“I must be a bad Muslim to be good for them”: teaching about civic issues in Islamic education in Israel

Abstract

Many schools advocates for the integration of religious education (RE) and citizenship education (CE), especially in the context of multicultural societies. Yet, how this integration is to happen is contested, due to the politicized nature of religion and citizenship. To explore the potential intersections of these two subjects, we interviewed Palestinian Islam teachers in Israel, to gain further insights into how they integrate civic issues in their teaching. Our study highlighted both tensions and connection points between Islam education and civic issues in Israel. While the teachers were critical of their citizenship, they interpreted Islam education as a potential ‘remedy’ to repair CE. They presented examples from their teaching of how Islam can contribute to making CE more meaningful. The importance of the teachers’ living context for their interpretation of this intersection became evident. Our findings support the argument that the two subjects should be further integrated.