The Building Blocks of Tarbiyah
The Issue
Religion serves a special function in adolescents’ virtue development because it can provide youth with a self-transcendent identity that gives them purpose and meaning that is essential for their thriving. However, there is an urgent need to adopt a contextualized approach to the study of this identity, particularly for religious minority adolescents such as Muslim American youth, so we ask, how does the Muslim American community cultivate youths’ virtue development, and how can we form and equip a community of practice that promotes virtue development? We hypothesize that we can answer this question by adopting the scholar-practitioner model of research and launching a community of practice through virtual webinars to establish trust, a common language, and a list of current activities. We further ask, which virtue formation strategies are effective, for which youth, and in which contexts?
Project Overview
In this groundbreaking three-year project, we will use community-building activities and research studies to answer these important questions. We will start by building a community of practice – a network of Muslim youth, those who nurture their development, and those who research their lived experiences. Through different community activities, we will build relationships with Muslim youth and communities to understand which virtues are experienced, where and how virtue learning happens, and what helps Muslim youth in their virtue journey. Finally, we will use the insight gained from the community of practice to launch a longitudinal research study on character development.
This project will be led by Dr. Madiha Tahseen of The FYI, and Dr. Merve Balkaya-Ince of Baylor University. The research team is eternally grateful to the continued mentorship of Dr. Sameera Ahmed, Dr. Sarah Schnitker, and Dr. Karen Melton. Please see the “Meet our Team” section below for more information.
This project was made possible through the support of Grant 62353 from the John Templeton Foundation. All praises are due to Allah (God) for allowing us to serve the ummah.
Executive Summary
Community Building Activities
We will build a community of practice (network) among Muslim American researchers, community leaders, youth workers, and youth, through:
- Convenings of community members and researchers
- A series of online webinars
This will form the foundation for building relationships among the scholars and core community leaders. In addition to the objectives described in the project description, we will ask the community leaders to do the following during grant activities (webinars, convenings, virtue groups):
- Learn about existing evidence-informed virtue development from researchers
- Provide information about religiously-grounded best practices
- Evaluate and provide feedback on the virtue conceptualization used in the grant
- Understand protocols for the longitudinal study
- Provide feedback about the virtue inquiry groups
- Engage in strategic dissemination planning
- Brainstorm additional ways to cultivate a community of practice further
Town Halls
We hosted three virtual town halls with about 50 participants in January 2023 with representation from sub-communities of Muslims including Black Muslims, converts, Latinx Muslims, and Shia Muslims. The purpose of these town halls was to network with other leaders, share experiences, and obtain resources for their communities.
Convening
The first in-person convening was hosted in May 2023 where we gathered about 50 leaders from 26 diverse Muslim organizations and communities across the nation, as well as The FYI, Baylor, and advisor teams. For many of the leaders, this was their opportunity to engage in character development dialogue with other Muslim leaders, which they thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated. Overall, our post-convening survey showed that attendees found the time very productive and valuable to their work (87.1%) and have a sense of co-ownership of the community of practice (95%).
Virtue Inquiry Groups
Coming soon…
Youth Council
To effectively center youth voices, the project has launched a Youth Advisory Council, comprising of 12-15 youth of diverse backgrounds. The objectives of this council are to provide youth with the opportunity to provide feedback in all stages of the project and their experiences in Muslim settings and provide mentorship opportunities aligned with our grant output of investing in the next generation of scholarship.
Research Activities
We will use the learnings that emerge from the networking and community building to further understand and assess Muslim youth’s virtue experiences, through:
- A pilot study
- A longitudinal study
- Virtue Change Trajectories
- Role of Religious Communities
- Mechanisms
- Within-group difference across context and individual factors
Longitudinal Study
Have you ever wondered how Muslim youth build their character — how and where does it happen? This study will help understand how Muslim youth develop good character over time.
The study is currently ongoing.
Pilot Study
The pilot study was launched in May 2023 and has since been completed.
Meet the team
Madiha Tahseen, Ph.D Project Leader
Merve Balkaya-Ince, Ph.D
Project Co-Leader
Sameera Ahmed, Ph.D
Project Advisor
Quaiser Abdullah, Ph.D
Project Advisor, Facilitator
Sarah Schnitker, Ph.D
Project Advisor
Karen Melton, Ph.D
Project Advisor
Aneesah Nadir, Ph.D
Project Advisor
Osman Umarji, Ph.D
Project Consultant
Muslim Youth and Palestine
Muslim youth are experiencing a range of emotions during the current genocide against Palestinians. Our team for the Building Blocks of Tarbiya project was able to glean a preliminary insight into their emotions and responses to this genocide through a unique research opportunity.
Feedback
Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us. It helps us refine and improve our efforts to better serve you. Whether it’s positive comments that motivate us or constructive criticism that guides our enhancements, your insights are an essential part of our journey. We genuinely appreciate your time and input as we work to provide the best possible experience. Thank you for being a part of our process!
Testimonials
We have the power as Muslim organizations to bring our resources and work together to help address many of the challenges and issues we addressed over the weekend when it comes to youth character development. Alone we don’t have all the answers but when we come together we can do great things. We have to be more intentional in working with each other and this was a refreshing sight to see Allhamdulliah.“
Partners
