups in this category). Tarek, a 3
rd
-generation Black Muslim, reflected on his
mother’s role in educating him in the faith,
So my mother's generation, she had a different approach of giving
us knowledge because it was so strenuous on her. She was very
lenient with me, so it was like, we're gonna take you to class, you
know, but you know, you got to want this for yourself. So, but she
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 51
would have been so happy for me to get my master’s because we
talked about, you know, doing some formal studying. I want to go
to school and get this degree and study. I want to study more
Islam. And she would have been so proud of that.
Mosque Sunday School
More than half of survey participants, 54.5%, who attended a mosque Sunday school
program in their youth reported being dissatisfied with their experience. A minority, 35.4%
enjoyed their experience. Furthermore, a chi-square analysis revealed a significant gender
difference in satisfaction in what they learned (2, N = 539) = 11.535, p = .003. Fewer female
respondents indicated satisfaction with what they learned in that context (27% satisfaction for
female vs. 40.3% for male participants). Zaynab, reflecting on her mosque Sunday school
experience, stated, “Honestly, it was really bad.” Khadija indicated that she in fact has had to
“unlearn” what she was taught at her local mosque growing up,
I did have an Islamic education as a child and so the, to learn about
it as an adult is interesting and rewarding. Because in some ways,
what I've learned as an adult, sort of corrects some of the things I
learned as a child, and that's like, important to me to have that
correct knowledge.
Maryam criticized the way she was taught,
Learning how to read was emphasized, you know, memorizing
Hadith, but I don't think it was very engaging, actually, now that
I'm thinking back, it was more memorization based, and less
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 52
understanding and, and dialogue, and also contextualizing any
current events to, you know, connect that to Islam in our lives.
Both male and female interview participants indicated that the quality of the mosque Sunday
school teachers and the curriculum was lacking. One said,
So I think the majority of the teachers that teach, they're not
qualified, and they don't know how to teach. And they didn't study
in a traditional setting that has given them the tools to be able to
teach, a lot of them are just like local people within the
community.
That being said, 35% of participants did have a positive experience learning in their Islamic
Sunday schools growing up. Yahya is one of those who loved his learning environment,
Honestly, I wish I had more time. Thinking back on it, I had a
wonderful time doing Sunday school. As I mentioned before, it's
what really got me to understand Islam a lot more and got me more
invested into my faith in a way that I was not invested before.
The Role of Islamic Studies College Courses
The survey explored two closely related questions about participants’ perspectives on
courses that they took in college that touched upon Islam. The survey questions sought to
understand whether those courses helped improve understanding and appreciation of their faith.
Most survey participants who took college courses on Islam indicated that they gained a greater
understanding of their faith (60.9%). On this question, the participants’ response rates varied
according to their demographics. A chi-square analysis reveals significant differences among two
demographics in particular, race/ethnicity (Blacks/Arabs) and theological sect (Shi’is);
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 53
(8, N = 402) = 23.437, p = .003 and (4, N = 432) = 12.912, p = .012 respectively. A higher
percentage of White participants indicated that they felt that the college courses on Islam
increased their understanding of the faith (73.3%). Ayesha took several courses on Islam and
even completed a minor in the subject. She expressed how the courses helped increase her
understanding,
But the first few courses were Islamic civilization. And that gave
me like a general overview of like, Islamic history, which was
nice. And then the third course was Islam and the Qur'an, I think
that's what it's called. And that was a really good course to go over
like different parts of the Quran, different topics. I learned about,
like, abrogation in the Quran and things that kind of hadn't really
thought about before.
Less than half of the Black and Arab survey participants indicated that the college
courses on Islam helped them gain a better understanding of their faith (43.3% and 47.7%
respectively). Some participants described a hostile environment that they perceived because of
their ethnicity/theological identity. One Shi’i interview participant of Iranian descent, Ali,
described his experience in college,
I always go head-to-head with those guys. I was writing essays and
they're getting they're [sic] failing me and they're trying everything
to question my moral character.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 54
Conversely, more than half of the participants in each of the other racial/ethnic groups expressed
that they obtained a better understanding of Islam as a result of their relevant college courses
(Asian 58.5%, White 73.3%, Two or More Races 56.5%).
Similarly, when surveyed whether those courses helped increase appreciation of their
faith, 62.2% agreed. On this question however, Black participants responded affirmatively less
than half of the time (48.3%). All other racial groups indicated that their appreciation of Islam
increased as a result of those courses. Once again, Whites had the highest affirmative response
rate at 80%.
Khadija, who was of Black Somali immigrant background, also had a very positive
experience in her college courses. Through her college courses, she was able to gain an
appreciation of issues of race and gender as they intersect with Islam, and in ways that did not
satisfy her in learning about Islam in the Muslim community growing up. She said,
I think that in the classes that I take at school (college) that
involves Islam, I'm mainly learning about race, and like racialized
communities, and just Black Muslims. So that's, I think, how that
fulfills my expectations, or like my desire to want to learn more
about them is that that's just something I didn't learn about as a
young person learning Islam.
A chi-square analysis, however, revealed significant differences in the response
percentages among two demographics, Race/Ethnicity (Blacks/Arabs) and theological sect
(Shi’is); (8, N = 397) = 16.259, p = .039 and (4, N = 427) = 13.612, p = .009 respectively. Both
groups indicated, at a higher response rate, that they were likely to have a negative experience in
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 55
their college courses. Ali, a Shi’i interview participant, shared a very negative perception of his
experience,
Oh, they were terrible. They made like I said, there it is. They had
no idea what they were talking about. They called Shia Islam a cult
off the bat.
Interest to Learn More
This theme, Learning and Unlearning, examines internal and external factors that
motivate the participant to learn about Islam. In relation to this theme, the survey also asked the
participants about their satisfaction with their current level of Islamic knowledge. The chart
below displays the findings of this question.
Figure 8
Participants’ Satisfaction with Current Level of Islamic Knowledge
Half (50.0%) of 1
st
-generation immigrants indicated satisfaction with their current
Islamic knowledge. This is a much higher rate than the other groups in the category of religious
heritage with a chi-square analysis score of (6, N = 698) = 18.750, p = .005. Only about one-third
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 56
of each of the other groups indicate a satisfaction in this regard: 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation converts
(32.4%), 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation immigrants (34.4%) and converts (36.6%).
A chi-square test also revealed significant group differences in percentage of the
responses among three additional demographics, namely theology, gender and age-groups. The
chi-square analysis of group differences based on theology revealed a significant finding. The
Shi’i survey participants, at a rate of 52.0%, had a significantly higher response rate indicating a
satisfaction with their current level of knowledge (4, N = 756) = 10.075, p = .039. Only 35.4% of
Sunni Muslims participants, on the other hand, responded that they were satisfied with the
current level of Islamic knowledge. Those who identify simply as Muslim were in between at
46.7%. Hussein, a Shi’i interview participant, shared the following perspective.
I come from a very religious family, a scholarly family. And, you
know, learning about Islam has always been prioritized within that
home, and within the culture within the family.
