ABSTRACT
Taking a fresh look at Islam and the education of young Muslims in a multi-faith world is one of the most important educational tasks of our time; but it can only be accomplished effectively if educational policy makers, thinkers, school managers, parents, guardians and teachers remember, and are constantly reminded, that it is in the balanced development of the whole human being in all his or her related, articulated dimensions, that the true meaning of education lies. This chapter argues that this transformative role of humanities education is of particular importance for young Muslims who are negotiating, with varying degrees of success, complex and challenging 'new' globalising, Western national, local and faith-based identities. The chapter explains how the fulcrum of Islamic critical realism, ontological realism, epistemological relativism and judgemental rationality can provide the basis of a pedagogical framework for history, RE and citizenship that enables teachers to fulfil their National Curriculum brief in an information and transformation-rich way.
