Islamic Education Around the World: Commonalities and Varieties

Abstract

This introduction takes a comparative perspective, which implies that certain elements of the various types of Islamic education around the world are compared. This perspective focuses mainly on the development of Islamic education in interaction with the state and state-funded education. Such perspective may be made at the cost of other similarities and differences, resulting in omission of certain aspects. The aspects studied here are the following ones: (a) whether compulsory education is allowed to take place in non-recognized private Islamic education; (b) whether the schools are regulated, monitored, or inspected; (c) whether Islamic schools are subsidized by the state; (d) whether Muslim and other private schools have to apply a national curriculum; (e) whether students in private (including Muslim) schools acquire a diploma that is valid for further education in other schools or in the labor market; and (f) whether state-run schools teach Islamic subjects.