Islamic religious education in England

With England’s particularly idiosyncratic history of the relationship between state, education, and religion, even an expert sometimes has to pause and think about the place of religion in schools. It is thus that the chapter starts with, but does not resolve, what IRE could mean in the English context. The chapter traces the long presence of Muslims in English society, as a distant force to be reckoned with, as a colonial object of fascination and domination, and as a livid reality of an increasingly multireligious landscape. The history of the Muslim schools is presented, along with a discussion outlining the intellectual and political factors that have informed recent debate, including developments in global geopolitics. Finally, we study a particular Muslim school system closely to bring out the pedagogical and policy struggles and achievements. The field is embryonic and offers many opportunities for theological, sociological, and comparative studies.