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Teaching Islam with musicJenny Berglund aa Department of Curriculum Studies , Uppsala University ,Uppsala, SwedenPublished online: 29 May 2008.
To cite this article: Jenny Berglund (2008) Teaching Islam with music, Ethnography and Education,3:2, 161-175, DOI: 10.1080/17457820802062409
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Teaching Islam with music
Jenny Berglund*
Department of Curriculum Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
We can note a varied use and attitudes to song and music in Islam. In the
classroom of Sana � a primary school teacher of Islamic religious education (IRE)
in a Muslim school in Sweden � music is an important but not uncontested part of
IRE. The music not only supports themes discussed in the classroom but also
gives variation to the education. A popular feature is when Sana shows music
videos of Sami Yusuf, a young Muslim artist in the ‘Eurovision song contest’
genre, who sings Islamic pop songs. It happens that children comment and say
that the pop music she plays in the classroom is haram, forbidden. Sana seldom
touches upon the notion of music as forbidden or unlawful in the classroom, but
nevertheless it is visible in her choices of music and the way she presents the music
for the children. Outside the classroom, in discussion Sana talks about the
necessity of finding Islamic role models that attract the young, instead of ‘bearded
old men’ that might have interesting things to say but have neither ‘the looks nor
the language’ to attract young people. Sana’s use of music within IRE is discussed
to seize the meanings associated with music and understand the educational
choices Sana makes in relation to music. This paper is based on fieldwork that
took place during 2005 and 2006.
Keywords: Islam; music; muslim school; Sweden
A varied use of and attitude to song and music has always existed in Islam. Today
song or music is used for worship in diverse contexts ranging from chanted recitation
of the Quran with the human voice as the only ‘instrument’ to Hip Hop culture where
also verses of the Quran are woven into rap texts (Alim 2005).
This article presents the kind of songs and genres of singing that are used by
Sana,1 a primary school teacher in a Muslim school in Sweden. The aim is to discuss
Sana’s use of music within Islamic Religious Education (IRE) by focusing on choices
made in relation to the process of mediating Islam. This article shows a special
interest in how Sana talks about her educational choices in relation to the use of
music since certain kinds of music sometimes are considered unlawful within Islamic
traditions. However, music is often by the majority society perceived as a natural
part of young people’s lives in Sweden and Sana claims that music helps pupils to
learn cultural and religious conditions so she chooses to include music in her
teaching of IRE. For her, the benefits of music in education are greater than the
disadvantages put forward by the critics.
This article does not only present different songs and genres of singing but also
deals with the concept of music and its place within Islamic traditions. How music is
*Email: [email protected]
ISSN 1745-7823 print/ISSN 1745-7831 online
# 2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/17457820802062409
http://www.informaworld.com
Ethnography and Education
Vol. 3, No. 2, June 2008, 161�175
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defined has a relation to different opinions that exist about the use of music as part
of IRE.
Muslim schools in Sweden
Today (2008), there are 16 schools that could be categorised as Muslim schools in
Sweden, these schools have between 20 and 250 pupils.2
Muslim schools as other ‘independent schools with confessional profile’ in
Sweden are financed by the state but run privately. According to the Education Act,
independent schools have to be open to everyone and must be approved by the
National Agency for Education.3 The education in independent schools (including
Muslim schools) shall have the same basic objectives as state schools and adhere to
the so-called fundamental values stated in the national curriculum.4 What
distinguishes an independent school from a state school is that it adds certain
subjects such as (in the case of Muslim schools) IRE and Arabic and that it may have
a specific school ethos.
Methodological considerations
Contact was first made by letters that were sent out to all Muslim schools in Sweden.
In these letters the aim and focus of the study was explained and teachers of IRE
were asked to become informants. My experience from teaching at a Muslim school
was brought forward as a background to the project.5 No answers were received. One
probable reason for this is that the media debate about Muslim schools at the
moment was very heated due to an on-the-spot TV programme made with hidden
camera that depicted several problems at the filmed schools. Several Muslim schools
expressed that they felt unfairly pictured (Berglund 2007).
Contact was instead made by telephone and several positive answers were
received. A school with a teacher (Sana) who taught IRE in Swedish was selected for
fieldwork for this study.6 One day per week (6 h) was spent during the autumn term
of 2005 and a couple of occasions during the spring term of 2006 in the classrooms of
Sana.7 My focus was on what Sana said and did although notes on the questions,
answers and reactions of the pupils were also included. On each occasion an hour
was spent on a semi-structured interview with Sana. The interview started off with
questions about the teaching that had come up on previous occasions and thereafter
turned into informal conversations. The time between the lessons, such as coffee
breaks and lunches, was also spent with Sana, on top of the time spent in classroom
and the interview time. On two occasions I participated in events outside school
when I was invited by Sana to religious festivities where the children performed.The study could be labelled as cross-cultural because it involves the teaching of
Islam as a minority religion in a secular-Christian majority society. Involvement in a
cross-cultural study requires knowledge about the culture of those who are studied.
