An exploration of the viability of partnership between dar al-ulum and Higher Education Institutions in North West England focusing upon pedagogy and relevance

Final Report

Ron Geaves, Liverpool Hope University

Introduction and Background

Religious education in faith schools has been subject of contestation for several decades and is arguably most acutely experienced in the Muslim faith school sector. The debates are framed within ongoing and continuous educational theorization of the role of religious education in the school curriculum; the role of faith schools and in the case of

Muslim faith schools, political concerns over integration. Muslim faith schools were likely to find themselves at the forefront of government identification of schools ‘as a tool for tackling extremist opinion and ideology’ in the 2008 Prevent Strategy, whose primary focus was the prevention of militant .1 In the case of the

Deobandi dar al-ulum (Muslim seminary),2 a sector with approximately thirty institutions in Britain, primarily concerned with delivering a seventeenth century religious curriculum formulated in , known as the Dars-i Nizami,3 these debates become focused around relevance with regard to both pedagogical styles of delivery and the content of the curriculum. Although the project that provided the field research for this article was primarily concerned with the practical obstacles that might stand in the way of possible partnerships between the dar al-ulum and HE/FE sector institutions with regard to the accreditation of the final two years of the curriculum (post ‘A’ Level), it was able throw light on the concerns with regard to relevance and pedagogy.

The project was funded by the Network in 2010 and explores possibilities of collaboration between Muslim providers of traditional Islamic education

1 and HE/FE institutions in close geographical proximity in North West England. Possible participants for collaboration had been identified prior to the commencement of the project and two prominent dar al-ulums (Islamic seminaries) located in Lancashire and

Greater Manchester affiliated with the network were identified as possible partners, along with two Christian foundation FE colleges involved in the delivery of undergraduate degrees validated by major North West England universities. The

Christian foundations were initially selected as they already recruited substantial numbers of Muslim students from their local catchment areas; they were in proximity to several major dar al-ulums including the two identified for the project. It was surmised they would be interested in collaboration as a result of interest in faith education, interfaith dialogue and issues of local/national integration. Deobandi dar al-ulums were selected as they are the principal providers of Islamic traditional education in Britain and provide the greatest challenges with regard to assumed strategies of isolation. The

Muslim institutions identified provide a split curriculum consisting of primary and secondary school National Curriculum syllabi, subject to OFSTED inspection as well as an eight year South Asian traditional Islamic education leading to a two year advanced level study which is the sole access to alim (Islamic legal scholar, pl. ) status in

Britain. The schools therefore function both as educators of Muslim children in Britain and as religious training sites to produce the new generations of British ulama. As such they are ideally placed to ascertain cross-fertilization of pedagogy from traditional

Islamic education and the teaching of GCSE at both levels.

The project had a dual intention to (1) see through to completion a partnership in which a BA in Islamic Education would be created for advanced dar-al-ulum students and (2) to focus on the relevance and pedagogical styles of the Dars-i Nizami curriculum taught in the dar al-ulums and thereby add to scholarly and political debates on the

2 /dar al-ulum education which has already generated a body of literature by academics and media. At the commencement of the project there were considerable challenges to overcome with regard to access to the Deobandi dar al-ulum network in

Britain and the willingness of educators with strong faith commitments to either

Christianity or to work with each other. In formulating the project the researcher was informed by the ideal of ‘engaged religious studies’ or ‘engaged research’ in which scholars of religion are required to squarely address the issue of advocacy. In such research academics work with those outside academia to resolve questions of public significance.4 As stated by Geaves (2010) ‘joining with Muslim partners, forming collaborative links, helping to establish training programmes and to professionalize their various institutions and bodies, working as equals in a spirit of friendship’.5 Alison

Scott-Baumann has been instrumental in developing such partnerships working on collaboration between Ebrahim Community College in the East End of London and the

University of Gloucestershire in addition to a failed pilot project for educating Muslim women to be teachers.6 Currently successful collaborations exist between The Islamic

Foundation and the University of Gloucestershire, The Islamic College and the

University of Middlesex and the Khoja Shi’a and the University of Winchester. In all these pioneering partnerships, it is university Education departments that are taking the lead, perceiving a synergy to be forged between Islamic and Western approaches to education.

