Teslim Adeyemo argues that Islamic studies graduates must be trained for media so their knowledge can shape public discourse beyond mosques and classrooms.
By the time a young person graduates from a respected Islamic studies programme in Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, London or Lagos, they may have spent years studying centuries of scholarship, debating jurisprudence, examining hadith, and grappling with the deepest questions of faith, law and meaning.
Many can explain the difference between Sunni and Shia legal traditions, engage classical texts, and speak with confidence about Islamic history, theology and ethics.
But when they complete their studies, many face a brutal choice: become an imam if they are male, compete for an oversubscribed teaching post, or abandon their field entirely.
What many are not equipped to do is walk into a newsroom, produce a podcast, present a current affairs programme, or build a credible digital media platform, even though Muslim audiences badly need precisely the kind of knowledge, nuance and cultural literacy they carry.
This is a waste of talent. And it is an emergency, a fard kifayah case.
The wasted pipeline
The Muslim world is producing graduates with deep Islamic knowledge but limited pathways to deploy it in one of the most consequential arenas of modern life: the media.
Every Islamic studies graduate should receive serious training in journalism, broadcasting, podcasting or digital media, alongside exposure to history, economics, Islamic finance, development studies and psychology.
This is not simply about employability. It is about influence.
Media is the classroom of the modern world. If the Ummah does not place trained, articulate and Islamically literate voices inside that classroom, others will continue defining Islam, Muslims and the Muslim world on our behalf.
The pipeline problem
In many parts of the Muslim world, Islamic studies graduates face narrow career options. Major institutions produce large numbers of graduates every year in Islamic and Arabic studies, but the formal religious sector cannot absorb them all.
The overwhelming majority are funnelled towards imamate and teaching, both of which are saturated. Imamate is also culturally and practically limited mostly to men, while teaching posts are often highly competitive and poorly paid.
Meanwhile, Muslim audiences are growing, digitally connected and underserved. The media industry still lacks enough journalists, producers, presenters and content creators who can speak to those audiences with knowledge, credibility and Islamic literacy.
We have surplus talent in one sector and urgent need in another, with no bridge between them.
The problem is not a lack of graduates. The pathways are lacking.
Media is the new public classroom
More people today learn their values, their understanding of Islam, and their sense of what is possible from screens than from any masjid or madrasa.
A teenager in Manchester may encounter Islam through YouTube, TikTok, X and the news before ever sitting with a scholar. A mother in Jakarta may form her views from television dramas, WhatsApp forwards and social media clips. A young Muslim in Johannesburg or Lagos may absorb more about politics, identity and faith from digital media than from formal religious education.
If the only Muslims visible in the media are celebrities, politicians, victims, suspects or government-approved spokespeople, the public imagination becomes distorted.
Much of the reporting on Muslims globally is produced by journalists who are not Muslim. Many are well-intentioned, but they often lack the cultural and religious literacy needed to avoid tropes, oversimplification and unintended bias. This is not only a conspiracy. It is also a structural gap.
The industry needs journalists who can explain Islamic concepts in accessible language, contextualise geopolitical events within Muslim history, understand the religious vocabulary of Muslim societies, and challenge stereotypes from a place of earned authority.
Placing trained Islamic studies graduates in media is an act of public education. When Muslim journalists produce content, whether explicitly religious or not, they normalise a worldview shaped by Islamic values. That changes what people absorb as normal.
Building the bridge
The solution is a scholarship-backed training programme, structured through regional hubs, that takes Islamic studies graduates at bachelor’s and master’s level and puts them through rigorous media training.
The focus should be digital-first, without neglecting print, broadcast and documentary work.
Regional hubs in Southeast Asia, the Arab world, South Asia, Africa and the West would train cohorts in local languages and local media landscapes. A graduate in Cairo does not need the same training context as a graduate in Lagos, Kuala Lumpur or London. The principles may be shared, but the audiences, platforms, risks and opportunities differ.
