The Role of Qur’anic Schools in Preserving Cultural and Religious Identity: A Case Study of the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars – Relizane, Algeria

This paper describes a comparative study on Qur’anic schools’ educational development (changes and reforms) between semi-urban rural and remote rural areas in order to find some evidences of diversification of Qur’anic schools and its learning contents.\n\nQur’anic school is one of the most popular community-based education institutions in Indonesia as the biggest Muslim populated country of the world, which has important roles in providing non-formal education services for Muslim children particularly.\n\nQur’anic school is a part of many kinds of Islamic education, which mainly teaches Arabic language and moral education in order to achieve basic goals of Islamic education in nurturing Muslim children to master the Holy Qur’an and to be pious generation.\n\nRecently, socioeconomic background of Qur’anic schools in Indonesia has been changed dramatically due to economic development influence even in rural area. Economic development influence in rural area has thrown up varied households, parents and children in rural area and their demand to education has been diversified.\n\nInevitably some Qur’anic schools had to face problems and challenges due to above diversifications of demand side, for example lack of in-service teacher trainings, decreasing number of teachers because some of them have to move to other cities for higher education or working, decreasing number of students, no fixed or un-uniformed teaching and learning materials from the government (Ministry of Religion Affairs), very limited learning facilities, and little financial support for educational services. This article tries to discuss how Qur’anic schools are diversified by using internal comparative analysis between semi-urban rural area and remote rural area.

Through overall developments and movements, migration has spread throughout the world, causing concurrence and amalgamation of heterogeneous and culturally different societies. Present day societies are culturally even more diverse: individuals live in numerous cultures, speak in various languages, and have different identities. Despite the fact that the movement of Armenians previously existed in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and Armenians have made numerous networks around the world, the considerable flow of relocation and the modern term of the Armenian Diaspora has developed because of the First World War after the Armenian Genocide in 1915, more explicitly, it comprises mostly individuals who survived the Armenian Genocide. The current research investigates the lives of the Armenian Diaspora in Germany, more specifically, the ones that have moved to Germany from Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. Studying the lives of the Armenian ethnic group in a host society, it discusses the issues of living in heterogeneous societies and cultures, the role that religion plays in the migration and integration context, affiliation and attachment to various cultures, hybrid cultural, religious and social identities: how Armenians perceive themselves and different societies in Germany, what it feels like to be away from their homeland and live in various cultures simultaneously, to what cultures they have a sense of belonging, how they endeavour to retain their ethnic, religious, and cultural identities, what assists them in the integration process, and how they assess their lives in Germany. The research applies three methods: participant observation, semi-structured interview and Stefan Huber’s questionnaire “The Centrality of Religiosity Scale”. Religion plays a vital role in most of the interviewees’ lives, depending on various circumstances, such as a spiritual nourishment, a psychological support, closeness to one’s ethnicity or ethnic group, access to the host society, etc. According to the current research results, the Armenian interviewees in Germany perceive religion as an inseparable part of their culture, since their religious, ethnic, and cultural identities are intertwined and regarded as an inseparable unit: religious identity – Christian, ethnic identity – Armenian, cultural identity – customs and traditions. Christianity is perceived and practiced by the Armenian interviewees as a ‘cultural religion’ for the following reasons. They consider themselves to be Christians, but are not actively engaged in religious rituals or prayers. Christianity played an important role in the history of Armenians since it helped them preserve their ethnic identity and culture throughout history. Christianity has become an inseparable part of their culture since many Armenian customs and traditions are tightly connected to it and play an important role in their ethnic, national, cultural and religious identities. Interestingly enough, even those, who consider themselves to be atheists, conceive Christianity as an indispensable part of the Armenian culture and identity.

It is critical to conceptualize “identity” theologically in the contemporary political context provided by postcolonial theory. Identity, religious or political, is not fixed. It is a product of ceaseless negotiations, in the presence of unequal power. The theological stance on conceptualizing identity will affect debates on religious identity, cultural identity, and conversion in places such as India with their histories of European Christian attempts to colonize, as well as debates of a more political nature. Moreover, the more public face of theology such as a contemporary Roman Catholic theology of mission given such imperializing histories is complicated by the awareness forwarded in postcolonial theory of continued colonization and collusion with Western economic and political power. How can Roman Catholic postcolonial theologians rethink the connections between cultural and religious identities in India in such a context is the question that this chapter attempts to answer. Consequently, I engage Homi Bhabha and Karl Rahner in a creative dialogue on identity, conversion, and mission, and challenge their frameworks to become more accommodating of religious subjectivity and awareness of power asymmetries in each of their respective proposals. In this conversation, Rahner functions as a theological voice to critique the secularized mode in which Homi Bhabha constructs his theory of hybridity of identity.

