Reading an Islamic epistemology into research: Muslim converts and contemporary religion in Britain

Olusola, Jeremiah A. (2022) Reading an Islamic epistemology into research: Muslim converts and contemporary religion in Britain. Journal of Religious Education, 70. pp. 397-411. ISSN 1442-018x

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Abstract

This paper presents a tentative argument for the application of a unique methodological approach in researching convert Muslims in contemporary Britain. By throwing into relief some of the theoretical limitations of previous studies on the topic, a case is made for a dialectical model of thinking that foregrounds Islamic epistemology and places it into conversation with a critical posture. The article contributes to a wider discourse within academia about the ability of the contemporary study of religion to reflect the increasingly diverse world of religious and non-religious practice found in contemporary Britain. It is critical of the over enfranchisement of secular readings of Islamic conversion specifically, and orientalist framings of Islamic identity generally. I conclude by asserting insider positionality and the primacy of reflexivity as an approach to ensure intellectual rigour.

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