A larger percentage of women than men indicated a dissatisfaction with their current
level of Islamic knowledge (2, N = 753) = 6.521, p = .038. More than half of women were
dissatisfied, 56.2%, and less than half of men were dissatisfied, 46.7%. With regards to age-
categories, only the youngest age-category of 18-45 had a dissatisfaction percentage greater than
half at 56.5%. The chi-square significance for this demographic was (4, N = 756)
= 12.904, p = .012. Ayesha expressed her dissatisfaction in the following excerpt from her
interview,
When I had started having children, like, got married, started
having children. I told my siblings, I’m like, listen, I'm gonna take
a new-Muslims course. They were like, why? You are born
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 57
Muslim. I'm taking a new Muslim course; I suppose because I
want to relearn everything.
The survey included an additional question that was only tangentially related to the theme
of learning and unlearning in that it related to learning in the context of a formal degree program.
A large majority, 76.5%, indicated agreement with the following prompt: I would be interested
in pursuing a graduate degree in Islamic studies if I could do so without having to quit my job,
relocate, or go into debt.
Figure 9
Participants’ Interest in Pursuing a Graduate Degree in Islamic Studies
This section highlighted how the participants learned about Islam from various sources
such as from parents, their local mosque and in college, and explored satisfaction with what they
learned and the importance of Islamic education. It also looked at the influence of the broader
context of culture/politics and media as a motivation for their pursuit of religious knowledge.
The analysis revealed 12 significant differences based on demographic groups across several
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 58
topics related to this theme. These themes and the significant findings will be explored in
Chapter Five.
Theme Two: Credibility and Connection
The survey participants were asked how and with whom they prefer to learn about Islam.
They were provided with a multiple-choice set of options that allowed them to select all of the
options that were applicable, including: 1) Studying with a nationally recognized Islamic scholar,
2) Studying independently, but with the guidance of a nationally renowned scholar or
educational institution, 3) Learning from online platforms and videos, 4) Studying independently
and 5) studying with their local imam. The Chart below indicates the frequency of their
responses.
Figure 10
The Participants’ Preferred Modality of Acquiring Knowledge
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 59
Credibility of the Scholar and Institution
A recurring theme emerged from an analysis of this survey data as well as interview data
related to the question of how and from whom the participants prefer to learn. The participants
were looking for a trusted source from whom to learn and they wanted to feel a connection to not
only the scholar, but also to a community of learners. Furthermore, nine significant findings
related to group differences on this issue resulted from a chi-square test.
With regards to the participants who indicate a preference to study with nationally
renowned scholars, a chi-square analysis revealed a significant difference among three of the
demographic groups, namely, gender, age-group and theological identity. Women indicated a
preference to study with nationally renowned Muslim scholars at a higher rate than men, 73.7%
vs. 66.6% (1, N = 755) = 4.260, p = .039. Similarly, the youngest age-group indicated the
strongest preference for studying with nationally renowned scholars, 79.0%, as opposed to only
62.9% and 59.2% for the next two age-groups respectively (2, N = 758) = 26.966, p = <.001. The
participants who identified as Sunni had the highest response rate indicating a preference for
studying with nationally renowned Islamic scholars, 77.4%, as opposed to 65.7% and 60.0% for
those who identified as non-denominationally Muslim and those who identified as Shi’i
respectively (2, N = 758) = 11.401, p = .003.
During her interview, Sofia shared her perspective on both the issue of nationally
renowned scholars, but also the issue of female scholarship,
I think making having access to scholars that are relatable, and
knowledgeable, cuz that's a huge problem that I've seen my
Muslim community face. And I know others probably say, just
having reliable trustable relatable scholarship. But it's not
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 60
someone's uncle, that's 50,000 years old, that's not relatable to us.
It's not some uncle who came from overseas like, and especially
for like, having female scholarship as well, like a lot of
communities lack access to general scholarship, let alone female
scholarships. So just having reliable, dependable, trustable access
to scholarship.
Regarding studying informally with the guidance of a nationally renowned scholar or
educational institution, a chi-square analysis revealed significant findings regarding two
demographic categories, gender and age-group. Female participants indicated, at a higher
response rate, a preference for institutional guidance than did male participants 63.7% to 55.2%,
(1, N = 755) = 5.384, p = .020. Conversely, the oldest age-group indicated, at a significantly
lower rate of response than the other two age-groups, an interest in studying with the guidance of
a nationally renowned scholar or educational institution. Those aged 61-87 indicated that they
are far less likely to want to study informally with the guidance of a nationally renowned scholar
or educational institution with a 39.4% frequency. The youngest age-group preferred this
approach at a much higher rate of 65.8% and the 46–60-year-old category at a rate of 59.4%
(2, N = 758) = 28.572, p = <.001.
Lana expressed that she was interested in studying with a credible and accredited
institution that could also offer a certificate or degree. She said,
I think something that would entice me more is to be like in an
accredited institution, or something that I like receive, like a
certificate or like a formal recognition of my work through like a
degree or a certificate, like I said, I think that is also so so valuable.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 61
Online
Regarding the studying of Islam online, a chi-square analysis reveals significant group
differences as it relates to theological identity and age-groups. Sunni participants indicate the
strongest interest in learning online and are the only theological group with a response rate
greater than half at 54.3% (2, N = 758) = 6.560, p = .038. Shi’is and non-denominational
Muslims had a response rate of 48.0% and 44.3% respectively. The younger the participant, the
more inclined they were to prefer studying online. The youngest age-group had a response rate of
56.2%. The 46–60-year-olds had a frequency rate of 44.5% and only 33.8% of the eldest age
bracket indicated a preference for online learning about Islam (2, N = 758) = 21.684, p = <.001.
Sarah, a Sunni woman in the youngest age-group, expressed why she appreciated the
opportunity to learn online.
So I feel they're very helpful, especially for women. When it
comes to accessibility, I attended classes in person. Very grateful
for those opportunities, but also as my role changed, you know,
especially becoming a mother and you know, now having a baby. I
think accessibility to Islamic education online, and then
incorporating in person learnings as well. It's just really helpful to
ensure that women are also being educated in, you know, when
women just really don't always have access to scholars.
Independently and with a Local Imam
The chi-square test revealed no significant group differences among the various
demographic categories when it came to the issue of studying independently. All groups
consistently indicated a preference to study on their own at a frequency rate of 42.6%.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 62
The average of all groups of survey participants indicated at a response rate of 35.1% a
preference to learn about their faith from the imam at their local mosque. A chi-square analysis
revealed significance in two demographic groups, theological identity and age-category. Those
survey participants who identified as non-denominational Muslims were the least likely to prefer
to study with their local imam (30.2%). Sunni survey participants indicated a preference for
studying with their local imam at a higher rate than the rest; 42.4%. Shi’is, however, expressed
the highest rate indicating a preference for this means of learning their faith (60.0%). The chi-
square test for this issue as it relates to theological grouping was (2, N = 758)
= 17.626, p =< .001.
Mariam, a 2
nd
-generation Sunni woman, did not have fond memories of her experience
studying with her local imams at the mosque Sunday school. She said,
And it was like really unstructured. It was a new Sunday school.
Um, so it hadn't quite gotten off the ground yet. And it was just
kind of like, whatever. I can't say that I necessarily learned a whole
lot from them.
In his interview, Reza, a 1
st
-generation immigrant Shi’i male, reflected upon his
experience at his local mosque.
