Islam in Higher Education

Since 9/11, there has been a remarkable growth in the study of Islam inhigher education. Whereas a decade earlier many universities were eager toclose down or at best amalgamate their Islamic studies programs into largerdepartments, there is now an urgency on the part of academic administratorsto begin teaching about and encouraging research on Islam. Not onlyis there a demand from students, but there is also an understanding thatIslam, as a religion and a social force, will continue to have an impact onglobal and domestic realities for the foreseeable future. However, there hasbeen little discussion about how to approach the study of Islam, given thecurrent political climate.The Islam in Higher Education conference, organized by theAssociation of Muslim Social Scientists UK (AMSS-UK) in conjunctionwith the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations(CSIC) at the University of Birmingham and the Higher EducationAcademy Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, was heldon 29-30 January 2005. It encouraged participants to engage in a criticalanalysis and dialogue concerning the status of the study of Islam in highereducation, employability and recruitment, academic standards and pedagogy,the depiction of Islam and Muslims in higher education, and comparativeinternational approaches to Islam in higher education.In opening the conference, CSIC’s Bustami Khir, senior lecturer inIslamic studies, spoke of the critical role that such events could play inshaping the future of the study of Islam and Muslims in the UnitedKingdom. Michael Clarke (vice principal, University of Birmingham) discussedthe city as a historical space of interaction between religion andmodernity in an industrializing world. He added that with over 140,000Muslims residing in the city, Birmingham was set to become the firstmajority non-white city in the United Kingdom and that the city could notbe understood without reference to its faith communities ...