There is growing media interest in how lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) Muslims negotiate their seemingly incompatible religious and sexual identities. Thus, there is a need to investigate how some LGBT Muslims utilise Islam as a resource for alternative pedagogical strategies to reconcile their personal beliefs and values. Their…

The construction of social identity is an interdisciplinary term, which is a favourite topic for many scholars worldwide. Religion and identity are intertwined regarding the concept of identity construction. In Iran, this relation can best be seen through English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks. To achieve this, this study investigates the…

In the course of reviewing a recent quantitative survey of approximately 1300 Swedish youths on subjects like religion and leisure activities, I came across a finding which seemed intriguing to me: some 50% of those identifying themselves as Muslims reported that they confided in their teachers (compared to only 5% of non-Muslims) for help with…

This paper discusses the recent efforts by the Singapore government to construct a Muslim identity for the madrasahs in Singapore. By promoting a prescribed set of desired attributes for the Muslims and introducing new curriculum materials for the madrasahs, the government aspires to construct a Muslim identity that is compatible with the…

This article presents a report submitted to Bill Rammell MP, the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education. The report discusses what measures can be taken to improve the quality of information about Islam that is available to students and staff in universities in England. It also offers recommendations for universities…

This article reports a conference held at the University of Edinburgh on December 4, 2006. The "Islam on Campus" conference had considered a range of issues related to the future of Islamic Studies. It considered whether Islamic Studies should be considered a discipline or a subject area, whether its methods were essentially textual or…

Programmes of Islamic Studies have a longstanding status in a number of Western universities, yet the boundaries of the discipline, its institutional locale and its methodologies are still being questioned. This paper is an attempt to go beyond the discipline's "Eurocentric" settings and reflect on the provision of the subject within its origins…

The paper reports and discusses some of the practical and contextual difficulties facing the teaching of Islamic studies within the British higher education environment. The main problems in the author's view stem from the haziness surrounding the discipline definition and the methodology employed in teaching it. This is particularly observed when…

The article is a historical recollection of how, for a short while, the Muslim community came to be involved in a teacher training programme and reflects on the underlying issues that had to be addressed. It also considers the impact on the host institution and implications for Muslim students, together with the lessons that should have been…

This article examines the need for the Muslim community of Britain to educate their youth with regard to a Muslim "way of life". The aim of this study is to examine the theological basis for Islamic education. It further explores the status of Muslim schools in Britain with regard to culture and religion. This study highlights the…