Islam in Higher Education

Abstract

Since 9/11, there has been a remarkable growth in the study of Islam in higher education. Whereas a decade earlier many universities were eager to close down or at best amalgamate their Islamic studies programs into larger departments, there is now an urgency on the part of academic administrators to begin teaching about and encouraging research on Islam. Not only is there a demand from students, but there is also an understanding that Islam, as a religion and a social force, will continue to have an impact on global and domestic realities for the foreseeable future. However, there has been little discussion about how to approach the study of Islam, given the current political climate. The Islam in Higher Education conference, organized by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists UK (AMSS-UK) in conjunction with the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations (CSIC) at the University of Birmingham and the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, was held on 29-30 January 2005. It encouraged participants to engage in a critical analysis and dialogue concerning the status of the study of Islam in higher education, employability and recruitment, academic standards and pedagogy, the depiction of Islam and Muslims in higher education, and comparative international approaches to Islam in higher education. In opening the conference, CSIC’s Bustami Khir, senior lecturer in Islamic studies, spoke of the critical role that such events could play in shaping the future of the study of Islam and Muslims in the United Kingdom. Michael Clarke (vice principal, University of Birmingham) discussed the city as a historical space of interaction between religion and modernity in an industrializing world. He added that with over 140,000 Muslims residing in the city, Birmingham was set to become the first majority non-white city in the United Kingdom and that the city could not be understood without reference to its faith communities ...