Religious tolerance in Saudi Arabia’s middle school Islamic studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Globalisation has increasingly exposed citizens in religious-majority countries to diverse beliefs, opinions and practices. Teaching Islamic religious tolerance, particularly in the Middle East, is regarded as a viable approach to promoting tolerance. This study examines the extent to which Islamic religious tolerance concepts exist in Saudi Arabia’s middle school Islamic studies textbooks. The results demonstrate that religious tolerance themes or concepts are most present in Grade 7 and the least in Grade 8. The analysis found a lack of uniformity in the distribution of themes across grades and sections of textbooks.