Johnsson and Castelli (2002) have shown that many researchers who have studied
Muslim schools in England lack knowledge and previous social interaction with this
kind of environment. They claim that:
it is clear that orientalism must be faced head on and that there are important issues
here for researchers about the achieving of an objectively informed position. This is even
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more apparent since the events in the United States of America on September 11, 2001.
(Johnsson and Castelli 2002, 38�9)
Edward Said (1978) has described ‘orientalism’ as the western style for dominating,
reorganising and interpreting Islam on western conditions. His critique of western
observation served to support the argument that ‘traditional’ ethnographic texts
benefit the observer and have often reduced and muted the observed. In this study,
my experience from teaching in a Muslim school, but also from educational settings
in Muslim majority countries has contributed to knowledge that is benefiting for this
situation.8 By bringing forward Sana’s actions and words in ethnographic accounts
from the classrooms and the interviews, her opinions and experiences are acknowl-
edged. Although these accounts are chosen by me who, due to the situation, has a
privileged position, the goal has been to create a ‘story’ that gives new knowledge to
the reader and that does justice to Sana (Kvale and Torhell 1997, 13).
Theoretical departure point
The theoretical approach could be described as empirically grounded but using
sensitising concepts as an inspiration for understanding the situation but also to
strengthen the systematic analysis (Bowen 2006).
A central assumption is that those with influence in education, for example,
policymakers, education leaders and teachers provide different levels of choices as
well as ideas that are taken for granted and that these notions are always present
when school subjects are expressed. The choices are deliberate as an expression for
historical institutionalisation or specific consideration of some kind. Central for
these considerations is that they offer the students a certain perspective on certain
phenomena but exclude other possible perspectives.
Bobby Sayyid’s way of discussing interpretations of Islam is helpful since it
suggests that any single interpretation is profoundly influenced by context as well as
the historical stream from which interpreters attempt to reconstruct the spirit of the
past. Sayyid also shows that different intellectual trends do not proceed in isolation
from one another but mutually affect and enrich each other. In this study, these
assumptions work in line with the assumption that the content of IRE is not set in
advance but instead shaped in context as well as by history and can therefore be used
to discuss the educational choices that shape the use of music within IRE (Sayyid
2003, 43).
Music: a much discussed phenomenon
The attitudes towards music within Islam have varied with time, context and
religious activity. A first step towards understanding the debate about music in
relation to Islam is to look at how the word music can be understood. Several
scholars claim that it is not possible to talk about music in universal terms
(Bjørkvold 2005; Gourlay 1984). One reason for this is that music is often considered
inseparable from the intention and the occasion when it is produced (Gourlay 1984,
36). As will be shown in the following, the intentions behind the inclusion of music
are highly relevant and was also essential to consider when Sana was deciding
whether the use of music in IRE is lawful or not.
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The concept of non-music has been suggested for ritual, dance, drama and
musical sound since non-music (but not music) can be found in all cultures (Gourlay
1984, 36). The concept of non-music is relevant for IRE since within Muslim
societies certain kinds of organised sounds are considered legitimate (halal) even by
critics, for example, Quranic chants, call to prayers and other types of chanting that
are connected to religious rituals. These activities are considered permitted as they
are regarded as non-music (Otterbeck 2004, 15). This division between music and
non-music makes it possible for those who are critical of the use of music to avoid
excluding certain kinds of singing (chanting) that are included in ritual performance.
Neither the word ‘music’, nor much that could be related to music, is mentioned
in the Quran. The diverse approaches towards music among Muslims are instead
often related to hadiths,9 short stories about what the prophet Muhammad did or
said.10 There are hadiths that are interpreted in support of music as well as hadiths
that are interpreted to show that music is unlawful. This has led to varied attitudes
towards music among religiously active Muslims, varying from total prohibition to
promotion. If one considers the outer points of the discussion it is possible to claim
that the critics of music and the advocates share a belief in the strong power of music.
To the critics, the power of music is related to the idea that music distracts people
from religious duties. For the advocates, music should be used within the religious
realm for the benefits of Islam (Nelson 2001; Shiloah 1997; Waugh 2005).