There's a problem within the masajid [mosques], you know, when
there are lectures, especially within the Shiite community, a lot of
the lectures are not really in English. A lot of the elderly prefer the
lectures to be in an Urdu or in Arabic, and that way, the youth
don't really attend.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 63
Even though a majority of each age-group did not prefer to study with their local imam,
the younger the age-group, the more likely they were to prefer to study with him. The 18-45 age-
group indicated this preference with a 41.7% frequency. The next age-group, 46-60, indicated
this preference with a 34.3% frequency. The oldest age-group dropped all the way down to a
21.1% preference rate for learning from their local religious leader (2, N = 758)
= 18.706, p = <.001.
Theme Three: The Traditional and the Modern
The third theme to emerge from the data was that the participants had a desire to both
learn about their religion in a manner that is authentic to the tradition and also relevant to the
contemporary context and cultural environment. One of the survey questions was an open ended
one in which the participants could write in the top three Islamic subjects that the they would like
to study. There were a combined 2,274 responses. I consolidated them into 24 subjects. The top
15 responses, each with a frequency greater than 30, are depicted in the bar graph below. The top
seven topics reflect the traditional topics of Islamic Studies. Seven of the remaining eight topics
reflect a more modern context. These last eight topics, with the exception of Arabic, depicted in
Figure 10, are not topics that are generally included in a traditional Islamic curriculum, but rather
are subjects that are relevant to the context of Islam in the contemporary era in the United States.
Issues related to women, gender, identity formation of youth, modern culture, the environment
and social justice are all contemporary in nature relative to the top seven most frequently
indicated topics in the chart.
Figure 11
Topics of Interest
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 64
Badr, a 2
nd
-generation Sunni male, expressed a common tension between the traditional
and modern. He acknowledged the importance of traditional knowledge, but also emphasized the
need to obtain a contextual understanding of that traditional knowledge. In fact, in his survey,
Badr expressed interest in learning about traditional topics for two of his three choices, fiqh and
usul al-fiqh, and only one contemporary topic, Islamic political thought.
I'm very disenfranchised with the state of a lot of traditional
seminaries. It's not like I hate traditional knowledge, but more so
how a lot of these seminaries, the curricula, are not addressing the
needs of people. They haven't changed in years.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 65
Expressing a similar sentiment from a very different perspective, that of a White female Sunni
convert, Cindy expressed interest in learning how to reconcile the tradition and her contemporary
context. Cindy also indicated for two of her three responses on her survey that she would like to
learn more about traditional topics, theology and Prophetic biography. The third topic that she
identified was a contemporary one, women’s rights.
We are having to deal with questions like, am I practicing a faith
that is true on a on a very high level, but then also, you know, the
whole antiquated notions of, you know, women's roles and issues
related to LGBTQ issues. And all of this, you know, is just
constantly bombarding us.
A chi-square analysis revealed 15 significant group differences related to which Islamic
topics the survey participants indicated that they prefer to study. As an organizing principle, I am
presenting the significant findings as they relate to the five demographic categories as opposed to
the 15 topics.
Religious Heritage
Although the Qur’an is the most frequently indicated topic, a chi-square test found a
significant difference in the 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation’s interest in the topic vs. the rest of the groups in
this demographic category. About half of each of the other groups indicated the Qur’an as one of
their top three subjects of interest. However, only 38.8% of the participants of 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation
immigrants heritage chose the Qur’an in their top three fields of interest (3, N = 700)
= 8.746, p = .033.
First-generation immigrants expressed less frequent interest in spirituality than each of
the other heritage groups (3, N = 700) = 8.051, p = .045. First-generation immigrants selected
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 66
this topic less than one-fifth of the time (19.2%) whereas each of the other groups selected this
topic more than one-fourth of the time (25.6% for converts; 28.8% for 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation
immigrants; 29.4% for 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation converts). Similarly, 1
st
-generation immigrants
expressed much less interest in the topic of women and gender than did each of the other groups
(3, N = 700) = 9.466, p = .024. First-generation immigrants selected this topic less than one-tenth
of the time (8.8%) whereas each of the other groups selected this topic between one-eighth and
one-fifth of the time (13.2% for 2
nd
/3
rd
-generation immigrants; 18.3% for converts; 20.6% for
2
nd
/3
rd
-generation converts).
Theological Identity
A chi-square analysis revealed significant differences among the various theological
groups as they relate to five of the 15 topics: The Qur’an, Islamic law/fiqh, history, the Prophet’s
biography and American studies/modern culture. With regards to selecting the Qur’an, Sunni’s
were almost twice as likely to select this topic than the Shi’i participants (57.2% vs. 32.0%).
Non-denominational Muslim participants were in the middle with 41.2% (2, N = 758)
= 18.743, p = <.001.
As for theology and philosophy (2, N = 758) = 9.725, p = .011., Sunni participants
selected this topic almost half of the time (49.4%), whereas Shi’i and non-denomination Muslim
participants selected this topic 40.0% and 37.3% of the time respectively. Shi’i participants,
however, were much more likely to select history as a top subject of interest than the other two
theological groups at a rate of more than double (52.0% for the Shi’i participant vs. 24.3% and
23.5% for Sunni and Muslim participants respectively) (2, N = 758) = 10.448, p = .005.
Non-denominational Muslim and Sunni survey participants were, respectively, more than
twice and three times more likely to choose the Prophet’s biography as a priority topic of interest
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 67
than are the Shi’i participants (16.1% for Muslims; 25.9% for Sunnis; 8.0% for Shi’is)
(2, N = 758) = 12.177, p = .002. Conversely, Shi’i participants were more likely to express
interest in topics related to American studies/modern culture than their counterparts theologically
(2, N = 758) = 6.509, p = .039. They selected this topic with a 12.0% frequency whereas Sunni
participants selected this topic only 8.6% of the time and non-denominational Muslims did so
only 4.5% of the time.
Gender
As for group differences related to gender, the chi-square analysis revealed a significant
difference in three subjects; the sunnah (prophetic tradition), finance and the topic of gender.
Men were significantly more likely to express an interest in studying the sunnah than women,
23.3% to 16.7% with a chi-square test (1, N = 755) = 4.848, p = .028. Similarly, men were
significantly more inclined to express an interest in learning about finance as it relates to Islam
than were women (10.3% to 5.7%) with a chi-square test of (1, N = 755) = 5.067, p = .024.
Conversely, women were significantly more likely than men to express interest in the study of
gender and sexuality (25.0% to 2.0%) with a chi-square test of (1, N = 755) = 96.909, p = <.001.
Age-group
As for group differences related to age-group, the chi-square analysis revealed a
significant difference in three subjects; Islamic law/fiqh, spirituality and politics. The oldest age-
group, 61-87, were significantly more likely to express an interest in learning about politics,
8.5%, as compared to only 3.0% and 3.5% for the youngest and middle age-groups respectively
(2, N = 758) = 7.835, p = .020. Conversely, the oldest age-group was the least likely to express
interest in studying spirituality, 14.1%, as compared to 23.3% of the middle age-group and
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 68
27.0% of the youngest group (2, N = 758) = 9.356, p = .009. With regards to the study of Islamic
law (fiqh), the youngest age-group was more likely to express an interest it its study, 46.2% as
opposed to only 36.7% of the middle age-group and 38.7% of the oldest age-group (2, N = 758)
= 6.165, p = .046.