Millions of children participate in both Qur’anic schooling and public schooling. For the majority, this double schooling entails learning (in) two different non-native languages. Seeking to understand the double-schooling experiences of Muslim children for whom the language of literacy in both of their schools is not their native language, Moore conducted research in a Fulbe community in northern Cameroon, and then in the Somali immigrant-refugee community in Columbus, Ohio. In this article, she draws upon both projects in order to provide insights into the schooling and literacy experiences Somali children and other Muslim immigrants may bring to public school from their other school. She discusses Qur’anic schooling in the Fulbe community, describing the organization and the significance of this schooling tradition for participants, as well as the recent rise of double schooling and changes in Islamic educational practice. She then shifts her focus to the Somali immigrant-refugee community in Columbus, discussing changes in Qur’anic schooling that have arisen in this diasporic context. After discussing how Qur’anic school experiences may affect Muslim language-minority children’s second language and literacy learning in public school, she concludes with reflections on how knowledge of Qur’anic schooling and Qur’anic school-based literacies might impact the practices of public elementary school educators.

The purpose of this paper was to explore principals’ perceptions of their strategies to maintain their cultural and religious identities within a multicultural society.This multiple case studies of three institutions employed semi-structured interviews and documents. The research question guides this study: What are strategies that have been utilized within the institutions, to further the aims of multicultural education? The data in this study was analyzed thematically via NVivo Qualitative data analysis. The finding of this study showed that the institutions were committed to providing a public education alongside a multicultural education – respect for other religions, ethnicities, and cultures. These institutions have a strong commitment to their spiritual purpose and maintenance of their respective religious and cultural identities. The findings of this study have implications for the understanding of similar programs and the ways to preserve cultural and religious identities within educational contexts. Most studies of multicultural education have been conducted in public institutions resulting in little information on how ethnic institutions promote cultural and religious identities within their institutions and communities. This research contributes to the body of literature that examines the promotion of cultural and religious identities in ethnic institutions.

This paper addresses the phenomenon of contemporary migration of Croats to the Republic of Ireland, with particular emphasis on the preservation of cultural and national identity within the broader context of the Croatian diaspora. The principal aim of this study is to present the perceptions of Croatian emigrants regarding their own identity, as well as to identify the challenges they face and the strategies they employ in order to maintain it. The analysis is based on the results of a quantitative survey conducted in May and June 2025, among Croatian migrants residing in Ireland. These findings provide valuable insights into their migration experiences, levels of satisfaction with personal and professional circumstances, and the degree of integration into Irish society. Special attention is devoted to their attitudes toward the perception and preservation of the Croatian language, customs, religion, as well as cultural and national identity within the migratory context. Integration into Irish society is most frequently pragmatic in nature and predominantly motivated by economic considerations, while emotional and identity-based ties to the homeland remain strong and clearly articulated. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of contemporary migration processes and may serve as a foundation for the development of targeted policies and strategies that support both the preservation of identity among Croatian emigrants in Ireland and across the world, and their successful integration into the host society.

In recent decades, Coptic Egyptian immigrants have steadily adopted new homelands throughout the world, most significantly in Europe, North America, and Australia. Their efforts perpetuate their religious and cultural identity and connect diaspora communities and experiences to the mother church as well as to the realities of marginalization and persecution of their co-religionists in Egypt. However, relatively little research has been carried out on the virtual or digital presences of diaspora Copts, all the more significant in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring. Focusing on religious identity, this article fills a lacuna by analyzing three case studies of electronic identity mediation and preservation in the Coptic diaspora: (1) the online ecclesiastical-pastoral and educational presence of Bishop Suriel of Melbourne, (2) the spiritual-social-cultural mission of the Los Angeles-based Coptic television station LogosTV, and (3) the global collaborative academic project of the digital Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia. These are part of an emerging electronic Coptic diaspora (e-diaspora)—a form of borderless territoriality—that functions to compensate for the loss of territorial and socio-religious-cultural-political control in Egypt and provide Copts with virtual territorial gains and borderless space for community and consciousness raising.

Purpose: This study aims to show a creative approach to uniting the diversity of cultural and religious identities in musical harmony for efforts to build social harmony between multicultural and multireligious societies. Methodology: With an art-based qualitative analysis approach, this study analyzes elements of religious, cultural, and musical identities in the traditions and songs of the Maluku Protestant Church (GPM). Findings: This study found that GPM Songs have offered a new treasure in the tradition of religious songs by creatively and harmoniously combining elements of the cultural identity of the Maluku people who embrace all different religious identities through the shared language of pela-gandong, ain ni ain, kalwedo, in musical harmony for efforts to build and maintain social harmony in multicultural and multireligious societies. Implications: The findings of this study provide a new insight that can be applied to preserving peace in multicultural societies, namely that diverse cultural and religious identities can be harmonized through musical harmonization. Originality and Value: This study contributes to the discourse of music, rituals, and tradition studies, as well as multicultural and multireligious identities, and offers a new insight into creative diplomacy by using musical harmony in church song for social harmony.