Muslims who advocate the use of music often claim that what is not clearly
forbidden should be accepted until the opposite is proven. Therefore, the advocates
claim that music is permitted as there is no reference to music in the Quran, and that
there are hadiths that can be interpreted both ways (Ramadan 2004, 182�3). Some
scholars claim that music in itself is permitted but that the lyrics or situation where
the music is played might make it unlawful, for example, if the lyrics deal with
unpermitted sexual activities. Negative attitudes towards music among some
contemporary scholars have also been explained as a reaction against cultural
imperialism and western hegemony as a lot of music is produced in ‘the Western
world’ and that the attention given to western music draws attention from God
which is considered bad (Otterbeck 2004, 15).
Authorities: previous articulations
When discussing the permissibility of music with Sana, she sometimes refers to
different authorities to justify the way she uses or does not use music in her teaching.
These authorities are presented in this article as it clarifies the ways Sana adheres to
previous articulations of Islam. These authorities are scholars that are both
contemporary and from the past. The ones that are contemporary build their
arguments on previous scholars; therefore some scholars that are not mentioned by
Sana will also be presented.A contemporary scholar that Sana refers to is Yusuf Al-Qaradawi who recently
has published a book (no title given by Sana) where he, according to her, discusses
the benefits of music by giving examples from Andalusia in the middle ages where
they used music in hospitals to cure the sick. In another book by Al-Qaradawi: The
lawful and the prohibited in Islam, he states that:
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Among the entertainments which may comfort the soul, please the heart, and refresh the
ear is singing. Islam permits singing under the condition that it not be in any way
obscene or harmful to Islamic morals. There is no harm in its being accompanied by
music. (Al-Qaradawi 1999, 300)
Al-Qaradawi belongs to what is sometimes called the wasatteyya, the ideological
centre of reformist Islam (Gardell 2005, 157; Waines 2003, 282�4). He refers his
arguments to both Ibn Hazm and Al-Ghazzali.Ibn Hazm (994�1063 AD) is one of several scholars who have argued for music to
be permitted. He is a well-known scholar from the eleventh century who lived in
Cordova (Montada 2001; Ramadan 2004, 182�3) and according to Sana he was very
positive to music in various ways.
Al-Ghazzali (1058�1111 AD) also considers most music to be permitted as it
plays a positive role in the realisation of reaching God as a mystical goal. He says
that: ‘ . . .music (with respect to the Law) must be judged by the heart, for music does
not bring anything to the heart that is not there: instead, it excites that which is
already in it’ (Al-Ghazzali 2002, 6). The main point in his argument is that the
permissibility of music depends on how the music is ‘consumed’. The kind of music
that ‘stirs up the devil in our hearts’ is not permitted, meaning music that encourages
people to consume intoxicating drinks or engage in unpermitted sexual activities (Al-
Ghazzali 2002; Shehadi 1995, 115�31). Al-Ghazzali claims that stringed instruments
are prohibited as ‘they are associated with wine-drinkers’ (Al-Ghazzali 2002, 14).
Ibn Taymiyyah (1263�1328 AD) argues against listening to music and includes
the sound of instruments and also singing that is not performed for religious reasons.
Chanting (singing) performed during pilgrimage and chanting of poems for good
character and some similar activities that by him are considered as non-music and
are permitted (Shehadi 1995, 95�114; Shiloah 1995, 35). Sana does not refer her
arguments directly to Ibn Taymiyyah, but he has relevance since Sana says that she
does not like the position of the Wahhabiyya, a strictly conservative and puritan
Islamic movement that Sana disagrees with and that often refer their position to Ibn
Taymiyyah (interview with Sana, 17 October 2005). He is therefore presented to
represent the position that Sana argues against.
In Sana’s classroom
The primary school selected for analyses lies in a big Swedish town in an area that
has a large amount of tenant�owner flats. Most of the pupils come by bus to school
from other areas in the town. The school is situated in a purpose-built building that
was previously used by a state school. The school holds grade one to three as well as
a pre-school class. Sana is the teacher of IRE in all classes at the school. She has two
hours for IRE per week, in which she uses one entirely for singing and music. Sana
has several years of education in Islamic theology and jurisprudence from a Muslim
majority country as well as from a European country, but she has no formal teacher
education. All other subjects at the school are taught by teachers who have Swedish
teacher education status.
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Sana labels the songs she sings with the pupils in her music lessons as nasheed,
which according to her could be described ‘as a poem that you sing’ with lyrics that
deals with ‘God’s creations, festivities, fellowship, gratitude to God and many other
things’. Nasheed is in the literature about Islam and music used for a variety of
musical forms, but is today often used for hymns or songs of children (Shiloah 1991).
