Increasing Politicisation

Professors and lecturers at Britain's Islamic Studies departments have denied that there is a link between Islamic Studies and extremism on campuses in the United Kingdom. Susannah Tarbush has the details

University in Oxford (photo: AP)
Britain's Islamic Studies departments are coming under increasing pressure, since Higher Education Minister Rammell designated the subject as "strategically important"

​​Academic staff specialising in Middle Eastern or Islamic Studies at British universities may be finding this year's summer vacation less relaxing than usual, as a result of the turmoil in their sector.

They are coming under pressure from Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell, who on June 4 announced that Islamic Studies at degree level is to be designated as a "strategically important subject". He hopes that this will help prevent violent extremism, and will improve community cohesion.

Ignoring the realities of Islam in Britain?

Rammell's announcement came in response to the report "Islam at Universities in England: Meeting the Needs and Investing in the Future", published the same day. Rammell had commissioned the report from Dr Ataullah Siddiqui, director of the Markfield Institute of Higher Education.

"Dr Siddiqui's review as well as other reports and conferences on Islam in higher education have told us that Islamic Studies departments are concentrating too much on a Middle East focus and ignoring the realities of Islam in modern multi-cultural Britain," Rammell said. "This risks focussing on 'out of date and irrelevant issues'."

Rammell announced that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, together with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the university sector, will develop a long-term project to address "the gaps in Islamic Studies teaching and research". The HEFCE has committed £1 mn to start this work.

Looking beyond philology and classical texts

The Siddiqui Report makes ten recommendations. The first is that, given the growing number of Muslims in Britain, the Islamic Studies syllabus need to look beyond philology and classical texts and area studies, particularly the Middle East.

The provision of Islamic studies should be linked to job opportunities, and syllabuses should focus better on theological and civilisational aspects of Islam relevant to contemporary practice of the faith. Such courses would provide non-Muslim students with insight into issues within Islamic doctrine that are pertinent now.

Universities should provide modules on Islamic studies for those whose main speciality is some other subject. Students should be given the opportunity to learn from competent traditionally trained Islamic scholars, in at least those parts of the syllabus that directly inform everyday practice of Islam.

Muslim chaplains and advisors at universities

All universities should consider appointing Muslim chaplains or advisors. The standard of training of such chaplains needs to be improved. Guidance should be provided for university staff in such issues as prayer times, the significance of Friday prayer, halal food and Ramadan.

Dr Siddiqui seems to feel that not all media reports of his report were fully accurate; for example he had not focused on the training of imams (some press reports had said the £1 mn was going to train imams).

He told Qantara that Middle Eastern and Arab Studies departments where Islamic Studies are taught should also cover the role of Islam beyond the Middle East in, for example, South Asia, South-East Asia and Africa. Such experiences are also of relevance to Muslims in Europe.

Rejecting criticisms from some quarters (including neoconservative and even anti-Muslim commentators) that his report seeks to Islamize the university system, he said: "Islamization is not my aim: my report asks for inclusiveness and a wider understanding of Islamic Studies."

Education, not social control

Professor Drummond Bone, president of the organisation of university vice-chancellors Universities UK, said it would be "for the relevant academic community to debate any future changes to the teaching of Islamic Studies (...). It is important that all academic disciplines follow the normal quality procedures which ensure critical intellectual rigour and openness."

In a letter to the Independent Newspaper, the chair of Arabic Studies at Exeter University's Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Professor Robert Gleave, said that the primary task of those involved in teaching Islamic Studies at university is "education, not social control. To attempt to use an academic discipline to encourage British Muslims to adopt an 'acceptable' version of Islam is a potentially dangerous policy to encourage." He said it would inevitably lead to "poor scholarship and inadequate teaching."

It was in May 2006 that Rammell decided to launch a major review of the teaching of Islam, in order to "stamp out extremism". He had concluded that "the quality of teaching of Islam that takes place in our universities needs to be improved."

No link between Islamic Studies and extremism

But at the 'Islam on Campus' conference held last December at Edinburgh University, professors and lecturers from universities and other higher education institutions strongly denied that there is a link between Islamic Studies and extremism on campuses. They also rejected Rammell's assertion that the quality of teaching of Islam at universities needs to be improved.

They protested at the increasing politicisation of Islamic Studies. Many of them talked of increasing pressure from political interest groups, and of intimidation of scholars and institutions.

They warned that the atmosphere of self-censorship fostered by the current political climate, and reinforced by recent government legislation, effectively meant that valuable research on certain movements and groups cannot be carried out.

Susannah Tarbush

© Qantara.de 2007

Qantara.de

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