A Pluralistic Account of Religious Upbringing in Islamic Religious Education: Fundamentals and Perspectives

The ability to deal with the plural relationship in Europe and to rethink the position of
other religions in Islamic theology is a particular challenge for Islamic religious education.
In view of the daily life realities of Muslims in Europe, Muslim children and adolescents often have the experience that everything could be different or that their tradition
is not the only option for shaping their lives. The differences that distinguish home,
community, and school become more and more obvious, so that traditional norms do
not coincide with the reality in the schools.
Although these experiences make offering religious and cultural orientation and guidance to Muslim children and adolescents difficult, religious education cannot refrain
from educating children and adolescents to become sufficiently pluralistic that they are
empowered in their faith and religious practice.
This article attempts to highlight the fundamentals of a religious education that can
enable Muslim children to acquire a pluralistic religious upbringing and the specific
task of religious education in that process.