Dr. AbulGafar Olawale Fahm and Prof. Dr. Britta Frede on the Impact of Digital Technology on Islamic Learning

Abstract

Abstract: In this episode of the Cluster Conversation, Cluster fellow Dr. AbdulGafar Fahm talks with this host Prof. Dr. Britta Frede on his Cluster project, in which he investigates the transformative role of digital technology on Islamic learning within Nigerian Muslim societies, with a focus on the ethical implications that arise in the contemporary digital landscape. Digital technology, including social media platforms, online learning portals, and mobile applications, has redefined traditional methods of religious education, making Islamic teachings more accessible than ever before. However, this accessibility brings both opportunities and challenges.

People & roles

Guest(s): Fahm, AbulGafar Olawale; Frede, Britta

Origins & context

Title: Dr. AbulGafar Olawale Fahm and Prof. Dr. Britta Frede on the Impact of Digital Technology on Islamic Learning
Language: English
Podcast series: Cluster Conversations
Date: February 26, 2025

Rights & access

Extent: 47 minutes, 39 seconds

Identifiers & sources

has URL: https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/1_4-Public-engagement_-engagement1/Podcasts/ClusterConversations/Episode-29/index.html

Further details

Episode number: 29

Full text

[Segment 1/3 | 00:00:00–00:20:00] [00:00:00] Speaker 1: [music] Cluster Conversations, a podcast by Africa Multiple. [00:00:18] Speaker 2: Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Cluster Conversations. With you today is Britta Frede, a senior researcher within the cluster Africa Multiple. I currently hold the chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Bayreuth, but initially, I came to the cluster as a researcher already in 2019. By then, I joined the project "Toward an Islamic Culture Archive," a project that aims at developing a database that makes data on Islam in Africa accessible in various languages from the continent. The project includes a variety of colleagues based in African universities who work on Islamic learning in a broader sense, so from university training to the Quranic school and on more popular, informal settings, like, for example, madih circles or online preaching, therefore, environments that, broadly speaking, are not at a first glance categorized as learning environments, but still circle around Islamic knowledge and ways of spreading the word on Islamic ideas and concepts into the world. My own research centers around Islamic education, especially in various urban African contexts. My interest in the field of Islamic education is especially the religious journey of Muslim women within this field. So, I reflect on women's agency, their role in the educational landscape of Islamic learning, especially in the contemporary context, and their challenges, and I follow an intersectional approach to understand ongoing dynamics of gender, ethnicity, and language. With me today is a special guest, Dr. Abdul-Gafar Fahm from the University of Ilorin in Nigeria. Welcome. Dr. Fahm approached me quite a while ago and asked for options to collaborate with this very interesting and very fitting research project, "Impact of Digital Technology on Islamic Learning in Contemporary Nigerian Muslim Societies: An Ethical Exploration." His… Read the full text about 6,574 words