The Impact of a Mosque-Based Islamic Education to Young British Muslim Professionals

Abstract

This article explores the contribution of the mosque towards the social, mental, and spiritual development of young British Muslims (YBMs) through their educational system. This qualitative inquiry investigates this social phenomenon in its ‘real’ context from the perspective of a purposive sample of five young British Muslims who experienced ‘mosque education’ throughout their childhood, and now as young adults are highly qualified professionals in different sectors. The data were collected through five deep semi-structured interviews; the analysis of the data followed a qualitative thematic analysis. Key findings were that mosque education has helped these YBM to develop their social, mental and spiritual skills in British society, participants recognized the contribution of this education towards their social and mental development to a greater degree than if it were merely their spiritual development, participants observed that the ‘mosque education’ has great potential, and should be expanded. Participants identified several limitations of mosque education that were hindering its role and presented challenges to teachers, imams, curriculum, pedagogy, and integration efforts in an age of Islamophobia.