Phil Klein (et al.) also affirm that university–community partnerships provide

‘synergistic spaces for communities to address difficulties and universities to meet their missions’, reflecting critically on the benefits and barriers to such collaborations.7 Scott-

Baumann draws upon the philosopher Paul Ricoeur to provide a theoretical construct for such collaborations, citing Little Ethics (1992) in which he argues that ‘we may need

3 to modify our ideals in certain contexts’, and a ‘dialectic of hope’8 in which we need to free ourselves from the hegemony of any one belief paradigm for interpreting the world and seek a ‘multiplicity of different interpretive frameworks.9 Another useful theoretical paradigm is provided by Robert Jackson’s reminder of Gerd Baumann’s distinction between ‘dominant discourses’ and ‘demotic discourse’ in which the former refers to the language used to describe reified or ‘homogeneous’ communities and the latter to the language of cultural interchange on the ground, that is, ‘culture in the making’.10

The first stage of the project involved initiating conversations with the dar al- ulums and the respective FE/HE colleges. The researcher was aware that in initiating such dialogue, suspicions existed on both sides and to date no partnerships had been forged with the Deobandi dar al-ulums in Britain.

Deobandi reticence to engage with outsiders has been variously analysed as due to defensive strategies of isolation developed to protect Islam in the crisis caused by the loss of Muslim power to the British in India in the second half of the nineteenth century11 and, alternatively the protection of Muslim piety. Whatever the reasons for their reticence, Deobandi educational institutions were never easy to access for researchers nor was there traditionally a will or need to co-operate with partners in the

Muslim educational domain, let alone non-Muslim agencies, except where required by

British legal frameworks. As pointed out by Birt in an informative article, Deoband’s seminaries were created as ‘oppositional in character’, and were a ‘form of moral rearmament’ at the end of Muslim rule in India.12 Birt reminds us that although some divisions of Deoband were more political, the branch that became dominant in Britain was the ‘pietist and anti-political trend’, often working in tandem with Tablighi Jama’at, that was marked by an attitude to the ‘West’ that deemed British society as a source of

4 corruption to individual Muslim religiosity.13 Geaves was to find this protective enclave of traditional piety in Deobandi/Tablighi Jama’at institutions difficult to penetrate in

1995 and Sophie Gillat-Ray found it no more penetrable in 2005.14 She describes her encounter in insightful detail and concludes that any such research falls into the category of ‘sensitive’. She writes, ‘In the case of Deobandi dar al-uloom, a researcher will be ‘placed’ or ‘situated’ in a meaningful pre-existing ‘Deobandi’ world-view and role category and it is very unlikely that such a categorization will correspond with the self- perception or identity of the researcher’.15

To overcome such obstacles, the researcher was able to draw upon contacts made in previous projects and to utilise the same human resources that successfully gained access to Indian Deobandi dar al-ulums in 2008.16 In that year, the researcher had visited 26 major dar al-ulums in Northern India, including both the historic foundational institutions in Deoband, Saharanpur and Lucknow and their respective transplants in

Gujarat that have so much influenced the creation of Deobandi schools in Britain. A number of prominent Deobandi religious educators were interviewed in Northern India, well-known as preachers, spiritual guides and teachers to the Gujarati Deobandi ulama who held positions of educational leadership in North West England.

The project was influenced by the findings of the Makadam/Scott-Baumann report in 2010, in which it was stated that cross fertilisation of pedagogical methodologies in the dar al-ulums is already achieving a unique synthesis drawing upon skills of memory and cognition.17 However, as stated, the main aim of the project was to bring together teams of educators/managers from the relevant institutions, drawing upon the findings of the Makadam/Scott-Baumann report as a basis for discussion to seek ways forward for future collaboration that can develop the skills of advanced students in dar al-ulums.18

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The pressure from government and media on traditional Muslim educators was always going to make access from researchers or those seeking collaborative partnerships even more problematic but since the research of Geaves (1996) and

Gilliat-Ray (2005) a number of internal and external pressures had changed the landscape of the Deobandi dar al-ulum and made the possibility of collaboration with empathetic partners from higher education less fraught with access difficulties, although sensitivity and the ability to walk within the realms of a stranger’s religious landscape are still required. Geaves noted that there was little opposition to professionalising the ulama amongst the seminary graduates and an expressed desire for lifelong learning programmes that enabled the British imam to be more effective in carrying out his profession in a ‘contemporary multicultural urban British environment’.19 It also needs to be remembered that although the primary purpose of the dar al-ulum is to create future generations of the ulama, only a small percentage of the students exit the schools with the required eight year qualification in the religious sciences. The dar al-ulums remain popular methods of educating children at both primary and secondary levels, accommodating both day and boarding pupils. Although

Muslim parents of Gujarati or Pakistani Deobandi origin may be concerned with piety, moral behaviour, or even discipline issues, they are increasingly concerned that their children succeed in the new environment of Britain.

