Search results

This study addresses the perceived role of mosque education in the integration of Turkish–Dutch Muslim children in the Netherlands. It is based on interviews with imams, mosque teachers, parents of mosque students, chairs of migrant organizations, policymakers and experts (N = 75). Most respondents (N = 49) view mosque education as potentially aiding the integration of the children, often depending on whether mosques adopt this as a policy and train imams and mosque teachers accordingly. Mosque education is perceived by many as contributing to integration by teaching the children values of respect and tolerance, offering positive identity affirmation to children's stigmatized Islamic identity and countering youth radicalization by providing messages of moderation. While sixteen participants see mosque education as irrelevant for integration, ten participants voice concerns about the potential of mosque education to cause value confusion, alienate students from the Dutch society and indoctrinate them with Turkish state propaganda. Implications are discussed.

This is a study of mosque pedagogies and their relevance for the formation of the moral and political identity of Turkish-Dutch youth. Based on fieldwork in two mosques affiliated with Milli Görüş and Diyanet in the Netherlands, the study identifies three different pedagogies practiced in the mosque classrooms: pedagogy of national identity building, unorthodox pedagogies of bonding, and pedagogies of moral formation. The findings show that teaching activities in both mosques contain messages pertaining to citizenship norms and values in areas such as interaction between different genders, ideas of crime, justice and punishment, relationship to authority and boundaries of individual autonomy. Apart from auxiliary use of Dutch and copying Dutch schools' motivation and discipline strategies, we did not find specific Dutch aspects of the education that was provided. The intention to create a pious and nationalist diaspora youth was a common denominator for the pedagogies of both mosques.

What are the reasons behind the failure of the Islamic theology and imam-training programmes at the Dutch universities? To address this question, we employed qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews (N = 38) conducted between July 2016 and January 2017. The sample consists of stakeholders such as academics teaching in the programmes, imams, Qur'an teachers, chairs of the largest Islamic organisations, and Dutch ministry and municipality officials. We analysed the establishment of the state-funded Islamic theology and imam-training programmes in the Netherlands in the light of the different theoretical accounts about the evolution of Dutch secularism after the de-pillarisation of the Dutch society. The findings suggest that the failure of the programmes stemmed from distrust in the intentions of the funding by the Dutch government, lack of confidence in the expertise of the non-Muslim academics teaching the programmes and refusal by the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), to cooperate with the universities for the set-up of the programmes. This study shows that future attempts for Islamic theology programmes in the Dutch universities will need to establish better connections with the grassroots of the Dutch Muslim communities.