Abdullah Sahin

Dr. Abdullah Sahin serves as Reader in Islamic Education at the University of Warwick's Department of Education Studies within the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is a core member of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) and holds a Visiting Professorship at UIN State Islamic University in Jakarta, Indonesia. Previously, he has held academic positions at the University of Birmingham, University of Aberdeen, Gulf University for Science and Technology (Kuwait), and Markfield Institute of Higher Education where he served as Head of Research and Senior Lecturer. He was also a visiting professor at the Institut d'Etudes de l'Islam et des Sociétés du Monde Musulman at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris during the 2009/10 academic year.

Dr. Sahin's research establishes Islamic Education Studies as an interdisciplinary field of scholarly inquiry with particular focus on traditions of education in Islam and their theological, philosophical, spiritual and pedagogic foundations; Islamic Empirical and Practical Theology; Educational Hermeneutics in Muslim core sources; and Education and Identity formation among British Muslim youth. His work extends to Teacher Training and Faith-based schooling within British Muslim communities, Muslim Seminaries and the training of faith leaders in contemporary Europe, and Modern Islamic pedagogies in intercultural and interreligious education contexts. He has developed the first recognized Masters' level degree programme on Islamic education within the UK higher education system.

His extensive publication record reveals a consistent scholarly trajectory examining the intersection of Islamic educational traditions with contemporary challenges. The most recent works demonstrate growing attention to Muslim minority contexts in Europe, critical analysis of Islamic and Western educational values, and practical applications of Islamic educational theory to contemporary social issues including identity formation, intercultural dialogue, and addressing extremism. His research increasingly incorporates empirical methodologies while maintaining strong theoretical grounding in Islamic educational heritage.

Dr. Sahin has secured significant research support including the establishment of the Readership in Islamic Education at Warwick University through a generous donation by the Randeree Charitable Trust. This initiative represents a model collaboration between community and university aimed at educational capacity building within Muslim communities in the UK, Europe and globally. He has contributed to national level discussions on educational policy development regarding religious extremism and community cohesion, including commentary in The Guardian.

As an active member of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values (ISREV), Dr. Sahin participates in global scholarly networks advancing religious and intercultural education. His current projects include editing a special issue for the journal Religions entitled 'Islamic Education in Contemporary World: Traditions, Rearticulations & Transformation' and working on two book projects: 'Critical Issues in Islamic Education' (Routledge) and 'Islamic Education: international perspectives' (Brill).