Monitoring of the discussions had begun with a view to the development of programmes but also to analytically report on the processes of engagement to further understanding of the cultural, religious, educational or other difficulties that need to be overcome to develop future collaborations anywhere in the country. It was hoped that successful outcome of the project would also facilitate the creation of trust and goodwill between different models of cultural educators now sharing a common space in the UK.

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To this end, a detailed log of all contact between the researcher and the major stakeholders was maintained with a record of all e-mail correspondence. The log also provided a detailed record of negotiation of access. There have been a number of previous attempts to create such partnerships with Muslim educators with mixed success and it was decided to keep a detailed record of all efforts to establish dialogue in order to provide a confidential source of success and failure for future attempts at such collaboration.

Progress of the Project

Between the end of November 2010 and January 2011 preliminary negotiations were made with principal stakeholders to create a schedule of meetings. Dissemination of the

Makadam/Scott-Baumann Report was made to the dar al-ulums’ and colleges’ management to act as a basis for negotiation. For a number of reasons access to Darul

Uloom Al-Arabiyyah Al-Islamiyyah, better known as Bury was deemed to be more difficult and it was decided to develop a strategy of access that was informal and depended upon personal contacts rather than make a formal enquiry to instigate a meeting that might end in refusal and jeopardise any further contact. Consequently the focus of the project has been on (Darul Uloom Blackburn) where access was deemed easier due to previous contacts. In January 2011 the first meetings were held with Darul Uloom Blackburn and St. Mary’s Blackburn and Christ’s College

Bury.

First contact was made on the 12th January 2011 with Maulana X, a younger generation British Imam and a teacher at Darul Uloom Blackburn. After the project was explained to him, he requested more detail in writing. Two weeks later he requested a meeting with relevant personnel at Darul Uloom Blackburn. In early February a meeting

7 took place with Maulana X, Maulana Y and the Principal of Darul Uloom Blackburn. The atmosphere of the meeting was extremely cordial and co-operative and the Principal indicated that earlier attempts had been made by the institution to enter into collaboration with a local university that permitted accreditation of the final two years of the Dars-i Nizami curriculum (120 credits) towards a BA degree. These discussions had broken down after differences arose concerning the management of the programme. The Principal requested the researcher to act as an honest broker between the dar al-ulum and any HE institutions in North West England that might be sympathetic to collaboration. Consent was given to the researcher to meet a group of advanced Dars-i Nizami students and to sit in on a selection of classes with students of all age groups undertaking traditional Islamic learning. This was achieved in March

2011.

Teaching observation and pedagogical styles

The dar al-ulum engages in a process of selection with new students according to ability during the first year of entry. In this reception year all students engage in Hifz classes

(learning the Qur’an by rote drawing upon traditional Islamic methodology). At the same time they engage in the national curriculum delivered in English. Those who are successful in recitation and memorisation of the Qur'an are permitted to go further to become Hafez (a title of status used by Muslims for those who have completely memorized the Qur'an). Brighter children are advised to develop cognitive skills and progress to the Dars-i Nizami. Thus some participate in national curriculum alongside

Qur’an memorisation whilst others participate in the Dars-i Nizami curriculum alongside the national curriculum until completing GCSE Ordinary or Advanced level.

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The small group who go on to complete the Dars-i Nizami extend beyond ‘A’ level by two years and it is this group who could benefit from higher education qualifications.

A number of classes were attended by the researcher during the morning sessions when the traditional curriculum is taught. Each class lasts for thirty minutes and the researcher was able to attend sessions on Advanced Jurisprudence,

Intermediate , (study of traditional commentaries) and translation of

Qur’an (senior), Qur’an translation (junior), (three age groups), and Modern

Arabic Grammar. The teaching ranged considerably from the didactic to interactive. The style of delivery seemed to depend on the individual teacher but to some degree it is related to the subject material. The Hadith/Qur’an classes were the most traditional in style but there were signs of some tutors being more interactive and encouraging students to go behind the specific to seek universal and applicable ethics. Students were expected to maintain a high level of participation, whether memorising, calculating, conversing or translating. The researcher's observations indicated a level of individual student engagement and interactive participation that compared very favourably with the higher level cognitive skills expected in a British educational institution. There was certainly more memorisation going on than expected from children in state schools but it would be a misnomer to state that the pedagogic skills were based upon rote learning.

