Secular Institutions, Islam and Education Policy


Book Description

Amidst claims of threats to national identities in an era of increasing diversity, should we be worried about the upsurge in religious animosity in the United States, as well as Europe? This book explores how French society is divided along conflicts about religion, increasingly visible in public schools, and shows the effect that this has had.







Secular Institutions, Islam and Education Policy


Book Description

Amidst claims of threats to national identities in an era of increasing diversity, should we be worried about the upsurge in religious animosity in the United States, as well as Europe? This book explores how French society is divided along conflicts about religion, increasingly visible in public schools, and shows the effect that this has had.




Educating the Muslims of America


Book Description

As the U.S. Muslim population continues to grow, Islamic schools are springing up across the American landscape. Especially since the events of 9/11, many have become concerned about what kind of teaching is going on behind the walls of these schools, and whether it might serve to foster the seditious purposes of Islamist extremism. The essays collected in this volume look behind those walls and discover both efforts to provide excellent instruction following national educational standards and attempts to inculcate Islamic values and protect students from what are seen as the dangers of secularism and the compromising values of American culture. Also considered here are other dimensions of American Islamic education, including: new forms of institutions for youth and college-age Muslims; home-schooling; the impact of educational media on young children; and the kind of training being offered by Muslim chaplains in universities, hospitals, prisons, and other such settings. Finally the authors look at the ways in which Muslims are rising to the task of educating the American public about Islam in the face of increasing hostility and prejudice. This timely volume is the first dedicated entirely to the neglected topic of Islamic education.




Islam and the Secular State


Book Description

What should be the place of Shari‘a—Islamic religious law—in predominantly Muslim societies of the world? In this ambitious and topical book, a Muslim scholar and human rights activist envisions a positive and sustainable role for Shari‘a, based on a profound rethinking of the relationship between religion and the secular state in all societies. An-Na‘im argues that the coercive enforcement of Shari‘a by the state betrays the Qur’an’s insistence on voluntary acceptance of Islam. Just as the state should be secure from the misuse of religious authority, Shari‘a should be freed from the control of the state. State policies or legislation must be based on civic reasons accessible to citizens of all religions. Showing that throughout the history of Islam, Islam and the state have normally been separate, An-Na‘im maintains that ideas of human rights and citizenship are more consistent with Islamic principles than with claims of a supposedly Islamic state to enforce Shari‘a. In fact, he suggests, the very idea of an “Islamic state” is based on European ideas of state and law, and not Shari‘a or the Islamic tradition. Bold, pragmatic, and deeply rooted in Islamic history and theology, Islam and the Secular State offers a workable future for the place of Shari‘a in Muslim societies.




Secularism and Spirituality


Book Description

As an institution that is an integral part of both the Muslim community and the larger Singapore society, the madrasah and the education it provides rightly deserve attention at a time of rapid and complex economic, social and religious changes and developments globally and locally. This book aims to understand the current state and complexity of madrasah education in Singapore, and to identify some key issues affecting the field in particular, and education and society in general. It also aims to serve as an intellectual contribution to the ongoing debates and concerns in the field and which affect the interests of Muslim and national communities. Consistent with its aims, the book is issue- as well as policy-driven, with a focus on broad policy implications and where policy meets community and culture. It is targeted at leaders, policy-makers, educationists, teachers, parents, students and the general public alike. Its chapters cover the madrasah's historical evolution; recent and current debates and state-community negotiations over key issues such as compulsory education, students' performance and madrasah's autonomy; the aims of madrasah education and their attendant problems and perceptions; evaluative critiques of madrasah education in diverse contexts and lessons derived; public policy management of the proposed change to compulsory education; a case example of a madrasah; and the concept of education and institutions of learning in Islam. Given the vast changes taking place in the wider educational and social landscapes of Singapore, this volume is an important and timely contribution towards understanding and managing change of this important educational institution.




Islam and Higher Education in Transitional Societies


Book Description

Islam and Higher Education in Transitional Societies explores and illuminates the intersection of Islam and higher education in changing societies. The critical question explored in this book is, what role does Islam play in higher education in transitional societies?




Schooling Islam


Book Description

Since the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996, the public has grappled with the relationship between Islamic education and radical Islam. Media reports tend to paint madrasas--religious schools dedicated to Islamic learning--as medieval institutions opposed to all that is Western and as breeding grounds for terrorists. Others have claimed that without reforms, Islam and the West are doomed to a clash of civilizations. Robert Hefner and Muhammad Qasim Zaman bring together eleven internationally renowned scholars to examine the varieties of modern Muslim education and their implications for national and global politics. The contributors provide new insights into Muslim culture and politics in countries as different as Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. They demonstrate that Islamic education is neither timelessly traditional nor medieval, but rather complex, evolving, and diverse in its institutions and practices. They reveal that a struggle for hearts and minds in Muslim lands started long before the Western media discovered madrasas, and that Islamic schools remain on its front line. Schooling Islam is the most comprehensive work available in any language on madrasas and Islamic education.







Educational Secularization Within Europe and Beyond


Book Description

Did religion disappear with modernization and the secularization reforms that changed the relation between religion and state throughout the European empires and nation states from late nineteenth century onwards? Or was religion rather transformed becoming a part of the new social and national imaginaries on the road from European empires to African, Middle Eastern, European Union- and Post-Soviet nation states? What are the historical roots behind the divisions of state, church and education that characterized the late nineteenth and during the twentieth century? What has been the role of education in this context, both with regard to political reforms targeting the education systems and with regard to broader public enlightenment efforts and modernization of the state? Connecting scholars across the fields of history and historical sociology of education, church history and historical religion research and political history, and covering the time span from the early modern period and up until the present, this volume explores how education reform has functioned as an arena for the political project of secularization and in which way this contributed to transforming and revitalizing religion.