Drawing on the Past to Transform the Present: Contemporary Challenges for Training and Preparing British Imams

摘要

The following article explores the controversial and topical issue of imam training in the West while focusing on the British situation. Built upon two studies, one quantitative and another qualitative, it argues that voluntary partnerships between Muslim providers and the higher education system are the way forward rather than government intervention alone. Utilizing an historical analysis of the dars-i-nizami curriculum as developed in South Asia, the article concludes that the traditional division between manqulat and ma'qulat provides the means to create such partnerships and the route towards professionalizing the British imams whilst acknowledging religious sensitivities around the issues of ijaza and sanad and respecting the need to cultivate taqwa.