Educating for global citizenship in religious education: Islamic perspective

Abstract

This conceptual article expands our knowledge on the meaning and practice of spiritual global citizenship by focusing on the civic and global purposes of Islamic religious education in western societies. It reviews the literature written (in English) on Islamic religious education and global citizenship education and proposes educational strategies for considering the moral, socio-political, and reflective aspects of Islamic global citizenship education (IGCE). This includes, for instance, the recognizing of the possible contribution of Islamic traditions to peaceful and dialogic living; the significance of contextualizing, historicizing, and rationalizing religious interpretations; the recognizing of diversity within Islam and larger societies; the significance of moral reasoning in democratic and pluralistic societies; and the deconstructing of discourses of Islamophobia and extremism at the global level. Muslim students at middle and high school levels are encouraged to develop their global and self-reflective identities. The current study challenges the writings on the secular nature of global citizenship, and it illuminates the possible implications of spiritual global citizenship from an Islamic perspective.