The attention given to language skills was significant as the course recognises that without mastering Arabic/ there is little chance of student success at any significant level. The skills acquired in these languages are carried over in GCSE study at both levels.

The students in the Advanced Jurisprudence class consisted of graduate students qualifying to become imams in Britain. They were engaged in role play/case studies calculating inheritance according to Islamic legal recommendations. There were five to

9 six students in a small classroom equipped with whiteboard. The level of engagement and attention was very high. The arithmetical formulas for complex calculations were handled well. The students were assessed by being given actual problems sent in by members of the community for decisions by the ulama. The responses were checked by senior ulama before being sent out to the community. In this way the students began to become involved in the process of issuing fatwa (religious legal rulings) and the class certainly involved them in developing higher level critical skills. The facilities of the school are good and demonstrate a style that borrows from both east and west.

Classrooms tend to be traditional with students sitting on the floor at lecterns in front of seated teachers. Respect for teachers is high and classroom discipline exceptional. The school IT facilities are good and bear comparison with state secondary schools.

Over lunch the researcher met with six advanced students in the final years of completion of the Dars-i Nizami curriculum. They were highly motivated, expressed their desire to serve humanity/Islam and were excited at the possibility of engaging in a higher education qualification. The most common articulation was for a BA in Islamic

Education that recognised their prior learning in the Dars-i Nizami, acknowledging their achievements in the final two years of advanced study. They agreed that pedagogical styles depended on individual teachers rather than course material but also considered that the intense level of memorisation demanded was a useful transferable skill (Law, for example). The researcher also met a graduate student who was studying

Ophthalmology at Bradford University after achieving high grades in science A Levels at the dar al-ulum. He exhibited a high degree of ethical awareness and wished to practice in the Middle East. The general impression was that of highly motivated, intelligent and reflexive young men whose ability to undertake degree level study was apparent.

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Further progress

At the end of March the researcher met with the Principal of Christ’s College in Bury who showed considerable enthusiasm for the possibility of devising a BA that provided accreditation for the two years of advanced Dars-i Nizami study (120 credits). We discussed possible courses that the students could take up that would enhance their training as Muslim faith leaders and these conversations moved towards the idea of a

BA in Islamic Education providing 120 credits for the final two years of the Dars-i

Nizami curriculum combined with a package of already validated courses in Education

Studies and Social Work that would provide courses in pedagogy and counselling,

British social history and possibly Christian Theology. These choices of courses arose from conversations with newly qualified British-trained imams who had recently graduated from Deobandi dar al-ulums or their rival Barelwi institutions undertaken in

2008.20 However, attempts to instigate conversations with St. Mary’s Blackburn were coming to nothing. In January 2012 the project stalled. Access to Darul Uloom Bury remained problematic and St. Mary’s Blackburn had not indicated any enthusiasm for collaboration. On the plus side, Darul Uloom Blackburn and Christ’s College in Bury were both enthusiastic to move ahead and begin negotiations to create a degree programme for advanced dar al-ulum students. The project was to meet one more unexpected stumbling block at a meeting with the Principal of Darul Uloom Blackburn.

Although excited by the possibility of accreditation, the Principal was concerned that his students would have to travel to Bury. His anxiety was derived from permitting post- puberty males to travel alone into gender-mixed FE/HE environments. He suggested that the delivery of the programme should be on the dar al-ulum premises. This would never be accepted as the cohorts would be too small and the facilities would raise

11 problems for university qualified teachers. The project’s first aim to create a degree programme for advanced dar al-ulum students was at an impasse.

The solution came from an unexpected source. The Deobandi contact who had made possible the research in India, was about to visit Darul Uloom Al-Arabiyyah Al-

Islamiyyah in Bury and Darul Uloom Al-Jamiatul Islamiya in to accompany a visiting alim from South Africa. Arriving in an invited party of Deobandi guests provided the access to Darul Uloom Bury that I had been seeking for over twenty years. We were taken on a tour of the premises by the Principal but my conversations with him on the subject of collaboration were received politely but with no encouragement to proceed.

