Although Islamic law does not include “youth” as a specific category and abruptly marks the transition from childhood to adulthood with the onset of puberty, classical and contemporary Muslim sources address many issues and challenges regarding both younger and older children.

One of the most urgent challenges facing young people and families from a range of faith traditions today is the question of developing and maintaining a strong religious identity while living in complex, pluralistic cultures and contexts. Muslim youth all over the world are experiencing the challenges of integrating traditional religious belief and practice with new conditions arising from rapid social and economic changes. Meanwhile, Muslim families and communities likewise struggle with how to pass on religious tradition to their children and youth in ways that will enable them to be authentic, productive, and fulfilled.

While most Muslims today, regardless of country or cultural context, recognize the challenge of religious identity among youth, their understanding of the nature of the problem and the best ways to address it differ. For example, some Muslims frame this challenge in terms of the urgent need to help Muslim youth today to remain faithful to Islamic teachings and to practice their religion in an otherwise secular and distracting world. Other Muslims criticize an over-emphasis on exclusivism or rigid interpretations of Islamic law, fearing they lead to isolationism and even extremism; and they understand the challenge to lie in encouraging Muslim youth to strive to be better contributors to a pluralistic global community while drawing on their Islamic heritage and its teachings.