Muslim Youth Challenges, Opportunities and Expectations

by Siddique Seddon, Mohammad; Ahmad, Fauzia

• ISBN13: 9781441119872
• ISBN10: 1441119876
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-15
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Many Muslim societies, regardless of location, are displaying a 'youth bulge', where more than half their populations are under the age of 25. An increasingly globalized western culture is rapidly eroding 'traditional' ideas about society, from the family to the state. At the same time, there is a view that rampant materialism is creating a culture of spiritual emptiness in which demoralization and pessimism easily find root. For young Muslims these challenges may be compounded by a growing sense of alienation as they face competing ideologies and divergent lifestyles. Muslim youth are often idealized as the 'future of Islam' or stigmatized as rebelling against their parental values and suffering 'identity crises'. These experiences can produce both positive and negative reactions, from intellectual engagement and increasing spiritual maturity to emotional rejectionism, narrow identity politics and violent extremism. This book addresses many of the central issues currently facing young Muslims in both localized and globalized contexts through engaging with the work of academics, youth work practitioners and those working in non-governmental organizations and civic institutions.

Author Biography

Fauzia Ahmad is Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations at the Aga Khan University, UK, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at Bristol University, UK. Mohammad Siddique Seddon is Assistant Director of the Centre for Faith and Public Policy, and lecturer in Islamic and Religious Studies at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Chester, UK.

Table of Contents

Contributors and Editors	p. viii
Acknowledgements	p. xii
Foreword	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Muslim Youth: Negotiating Local and Global Contexts
The phenomenon of serial nihilism among British Muslim youth of Bradford, England	p. 15
An analysis of the factors that pave the way for the radicalization of British Muslim youth from a comparative perspective	p. 32
Identity and Belonging
Muslim migrant youth: descriptive factors related to acculturation and psychosocial adaptation	p. 57
Religion, language or ethnicity? Hybridized identity among the Isma'ili youth of Afghanistan in Germany	p. 78
Turning to my religion	p. 99
Education and New Media
'Growing up under lockdown' or 'educational pioneers'? Challenging stereotypes of British Muslim women in higher education	p. 119
Muslim youth at university: a critical examination of the British higher education experience	p. 144
Muslim youth and citizenship education: idealism, Islam and prospects for successful citizenship education	p. 163
Methodologies of Engaging
Activity and alterity: youth work with Muslim 'girls'	p. 183
Youth work and Islam: a growing tradition?	p. 207
Training Muslim youth to be 'Khateebs'	p. 228
Engaging with young Muslims: some paradigms from the Qur'an and Sunnah	p. 248
Websites, Addresses and Contacts of Prominent Agencies, Institutions and Organizations Dedicated to Muslim Youth Work	p. 270
Notes	p. 273
Bibliography	p. 280
Index	p. 306
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