Ethnic/Racial Identity
There were no significant findings related to group differences as they relate to
ethnic/racial identity and Islamic topics of interest with one exception, the study of the Arabic
language. Arab survey participants indicated an interest in learning the Arabic language only
1.9% of the time, whereas Black participants selected this topic 16.9% of the time (4, N = 702)
= 19.723, p = <.001. Asian and White survey participants were in the middle with 10.5% and
7.3% respectively.
Conclusion
This chapter presented the significant findings and rich data about the educational needs
of the Muslim American Community. The findings were organized by themes with the
quantitative data presented first followed by significant findings based upon group comparisons.
When appropriate, qualitative interview data was cited that provides a rich texture and context to
the quantitative data. Chapter Five will discuss the importance of these findings and give
perspective on the areas of significance.
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The purpose of this study is to better understand the religious educational needs of the
Muslim American community and the issues that hinder and incentivize them in the pursuit of
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 69
structured Islamic educational programming. As outlined in Chapter 2, there is a gap in the
literature related to this topic. Using Bronfenbrenner as a frame (1996), this study looked at the
individual, their motivations as well as several concentric circles of context, or systems, that
have an influence on engagement with Islamic learning. The findings of this study provided
useful data upon which Islamic educational institutions can depend when making decisions about
which subjects to offer and how to market their programs to this population.
The recommendations in this chapter are based upon the Findings presented in Chapter 4,
which included three themes: learning and unlearning; credibility and connection; the traditional
and the modern. This chapter will discuss recommendations, limitations, opportunities for further
research and a conclusion.
Table 1
Recommendations
Recommendation
1
Muslim American educational institutions should provide educational
opportunities to fill in the gaps that currently exist for this community
- Systematic study of Islam
- Particular attention to issues of gender
- Particular attention to issues of race/ethnicity/culture
Recommendation
2
Muslim American educational institutions should offer courses taught by
nationally renowned scholars in a format that is accessible and inviting.
- Online, but interactive with faculty and fellow students
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 70
- Good mix between online and in-person
- Welcoming and inclusive environment
Recommendation
3
Muslim American educational institutions should offer traditional
Islamic subjects with an authentic approach and also offer courses that
deal with contemporary issues that address the contemporary context.
- Identity and spiritual formation
- Navigating challenging ethical and moral topics
- Civic engagement/Interfaith Relations
Discussion of Findings
This study was designed with three primary lines of inquiry devised to identify the
educational needs of Muslim Americans. Firstly, the survey and interview protocols included a
number of questions that explore how Muslim Americans have obtained knowledge of their faith
and how satisfied they were with that knowledge. The second set of questions dealt with the
participants’ preferred modalities of learning. The final set of questions looked at Islamic topics
they were most interested in studying. The three themes that follow emerged from these lines of
inquiry.
Learning and Unlearning
Second-generation immigrant Muslim Americans raised in Muslim families typically
learned Islam from their parents, local mosques/Sunday schools, college classes and from online
sources. However, this study’s data show that dissatisfaction levels with these sources of
learning were quite high, especially among the female participants. One reason for this
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 71
phenomenon might be that gender roles in their parents’ countries of origin tend to be more
conservative and restricting for women than is normative in the United States (Chan-Malik,
2018).
Consequently, in the interviews, many of the 2
nd
-generation immigrant Muslims
expressed difficulty in distinguishing between the actual teachings of Islam and the cultural
expression of the Islam of their parents, especially when it involved issues of gender (Grewal,
2014). The immigrant community’s Sunday school environment often reflected those cultural
perspectives from “back home.” Many felt that, as they became adults, they had to “unlearn” the
Islam of their childhood and “relearn” a more contextual Islam for themselves from sources that
were “well-adjusted” for the American environment. They often turned to online sources that
promoted the teachings of nationally renowned Muslim American scholars who presented a
contextualized interpretation of Islam, particularly as it relates to race and gender (Haddad et al.,
2009).
The data from this study also revealed that this group perceived gaps in their religious
education. While Muslim Americans in this study gave great importance to Islamic religious
knowledge, the majority were dissatisfied with what they have learned from parents, the local
mosques/Sunday schools and from their college classes. A greater percentage of female
participants expressed this dissatisfaction than the male participants.
Credibility and Connection
Despite the fact that interview participants indicated that they place importance on having
a meaningful connection to a scholar and fellow learners, studying with a local scholar, such as
their local imam, was their least preferred option. Most survey participants, 70%, indicated a
preference to learn from nationally renowned scholars. Similarly, a large percent of the survey
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 72
participants, just over 58%, expressed a preference to learn from nationally renowned national
Islamic educational institutions. Survey participants even expressed a greater preference for
studying online and independently than they did for learning from their local imam.
One factor in why survey participants indicated that studying with their local imam was
their least preferred option might be related to the culture of local mosques and their imams.
Only about 50% of American mosques have a full-time employed imam. Of the mosques that do
have an imam, 90% of them were born, raised and educated abroad in Muslim-majority countries
(Bagby, 2021). The foreign-influenced cultural and religious perspectives that the 1
st
-generation
immigrant imams present might not resonate with the 2
nd
-generation immigrants nor with
domestically born converts and their descendants, specifically as they relate to race and gender
(Haddad et al., 2009). This also explains why the younger the survey participant, the more likely
they were to want to choose to study with a nationally renowned scholar or institution. Survey
participants in the youngest age group, 18-45, preferred this option at least 13% more often than
the older age-groups.
The interview data provided some insight into these preferences as well. Participants
indicated that they were able to find more culturally contextualized religious messaging at
national Islamic educational institutions and with popular Muslim American scholars who were
born and raised in the United States. It is therefore quite understandable that the Muslim
American survey participants, particularly those born and raised in the United States, have turned
to sources of Islamic knowledge where they have options beyond those available at their local
mosques. These same factors also explain why survey participants preferred studying online over
studying with their local imam.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 73
“Connection” is a factor that impacted the survey participants’ preference to study with a
nationally renowned scholar or with a credible national educational institution over the option to
study in an online format. Being part of a community of learners and being able to interact with
the scholar teaching the course were both cited as reasons by the interview participants for their
preferences. This connection requires some degree of interactivity, and asynchronous online
Islamic educational sites lack this feature. When visiting a local Muslim community, nationally
renowned Islamic scholars often attract large numbers of attendees to their talks. The energy and
excitement surrounding their educational events can create an experience of connection with
fellow learners and even with the scholar directly. This desire for connection also factors into the
survey participants’ preference for the in-person options over the independent study.
The Traditional and the Modern
A key finding from this study is that Muslim Americans are interested in knowing how to
understand traditional Islamic subjects in a manner that relates to the contemporary context (see
Figure 10 in Chapter 4). This finding is derived both from the survey and interview data and
corroborated in the literature (Pew, 2017). Eight of the top 15 most preferred subjects were
“traditional” topics. They were, in order of preference, the Quran, fiqh, Islamic
philosophy/theology, spirituality, Islamic history, hadith, sirah and Arabic. These traditional
subjects have been taught as core topics in Islamic institutions of learning for almost 1,400 years
(Kamali, 2011); however, according to this study’s interview data, Muslim Americans want to
learn more about these topics through the lens of the contemporary context of American culture
and society (Kabba, 2016).
