There is much interest in the potential for an alternative funding system for higher education students in England to support the spiritual and worldly needs of British Muslim students. At present those who wish to study in English universities and HE providers are still tied to a financial system that is contentious for many because it is predicated upon paying-back interest, known as riba. The relationship between academic study and finance reveals tensions between Islam as a deeply-spiritual, faith-based way of life and the reality that this way of life is lived, materially, in a worldly existence.

This project engaged with this tension in relation to issues of retention in higher education, in the context of an Academic Innovation Project in one English university in the 2023/24 academic session. Focusing on the outcomes of in-depth interviews with 12 British Muslim undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, the outcomes highlight how the struggle between the spiritual deen and the worldly dunya of these students shaped complex ways in which individuals engage with student finance and realise their spiritual intentions.

Outcomes situate intentionality against retention, shaped against very deep layers of faith, commitment, drive and hope for the future. These are also moulded with family and in community, and reiterate a desire for institutional and sector leaders to recognise their struggle for recognition, and for an alternative finance system that respects faith-based identities.