The curriculum should include reporting, writing, editing, interviewing, presenting, podcasting, video production, social media strategy, media law, ethics, audience development and entrepreneurial journalism.
The entrepreneurial element is essential. Graduates should not only be trained to seek jobs in existing institutions. They should be equipped to build independent outlets, launch podcasts, produce explainers, run newsletters, develop YouTube channels and create sustainable digital media brands.
Independent Muslim media is often the most trusted, most agile and most resilient. A graduate in Nairobi, Lahore, Cape Town or Birmingham should be able to launch a platform with professional standards, editorial discipline and a sustainable business model.
Why female graduates matter
Female Islamic studies graduates should receive particular attention and priority.
Across much of the Muslim world, women remain underrepresented in both media leadership and public religious authority. Yet many of the issues most distorted by mainstream media — family, education, modesty, marriage, motherhood, gender, social breakdown and community life — require knowledgeable Muslim women to speak with confidence and authority.
This is not about tokenism. It is about accuracy. When women tell stories about families, communities and societies, the journalism becomes more complete. When Islamically trained women enter media with professionalism and confidence, they help correct both secular caricatures of Muslim women and internal failures to amplify female scholarship.
This pipeline would not only expand opportunities for women. It would improve the quality of Muslim media itself.
Reviving Islamic studies as a serious career path
The wider impact goes beyond media output. When young Muslims see that studying Islam at university can lead to a real career with influence, income and public value, Islamic studies becomes more attractive. It stops being seen as a narrow or precarious path and becomes an entry point into one of the most powerful industries in the world.
This matters because the Ummah needs serious Islamic literacy across public life, not only inside mosques and classrooms.
We need people who understand Islam in journalism, law, finance, development, politics, education, film, publishing, research and digital culture. Media training is one of the most immediate and scalable ways to begin that shift.
The bias objection
Critics will argue that journalism and Islamic scholarship are fundamentally different callings. They will say objectivity and faith are incompatible, or that religious graduates lack the critical distance needed for good reporting.
This objection misunderstands journalism.
The best journalism is not value-neutral. It is honest about its perspective, rigorous in its verification, fair in its reporting and serious in its treatment of complexity.
Every journalist has a worldview. Secular liberalism is a worldview. Nationalism is a worldview. Feminism is a worldview. Capitalism is a worldview. Human rights discourse is shaped by a worldview. The question is not whether a journalist has one, but whether they are disciplined enough to report honestly despite it.
Journalism training, properly delivered, can equip Islamic studies graduates to verify facts, ask difficult questions, avoid propaganda, challenge their own assumptions and maintain editorial discipline, while preserving their intellectual and spiritual depth.
The alternative, leaving the media conversation about Islam to those with little knowledge of Islam, is far more dangerous.
A fard kifayah for our time
What the Ummah needs is a generation of journalists who carry deep Islamic knowledge, understand contemporary society, and know how to move people through writing, reporting, broadcasting and digital storytelling.
Some of their work will be explicitly Islamic. Much of it will be subtle: shaped by Islamic ethics, priorities and assumptions without needing to announce itself as religious.
The platform determines the tone. The audience determines the language. But the worldview remains.
That is how journalism shapes collective consciousness. That is what this pipeline is designed to produce.
The young graduate in Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos or London is not the problem. They are part of the answer. It is time to put them in the room where the story is being told.
Teslim Adeyemo is a development strategist and the founder of UmmahBuilders, a platform equipping Muslim community leaders with practical frameworks for institutional development and local governance. A former Director of Digital Media at the Dawah Institute, he holds a Master’s in International Affairs and Diplomacy with a specialisation in International Development. His work sits at the intersection of Islamic ethics, media strategy, and community development across Africa and the diaspora. He writes and consults on building Muslim institutions that translate faith into civilisational action. You can follow Teslime on LinkedIn and his Substack.