ABSTRACT
Where Muslim education in general is concerned, anthropologists and religious historians have already recounted the pedagogies that shaped it and the intellectual, moral and affective spiritual effects attributed to it (cf. Brenner, 2001; Boyle, 2004; Moore, 2008). Researchers in these areas have produced rich accounts of elementary Islamic education using a wide range of methods such as interviews, questionnaires, participant observations, archival research, psychological experiments as well as fine-grained video analysis. In Singapore itself, there has also been a recent spate of publications on madrasah education in Singapore, for example Noor and Lai (2006), Alatas (2006), Buang (2009) and Saeda (2010). However, very little has been written about part-time or weekend madrasahs, even though they are attended by at least 40% of Singapore Muslims aged 5–24 years (MUIS 2007, p. 51). Indeed, part-time madrasahs have been an integral part of Singapore’s heritage as well as educational landscape, more so than full-time madrasah institutions. These weekend schools take place outside school hours, usually on a Saturday or Sunday for a few hours each week. A Muslim child would attend such a school for an average of three hours per week, and for an average of 6 years (Chee 2006, informant).