Jewish identification and engagement have cultural as well as religious salience. Jewish cultural engagement, however, is overwhelmingly circumscribed as a fait accompli, often an outcome, rarely a predictor in quantitative examinations of contemporary Jewish life. Consequently, the sociological understanding of Jewish cultural identity formation is limited. This study examines Jewish cultural identity formation in young Australian Jews, identifying roles played by three wellsprings, or sources of Jewish culture. Using the Gen17 Australian Jewish Community Survey 2018, the most recent nationally representative study of Australian Jewry, relationships between Jewish day school education, communal engagement, cultural upbringing, and cultural identity were analyzed using linear and OLS regression models. Jewish day school education significantly affected cultural identity; without mediating effects of communal engagement, however, day school education’s effects were inconsequential. High-level cultural upbringing had amplifying effects, while low-level cultural upbringing had attenuating effects on associations between Jewish day school education and cultural identity. The cultural identity formation mechanism was similar to a proposed religious identity formation mechanism. These results highlight interconnected and indirect effects of cultural wellsprings on identity formation, and similarities between cultural and religious identity formation, with implications for scholars of culture and religion.

This Paper examines Muslim women's struggles with social expectations and religious identities in two novels: "The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf" by MohjaKahf and "Does My Head Look Big In This?". In the context of Muslim women's feminine identities amidst conflict due to religious visibility like Hijab in socially anticipated and demanding western settings, modern Anglophone literature is examined. Post-colonial feminist theory is used to analyse the text qualitatively through critical reading revealing literary aspects and representations that underscore Muslim women's struggles in Western countries. The research uses McKee's interpretive textual analysis, emphasising context and various interpretations as the autonomy, resilience, cultural integration, prejudice followed by identity were key words and themes in data collecting.The research revealed that Muslim women's complicated identity struggled between religious visibility and Western social expectations as in Randa Abdel-Fattah's work, the protagonist endured sleeplessness owing to the dread of wearing the headscarf in a potentially hostile situation. This internal conflict demonstrated how societal marginalisation affects Muslim women's mental health, as they must balance their religious identification with the dread of social discrimination. Additionally the conflict between cultural values and social inclusion is another important discovery as Uncle Joe's admonition to hide one's culture for social progress highlighted the conflict between cultural authenticity and social acceptability under which Muslim women and their families feel forced to sacrifice Islamic values for social and economic prospects in the diaspora. Similarly the protagonist's distress when her community is wrongly identified with Islamic radicalism showed how stereotyping affects relationships as this example demonstrated how daily micro-aggressions. On the other hand, Khadra's hijab experience in "The Girl with the Tangerine Scarf" emphasised its symbolic and emotional meaning as her resolve to wear the broken hijab showed her tenacity in keeping her cultural and religious identity despite social pressures. Along with that the ideological conflict between Islamic and Western values is concluded by Khadra's condemnation of Western individualism as her prioritisation of community over self-interest showed the basic difference in values.The research highlighted that Muslim women in Western nations struggle to preserve their religious and cultural identities despite competing social expectations. Identity negotiation is complicated by psychological stress, assimilation pressure, stereotyping and ideological disagreements while the Cultural competency, empathy and inclusive policies that recognise and accept multiple identities are needed to facilitate Muslim women's free expression. Keywords: Identity Negotiation, Religious Visibility, Cultural Integration, Psychological Strain and Stereotyping.

This chapter features narratives of adolescent Bosnian Muslim women who came to the United States as refugees following the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Each of the women featured in this chapter considers herself to be socially and culturally proficient both within immigrant Bosnian and mainstream U.S. cultures; each is also academically successful and professionally ambitious. In their own words, the young women relate their lived experiences in U.S. culture and their processes of acculturation and identity construction. The analysis highlights the conceptions and reconstruction of cultural and religious identity among these women, who all identify themselves as ethnically Bosnian and religiously Muslim. Narratives and analysis also discuss the role of race, language, and cultural distance in the women’s identity construction process. Each adolescent woman idealizes a bicultural identity in which she is able to step between both Bosnian and U.S. cultural worlds. The women describe various degrees of success with this cultural code-switching and explain their processes of highlighting or downplaying their religious and cultural identity in various social situations. While their experiences in U.S. schools and social contexts vary, all the women are conscious of various influences on their religious and cultural identities and ascribe personal agency to their bicultural identity construction.