Darul Uloom Bolton was a different proposition. Over lunch I instigated informal conversations with the Principal and senior staff. They were enthusiastic. There were already various attempts to establish contacts with FE/HE institutions and the dar al- ulum had employed a former policy maker in the DCLG to instigate conversations. So far none had elicited accreditation for the two final years of the Dars-i Nizami. The Principal explained that the dar al-ulum had purchased Harris College, the nineteenth century foundational building of the University of Central Lancashire and were seeking to use it as an Institute of Islamic Education. Money was available to refurbish the building. The building could be used to provide facilities for a consortium of North West dar al-ulums, bringing together a number of final year students in a location that would be deemed value-appropriate for the Deobandi educators. The University would only need to provide delivery on the premises. The researcher was invited to visit the facilities and to further meetings with the senior staff of to develop the programme.

In the final meeting the researcher provided an outline of a BA in Islamic Studies that was approved by the Principal and his senior staff.

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Progress to date and future tasks

It is clear that the Darul Uloom Blackburn and Bolton reflect the general willingness of

Deobandi educators to work with Higher Education institutions to produce a qualification of relevance without undermining the integrity of the Dars-i Nizami curriculum. Concerns over pedagogical differences between the two sectors of educational provision are overplayed. The students in the dar al-ulum are faced with a variety of teaching methods, some of which develop memorisation and others which develop higher level critical skills. In addition the students have undertaken A Levels and will probably have university entry requirements. On the whole their motivation is extremely high and would compare very favourably with the average school leaver entering higher education. Observations indicated that the level attained by the advanced students was certainly equivalent to first year degree learning and teaching.

Future progress will require meetings with senior management in the Higher Education institution responsible for the validation of the BA in Islamic Education and its delivery in Preston and the senior staff of Darul Uloom Bolton and Blackburn. There remain a number of challenges to be met. The Deobandi dar al-ulums are not a single voice and competition exists between them both for student recruitment and with regard to religious and ethnic factionalism. Skilful negotiation will be required to develop co- operation to pool resources into the Preston location. The negotiations with the Higher

Education partner will take place in the unknown territory of the new student funding regime and the allocation of HEFCE student numbers to individual institutions.

Although the recruitment of students that can be included in the category of ‘widening participation’ may appear attractive to certain sectors of HE, this is made more complex by recruitment figures for individual departments and the meeting of targets in 2012-

2013. Much progress has been made with the help of the funding provided by the

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Islamic Studies Network, goodwill has been generated and expectations raised. The challenges of fruition, that is, the creation of a validated programme of study ready for advanced dar al-ulum students in October 2013 to join a BA in Islamic Studies, will now depend upon the good will and the hard economic realities of University priorities in an unknown terrain.