Sana says that: ‘Nasheed is a kind of music, but nasheed is music that has lyrics that
deal with good things’ (interview with Sana, 7 December 2006). Although the focus
in Sana’s classroom is clearly on singing, listening to music and playing instruments
also takes place in the classroom. An interesting feature is that the permissibility of
music is not discussed with the pupils; instead music is presented as a natural part of
IRE. However, as will be shown there are situations where the educational choices of
Sana indicate that she has taken the issue of the unlawfulness of music into
consideration. In the interviews after the lessons, Sana’s way of arguing about music
becomes more visible.
Celebrating festivities
The most important use of music is in relation to the celebration of festivities, mostly
religious festivities, but occasionally also for celebrating secular festivities such as
United Nations Day (UN day) (see below). Music and singing are intertwined with
the telling of narratives as Islamic festivities are closely connected to Islamic history
which is taught through narratives.
Ramadan
According to Islamic history, Ramadan is the month when Muhammad got his first
revelation of the Quran (Waines 2003). Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic
calendar; it is considered a sacred month that is especially important for reflection,
spirituality and sharing with others. Fasting during Ramadan is prescribed as one of
the five pillars of Islam. Fasting is not only a matter of abstaining from food, drink
and sexual activity from sunrise to sunset; it is also a matter of behaving well and
doing good deeds. People who are elderly or travelling and women who are pregnant,
breastfeeding or menstruating, as well as children, do not have to fast. Fasting is
generally understood as to show the Muslim what it feels like to be hungry and poor,
feelings that are meant to create awareness of God and gratitude to what he gives as
well as a feeling of generosity to give to the poor. Abstention is also thought to create
an awareness of God through self-control and to give religious merit. Ideally the
ethical responsibilities of being Muslim should be given special attention during this
month. Fasting is, of course, an utterly bodily experience; an experience that in the
case of Ramadan is connected to cultural belonging and a matter of fellowship with
the umma, the totality of Muslims in the world. It is a month when most Muslims, no
matter where they live or who they are, join in a ritual that many consider as within
reach of the ideal of the umma (Buitelaar 1991).
During the whole month all songs and music lessons in the school are related in
one way or the other to Ramadan. As will be shown in the following, singing about
Ramadan could be seen as a way of incorporating Ramadan as part of the children’s
cultural identity.
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They wanted to wake up and eat suhur
To be allowed to fast or not to fast is a crucial question among the pupils in the
school. Sana addresses this issue by using a song in a video. The style of the song
could be described as a children’s song:
Sana shows a video with a Ramadan song. On the video girls and boys are dancing while
they lay the table for suhur [pre-dawn breakfast]. The song is in Arabic. When the song is
finished, Sana asks the pupils if they understand the song. A pupil answers, ‘They did
good things’. Sana asks, ‘Why did they do it’ and the pupil answers, ‘because of
Ramadan’. Sana answers, ‘The little children wanted to fast but were not allowed by
their parents. They wanted to wake up and eat suhur, but the parents thought that they
were too small. If you are little, you can fast with your body and not your stomach as we
do here’. (Fieldnotes from classroom observation, 12 October 2005)
In an interview, Sana explains that she finds it important that the pupils learn about
Ramadan in a joyful way and that using songs is a good way to do this. She says that
she likes not only to teach the children songs on her own but also to connect songs toa video once in a while. Her choice of a video could be construed as a way of offering
different ways of learning. The music video is closely connected to the situation of
the pupils. It deals with Ramadan and fasting, a month and a ritual that all children
at school are very much acquainted with. The video shows that when one fasts
during the day, it is important to eat a big breakfast before the sun rises and that it is
a desirable tradition to follow. It also shows examples of children who want to fast
but are not allowed by their parents as they are considered too small. This reflects
the situation of the children in Sana’s classroom. Many small children at the schoolof Sana strive to fast, as fasting is part of the grown-up world, a world that many of
the children long to join. According to the specific rules of this school, pupils below
grade four are not allowed to restrain from eating, a rule that the children in these
grades consider unfair (classroom observation and interview with Sana, 12 October
2005).11
The video showed by Sana gives the impression that it comes from an Arabic
country since the children sing in Arabic. The children are not dressed very
differently from children in Sweden even though their clothes look a bit ‘unfashion-able’ as the video is approximately 10 years old. Sana’s choice of showing this video
could be understood as illustrating to the children that wanting to fast and not being
allowed to do so is not specific for the Swedish context as Muslim children in Arabic
speaking countries also have this ‘problem’.
