Islamic Religious Education in Austria and its Challenges for the Social Integration of Muslim Pupils

This chapter presents the current state of Islamic Religious Education (IRE) in Austria, which is organized and maintained, as well as supervised, by the legally recognized and Sunni-dominated Islamic Religious Community of Austria (IRCA). The situation is rendered increasingly complex due to diverse constituencies and perspectives within the organization. Within the current political debate, IRE in Austria is confronted with variable factors that have had a great impact on its future as well as on society, e.g., demographical changes, curriculum and teacher professionalization, foreign ideological influences, and local antagonism towards Muslim minorities. In this regard, the chapter illustrates the legal integration of IRE as tool of social integration for Muslim pupils within the educational system of Austria, employing a problem-centered approach that includes the main current challenges, such as the ability of IRCA to represent the sectarian and ethnic diversity of Muslims in Austria, the Turkish influence on IRCA, and the dilemmas and tensions involved in fostering an Austrian-Muslim identity, an undefined legal term that tries to combine bonds to both Austria and Islam. At the same time, the state is enacting laws that apply exclusively to Muslims, such as the ban on the hijab in primary schools, in which the state attempts to co-determine this Austria-Muslim identity by referring to local traditions, basic national values, and children’s welfare and social integration. All of these issues are addressed in this paper to illustrate the important role of IRE, for which IRCA needs to adopt effective strategies in order to fulfill its responsibility for fostering a healthy Austrian-Muslim identity.