A Phenomenological Study of Female Students' Experiences in Two Different Muslim Higher Education and Training Institutions

According to the UK Population Census 2011, there are 2.7 million Muslims (4.8% of the total
population) living in Britain (Office for National Statistics, 2016). Muslims thus form the second largest
faith community in Britain after Christians. Muslim faith leaders such as imams (prayer
leaders) and ulema (religious scholars) are a small but disproportionately important group of
people who occupy a position of authority and influence in the Muslim community. These imams
and ulema play an important role in shaping the collective identities and subjectivities of Muslims
in relation to the wider British community, and have hence received significant attention from
British media, parliament and universities in relation to issues such as integration, pluralism, etc.
Yet despite this interest and attention, there is very little that is known about the educational
centres where these imams and ulema are educated and trained. This is an important gap in
existing research on the British Muslim community, since 'it can be said with relative confidence
that Islamic education will continue to function in the years to come as a primary site for the
negotiation and contestation of what it means to be a Muslim in the UK and the terms of just
how that Muslimness relates to - and, of course, helps to define - the cultural tapestry of a
pluralistic Britain.' (Mandaville, 2007, p. 239)