ABSTRACT
It is often argued that there is such a thing as Islamic education. To a degree this is part of the current enthusiasm for putting “Islamic” in front of a concept and thinking that one has said something distinctive about it. Discussions of Islamic education generally take a certain form. First of all there is an explanation of how Islam values knowledge and science. This generally refers to the Qur’an and the hadith reports. Then there is a reference to the former glories of Islamic civilization from the point of view of learning and science, and there is no shortage of material here that can be quoted. Finally, there is some mention of the parlous state of the present Islamic world, and a call for the development of what is called Islamic science or education, where this means something much more holistic and religious than what goes for education in the world at large.
