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What do kids actually learn in Quran schools?
Many children attend religious schools on weekends. What do they learn there?
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“There has been religious instruction in Norwegian mosques for over 50 years and in the Catholic Church much longer. Still, we know surprisingly little about what goes on there,” says Hildegunn Valen Kleive. She studies religion at Volda University College.
Some Quran schools have received a lot of attention. Several Norwegian media outlets have written about closed, conservative environments where children spend the night, and the public has no access. Some Norwegian politicians believe this can lead to negative social control and isolation.
This was not what Kleive found when she visited mosques, observed the teaching, and interviewed parents, teachers, children, and young people.
More than learning the Quran
Kleive is part of a larger research project, FaithEd, where researchers examine religious education for young Muslims and Catholics. These are the two largest religious minorities in Norway, and many of the members have an immigrant background.
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Kleive's part of the project is the mosque schools. That is what she calls them, because she does not like the term Quran school.
“It's so negatively charged. And there's so much more going on in this teaching than just learning the Quran. They call it mosque school, Islamic schoo,l or weekend school,” Kleive tells Science Norway.
The first thing the students learn is the Arabic alphabet, so that they can read the Quran.
“But the education in the mosque schools is about much more than memorising verses from the Quran,” she says.
The book, life, and the prophet
In addition to learning Arabic, the teaching is divided into three parts:
The first is understanding the Quran, where students are meant to learn to understand what is written in the Quran, not just read it.
Then they are taught to understand Islam, which is about how they should live as Muslims.
The third area is Islamic history and stories, often stories about the prophet Muhammad.
Teaching in mosques has changed a lot over the past 30 years, according to Kleive.
“Many of those who teach have teacher training and experience from Norwegian schools. They talk about teaching the way teachers do – about different methods, station learning, and goals. It's fun for us to see,” says Kleive, who herself teaches student teachers in Volda.
Taught in Norwegian
Previously, mosques were organised by nationality. There was one mosque for those with a Pakistani background, another for those from Somalia. But that's not the case anymore, especially not in rural areas, according to Kleive.
“There is a great deal of ethnic and cultural diversity in the mosques. That's why they teach in Norwegian,” she says.
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Both students and teachers said that they actually improved their Norwegian by attending mosque school.
“Teaching is also most often mixed. Only occasionally, for some topics, is it divided by gender,” she says.
Girls are taught in separate groups when the topics might make the children feel shy. Examples include prayer, washing, and menstruation, according to Hvor skal du i helga? (Where are you going on the weekend?), a book where the FaithEd researchers summarise their results.
How to live as a Muslim in Norway
The children do not simply sit still and listen.
“We did not see strict control and super-discipline, but small talk and a lot of questions, especially when they discussed how they should live as Muslims in Norway,” says Kleive.
The mosques were very conscious about shaping the students into good members of society.
“We saw that in many mosques. The students are socialised into Norwegian culture. The teachers were very concerned with preventing and stopping crime and radicalisation,” Kleive explains.
The young people told the researchers that they corrected friends who did not attend mosque school.
“They themselves have gained a knowledge-based relationship with Islam, but they also learn that Muslims have different opinions about Islam,” she says.
Religion or football?
A third of Muslims in Norway have gone to mosque school.
But they do not go every week if football practice, matches, or other leisure activities get in the way.
The mosques that Kleive and the other researchers visited were concerned that weekend teaching should not feel like an extra school day.
“They were very worried that the students would feel pressured. That's why they arrange trips, fun time, and competitions. It was especially popular when the imam joined the kids and played football,” says Kleive.
Both teachers and students have experienced prejudice, such as claims that they are old-fashioned in their views on women or that they are homophobic.
“The mosque school is a place where they can practice talking about what it's like to be and think differently from the majority,” Kleive says.
Many of the teachers at mosque schools are women, and they are the majority in the largest mosques.
“They know what the students struggle with and want to be role models for how to handle being both Norwegian and Muslim,” she says.
Afraid of religion
Having knowledge about students is now an important part of primary school teacher education.
“That's why our research is important. Teachers emphasise that diversity is a resource, but overlook religion. The young people we spoke to really enjoyed their religious studies subject in school, but they also felt that they were not seen,” says Kleive.
But other fields of study also benefit from the research, she believes.
“I often find that religion is missing from both migration research and social science research. Norwegian society has a fear of engaging with religion,” she says.
Quran schools in Kenya
A type of Quran school that has received a lot of attention in Norwegian media is located abroad.
The Norwegian broadcasting corporation NRK has revealed how parents send their children from Norway to schools in Kenya and Somalia. There, the children encounter religious indoctrination, strict discipline, and brutal punishment methods. They do not know when they will be allowed to return home.
Torhild Breidlid has completed her PhD on preventing radicalisation and violent extremism in Kenya.
In Kenya, Muslims are a minority – about 11 per cent of the population. There are also many Somalis living in the country. Both Kenyan authorities and parts of the media link Islam to terror and extremism.
Breidlid did fieldwork at two private Islamic schools and a secular school. There, she observed how history, social studies, and religion were taught.
With all the media reports about these schools, Breidlid expected that she would find more extremism in the Islamic schools than the secular ones.
But she found neiher religious indoctrination, extreme attitudes, nor systematic violence against the students.
“My assumptions were not confirmed. On the contrary, I saw that the teachers at the Islamic schools emphasised integration across ethnic groups and tolerance towards other religions,” says Breidlid, who today works for the aid organisation Digni.
Radicalisation is more than religion
The students learned about Islam, how to read the Quran, what it means to be a good Muslim and a good citizen.
The teachers controlled the lessons. The students listened. There was little discussion and student participation.
But that was also the case at the secular school, according to Breidlid.
“Teaching was characterised by information sharing and memorisation, which is common in many Kenyan schools,” she says.
Breidlid believes that the Norwegian media sometimes simplifies the way Quran schools are portrayed. Even though there are religious schools that promote extreme ideologies, her research shows a more complex picture.
“Religion is only one of several factors in radicalisation processes. Other key factors are social and economic marginalisation, poverty, unemployment, and the search for belonging and meaning,” Breidlid says.
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Translated by Nancy Bazilchuk
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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