Hvordan lese islamske Ornamenter i skolen?

This article presents various ways of symbolic reading of Islamic ornaments, derived from academic writings on the subject. They may be categorized as more or less minimalist or maximalist, depending on the degree of explicit meaning ascribed to geometric figures and stylized flowers. The different interpretations of ornamental art is then seen in connection with Religious Education in Norwegian school, and the article proposes among other things a reading in accordance with contemporary views on multimodality and composition. On a more fundamental level, the article discusses the use of religious primary sources in school, especially those representing minority religions. It argues in favour of a didactic model that differentiates between several dimensions in religious texts, spanning from concepts and values that are common to all mankind, to what is specific for the actual religion.