Many of the children in class do not have Arabic as their mother tongue
(although most of them have Arabic as an extracurricular subject in school, taught
by another teacher) which means that at least some of them have difficulties in
understanding what the children in the video are singing. Sana could not have usedthe video for this reason, but irrespective of language, videos are popular features
among the pupils and the choice of the video is by her motivation to enhance the
learning process about Ramadan with the help of music.
The song of the crescent
Sana’s teaching contains many Ramadan songs in Swedish. As many of the pupils do
not speak Arabic, she says that she finds it important to increase the repertoire with
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songs that all pupils can sing and understand. Her choice to include songs in Swedish
could be construed as a way of showing the pupils that the Swedish language is
important as a common language for Muslims.
A newly composed song that is often sung during Ramadan is ‘The song of the
crescent’. The song is sung with pupils of all ages:
The Crescent has risen, the crescent has risen.
It is time to fast, it is time to fast.
Read the nice words of Allah and understand it’s meaning,
Read the nice words of Allah and understand it’s meaning.
Ramadan is welcome.
We struggle a whole month to find the love of Allah
We struggle a whole month to find the love of Allah.
To fast at daytime and pray at night.
To fast at daytime and pray at night.
To give sadaqah to the poor and the needing,
To give sadaqah to the poor and the needing
Happiness spreads at home in the street and everywhere else.
Happiness spreads at home in the street and everywhere else.
The mosque becomes over crowded with people in all ages.
The mosque becomes over crowded with people in all ages.
We break the fasting together in each others homes.
(My translation from Swedish to English)
The text is a description of Ramadan. The first lines indicate that the Islamic month
Ramadan starts when it is possible to see the new crescent. During Ramadan the
Quran is read and recited in mosques as well as in homes which is indicated in the
following lines.12 That it is important to understand the words of the Quran is also
spelled out.13 Sana comments on the line: We struggle a whole month to find the love
of Allah to the pupils in the following way: ‘Ramadan is an intensive course in good
behaviour for humans’. She says that this course is ‘a struggle to behave well, be nice
to others, pray and restrain from food for the sake of God’. She continues to explain
that the course lasts during Ramadan, but the idea is that God-consciousness
(taqwa) should last the whole year. Part of this struggle is to fast at daytime and pray
at night. To give sadaqah means to give to those who are in need. It is a charitable
giving which is not obligatory but is supposed to give merit. Often sadaqah is given to
bring blessings at happy occasions such as Ramadan or weddings. The last lines,
according to Sana do explain the feelings of many Muslims during Ramadan as well
as what happens in mosques. The very last line explains that when the sun sets in the
evening it is time to break the fast together (classroom observations and interview
with Sana, 12 December 2006).
Sana says there is a lot of important cultural knowledge in the songs that she
sings with her pupils and that singing is a good way of conveying this knowledge. It is
possible to construe her choice of singing songs in Swedish about Ramadan as a way
to show the pupils that the Swedish language is relevant in the celebration of Islamic
festivities; but also that Ramadan has a place within Swedish culture. Parts of the
text might be difficult to understand for some pupils in the lowest grades, due to
some complicated words, but Sana says that the children learn the words by heart
and will eventually understand what the words mean which might be stimulating in a
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longer perspective. This indicates that learning what the words mean is not only a
matter of language competence in Swedish but also a matter of competence in Islam.
The pupils tell themselves and others who they are and to which group they identify
through their songs.
Last night I had the strangest dream
Singing is not only used for celebrating Islamic festivities but also secular ones such
as UN day.14 A song that is often sung in the classroom of Sana is ‘Last night I had
the strangest dream’; it is introduced to the pupils on UN day. The ethnographic
account that follows is from a music lesson with third graders and is chosen not only
because it exemplifies how songs are used to celebrate a secular festivity but also
because it shows that the lyrics of the songs are of great importance to Sana.
Sana says: ‘Today it is the United Nation’s day. Have you talked about it before?’ The
pupils answer ‘Yes’ and Sana continues, ‘We are going to sing a song about peace’. She
distributes a sheet with the lyrics to the song: Last night I had the strangest dream. Sana
says, ‘We have changed the last four lines’. We sing ‘hold each others hands’ where it
says ‘go from pub to pub’. A pub is where you can drink alcohol. Ra’ad15 has rewritten
the song. The song is from The Swedish song book for children [Barnens Svenska
sangbok, by Palm and Stenstrom (1999)]. Ra’ad took it and altered the last lines so that
it should fit us Muslims. (Fieldnotes from classroom observation, 24 October 2005)
That Sana introduces the song by talking about the UN day could be construed as
she wants to show the pupils that the UN is a good thing worth acknowledging.
