ABSTRACT
One of the features of contemporary authoritarian and extremist discourses in Muslim communities is their claim to religious authority. Identifying the nature of their claim to religious authority is a significant step in challenging it from within Muslim tradition and thereby undermining its appeal among Muslims. In developing this challenge, the work of Abou El Fadl, particularly his three-fold methodology of de-legitimisation, representation, and use of beauty as an ethical determination, provides a useful way to address shortcomings in the current educational paradigms as they seek to address extremism. This, in turn, can lead to suggestions for the role of counter-extremism and anti-authoritarian discourse within the Muslim religious tradition which can support the broader educational endeavours.
