ABSTRACT
In 2007, the Siddiqui Report (Siddiqui 2007) recommended reform and innovation in the teaching of Islamic Studies at UK universities. Siddiqui proposed a curriculum that reflects the living reality for young Muslims in Britain: negotiating hybrid identities, facing the challenges of faith in a secular world and the demands of academic disciplines such as sociology that often question religious belief. Through a suite of strong research projects, we report on developments since the Siddiqui Report and consider the current paucity of activity in this area, with a few notable exceptions. We discuss the difficulties and the exciting possibilities of developing really new approaches to Islam in the face of neo-liberal pressures on the one hand, conservative social groupings on the other and persistent confusion on all fronts about the role of women in faith and society.
