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Islam, Education and Freedom explores six key areas of freedom, identity, pedagogy, diversity, conflict, trust and love, showing their import in Islam. Based on a qualitative case study of a progressive Islamic school in Southern California, North Star Academy, the book illustrates through the voices of the participants how each particular freedom was applied in the school. The authors show how the six freedoms were understood, taught, and practiced with the clear aim to develop proud American Muslims. It explores the ways the school leaders facilitate and impart each freedom and the influence this has on the development of American Muslim students'' identity.The book culminates with a model for freedom in Islamic schooling. It concludes with three key insights: (1) Islamic schooling can facilitate or constrain the way that leaders, teacher, students, and the school community experience freedom; (2) as freedom is a core value of Islam, it should be made central to the conceptualisation and practice of Islamic schooling; and, (3) Islamic schooling, when grounded in the six freedoms, can be a pathway to comprehensive school reform and is applicable to Islamic schools in the global north. The book includes a Foreword written by Khaula Murtadha, Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Community Engagement, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, USA.>
About the author
Melanie C. Brooks is an Associate Dean (Research) and Associate Professor in Educational Leadership at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Her research explores how school leaders influence schooling structures, policies, and practices based on faith. She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar grant recipient to the Philippines and her work is published in leading education research journals. She is the author of Education and Muslim Identity During a Time of Tension (Routledge 2019) and co-editor of several books on leadership. In 2019, she was awarded the "Bridge People" Award at AERA's annual meeting for her work “creating a bridge between themselves and others.”Miriam D. Ezzani is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Texas Christian University, USA. She studies culturally responsive leadership within contexts of school and district reform and Islamic school leadership. Her research examines how educational leaders support equitable and socially just schooling experiences for historically minoritized students, specifically on issues of race and faith. Her publications appear in journals such as Educational Administration Quarterly, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Journal of School Leadership, and Teachers College Record. Her most recent book, coedited with Melanie C. Brooks, is Great Muslim Leaders: Lessons for Education.
