The world of the British hifz class student: observations, findings and implications for education and further research

Abstract

This article draws on ethnographic fieldwork that took place in 2004 in a boys’ hifz class which met in a north‐east London mosque. Drawing on the results of semi‐participant observations and semi‐structured interviews, the research findings are collated under five themes: the routines and rhythms of the hifz class; routes into the hifz class; the students’ perceptions of what they were doing; the ‘sacrifice’ of becoming a hafiz; and hifz class and the rest of students’ lives. Though the analysis is largely of the subjective responses of hifz class members and cannot therefore give definitive answers to research questions, the author points to some of the implications of this work and offers pointers for further research work in this field.