Our Philosophy

The Scope of the Crises

Whether you are in a majority-Muslim nation-state, a diaspora minority, or an indigenous minority community, many challenges faced by Muslim education today are connected to the Muslims’ colonial past. Colonialism disrupted the integrity and autonomy of the Muslim civilization, which includes the systems of education and their close connection to civilizational advancement. The decline in civilization, one the one hand, compelled Muslim nations to import foreign models of education and superimpose them upon to inherited models, creating hybrid-dualistic models insufficient to meet the complex challenges at hand. On the other hand, colonial disruption and the local politico-economic failures forced many Muslims to seek their fortunes in foreign lands, who then sought to replicate the similar dualistic models of education for the diaspora. It then becomes clear that one of the goals of education should be to restore the lost integrity of Muslim civilization. Any education disconnected from this civilizational purpose fails to fulfill its full promise.

The Response to the Crises

The complexity of the crises requires a response of requisite complexity. UnboxEd Learning imagines a fivefold response in a descending contextual scope, beginning with the broadest context and gradually working to the narrowest and the specific.

Universal: From Helpless Victims to Responsible Stewards

Education is the process by which a new generation is prepared to advance the human project. While the Muslim civilization in the past played a positive role in human advancement, it no longer does so in any meaningful way. We live today in the age of the Anthropocene, in which human activity is causing destructive changes to the very foundation of life on earth. The highest worldly purpose of Muslim education should be to prepare young Muslims to make a positive contribution to the human project and become responsible stewards of the earth and its inhabitants in the Anthropocene.

Civilizational: From Disintegration to Recovery

Whether you are in a majority-Muslim nation, a diaspora minority, or an indigenous minority community, the challenges of Muslim education today are connected to our colonial past. Colonialism disrupted the integrity and autonomy of the Muslim civilization. That disruption includes the disintegration of the systems of Muslim education and their connection to civilizational advancement. Given the vast scope of civilizational linkages, our civilizational decline has impacted nearly every aspect of Muslim lives, from intellectual pursuits to nation building, from artistic pursuits to family life, politics and foreign policy, and from spirituality to culture. The decline in civilizational progress is what compelled Muslim nations to import foreign educational models unconcerned with the Muslim civilization. It follows that Muslim education must set of itself the task of civlizational restoration. Any Muslim education that remains disconnected from its civilizational task fails to fulfill its worldly promise.

Cultural: From Diffident Estrangement to Confident Preservation

The complexity of the world today is such that people carry complex identities. We belong to different cultures, civilizations, nations, ethnicities, communities, and faiths. Cultural heritage anchors humans spiritually and psychologically by rooting them into stable values, morals, and practices. The loss or confusion about one’s cultural identity can result in broken personalities and communities. The pressures imposed upon young Muslims in minority settings cause many of them to be diffident about their cultural heritage. It is not uncommon for some to surrender their cultural heritage in a bid to find acceptance by their respective dominant culture. Muslim education, therefore, needs to instill in its students a healthy yet critical consciousness viz a viz the cultures of their immigrant elders, their local community, and the dominant non-Muslim society.

National: From Invisibility to Visible Participation

It is a prevalent feature of the modern world that we live in nation-states, citizenship in which is predicated upon national allegiance. The pressures exerted upon minorities to prove their loyalty and relevance to their own state and nationalist sentiments can alienate them from their national identities. The pressure compels minorities to withdraw themselves from open public participation in national life. This invisibility is conflated by the majority with dispensability. The proper response is to cultivate in students national consciousness and civic purpose toward open public participation in the life of their nation. The national context is the proper scope of practical engagement in responding to the crises at hand.

Spiritual: From Doubt to Fortification

The modern age takes inspiration from and pride in religious skepticism. Confusion or doubts about religion are all too prevalent in modernity. Young Muslims are sure to be confronted with difficult questions and doubts about their religion. The hackneyed approach is to respond with standard religious answers or with dismissal and derision of the questions asked. This defensive and apologetic approach proves ineffective in the long run. The more appropriate response is to instruct students in not only the conventional spiritual ways of being religious, but supplement these with rational understanding of religion with a view to securing their spiritual fortification.