1 See Marshall, Heather (2010) ‘The Prevent Strategy and Controversies’ in Engaging Religious Education, (eds.) Schmack, J., Thompson, M., and Torevell, D. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p.18. 2 The first Deobandi school was founded in the town of Deoband in the North-East corner of the province of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India and was followed relatively quickly by further institutions in Saharanpur and Khowlah. Only a decade after the final loss of Muslim power in India, a group of ulama that included Maulana Muhammad Muzhar Nanautawi and Maulana Rashid Gangohi left Delhi and in 1867 opened the dar al-ulum with the intention to preserve the religious life of Islam along the lines taught by the influential Naqshbandi reformer, Shah Waliulluh of Delhi (b.1703). The Deoband formula was extremely successful and by 1880 there were a dozen schools which identified themselves as Deobandi. A century after their founding, 8,934 schools were claimed to have Deobandi allegiance in India, and (Geaves, R.A. (1996) Sectarian Influences Within British Islam, University of Leeds: Community Religions Monograph Series, p151). Deobandi dar al-ulums in Britain include Darul Uloom, Bury, the founder institution; Jamiatul Ilm Wal Huda, Blackburn; Darul Uloom, Leicester; Jamia Ulmool Qur’an, Leicester; Jamia Riyadhul Uloom, Leicester; Darul Uloom, Bolton; Jamia Dawatul , Bradford; Darul Uloom, London; Abubakr Trust, Walsall; Jamia Qasimul Uloom, Birmingham; Jamia Islamiyah, Sussex; Jamia Al Hudda, Sheffield; Jamia Al Hudda, Nottingham; Lancaster Darul Uloom, Lancaster. 3 The Dars-i Nizami curriculum is intrinsic to the ’ belief that they have special understanding of the reality of God. This belief gives them a feeling of specialness, a sense of being unique. However, the sacrality of the traditional Dars-i Nizami curriculum is not equally distributed throughout the syllabus. Throughout the last hundred and fifty years South Asian dar al-ulums have reformed, modified and adapted the syllabus of the curriculum according to their requirements. The flexibility is rendered possible by the bi-polar division of the curriculum into: i) MANQULAT (nql: to transmit or hand down) the traditional religious sciences especially Hadith; ii) MA’QULAT (aql: reason, rationality) ‘rational’ sciences including philosophy, grammar and logic. It is commonly believed that the curriculum is based upon that taught in Farangi Mahal, a now defunct institution founded in Lucknow in the eighteenth century. But Farangi Mahal was principally concerned with training officials for the Mughal Empire and emphasised ma’qulat. The Deobandi ulama were opposed to this emphasis on ma’qulat and reversed the process. Far more attention was paid by them to the manqulat, with a focus on hadith and tafsir (Geaves (2012) ‘The Symbolic Construction of the Walls of Deoband’, The Journal of Muslim-Christian Relations, Vol.23:3, July, p.318). 4 Kim Knott (2009 2nd edition) ‘How to study religion in the modern world?’ in Religions in the Modern World, eds. Linda Woodhead, Hiroko Kawanawi and Christopher Partridge. London: Routledge, p.34. 5 Geaves, R.A. (2010) ‘Teaching and Researching Islam in the UK: Some Contemporary Challenges’ in Perspectives: Teaching Islamic Studies in Higher Education, Issue 1, November, p.10. 6 See Alison Scott-Baumann (2003) ‘Teacher education for Muslim Women: Intercultural Relationships, Method and Philosophy, Ethnicities Vol.3(2), 243-261 and (2007) ‘Collaborative Partnerships as Sustainable Pedagogy: Working with British Muslims’ in Greener by Degrees: Exploring Sustainability in HE Curricula eds. Carolyn Roberts and Jane Roberts, University of Gloucestershire: Centre for Active Learning, Section C4. 7 Phil Klein, Munazza Fatima, Lindsey McEwen, Susanne C. Moser, Deanna Schmidt & Sandra Zupan (2011) ‘Dismantling the Ivory Tower: Engaging Geographers in University–Community Partnerships’. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol35:3, pp. 425-444.

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8 Scott-Baumann (2007) p.306. 9 Scott-Baumann (2003) p243. 10 Jackson, Robert (2004) Rethinking Religious Education and Plurality: Issues in Diversity and Pedagogy. London: Routledge, pp129-136. 11See Geaves (1996) pp.152 and Geaves, R.A. (2007) ‘An Assessment of Colonial Strategies of Resistance, Liminality and Herberg’s Thesis in the Rise of Radicalism among British South Asian Youth’ in Islamic Political Radicalism, Tahir Abbas (ed). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.231-247. 12 Birt, Jonathan (2005) ‘Locating the British Imam: The Deobandi ‘Ulama between Contested Authority and Public Policy Post 9/11’ in European Muslims and the Secular State, eds Jocelyne Cesari and Sean McLoughlin. Aldershot: Ashgate p.183. 13 Ibid., p.184. 14 See, for example, Ron Geaves (1996), pp.166-173; Sophie Gilliat-Ray (2005) ‘Closed Worlds: (Not) Accessing Deobandi dar al-uloom in Britain’ Fieldwork in Religion 1.1 pp.7-33. 15 Gilliat-Ray (2005), p.23. 16 Geaves (2012), pp. 315-328. 17Mohamed Makadam and Alison Scott-Baumann (2010) The Training and Development of Muslim Faith Leaders: Current Practice and Future Possibilities commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government, 3.12, p.43. 18The Makadam/Scott-Baumann report had recommended that Further and Higher Education institutions should seek to create foundation degrees or to re-orientate Islamic studies programmes to ‘make them more relevant for both male and female students who wish to undertake faith leadership responsibilities’ See 5.9, p.69. 19 Geaves, R.A. (2008) ‘Drawing on the Past to Transform the Present: Contemporary Challenges for Training and Preparing British Imams’ in Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 28:1, April, p109. 20 Geaves (2008), pp. 99-113.

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