“My Book About Islam” is the first schoolbook on the Muslim faith to be approved for young children in Germany. The authors hope it will help foster understanding by dispelling myths about the followers of the Koran. “My Book About Islam” is intended for Muslim children, who come from different ethnic backgrounds and offers different interpretations of the Islamic faith, according to Evelin Lubig-Fohsel, one of the textbook’s authors. “We’re going on the assumption that there is no such thing as the absolute correct Islam and believe that this book can be the basis for various strands of the faith,” she said. The book made its appearance this past week at the opening of the annual “Didacta” educational book fair in the northern city of Hanover. It has also been introduced to primary schools in two German states, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, which has a large Muslim minority. In an educational system where religious instruction about Christianity is a standard part of the state-run school curriculum, the move is intended to promote greater tolerance and understanding of other faiths, according to the Munich publishers of the textbook, Oldenbourg.