When she says that they are going to sing about peace, she indirectly explains that
the UN is concerned with peacekeeping.
By mentioning the Swedish song book for children, she shows the pupils that this
songbook exists and is suitable for them. However, the alteration of the last lines in
the second verse could be construed in different ways. On the one hand, it is possible
to say that the song has been censored, that this is a violation against the author of
the Swedish text (Cornelis Vreeswijk) and that it shows the pupils that the songs in
the Swedish song book for children have to be altered to fit them as Muslims. On the
other hand, Sana clearly shows the original words on the sheet that is distributed,
since it is a copy from the Swedish song book for children. Most of the children write
the new text on the sheet beside the original words of the text author. Some do not
bother to do this; they simply try to remember the new lines.16 It could even be
argued (at least by me) that the lines that are added are more closely connected to the
UN day than the original text (promising to never make war instead of drinking and
dancing). However, Sana is not motivated to carry out the change in relation to the
day of celebration but in relation to Islam. The text is, according to Sana, altered as
drinking of intoxicating drinks is prohibited, a fact that the pupils seem to be well
aware of as no one asks about it and as Sana in class only explains the word pub
(krog), not the actual prohibition (classroom observation and interview, 24 October
2005). In this situation it is the lyrics that are crucial for Sana. The song is connected
to the UN because of its lyrics and the last lines are altered because the lyrics are
considered to not be permissible in relation to Islam.
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The faithful pop star
When walking around the school where Sana works, one often hears pupils singing
the songs of Sami Yusuf who is a (British-Iranian) Muslim pop star who sings rock
ballads with faithful texts. An immensely popular part of the music lessons is when
the pupils get to sing the songs of Sami Yusuf or when Sana shows the music videos
of Sami Yusuf. On one occasion Sana shows one of his videos for the first graders.
Many of them seem to have heard the song before as they have no problems joining
in with the refrain, but for many of them it is the first time they see the video. Some
of them speak in excited voices that they have been longing to see this video as they
like the song ‘so much’. The song is called Al-Mu’allim which means ‘the teacher’.
The song begins:
We once had a Teacher, the Teacher of teachers; he changed the world for the better and
made us better creatures. Oh, Allah we’ve shamed ourselves we’ve strayed from Al-
Mu’allim. Surely we’ve wronged ourselves, what will we say in front of him. Oh
Mu’allim, He was Muhammad, salla Allahu’alayhi wa sallam, Muhammad, mercy
upon Mankind.
As the pupils who get to see the video are first graders, they probably do not
understand very much of the text as Sami Yusuf sings in English, but as many
children often do, they learn the words of the text by heart anyway. The text
describes Muhammad as the ultimate teacher for humanity, being the one who
‘taught us to be just and kind and feed the poor and hungry’. In many ways the text
of the song rhymes well with what Sana states is her aim with the IRE: ‘to make the
pupils aware of what is good Muslim behaviour and that the prophet Muhammad is
a good role model’ (interview with Sana, 6 October 2005). The words salla
Allahu’alayhi wa sallam means ‘peace be upon him’ and is a phrase that many
Muslims use after the name of a prophet to send blessings and thereby salute him.
In the music video, Sami Yusuf who is a tall man between 25 and 30 drives around in
a big uncovered jeep in the desert, taking photos of the rising sun with a huge camera.
Many of the pupils think he is handsome, according to Sana. He has a short well-cut
beard and is ‘well dressed’ in black trousers and a white shirt with a black waistcoat on
top. At the end of the video he develops the pictures in a laboratory and on the
developed pictures the outlines of Kaba appear (classroom observation, 12 October
2005, see also www.samiysuf.com). The video includes many of the attributes that can
be seen in other popular music videos shown on, for example, MTV daily; such as the
big and expensive car and the huge camera. These attributes could be construed as
signals that Sami Yusuf is a modern man ready to compete in pop star status with other
modern men and women who also sing rock ballads but with wordly lyrics. Sana says
that her use of Sami Yusuf is away to show pupils that Islam is part of youth culture and
that they do not have to look outside Islam to find modern idols. Sana is very much in
favour of the way Sami Yusuf sings and acts. She says that ‘we need this kind of person
for the young’ and that ‘for young people his looks and the melody matters a lot’
implying that the Muslim umma needs modern role models within youth cultures
(classroom observation and interview, 12 October 2005).
