Islamic Education in the United States

This article, which I intend to be one of a series, will provide analysisofmajor issues and problems arising out of attempts to implement Islamiceducational alternatives to American public schooling. The discussionbegins by offering a brief overview of the current dilemma-atriumvirate of historical, theoretical and practical enigmasconfrontingMuslim schoolmen. A primary question that is common toMuslim-American school planners is scrutinized through a sub-setanalysis focussing on some relevant and critical concerns to Muslimeducators. From this starting point, future installments in this serieswill look at practical cases that are representative of contemporaryefforts in alternative Muslim school planning, design and implementation.Where We areConservative estimates of the number of Muslims in North Americause one million as an approximate figure, two-thirds of whom reside in ornear the major urban areas of the United States. Within this multiethnicpopulation-800,000 being immigrants, the remainder a rapidlygrowing number of indigenous converts-there is a strong culturalcommonality and identity: It is Islam. Islam is a comprehensive code oflife that is expressed in the cultural, economic and social organization of

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