Muslim students’ belonging is shaped by faith provision, religious literacy and peer care

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Reliable prayer facilities, informed staff and supportive peers feature in Hanan Fara’s study of British Muslim students’ belonging. The paper examines how students describe navigating university life over time.

What the interviews show

Thirty British Muslim undergraduates at two West Midlands universities took part in qualitative interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis interpreted their accounts of transitions, identity, institutional conditions and everyday routines.

Fara describes three overlapping phases: initial disruption, adaptation and placemaking, and more confident participation and legacy-building. These are an interpretation of narrated journeys, not a fixed sequence every student follows. Setbacks and renewed caution remained possible.

Participants described prayer-space access, timetabling, staff religious literacy and peer networks as consequential to daily participation. Some described guarded self-expression within wider political and institutional climates. The analysis also recognises students’ agency in creating workable spaces and relationships.

This qualitative study offers situated accounts, not population prevalence or an experimental test of a service intervention. It does not validate predicting withdrawal from student comments or silence.

Questions for institutions

As editorial suggestions, review whether faith-related provision is dependable in practice, including access at the times students need it. Ask students how arrangements work rather than assuming a listed facility meets every need.

Provide opportunities to raise concerns through suitable channels and agree who will follow up. Avoid treating Muslim students as one uniform group or assuming that an absence of complaints means that everyone feels able to speak.

Reference

Hanan Fara. “Navigating sacred and secular: the dynamic evolution of Muslim students’ sense of belonging in UK higher education.” Studies in Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2026.2641136.

Reviewed 7 September 2026 against the full paper. This revision clarifies the qualitative design and removes unsupported causal and withdrawal-prediction claims.