What makes Sami Yusuf different from many other pop stars is his lyrics and
Sana also considers these crucial in her teaching; according to her it is the lyrics that
make him a suitable role model for the pupils, although initially it is probably the
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pop-star look and the melody that attracts them. The way Sana presents Sami
Yusuf’s music as not only permitted but also desirable, connects to the idea of music
as a good thing and the lyrics as crucial.
In our discussions about role models for the young, Sana points out that ‘the old
bearded men do not attract young people even though they might have a lot of good
things to say’, therefore, she welcomes the new popular Muslim groups contrastingthe looks of Sami Yusuf with more traditional religious leaders. She says that apart
from Sami Yusuf she also uses the music of the group Native Deen (see, for example,
www.nativedeen.com) in her lessons in spite of the fact that the first time she put on
Native Deen in the classroom there were children who said that this type of music is
haram (forbidden). She recalls that she then explained to them that the message in
the songs was the important thing and therefore the music was permitted. She also
says that teachers at the school, who are not Muslims, have asked her if music is
permitted in Islam as there are pupils who have told them that music is forbidden.
Sana says that when such situations arise she explains her own view that music is a
medium and that what is crucial is the lyrics. She says that she tells the teachers that
she thinks it is up to them to decide what kind of music they find suitable in a
classroom. When Sana is asked about reactions against her use of music from
parents, she tells me about her first year as a teacher at the school. She says that
parents sometimes told her that they did not agree with her, but she stuck with her
arguments and dissent fell away. She now feels that they respect her, much due to her
education in Islamic sciences and that this legitimates her strong arguments(interview with Sana, 7 December 2006).
Sana’s arguments highlight several interesting questions in relation to IRE. Her
choice to promote new and popular nasheed groups such as Native Deen and Sami
Yusuf might be seen as a way of showing the relevance of Islam within what she calls
‘youth culture’. Her choice of using not only the kind of music that historically has
been seen as ‘non-music’, but also pop music is grounded in her idea of the strong
power of music, an idea that she thinks should be used for the benefit of Islam. Her
arguments might be understood in relation to a global musical world where there is
competition from other (non-Islamic) pop groups. Her arguments to use Sami Yusuf
or Native Deen in her education to celebrate Islam might be construed as a necessity
if she wants to maintain the interest of the young. It is not because she thinks their
message is more special than that delivered by more traditional means but that the
medium is a necessary modern one.17
In several interviews Sana stresses the importance of IRE for building a strong
identity for the pupils. Showing a music video with a popular singer supports astrategy for choosing content in IRE because it ‘is related to the situation of the
pupils’ and therefore Sana argues that it ‘supports their Islamic identity’. This shows
that she sees the pupils’ situation as being part of popular youth culture. I construe
her choice to place Islam and IRE within modern youth cultures and to claim that it
is not only permitted but also desirable to use pop music in IRE, as a way to show
the pupils that Islam is compatible with the modern Swedish society.
Apart from relating to the pupils’ situation, Sana motivates to use music by
referring to Ibn Hazm from Andalusia, who she says was positive about music and
she claims that many Muslims are drawn to music through Ibn Hazm. She argues via
Yusuf Al-Qaradawi that ‘since guitars did not exist in the early days of Islam there
cannot be a prohibition against them’ and ‘the reason why some Muslims argue that
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guitars are prohibited is that they think it leads to things that are haram’ (forbidden,
like alcohol). She continues by explaining that she personally does not like the kind
of music where the texts are about things that are forbidden, for example, if the text
‘tempts relations between men and women who are not married’. Instead Sana saysthat she prefers ‘texts about nature, friendship, faith, the prophet or about religious
festivities’ (interview with Sana, 17 October 2005).
Conclusion
Through the use of music the pupils in Sana’s classroom could be considered to be
offered a way to acquire cultural and societal circumstances of their religious
tradition. Through music the pupils are told who they are and to what group they
belong. All these different aspects of the use of music could be seen as part of the
socialising processes that are meant to build the feeling of cultural belonging.
The use of singing and music serve several different purposes such as being animportant part of celebrating Islamic festivities, complementing narratives and
thereby connecting to Islamic history and being part of worship. For Sana singing is
also a way of giving variation to teaching and a way of enhancing the learning
process. However, the songs are not only part of the Islamic history, they also point
to a future. When popular music with faithful texts is used in the classroom, the
modern, popular beat becomes a part of Islam and Islam becomes part of popular
youth culture. Through the singing lessons Sana connects certain kinds of words and
language as well as certain bodily and intellectual behaviours not only to Islam butalso to popular youth culture.
However, the educational decisions Sana makes frame a school subject: IRE, and
build a certain perspective on phenomena but exclude other possible perspectives.
