| Abstract: | In recent years, the purpose and methods of Islamic schools have received increased scrutiny from non-Muslim and Muslim leaders as well as the Western media, often leading to negative publicity, criticisms, and statements of official concern. The lack of appreciation of the distinction between radical and ordinary Islamic schools is due to a lack of understanding of the underlying assumptions and related practices of education in Islam. A key source of this misunderstanding concerns the role that memorization plays in relation to knowledge, learning, understanding, and reasoning, all of which have nuances in Islamic education that do not inhere in Western conceptions of these words. Without an appreciation of the purpose of memorization in the educational process and with the media images of children rocking back and forth, memorizing the Qur'an and reciting it in unison under the watchful eyes of stern-looking teachers, the basic mission of Islamic schooling has become confounded in the West with ideas of promoting violence and terrorism or inculcating a particularly radical, extremist, or militant view of Islam. Thus, the other purposes of Islamic schooling have not been highlighted. Drawing on data from field research in Morocco, Yemen, and Nigeria, the author suggests that Qur'anic memorization is a process of embodying the divine--the words of God--and as such is a far more learner-oriented and meaningful process than is typically described. She argues, furthermore, that the mission of contemporary Qur'anic schooling, with Qur'anic memorization at its core, is concerned with developing spirituality and morality as well as with providing an alternative to public education, when the availability and quality of public schooling is limited. (Contains 1 figure and 34 footnotes.) |
Description of Book:
ReplyDeleteHelen N. Boyle takes an anthropological approach to Quranic schooling in examining the role of Quranic preschools in community life.