The other seven topics that the survey participants wanted to study were subjects not
traditionally or historically included in the curricula of Islamic seminaries (Kamali, 2011). In
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 74
understanding this finding, it is important to consider the role that Islamic educational
institutions have played in Muslim societies historically and the function that Islamic education
plays in contemporary secular America. Islamic madrasahs and seminaries were designed to
train Islamic scholars. The curriculum and its topics, which were relatively universal throughout
the Muslim world, included the eight topics listed above along with several other topics not
listed. Contemporary Muslim Americans, however, even those who are not planning on
becoming scholars of Islam, have expressed interest in studying their faith as a moral and ethical
guide that can help them navigate a variety of modern issues. The lack of a hierarchical structure
of Islamic authority in Sunni Islam leaves most contemporary Muslims free to either individually
interpret their faith or to select interpretations from among the religious opinions and edicts of
any Islamic scholar. This study finds that Muslim Americans, most of whom do not identify with
a particular school of thought or sect (Pew, 2017), pursue Islamic religious knowledge as a basis
for navigating contemporary issues and, specifically, to study the traditional Islamic Studies
subjects in light of current circumstances. Additionally, they would like to know more about the
following seven contemporary topics from an Islamic perspective: women and gender, finance,
modern culture, how to raise religious children, the environment, social justice and politics.
Women and Gender
A key finding of this study is that there are significant differences in the topics that were
of interest to female participants. It might not be surprising that many more female survey
participants than male participants wanted to learn about Islam as it relates to gender, sexuality
and the role of women, 25% to 2%. However, there was also a significant gender difference
regarding the topics of the Prophetic Sunnah and Islamic finance/inheritance. More male
participants selected the latter two topics than did female participants, 23.3% to 16.7% and
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 75
10.3% to 5.7% respectively. One factor that might contribute to these findings relates to the
demographics of the community (Grewal, 2014). More than two-thirds of Muslim Americans are
1
st
or 2
nd
-generation immigrants. Female Muslim Americans of immigrant background often find
themselves between two worlds. They are negotiating their faith’s perspectives on gender
between their countries of origin and the American cultural context (Howe, 2020). In this study,
Female Muslim Americans expressed interest in learning how to discern which community
perspectives on gender and sexuality are cultural and which ones are religious.
This study has revealed that gender is also a significant factor as it relates to the topics of
the Prophetic sunnah and finance. The Qur’anic text, as a general rule, has a greater focus on
general values as they relate to issues of gender and sexuality (Ali, 2013). The Sunnah, however,
tends to be more specific and is often cited as the source for defining gender roles in in Islamic
doctrine (Cochrane & Adams, 2018). This may serve as one factor in male participants preferring
this topic over female participants. As regards to finance as a topic, Islamic law prohibits riba,
which is often defined as interest or usury. Given that the modern global financial system is built
on the concept and practice of charging interest on financial transactions, the Muslim American
survey participants expressed their desire to learn about Islam as it relates to a number of money-
related topics, such as interest, finance, charity and inheritance. Although this topic is most
certainly of concern to Muslims world-wide, it is particularly relevant to Muslim Americans due
to the pervasiveness of the use of interest in Western financial systems and societies. It is
unclear, however, from this study why male participants preferred this topic significantly more
than did the female participants. More research is needed on this issue.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 76
Culture, Identity and Children
The survey participants expressed interest in very broad topics that have a nexus with
Islam and modern American culture. Given the large percentage of Muslim Americans from
immigrant backgrounds, approximately two-thirds, it is not surprising that the survey participants
expressed an inclination to study subjects related to Islam and culture. This key finding,
however, has to be contrasted to the positionality of the domestically born Black Muslim
American demographic which does not perceive a dichotomy between the two (Curtis, 2005).
That is not to suggest that Black Muslim Americans are without a critique of the mainstream of
American culture, particularly when it comes to issues of race and social justice. Instead, their
framing of how to navigate these challenges is not from the outside in, but rather from the inside
out (Jackson, 2005a). The interview data indicated that Black Muslim Americans know this
culture very well and push back against elements of the culture that are in conflict with Islamic
values. Their religious educational needs, therefore, have less of a focus on American culture and
more of a focus on the traditional Islamic topics as a foundation that can inform their cultural
critique (Jackson, 2005b).
Given the secular nature of American society, Muslim American parents struggle with
how to raise religiously observant Muslim children (O'Brien, 2017). They have thus identified
the spiritual formation of youth as a topic of interest (Karam, 2020). Whether they were born
abroad, are from immigrant descent or are indigenously American, the issue of religious and
spiritual identity formation for children was of shared interest (Saafir, 2021). Participants born in
a Muslim majority country often absorbed their Islamic identity from the mainstream of their
cultures in their countries of origin (Sirin & Fine, 2008). Participants in this study were uncertain
how to navigate parenting in America in light of the fact that Muslims are not only an extreme
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 77
minority there, but its dominant culture is one in which Islam is very often negatively portrayed.
They were also unfamiliar with what their children face growing up in a culture different from
that of their own childhood (Khabeer, 2016). This might be one important factor as to why they
reported they felt the need to learn about how to pass on the Islamic faith to their children.
Civic Engagement
Social justice, politics and the environment are topics of interest identified by the survey
participants. As these topics are often in the public discourse in the United States, it is
understandable that Muslim Americans who look to their faith to provide moral guidance would
want to learn the Islamic perspective on these topics (Cury, 2017). For many Black Muslim
Americans, social and racial justice has been a central aspect of their connection to Islam
throughout their history (McCloud, 2010). Similarly, some immigrant Muslim Americans who
faced discrimination and marginalization in America have expressed solidarity with not only
their Black coreligionists, but more broadly with other disenfranchised segments of society
(Jackson, 2005a). This historic connection to the topic of social and racial justice is one factor
that has contributed to the interest in this subject.
In the post 9-11 political climate in the United States, many Muslim Americans have
debated the most effective forms of civic engagement. This issue is complicated by the
securitized nature of the relationship between Muslim Americans and the federal and local
government (Grewal, 2014). How do Islamic values regarding the stewardship of the
environment intersect with Islamophobic rhetoric popular in political discourse? How should
Muslim Americans position themselves politically in light of legislative policies that are
inconsistent with Islamic values (GhaneaBassiri, 2010)? These factors and questions might
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 78
contribute to the interest in the study of Islam as it relates to politics and civic engagement in a
liberal Western democracy.
Examining Findings Using Human Ecology Theory
This study was designed using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems as the framework
(1996). This framework centers on the individual and their relationship to an expanding number
of circles of influence. These include the Microsystem (family, friends and the mosque), the
Exosystem (neighbors and mass media) and the Macrosystem (hegemonic cultural attitudes) and
the Chronosystem (the temporal contexts) in particular ways that influence educational needs for
this community. Because of its demographic diversity, this framework was useful in
conceptualizing an approach to studying the religious educational needs of the Muslim American
community. The survey protocol captured five key demographic markers including age, gender,
race, theological identity and religious heritage (religious heritage refers to whether they are a
convert or born into a Muslim family). The chi-square group comparison analysis uncovered
significant patterns particular to the various subgroups/demographics.