Her way of excluding any discussion about music as unlawful in the classroom,
although it is a prevalent discourse in the school it is possible to understand in
relation to the fact that music and singing by the majority society is considered as an
important part in youth culture. When Sana uses music as a natural part of IRE
instead of highlighting it as a controversial issue we see an interpretation of Islambeing determined by Sana’s particular situation as well as how Islam has been
interpreted in relation to music in the past. Her educational choices are based in
support for Islam and she uses scholarly opinions from the past to legitimise her
approach to recognising the contemporary contexts of Islam in Sweden. Her
educational choices in relation to music and song are rearticulations of the use of
music within Islam at a grass root level, as she in different ways adjusts her use of
songs and music to the contemporary school situation in Sweden.
Notes
1. Sana is a pseudonym.
2. There are at present nine schools that are labelled ‘Islamic’ by the National Agency of
Education. There are also seven schools that call themselves Swedish-Arabic; most of
these schools add subjects that could be labelled IRE (such at Quran education) to the
weekly schedule. I therefore choose to call all these 16 schools Muslim. An independent
school must have at least 20 pupils to get funding from the municipality.
3. The Swedish National Agency for Education is the central administrative authority for the
Swedish school system. The role of the National Agency for Education in the Swedish
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education system is to define goals in order to administrate, to inform in order to influence
and to review in order to improve.
4. The fundamental values stated in the National Curriculum are: The inviolability of human
life, individual freedom and integrity, the equal value of all people, equality between
women and men and solidarity with the weak and vulnerable.
5. I have taught Mathematics, Science and Physical Education at a Muslim school from 1999
to 2003. The school selected for study was not the same school as where I had worked as a
teacher.
6. This study is part of the researchers PhD project where IRE of three different Muslim
schools are compared and studied, see Berglund forthcoming.
7. Contact continued through e-mail after fieldwork was completed.
8. I have experience from studies in schools in Jordan, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine.
9. The plural of the word hadith is ahadith. I use the hadiths to simplify reading in English.
10. The hadiths are important since what Muhammad did and said is considered normative
for Muslims.
11. To be allowed to try to fast is for many children a first step into the grown-up world. As
my fieldwork took place during Ramadan, I got a good insight into how the school
handled the question of fasting during Ramadan, a question often discussed also in state
schools. In the school of Sana, the children below grade four are encouraged to ‘fast with
their bodies but not with their stomachs’. This means that they can do everything that is
connected to fasting except restraining from eating: not use bad words, not quarrel, not
scream and instead give complements, smile to make people happy and be generous. For
me, it was obvious that many of the children did not think that this was enough, they
longed for the time when they will be allowed to try to fast also with their stomachs. They
talked with envy about older siblings or friends who are allowed to try to fast and thereby
allowed to take one of the first steps into the world of grown ups, or in other words they
long for the time when they will be allowed to experience the feeling of cultural belonging
through fasting.
12. Sana tells me that during Ramadan she recites a juz every day. A juz is a section of the
Quran. The Quran is not only divided into 114 suras, but also into 30 juz, which is a
liturgical division.
13. The importance of understanding the words that one recites is in line with Sana’s teaching
of the Quran. She claims that it is utterly important for the pupils to learn what the words
of the Quran mean, to understand what they say during prayer. Note that the precise
explanation of the Quran is by many considered a science in itself (Rippin 2000;Von
Denffer 2003). Thus, at least historically, informal attempts to explain the meaning have
often not been taking place within the first years of Quranic education (Robinson 2003.
See also Berglund 2006).
14. Not only Islamic (and secular) festivities are celebrated at Muslim schools. In one of the
schools that I visited and made interviews in, but that was not chosen for fieldwork, the
headmaster told me that they also celebrated some Christian festivities. An example of this
was the Swedish celebration of Sancta Lucia, a celebration that I was also shown pictures
from. The headmaster motivated the celebration of Santa Lucia as well as making
Christmas craftwork by saying that these activities are part of Swedish culture and
therefore important to take part of (interview with headmaster, 3 October 2005).
15. Ra’ad is a pseudonym.
16. It is not only the lines mentioned in the ethnographic account that are altered. The
following line: ‘and every body drank to each other and danced and smiled’ is altered into
‘and promised to never make war against each other again’.
17. Note that she claims that it is because she is well educated in Islamic Sciences that she does
not have to buckle for the arguments of the parents. On the one hand, this argument might
seem simplistic as it is possible to argue that a more conservative education would have
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made her agree with the parents. Those who argue against music are by no means un-
educated; instead they have, for various reasons, other ways of interpreting Islam.
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