Muslim Diversity and improving religious literacy in the RE classroom

Waqar, an Ahmadiyya Muslim, shares insights from his 20-year teaching career and discusses the importance of teaching religion to foster understanding and appreciation of diverse perspectives.

He also addresses the portrayal of Islam in the media, the concept of the oneness of God in Islam, and the preservation of the Arabic Quran text across different Muslim communities.

The discussion also touches on the current state of Muslim countries, the importance of tolerance and respect in Islam, and the complexities of various Muslim groups.

Several key themes emerge from the discussion: the way all the major religions have evolved into distinct denominations with varying degrees of commonality and mutual understanding; the difficulty of developing an understanding of religious complexity from the simplistic messages purveyed by the media and the fundamental belief in compassion that underlies all spirituality.