The survey protocol examined the “what” of the research questions and the interview
protocol examined the “why” and “how” of the research questions. It was in designing the
protocols that Bronfenbrenner’s framework was particularly helpful. The interview data revealed
both individual motivations as well as influences upon the individual as they relate to the
research questions. The participants were motivated to study Islam both as a spiritual devotion to
God and as well as a source of guidance in living life in contemporary America. Those
participants who were born into a Muslim family primarily acquired Islamic knowledge from
parents and their local mosques (the Microsystem). The negative media portrayal of Islam (the
Exosystem) motivated them to acquire Islamic knowledge so that they could respond to what
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 79
they felt were misrepresentations of their faith. The secular hegemonic American culture (the
Macrosystem) motivated the participants to seek Islamic knowledge that could help them
navigate related challenges to the practice of their faith in that environment. They expressed
interest in learning about Islamic parenting, finances and politics.
The Chronosystem, the very specific historical contexts of Muslim Americans, is a
significant influence that should be factored into the understanding of this study’s research
questions. Muslim American educational institutions, for example, are relatively new to the
United States even though Muslims are not new to this country. These institutions have primarily
been established within the past two generations. A majority of Muslims in the United States are
1
st
or 2
nd
-generation converts or 1
st
or 2
nd
-generation immigrants from Muslim majority countries
arriving into the United States after the liberalization of the immigration laws in 1965. First-
generation immigrants, most having grown up in Muslim-majority countries, encountered a large
number of Black Muslim Americans who had recently converted en mass as part of a
sociological phenomenon associated with Black power movements of the twentieth century.
These immigrant Muslims were largely satisfied with what they learned about Islam growing up,
but, when challenged with task of raising children in the vastly different and secular cultural
context of the United States, came together and formed religious institutions of learning and
practice, namely mosques and Sunday schools, in order to collectively undertake that task. These
institutions played a role in providing religious education as well communities of practice.
However, the culture of these 1
st
-generation religious institutions continued to reflect the culture
and mentality of the countries of origin of their founders.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 80
Answering the Research Questions
The first research question of this study is “What are the religious educational needs of
the Muslim American community?” The answer revealed in this study is quite clear. Muslim
Americans want to learn an authentic expression of Islam from credible sources, specifically
respected individual scholars and institutions that reflect an interpretation of the faith that is
culturally in-tune with contemporary America.
The second research question is “What motivates and hinders this community in the
engagement of formal or informal religious educational programming?” The data revealed
motivations at each level of influence within Bronfenbrenner’s framework. At the individual
level, they are motivated by spirituality and the desire to connect with God. At the Microsystem
level, those from Muslim families are motivated by their parents and their sub-culture. At the
Exosystem level, mainstream media narratives about Islam and dominant cultural attitudes
motivate this community to pursue religious education in order to respond to those perceptions.
Finally, at the Chronosystem level, the relative newness of Islam in America is a temporal
influence on the motivations of Muslim Americans. Many see themselves as pioneers in building
the foundations of Islam in America. As for the hindrances to the pursuit of structured Islamic
educational programming, there are several. They include time constraints due to work and
childcare, the accessibility of courses, financial constraints, the poor quality of instructors and
the racial and gender insensitivity permeating the culture of the institution that is offering the
educational programming.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 81
Recommendations for Practice
Recommendation 1: Muslim American Educational Institutions Should Create an Inclusive
Racial and Gender Environment
This study revealed that the Muslim American community highly values learning about
their religion. At the same time, they are not satisfied with their current level of religious
knowledge due to the piecemeal and unsystematic way that they have acquired that knowledge.
Many women participants expressed a dissatisfaction with what they were taught about Islam as
it relates to gender roles. The female participants indicated that in their upbringing, they were
often taught immigrant cultural norms regarding gender under the guise of Islamic teachings,
notions that many challenged as adults.
Additionally, given the ethnic and racial diversity of the Muslim American community,
educational institutions have the challenge of creating a learning environment in which each of
the various groups feels welcome and included. Immigrant communities from Asian or Arab
origins, a majority of this population, are often insensitive to cultural contexts and needs of
Black Muslim communities. They often face language as well as cultural barriers.
As the number of Islamic institutions of higher education grows, an accrediting body
should be formed to ensure best practices in offering Islamic educational programming with
special attention paid to the issues of race and gender. Accrediting bodies currently exist for full-
time Islamic elementary schools, but accreditation standards should be extended to include
Islamic Sunday schools, especially since many more Muslim American youth attend the latter
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 82
than the former (Bagby, 2021). Stakeholders in these communities should insist that their local
educational institutions acquire the requisite accreditation.
Recommendation 2: Muslim American Educational Institutions Should Offer Relevant
Courses Taught by Nationally Renowned Scholars in a Format That Is Accessible
Islamic educational institutions established by 1
st
-generation immigrant communities
with the aim of educating their 2
nd
-generation immigrant children face the challenge of not only
providing a fulfilling religious and spiritual education, but also of helping those children to
navigate intersectional identities. Most of the participants indicated that their mosque Sunday
school teachers were generally unqualified immigrant parents from the local community. It is
understandable, therefore, that these teachers might have brought with them cultural attitudes
that reflect the cultures from whence they emigrated.
The study participants indicated a preference to learn from nationally renowned Muslim
scholars who have a national profile. These individuals tend to have a few qualities in common.
They are culturally fluent in the Muslim American context. They have traditional Islamic
training and credentials inclusive of Arabic language fluency. Additionally, they are charismatic,
personable and relatable. Islamic educational institutions should strongly consider these qualities
when selecting faculty for their courses and programs.
In addition to the profile of the scholar, participants are also looking for a connection to a
community of learners. They indicated in their study responses that interactivity with the faculty
and fellow students was a significant factor in their completing educational programs in which
they participated. Additionally, many participants preferred flexibility in how and where they
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 83
participated in learning. Therefore, Islamic educational institutions should consider a format that
facilitates interactivity while at the same time allows for accessibility for individuals with busy
schedules. One solution is to offer their programming in a hybrid/on-demand format that has
occasional live/synchronous events. Particular attention should also be paid to ensuring a
welcoming and inclusive environment for all of the various demographics such as race/ethnicity,
religious heritage, gender, theological identity and age-group.
There is a serious shortage of qualified teachers and scholars to serve this population
(Bagby, 2021). However, a number of options have arisen that have made this recommendation
feasible. Firstly, there are a growing number of Islamic school curricular resources and networks
that have been established and made available. Secondly, there are new professional
development courses and degree programs designed to produce qualified teachers and scholars.
Institutions should invest in the training of their faculty by funding their education at these
institutions. Lastly, online or hybrid formats should be incorporated to expand student
connection to the faculty and fellow learners.
Recommendation 3: Muslim American Educational Institutions Should Offer Traditional
Islamic Subjects with an Authentic Approach and Also Offer Courses That Deal with
Contemporary Issues that Address Modernity
This study revealed Muslim Americans’ preference to learn the classical Islamic
intellectual tradition, with subjects such as the Qur’an, Islamic law, theology/philosophy, the
teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and Islamic history. It is striking, however, that they also
preferred to acquire knowledge about contemporary issues such as identity, gender, politics and
social justice. Islamic educational institutions should consider these needs when determining the
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 84
relevance of their offerings. This population wants to both know their religion in an authentic
manner and also know what it tells them about how to face the challenges of today. The same
proposed accrediting bodies from recommendation one should also ensure the relevance of the
subjects being taught at these Islamic institutions.
