Educating Islamic experts in Western Europe: Between traditional and academized forms of knowledge formation and authority

Project Information

IslamExpertEducation

Grant agreement ID: 797138

DOI

10.3030/797138

Project closed

EC signature date 5 April 2018

Start date 1 May 2019

End date 20 August 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 177 598,80

EU contribution

€ 177 598,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IslamExpertEducation (Educating Islamic experts in Western Europe: Between traditional and academized forms of knowledge formation and authority)

Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2021-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In a context of increased securitization of Islam and European deradicalization policies, with an intensified desire to supersede the influence from former home countries, European policy actors express the need for domestic imam-education programs to educate ‘home-grown’ Islamic religious authorities. However, one of the major challenges of these programs is their legitimacy in the Muslim communities concerned. This research project sought to understand the processes of legitimate and trustworthy authority formation in Western Muslim communities oriented around knowledge. Three research questions were distinguished:
1. What is/are the kind(s) of authority figures at stake? What are the differences between ‘traditional/shaykhist’ and ‘academized/professorial’ forms of authority according to the Muslim stakeholders concerned?
2. What kind of knowledge allows for which kind of legitimacy? Who is able to transmit 'sacred knowledge', and how does it differ from ‘profane knowledge’?
3. How is trustworthiness or certainty attained in a context of internal divergence within the Islamic tradition?
Based mostly on depth interviews with key Islamic actors in Belgium and The Netherlands, the aim was to comprehend why (in)formal imam education programs in the Low Countries often remain vague aspirations, or, when created, have difficulties surviving. This has a high societal relevance, since it concerns complex processes of Islamic religious authority formation; the governmentality of Islam in secular surroundings; intra-traditional debate on ‘apt’ authority and knowledge; and inter-traditional epistemic negotiation on what kind of educational program should deliver which kinds of Islamic experts.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work was conducted via 5 work packages (WPs). WP1 comprised qualitative research that yielded depth interviews with 22 research participants in Belgium and The Netherlands prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The participants were chosen due to their status as important actors in the field concerning past or current (in)formal imam education programs, or because they had followed up those developments closely. In addition, desk, policy and literature research was conducted on the past, current and future aspirations for Islamic higher education, as well as on other aspects of the governmentality of Islam in a context of increased securitization and deradicalization policies. The Fellow also acted as one of the organizers and discussants of a (hybrid) interuniversity reading group on Decolonial and Critical Approacher to Muslim studies and Islamophobia (2020).
Also, three host lectures at Leiden University were postponed due to the pandemic, but will still be delivered in the academic year of 2021-22, each set up in such a way that they will allow for classroom debate and reciprocal knowledge exchange. The Fellow’s current position at KU Leuven entails writing a follow-up research project on the MSCA (with a focus on inter-epistemic encounter and dialogue), which is why these host lectures could be considered as a form of dissemination beyond the actual duration of the MSCA. Two host lectures will be delivered in the course series "Introduction to Islam" (Prof. Dr. Maurits Berger), and one will take place in the course series "Modern Thinkers and Trends in Islam" (Prof. Dr. Maurits Berger).
In WP2 - Writing, the Fellow delivered five internationally peer reviewed academic publications (four published, one forthcoming). They are all available for the wider public through (green or gold) open access. The Fellow also edited a Special Issue for the journal 'Religions', together with her co-supervisor, Prof. Dr. Welmoet Boender. This extended track record exceeds the goals originally set out in the deliverables of the MSCA.
WP 3 entailed horizontal (also non-academic) outreach. This has been especially tangible in the Fellow's frequent invitation to act as an external expert in dossiers on 'home-based' Islamic expert education, especially in Flanders. She has taken the chance to share relevant research insights, to critically review policy documents, and to experience policy making and agenda setting from nearby. The Fellow has also been appointed as structural co-supervisor or peer assessor for early career researchers both in The Netherlands and in Belgium.
Regarding the Dissemination and Exploitation strategies under WP4, two conferences where the Fellow would present were postponed to this academic year of 2021-22 due to the pandemic. Yet the Fellow is able to attend these conferences under her current research assignment at KU Leuven, and will in addition present at two extra international conferences, thereby exceeding the deliverables in the MSCA. Hence, four conference manuscripts are underway. Next to that, she has already delivered three host lectures at KU Leuven and Thomas More University College, Antwerp . During the grant, the Fellow earned a postdoctoral research assignment at KU Leuven of one year, with a possible extension of an extra year. She has also earned a co-teaching qualification at KU Leuven in the course on Anthropology of Religion.
As a way to further professionalize herself (which entailed WP5), the Fellow has followed two workshops provided by the University of Leiden on supervising (under)graduate students and theses.
Results of this MSCA are (and will be in the current and following years) reported through (1) academic publications; (2) international conferences; (3) (host) lectures; (4) seminars for staff en students; (5) policy papers and advise; (6) follow-up research projects; (7) workshops, presentations and non-academic publications for a variety of publics, especially on the social relevance of multi-epistemic dialogue and negotiation between various knowledge traditions. The data collected during this MSCA will inspire future research and (non)-academic output in the upcoming years, in addition to the dissemination during the fellowship itself.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This MSCA has made substantive contributions to the scholarly and public debates on 'apt' Islamic authority formation within Europe. The research insights as described in the publications, have unveiled the multiple reasons why Islamic expert educations at Western(ized) institutes often lack legitimacy in the wider Muslim community, but also how traditional ways of interpreting this in terms of 'insider'/'situated' education versus 'outsider'/'secular' approaches might not sufficiently describe what matters for the communities concerned. In addition, the scheduled host lectures at Leiden University will push students towards critically rethinking classic ways of studying Islam and Islamic education from a Western(ized) perspective, instead opening the door for dwelling in the borders between multiple knowledge traditions. The Fellow's public interventions and policy advice was aimed at critically deconstructing the governance of Islam(ic education) in secular power structures, thereby increasing awareness with all stakeholders. What's more, the research perspective has proven to be that rich and promising, that the Fellow has found in KU Leuven a willing institute to host follow-up research on multi-epistemic dialogue and negotiation in the higher study of Islam in- and outside formal university. This MSCA has allowed the Fellow to manifest herself as an independent scholar in the domain of Islamic religious knowledge education, while it also unveiled future research opportunities.

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