This article explores use of several terms that signify Islam, and provides guidelines to clarify their use in internal and external discourses. Building on this foundation, the article delineates a typology of Islamic education and their associated institutions. This enhances understanding of important conceptual differences that hinge upon subtle variations of language as in the distinction between education of Muslims and for Muslims, and between teaching Islam and teaching about Islam. The article then seeks to elucidate a theoretical conception of "Islamic education," that takes into consideration Islamic scripture and Prophetic statements, along with commonly-held approaches to education in Muslim history. The article concludes that key motivations and characteristics of a holistic and purposeful education program are shared between Islamic and Western traditions, a phenomenon partially explained by the shared and cumulative transmission of educational values and methods from classical times until the present. (Contains 9 notes.)