Muhammad Eeqbal Farouque Hassim
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PhD Candidate & Research Assistant (Islamic Studies) Sidney Myer Asia Centre Mob: +61 0409 974 771 |
Background
Muhammad Eeqbal Farouque Hassim is a PhD Candidate in Islamic Studies and a Research Assistant at the Centre for Islamic Law & Society (CILS), Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne. Eeqbal has a BA (Hons First Class) in Arabic (Islamic) Studies and Indonesian Studies from the University of Melbourne. He is currently a recipient of the Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Education, Science and Training.(DEST) Eeqbal is also a member of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE), a casual teacher of Islam to members of Melbourne’s Muslim community and a freelance Islamic education consultant. As the Director of the newly formed Al-Farouqiyyah Islamic Education Foundation of Australia (AL-FIEFA), Eeqbal is currently developing a comprehensive, prototype Islamic religious education program for children in Australia with AL-FIEFA’s educational development team.
Research Interests
- Islamic educational psychology, particularly the role of motivation and volition in learning from an Islamic perspective
- Islamic education philosophy, aims, methods, curriculum development and teacher training
- Islamic religious education reforms in the West (Australia in particular), other secular modern contexts and the Muslim world
- Maslahah and its relevance to Islamic education in context
- Salafism
- Relationships between past and present Muslim ideologies and movements
- Varying interpretations of sunnah and bid’ah
- Muslim ideologies and movements in Indonesia
Current Projects
- Towards more appealing secondary level Islamic religious education for students in Australian Islamic schools based on a survey of student volition and the factors influencing student towards a current program – This PhD project seeks to develop a model for secondary level Islamic religious education programs in Australian Islamic schools that appeal to students based on a survey of student volition and the factors influencing student volition towards a current program. The King Khalid Islamic College of Victoria is being used as the case study school. This research was mainly spurred by the perceived weak, or lack of, motivation and interest amongst secondary level students towards the available Islamic religious education programs in Islamic schools. With its new approach to Islamic religious education program model development, this project is expected to contribute significantly to the design of future programs in the Australian context and is the first theoretical and applied study of its kind in Australia.
- Assisting Prof. Abdullah Saeed with an ARC-Funded Discovery Project (2004-06) on the ‘Reconfiguration of Islam by Muslims in Australia’
- The debate on Islamic religious education reforms in the modern period – Research for a proposed book to be written by Prof. Abdullah Saeed
- Developing Islamic religious education textbooks and related materials for the Australian/Western context together with Prof. Abdullah Saeed and Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Abdul Raheem. Currently working on Years 7-10 materials to be published by the end of 2006.
- Developing a comprehensive, prototype Islamic religious education program for children in the Australian context based on the latest (contemporary), as well as classical, research on Islamic educational theory and psychology. Modern educational theory and psychology is also used in program development. (Project carried out with AL-FIEFA’s educational development team)
Research and Other Project-Related Tasks Completed
- Academic grant writing for Prof. Abdullah Saeed – ARC Discovery Grant Application for Funding Commencing in 2007. Project application title: ‘Islamic Religious Education: Integration of young Muslims in Australia’
- Contributed significantly to ‘Data Collection for the Research Project on Muslim Societies (Oct-Dec 2005)’, a project commissioned by the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), Commonwealth Government, as part of the National Action Plan for Muslims in consultation with the Muslim Community Reference Group. Conducted preliminary research mostly on Islamic education in Australia.
- On the Origins of Salafism in Indonesia: The Most Accurate Understanding through Critical Rethinking and Analysis
- Asalib al-Hal fi Suratay al-Baqarah wa al-Nisa’ (The Styles of Circumstantial Expression in Surah al-Baqarah and Surah al-Nisa’ in the Quran)
- The significance and impact of Quranic verses in the literary works of ‘Ali Ahmad Bakathir with particular reference to the plays, al-Silsilah wa al-Ghufran and al-Duktur Hazim
- Bid’ah Hasanah: A critical study of the oft-misunderstood and misused concept of bid’ah hasanah (good innovation) in Islam, based on the Quran, Hadith and statements of the scholars
- The Significance of Death and Life in Islam departing from the second verse of Surah al-Mulk
- A Study of Selected Themes within the Hadith of al-‘Irbad b. Sariyah
- Jemaah Islamiyah and Muhammadiyah: Comparing their interpretations of implementing the Shari’ah, Jihad and the Islamic state
Conference Papers
- ‘To learn or not to Learn? Implications for Islamic Religious Education in Australia’, Centre for Islamic Law &Society (CILS) Islamic Studies Post Graduate Conference, 21-22 November, The University of Melbourne, 2005