Limitations and Delimitations
One of the delimitations of this study was the scope of population selected to participate
in the surveys and interviews. The Muslim American community is very diffuse and dispersed
geographically. No registry or centralized database exists of individuals who identify as Muslim
in the United States. The participants of the survey were drawn from those who attend mosques
in Southern California as well as members of local and national Muslim organizations and online
forums. It is estimated that about 80% of Muslims attend mosques (Pew, 2019). As a
consequence of the difficulty in identifying and soliciting the inclusion of non-mosque-going
participants and those who are not affiliated with Muslim community organizations, the research
has excluded that segment of the population.
Another delimitation is the exclusion of several minority sects. The Sunni and Shi’i
populations included in this research represent over 81% of the American Muslim population
(Pew, 2017). As a result of limited resources of time and access, I have elected to focus my
research on these two confessional groupings in the community.
Future Research
There is much research still needed to better understand this community and their needs.
A more pointed study should be done on a number of areas that this study only marginally
explores. Specifically, issues related to religious identity formation of 2
nd
-generation immigrant
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 85
communities, especially as it relates to race and gender. Convert groups, including Black,
Hispanic and White Muslims might have idiosyncratic needs. Additionally, research should
explore what the main issues in Black Muslim identity formation are and how that community
intersects and interacts with immigrant communities.
This study only tangentially touches upon issues related to socio-economic status of the
participants and the role that it plays in their educational pursuits. Many interview participants
indicated that finances often served as a hinderance in their study of Islam. This subject should
be examined both quantitatively as well as qualitatively and should be explored in light of other
demographic factors such as race.
This study aimed to have a representative sample of participants. Unfortunately, only 3%
of the participants identify as Shi’i. A dedicated study of Islamic sectarian minority groups
should also be undertaken. It is striking to me that this study indicates that Shi’i participants
report a significantly more negative experience in their study of Islam in college. It seems that
the dominant academic narrative about this group in society at large presents them as marginal
and as less legitimate. That combined with political tensions with Iran, a majority Shi’i country,
might impact this narrative making Shi’i students feel misrepresented in those contexts.
This study also, for purposes of expediency, avoided including participants under the age
of 18. Much useful data could result from a rigorous study that focuses on this population. This
data would be of particular interest for mosques offering Sunday school or full-time Islamic
school education.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 86
Conclusion
This study examined the religious educational needs of the Muslim American community
and what motivates and hinders them in the pursuit of Islamic knowledge through structured
Islamic educational programs. This research has partially filled the gap in the literature about this
community and can serve as a resource to Islamic educational institutions that are looking to
address those needs. The key findings of this study were nuanced in that they looked at a number
of demographic groups within this community and identified significant differences among them.
As Muslim Americans seek to find their place in society, this study is important not only to their
community, but also to the study of pluralism in America. In many ways, it is a case study of the
integration of a distinctive religious community into the diversity of the United States.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 87
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MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 95
APPENDIX A
Survey Protocol
Bronfenbrenner
Construct
Bronfenbrenner’s
Influence
Survey Item (question and
response)
Scale of
Measurement
Q 1 I Self-identity is a key
factor in
Bronfenbrenner’s
framework. (RQ 1,
RQ 2)
Acquiring religious knowledge
about Islam is important to me.
Ordinal
Q 2 Macro, Exo,
Chrono
The religious
individual’s identity
is affected by the
media’s portrayal of
their faith. (RQ 1,
RQ2)
I am asked questions about Islam
and Muslims due to the
prevailing political and cultural
attitudes towards Islam.
Ordinal
Q 3 I, Micro-F Family can play a
role in the passing
on of the faith and
the learning about it.
(RQ 1)
I am satisfied with the amount of
Islamic knowledge that I
acquired from my parents. (Will
have an N/A option)
Ordinal
Q 4 I, Micro-M The individual
interacts most
I am satisfied with the religious
instruction that I received at the
Ordinal
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 96
intensively with her
microsystem. (RQ
1)
Sunday school of my mosque
growing up. (Will have an N/A
option)
Q 5 I, Micro-M Does the purely
secular teaching of
Islam satisfy the
religious educational
needs? (RQ 1)
The courses that I took on Islam
in college helped me to have a
better understanding of my faith.
(Will have an N/A option)
Ordinal
Q 6 I, Micro-S Does the purely
secular teaching of
Islam satisfy the
religious educational
needs? (RQ 1)
The courses that I took on Islam
in college helped me to have a
greater appreciation of my faith.
(Will have an N/A option)
Ordinal
Q 7 I The question of
satisfaction relates
to both research
questions. (RQ 1,
RQ 2)
I am satisfied with my current
level of Islamic knowledge.
Ordinal
Q 8 I, Micro The preferred
learning
environment relates
to both need and
I prefer to learn about Islam from
(Select all that apply):
a. my local imam
Nominal
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 97
motivation. (RQ 1,
RQ 2)
b. nationally
renowned Islamic
scholars/shaykhs
c. online
d. informally but
with the guidance
of a trusted
scholar or
educational
institution
e. independently
Q 9 I, Meso The interplay
between the various
systems might
correlate to the
motivation related to
pursuing structured
learning about
Islam. (RQ 2)
What are the 3 Islamic subjects
that you are most interested to
learn more about?
Nominal
Q
10
I, Meso The interplay
between the various
systems might
correlate to the
I would be interested in pursuing
a graduate degree in Islamic
studies if I could do so without
Ordinal
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 98
motivation related to
pursuing structured
learning about
Islam. (RQ 2)
having to quit my job, relocate,
or go into debt.
Q
11
I, Chrono Self-identity is a key
factor in
Bronfenbrenner’s
framework and can
influence the
perception of
religious educational
needs as well as the
motivation to pursue
learning in a
structured manner.
(RQ 1, RQ 2)
My Islamic heritage is:
a. Convert
b. First generation
immigrant from Muslim
family
c. Second generation
immigrant (i.e. born in
the United States)
d. Third generation
immigrant
e. Second generation
convert (i.e. born to at
least one convert parent).
f. Third generation convert.
Other ____________
Nominal
Q
12
I Demographical info
might correlate to
How do you identify
theologically?
Nominal
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 99
the RQs. (RQ 1, RQ
2)
Q
13
I Demographical info
might correlate to
the RQs. (RQ 1, RQ
2)
Describe your ethnic or racial
identity.
Nominal
Q
14
I, Chrono Demographical info
might correlate to
the RQs. (RQ 1, RQ
2)
In what year were you born? Nominal
Q
15
I Demographical info
might correlate to
the RQs. (RQ 1, RQ
2)
What is your gender? Nominal
Q
16
Would you be willing to
participate in a 30-minute
interview? (This question will
only be included for the mosque-
goers and the members of the
national Muslim organizations.)
