Muslim schools and education in Europe and South Africa

This edited collection presents Islamic education in South Africa and a number of countries in Europe. It brings together general concerns of education among Muslims, together with current and unique developments in each country. Given the place of Islamic education in public debate, the collection includes a variety of contributions that respond to the goals and future of Islamic education, the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism, the place of religious education in the context of secular education and the role religious education plays in promoting or hindering social cohesion. It includes reflections on where Muslims should be directing education in the next few years to make it socially relevant and contribute to the democratization of society, as well as some comments on the unfortunate but real crosscurrents in educational policy and counter-terrorist initiatives. In between, it contains some reflective essays on the uniqueness and commonalities of Islamic education in various countries, on unexpected and unknown outcomes, and on new philosophies of education. In fact, the essays may be seen as critical contributions on a number of themes that are debated in the public sphere and within these schools.