Arabic language education holds significant importance in shaping the socio-economic landscape of Bangladesh. Traditionally associated with religious instruction, its potential extends beyond the theological domain, serving as a key tool for socio-economic development. This article seeks to explore the multifaceted role of Arabic language education in Bangladesh, analyzing how it contributes to the counHtry’s economy, cultural identity, and global connectivity. Drawing on various disciplines, including education, economics, and cultural studies, the research examines how Arabic language proficiency influences employability, trade relations with Arab countries, and the development of the financial sectors. The paperc argues that the expansion of Arabic language education could enhance Bangladesh’s economic ties with the Arab world, opening up new avenues for trade, investment, and employment, particularly in sectors like migration and tourism. Despite its potential, Arabic language education remains underutilized in the broader socio-economic fabric of Bangladesh. The paper aims to explore (a) the ontic basis of Arabic language instruction as embedded in the Islamic education system of Bangladesh, (b) how Arabic proficiency may be integrated into vocational and technical education to improve employability, and (c) the impact of Arabic language education on social mobility, particularly among the Muslim population. In addition, the present paper emphasizes identifying key challenges in the current Arabic language curriculum that hinder its wider applicability in the job market and economic sectors. The study employs a multidisciplinary methodology, including qualitative interviews with educators, economic analysis, and a review of Arabic language instruction models from other countries. The findings reveal that a stronger emphasis on Arabic language education could lead to broader economic opportunities for Bangladesh, particularly in the Middle East, while also reinforcing the cultural and religious identity of its Muslim majority. This paper contributes to the academic discourse on the role of language education in economic development, highlighting how Arabic proficiency can influence socio-economic behavior, migration patterns, and international relations. By connecting linguistic education with economic prospects, the research advocates for a more integrated approach to Arabic language teaching in Bangladesh, aligned with national development goals. The role of language education in economic development, highlighting how Arabic proficiency can influence socio-economic behavior, migration patterns, and international relations. By connecting linguistic education with economic prospects, the research advocates for a more integrated approach to Arabic language teaching in Bangladesh, aligned with national development goals. Mother Language, 2024; 8(1-2): 123-152

Studies on the representation of Muslim women in early modern Spanish literature are not numerous, and aspects of their religious identities and conversions are usually less examined. This paper focuses on the role of female Muslim characters in texts written between the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in Spain. In these works the female protagonists convert to a new faith: One to Islam, the other to Christianity. In doing so, they cut ties with the fatherly figure in order to follow the new religion. My research attempts to answer two questions: What does the paternal house represent in regards to the faith that the daughters are rejecting? What role does Islam play in the different approach to female characters’ faith? In order to carry out my study, I analyze two texts: The first one is La leyenda de la doncella Carcayona (Legend of the Damsel Carcayçiyona) (Aragon, c. 1587), where the protagonist, Carcayçiyona, abandons paganism for Islam; the second is Miguel de Cervantes’s “The Captive’s Tale” (“Historia del cautivo”), a novella inserted in his famous Don Quixote, Part I (Madrid, 1605), where Zoraida, the daughter of a wealthy and powerful Algerian Muslim, converts from Islam to Christianity. By setting parallels among the female protagonists’ religious conversion and focusing on their voluntary estrangement from their fathers, I argue that in both texts, fathers represent the rejected faith while daughters are depicted as the carriers of the newly adopted religion, be it Islam or Christianity. More importantly, since in both cases women are formerly or newly converted Muslims, and the texts are produced in a Christian-ruled nation, this paper underscores the complexities of the encounters between Islam and Christianity in a Mediterranean setting.

Interactive textual singing on Bali’s radio and TV programmes is a phenomenon in which audience and studio members interactively engage in the singing and interpretation of traditional and contemporary texts of particular poetical genres. This article examines the role of interactive textual singing programmes in providing an entertaining and readily accessible public space in which religious values are popularized. The implications for Balinese language, literature, cultural, and religious identity are discussed. A detailed study of two selected topics provides insights into the religious values, duties, obligations, ritual practices and local wisdom, which are frequently referred to in interactive textual signing performances. The study concludes that interactive textual singing on radio and television is an entertaining platform that enables the Balinese to better comprehend, and reinforce, their religious values, beliefs, and identity in contemporary contexts.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of using English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in primary international schools on the children’s first language (L1) and cultural identity. More specifically, the study sought to determine whether using EMI has effects on Saudi school students. Furthermore, it sh owed how to preserve our children’s L1 and cultural identity by enhancing the learning that uses the learners’ L1 as a medium of instruction. The study sample consisted of 40 individuals, with 20 secondary and intermediate female students whose primary education was carried out in private international schools and 20 parents of children studying in international schools. The study used a questionnaire as a means of data collection. It used a mixed-methods design, and the data were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS, while qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. The study results showed that the participants understood the importance of learning English as a global language. In addition, it identified that using EMI in primary international schools affects the children’s L1 and their cultural identity; some of the parents suggested that English language learning had had some negative consequences on their children’s Arabic language.