Diversity in Islamic thought and teaching styles among asatizah of full-time madrasahs in Singapore

Abstract

This research seeks to confirm the prevalence of diversity in Islamic thought and tradition among as?tizah teaching in full-time madrasahs in secular Singapore. Delving into the perspective of students on issues ranging from general preference of learning approaches to explicit issues pertaining to Sufi-Salafi divide, the research attempts to let the first-hand recipients of Islamic knowledge and education in these private institutions to provide a honest and straightforward picture of what their respective as?tizah are like in terms of their teaching styles and messages. Another primary focus of this research is to address how these teachers convey the issues of having differences of opinion among scholars of past and present, as portrayed in their teaching styles and as understood by students through the learning approaches provided in class. One main instrument was developed to collect data, which is a questionnaire adopted from various researches, writings and studies pertaining to the subject matter. The findings indicate an existence of a certain degree of diversity among asatizah of full-time madrasahs in Singapore. Respondents have given various accounts of experiences that they have gained from their madrasah education, especially those who have been in at least two different madrasahs throughout their knowledge seeking journey. Based on the answers given by these respondents, while asatizah are sometimes divided in the way they teach and the perspectives that they convey one important aspect of Islamic education i.e. possessing good morality is agreed by all. Furthermore, these students have unanimously agreed that not everything that these asatizah convey in class are regarded as the definite truth. This is especially agreed by those who have realized the existence and prevalence of having differences of opinions and disagreements on certain aspects of religious practices and rituals. While most of the data findings provide the necessary information needed, a few of the respondents were rather hesitant in providing their answers to some controversial questions, in addition to others who hardly had much idea on what and how to answer them. Even so, the researcher has found that the answers given by the respondents vary in terms of level of understanding of these individuals on certain issues and questions raised to them.