Nominal
I=Individual, Micro=Microsystem, Micro-F=Microsystem+Family, Micro-
S=Microsystem+School, Micro-M=Microsystem+Mosque, Meso=Mesosystem, Exo-
MM=Exosystem+Mass Media, Exo=Exosystem, Macro=Macrosystem, Chrono=Chronosystem
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 100
APPENDIX B
Interview Protocol
Bronfenbrenne
r Construct
Bronfenbrenner’s
Influence?
Interview Questions
for students of Bayan and Bayan On-
Demand
Q 1 I Self-identity is a key
factor in
Bronfenbrenner’s
framework. (RQ 1,
RQ 2)
How important is learning about
Islam in your life?
Q 2 I Ideological
identification might
impact perception of
learning needs. (RQ
1)
How important is your theological
identity? (Sunni, Shi’i, Salafi, Sufi,
etc.)
Q 3 Exo-MM The religious
individual’s identity
is affected by the
media’s portrayal of
their faith. (RQ 1,
RQ2)
How does the mainstream media’s
portrayal of Islam impact your
learning about the religion?
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 101
Q 4 Micro-F Family can play a
role in the passing on
of the faith and the
learning about it. (RQ
1)
If you grew up in a Muslim family,
what role did your parents play in
your religious education? If not, how
did you learn about Islam?
a. What generation Muslim
are you? (A convert or
the child of a convert,
etc.)
b. Did your family
immigrate to America?
c. In what ways did your
family help you learn
about Islam
d. How important was
learning about Islam in
your family?
Q 5 Micro-S//Micro
F/ Micro-F
(RQ 1) What topics do you feel are most
important to include in Islamic
education programs for adults?
Q 6 Micro-M The individual
interacts most
If you attended a mosque/Islamic
Sunday school growing up, tell me
about the learning experience that
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 102
intensively with her
microsystem. (RQ 1)
you received there. If not, what do
you hope that it would be like?
Q 7 Micro-S, Macro The internet,
depending on the
user, might fit into
both the micro and
macrosystems. (RQ 1,
RQ2)
Do you watch videos online (or
offline) to learn about Islam? If so,
what was your experience with that?
If not, why not?
Q 8 Micro-S College, like
elementary school,
fits into the
microsystem. (RQ 1)
Did you take any courses about
Islam in college? Tell me about
those experiences. If not, why not?
Q 9 I (RQ 2) What would entice you to enroll
in/sign-up for a course/program
providing Islamic knowledge?
Q 10 Micro-S The motivation for
the formal study in
Islam relates to my
RQ 2.
Aside from these contexts, have you
ever signed up for a course or
program to formally or informally
study Islam? If so, tell me about it.
a. With the local mosque
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 103
With an Islamic Institution? If so,
which one?
Q 11 N/A (RQ 2) b. (If yes on Q. 10) How did
you learn about the
course/program?
Q 12 I (RQ 2) (If yes on Q. 10) Tell me about how
you decided to enroll/sign-up for the
course(s)/program.
Q 13 N/A (RQ 2) (If yes on Q. 10) Did you complete
the course/program? Why or why
not?
Q 14 N/A (RQ 2) (If yes on Q. 10) What was the
interaction with the instructor like?
Q 15 N/A (RQ 2) (If yes on Q. 10) What was the
interaction with your classmates
like?
Q 16 N/A (RQ 2)
(If yes on Q. 10) Did you
recommend/encourage others to
enroll/sign-up as well?
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 104
I=Individual, Micro=Microsystem, Micro-F=Microsystem+Family, Micro-
S=Microsystem+School, Micro-M=Microsystem+Mosque, Meso=Mesosystem, Exo-
MM=Exosystem+Mass Media, Exo=Exosystem, Macro=Macrosystem, Chrono=Chronosystem
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 105
APPENDIX C
Information Sheet
STUDY TITLE: The Religious Education of Muslim Americans: A Study of Needs and
Motivations
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Jihad Turk
FACULTY ADVISOR: Dr. Tracy Tambascia
You are being asked to voluntarily participate in a research study. This document provides
information about this research. You are encouraged to ask questions about anything that is not
clear.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to explore the religious educational needs of the Muslim American
community and to find out what motivates or hinders members of this group in the engagement
of structured educational programming. We hope to gain insight that could help Muslim
educational institutions both provide relevant educational programs and to effectively attract
Muslim American students. You are being invited to participate because you have attended a
mosque event, participated in Islamic educational programming or are affiliated with an Islamic
organization.
PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 106
You will be asked to take fill out a survey online and possibly participate in a videoconference
interview. The survey and interview will include demographic information but your data will be
kept in confidence. If you so choose, you may withdraw from participation at any time without
penalty. There might be a question on the survey asking if you would like to participate in a
follow-up interview. If you choose to voluntarily participate, the interview should take about 30
minutes. You may withdraw at any time without penalty.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Although your data will be kept in confidence and securely stored, the Institutional Review
Board (IRB) at USC might review your data in order to monitor research studies to protect the
rights and welfare of research subjects.
The published data from this study will be presented in a way to protect the identity of the
participants.
Your interviewer will ask for your permission to audio and video record the interview. You may
decline to have it recorded in which case the researcher will take notes instead.
After the data has been analyzed, the researcher might contact you again to make sure that their
understanding of your responses was accurate.
Your data will be kept secure in a password protected database and will be destroyed after 2
years.
INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Feel free to contact the principal investigator at Jturk@usc.edu or (310) 415-6747. You can also
contact the faculty advisor, Dr. Tracy Tambascia at tpoon@usc.edu.
IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 107
The University of Southern California Institutional Review Board can be reached at (323) 442-
0114 or email irb@usc.edu.
MUSLIM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 108
APPENDIX D
Recruitment Email Script
My name is Jihad Turk. Although I am the founding president of Bayan Islamic Graduate School
and an active member of the Muslim American community, I am reaching out to you as a
doctoral candidate at USC’s Rossier School of Education. I am conducting research in an attempt
to better understand the religious educational needs of our community.
Your participation in this survey will be of great benefit to Muslim educational institutions that
are looking to serve the Muslim American community. This survey will only require
approximately 10 minutes of your time. Please complete this survey by March 30
th
, 2022.
Click on this link to take the survey https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0de3KzqxbCJleOq
and reply to this email if you are willing to provide me feedback.
Much appreciation,
Jihad Turk
Doctoral Candidate
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
This study examines the religious educational needs of Muslim Americans and what motivates and hinders them in their pursuit of Islamic knowledge. The mixed-method research shows the ubiquitous interest amongst Muslim Americans to learn more about their faith from authentic and credible sources and to do so in a way that allows them to feel a connection to both the Islamic scholars with whom they study as well as with a community of fellow learners. The findings reveal an interest in both traditional and contemporary topics and an openness to learning both online and in-person formats. Many significant group differences were discovered as related to gender, race, religious heritage, age and sectarian identity.
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Turk, Jihad Mohammed
(author)
Core Title
Religious educational needs of Muslim Americans
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Global Executive
Degree Conferral Date
2023-05
Publication Date
02/24/2023
Defense Date
01/11/2023
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
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Language
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Electronically uploaded by the author
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Advisor
Tambascia, Tracy (
committee chair
), Maddox, Anthony (
committee member
), Seli, Helena (
committee member
)
Creator Email
jihadturk@gmail.com,jturk@usc.edu
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Tags
American Muslims
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convert Muslims
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Imams
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learning modalities
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