Religion & Religious Extremism
"We felt like the Taliban saw us as little dolls to control, telling us what to do and how to dress. I thought if God wanted us to be like that He wouldn't have made us all different."
I Am Malala
p.124
Operating from the assumption that it is impossible to speak of a single, monolithic Islam, yet that there is something about Islam as a religion (belief, practice) and culture (moral guide, way of living) that has the power to unite the majority of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims as a community of believers, this course will discuss:
- the problematics of defining Islam
- the varied forms that Islam takes in different social and cultural contexts
- the question of extremism in Islam
- how Muslim girls and women (and the men who support them) have been transforming Islam into a force for progressive change in the world today
A supplemental feature for high school teachers appears at the end of this theme.
The resource guide theme can be downloaded at right, and the toolkit theme can be downloaded here.
Individual Activities
Students will develop an analytical research paper on a selection from a variety of themes, including the forms that Islam can take in different cultural contexts, and how women and girls are contributing to the transformation of Islam as a force for progressive change.
An individual, narrated PowerPoint presentation is also assigned, which will cover a theme from this lesson, including:
- similarities and differences in the practice of Islam (“lived Islam”) in various cultural contexts
- Islam vs. religious extremism
- Islam and gender activism
Group Activities
Students will participate in a roundtable debate and will also develop a joint PowerPoint presentation. The presentation similarly touches on one of the themes outlined for the analytical research paper, but in multiple country/cultural contexts (with each panelist taking on a single country).