Homeschooling And The Building Of A Strong Muslim Community

Abstract

At present, in the West, the Muslims are living as a minority and hence the Muslim community is very weak. Muslims face struggles of identity, Islamophobic criticism from the wider community and systemic Islamophobia in the workplace and other social institutions. Secularism is a fundamental part of the Western ideology. This ideology is served by, as well as promoted through, the traditional education system. The absence of an education system based on Islamic ideology is what causes weakness across the social fabric of the Muslim community in the West. My research examined Homeschooling as an alternative method of education for children and its potential benefits in building a stronger Muslim community. My research found that Homeschooling can create social cohesion, builds stronger parent-child relationships, and creates time for religious education. Social cohesion, strong parent-child relationships and time invested in religious education create stronger communities. Homeschooling creates opportunities for members of the community to come together, creating interactions and spaces for meeting. Closer parent-child relationships benefits children as parents know about their child better and can deliver one-on-one education as well instil their own family and moral values into children. Religious education has also been found to bring children up with good morals. Teaching proper morals to children can raise them as stronger Muslim adults who can build a stronger community. Research was carried via examining existing literature to find out the current practices and future possibilities of Homeschooling. Observation of Homeschooling families as well as participant questionnaires were used to discover information about current practices relating to Homeschooling, issues relating to morality at secular schools, parents’ connection with their child due to Homeschooling, involvement of the community with Homeschooling families and Islamic leaders attitudes towards Homeschoolers. The study shows that traditional schooling system Islamic leaders, Muslim educators, and those leading the Muslim community can use this study to develop research into developing academic and spiritual training for the youth. Furthermore, leaders can use the findings in this study to develop the Homeschooling community as a means of social cohesion by conducting further research into more communities, find out what resources are needed and then equipping these communities with the required resources. Studies must be conducted to contributes to moral decline and further research is needed to identify specifically what issues lead to the decline in morality in the traditional school system. The traditional schooling system contributes to moral decline and further research is needed to identify specifically what issues lead to the decline in morality in the traditional school system.