Under constant scrutiny

Islamic religious education (IRU) is enshrined in German law. Article 7 of the Basic Law stipulates that the state is responsible for denominational religious education in schools. This means that the content of religious education is determined by the different religious faiths. The framework for how it is taught as a school subject, meanwhile, is determined by the state, or more specifically by the individual federal states.

The number of pupils taking IRU has increased significantly in recent years. According to Mediendienst Integration, around 81,000 pupils attended Islamic religious education classes in the 2024/25 school year, almost twice as many as in 2015/16. Yet, statistically speaking, that number is still small: less than 10 per cent of Germany's Muslim pupils are currently being reached.

How Islam is taught, and whether it is taught, varies considerably between the federal states. It is not confession-based everywhere. Hamburg, for example, integrates IRU into a broad "religious education for all" programme. In the eastern German states, where there is a comparatively low proportion of Muslim pupils, there is, as yet, no teaching programme at all, while the model in Bavaria is centred on religious studies with state-run "Islamic instruction". This wide spectrum of offerings is not only confusing for parents but also poses a challenge for teachers of IRU.

A new generation of teachers

A lot has changed in teacher training over the last decade and a half, not least the establishment of several centres for Islamic theology and religious education within German colleges and universities. Since 2011, institutes have been set up in Münster, Osnabrück, Frankfurt/Gießen, Erlangen-Nuremberg and, more recently, in Berlin and Paderborn.

In 2021, around 2,500 students across Germany were enrolled in Islamic theology degree programs, many of which included a teacher training option. Since 2020, there have been over 750 IRU teachers working in Germany. 

This has given rise to a generation of Muslim religious education teachers who are firmly rooted both in Islamic theology, as taught in Germany's third-level colleges, and in the structures of local teacher training programmes. That's a balancing act, carried out by teachers who must also learn how to handle the specificities of the subject they teach.

Diverse demands

According to Annett Abdel-Rahman, junior professor of teaching methodology for IRU at the  University of Osnabrück's Institute for Islamic Theology, the key challenge is the "competence-oriented" approach to one's own religion and its sources.

The aim of IRU, she says, is to enable young Muslims "to engage with their religion, based on their own religious and theological background, in relation to the society in which they live. They learn to use the knowledge they have acquired to form their own opinions on personal questions or social challenges."

This may sound both eminently reasonable, and equally applicable to other school subjects, but with IRU, it's not quite so straightforward. In the classroom, IRU teachers often encounter long-established—and at times deeply-rooted—values, which are largely shaped by the family home or the religious community, or increasingly, by self-appointed social media preachers.

According to Ulvi Karagedik, junior professor and head of the Institute for Islamic Theology and Religious Education at the University of Education Karlsruhe, "Islamic values are caught in the tension between religious tradition and contemporary social realities, between religious socialisation and the challenges of the present day." The result is a constant process of negotiation.

Karagedik anticipates an increasing complexity for the IRU teaching profession due to the "dynamic change in the further development of subject-specific teaching concepts and the exploration of new subject areas". Challenges range across a wide spectrum, from questions about the appropriate treatment of the Qur'an and the Prophet in the classroom to newer teaching demands, such as how to integrate artificial intelligence.

As a result, universities are constantly developing new material to be used in the classroom (such as the handbook on environmental education in IRU, created by the Centre for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster) alongside their own research.

Antisemitism and "confrontational religious expression"

Nor is it just a question of new themes and materials: teachers of IRU also have to contend with certain gaps in understanding. As a study by the Ruhr University Bochum shows, teachers across all subjects have difficulty recognising and addressing antisemitic stereotypes. While this problem is not confined to the teaching of IRU, it is of particular relevance due to the subject's sensitivity and to the events of 7 October 2023 and after in Gaza.

To address this, the study's authors recommend further training for teachers. More recent studies focus specifically on religious diversity and Judaism in Islamic religious education, developing ideas for preventing antisemitism.

A controversial study by the University of Münster recently concluded that some teacher-training students in the field of Islamic theology also hold antisemitic or Islamist beliefs. Professor Mouhanad Khorchide, head of the Münster study, explained in an interview with Die Zeit newspaper that the origins of religious fundamentalism are more likely to be socialisation in mosque communities, and the dominance of Islamist content in social media, than Islamic theological education.

In his experience, students' attitudes change positively over the course of their studies. Further education may well serve as a corrective to problematic attitudes that are rooted in the internet and communities.

Other empirical studies on attitudes towards religious, political and social issues among students of IRU concluded that many students position themselves as sharers of knowledge, as bridge-builders or as individuals capable of reflection.

The authors recommend a custom-built programme for teacher training students that would include learning through interfaith encounters, internships with an interfaith focus, strengthening communication skills, encouraging a tolerance of ambiguity, clarifying expectations and supporting psychological, media-related and socio-educational skills.

Teachers as conflict mediators?

Skills such as these are becoming increasingly important, particularly in schools where conflicts related to Islam are intensifying. In some places, discrimination against Muslim students is reported; in others, there are reports of religious pressure exerted within the Muslim school body, such as when students pressure their classmates to fast or wear certain clothing to fit in with strict Islamic custom. 

These instances of "confrontational religious expression" are becoming an issue, particularly in urban neighbourhoods with schools boasting a high proportion of migrant pupils. The principle of negative religious freedom—the rejection of all religious belief—warrants protection just as much as the right to develop one's religious identity. This means putting a stop to increasing discrimination based on religious identity. 

Through their role as teachers, in regular contact with religious students, a well-trained Islamic religious educator can play an important role in preventing confrontations, acting as a contact person, and perhaps a mediator, when it comes to discrimination.

When Islamic religious education is offered by qualified teachers using transparent structures and pluralistic content, it can promote integration, address new methods of religious teaching and contemporary issues, reduce religious illiteracy and prevent extremism. For teachers to fulfil these tasks, Germany must value them and support them as a positive resource in schools.

This is an edited translation of the German original. Translated by Louise East.