Developing a Conceptualization of Shakhsiyah Islamiyah (Islamic Character) as a Dialogic Muslim Self Imbued With Agency

• In Event: Teaching Islam in K–12 Schools: Possibilities for Curriculum Renewal When Academics and Educators Collaborate

Abstract

Objectives
The theoretical work set out in this paper arises out of twenty-five years of working in UK Islamic schools that are seeking out a culturally coherent education for Muslim children (Author, 2012). In such settings, questions of identity and selfhood are paramount, as are questions of theological authority in relation to the right of young Muslims to explore their faith, ethnicity, beliefs and identities from their own perspectives. Many Muslim educators consider the aim of education to be strong Islamic character, referred to as shakhsiyah Islamiyah. Yet Muslim children and young adults, growing up in secular societies, are consistently faced with situations requiring an autonomous disposition. Moreover, ‘Western’ societies are concerned that Islamic education is indoctrinatory and does not value personal autonomy (Parker-Jenkins, Hartas, & Irving, 2005). This paper explores these issues by considering the term shakhsiyah Islamiyah from a specific stance, namely the Islamic principle that one can only choose to be Muslim autonomously, that is one can only submit to Allah through freewill. Although an established theological position, this principle is often overlooked. Nevertheless, it raises substantial questions for curriculum and pedagogy in Islamic educational contexts, where all too often education is understood as ‘transmission of knowledge’.

Framework

This theoretical inquiry draws on foundational Islamic ontological and epistemological concepts within a neo-Ghazalian tradition (al-Attas, 1990) and develops these in relation to Vygotskian and Bakhtinian educational theories (Wegerif, 2011), in order to develop a theoretical framework for conceptualizing an Islamic notion of personal autonomy and a dialogic theory of Islamic education.

Substantiated arguments

The proposed conceptualization of shakhsiyah Islamiyah draws on both the element of agency inherent in Qur’anic discourse and the holistic conceptualization of the individual human being as part of a greater whole, by adopting an understanding of the Muslim shakhs (person), as a dialogical self. Through bringing together the self-consciously personal individuality of the term shakhs and combining this with the worldview and state of being, implied in the term Islamiyah, the combined term ‘shakhsiyah Islamiyah’, necessarily becomes a self in dialogue with its worldview and state of being. The Qur’an alludes to three dialogical relationships that the Muslim actively engages in and that shape her being; relationship with self, with Allah and with the rest of creation, that is, other human beings, animals, natural environment and universe. These three relationships in turn, are interrelated into a holistic experience, through which there is either personal growth, or decline into khusr (a state of loss) (Qur’an 103:1-3). There is a well-defined trajectory for this educational growth, within the Qur’anic conceptualization of the states of the dialogical self. Moreover, by using the traditional conceptualizations of education as tarbiyah, ta’lim and ta’dib in relation to the Prophetic practice of halaqah (circle of learning), an understanding of these terms as dialogic pedagogy emerges.

Significance

This theoretical framework is essential because it underpins the development of personalized learner-centered dialogic education, which can help transform Islamic educational practices to meet the needs of Muslim learners in ‘Western’ contexts.

Author

• Farah Ahmed, University of Cambridge