The study explored religious education (RE), Islamic and Christian, in the Arab world and its role in qualifying students to university education, taking Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Egypt as models. A controversy about the validity of RE as a bridge to university education in the Arab world provided the impetus to carry out the present study. Using…

There is a need for high school, college, and university educators to introduce their students to a history of mankind's development of religions and beliefs in God. Regarded as too sensitive a subject, students are deprived of learning how mankind has evolved ways to establish moral and righteous behavior to maintain harmony among competing…

This dissertation examines the transmission of Islamic legal knowledge in modern Egypt. It is based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Cairo among formally trained Islamic scholars. With governmental permission, I was able to attend classes at both al-Azhar's Faculty of Shari'ah and Cairo University's Dar al-'Ulum. I also participated in…

The Arab Spring exposed the hidden secrets of Egyptian society to the global community. In spite of the insatiable media attention paid to the Mubarak regime and the toll it took on the entire country, Egypt's education system received little attention. For decades, Egypt's public schools have forced students to attend segregated classes, based on…

This issue paper, one in a series that United States Agency for International Development (USAID) produces, provides analytical input to policy makers and practitioners on ways to address the pressing educational challenges in the Muslim world. The paper summarizes the findings and guidance contained in a full report of a three month desk study…

According to contemporary media opinion, the problem with Islam, and by implication, with Islamic education, is that it never underwent a reformation that freed individual religious inquiry from the control of a religious hierarchy. Thus, it has been assumed that Islam and Islamic education remain bound to rigid seventh-century codes of belief.…

Among 381 university students surveyed in Cairo, Egypt, most considered the national educational system to be too "Westernized," approved of a religious education requirement at the university level (where none now exists), indicated a lack of academic freedom, and desired a more Islamic orientation for their education. However, opinions…

Examines the vigorous dialectic occurring among intellectuals, religious leaders, and politicians trying to define the appropriate role of Islam in Egyptian education. Discusses the call for the Islamization of education in contemporary Egypt, aspects of Islamic law, the position of the state on religious education, and the influence of a small…