History of Islamic Studies dates back to the XIX century. Nowadays the role of Islamic Studies is more important than ever before due to challenges caused by globalization and security threats.

The present paper identifies new approach to the role of Islamic Studies in modern world. It also suggests ways to improve the approach to teaching and research in this field of study.

The article describes key competencies that should be the basis of educational training programs for specialists with in-depth knowledge of history and culture of Islam. Considering the importance of the competence-based approach in the context of modern educational trends, the authors demonstrate the possibilities of its application in Islamic and secular schools. Behind this approach is the shift in the educational paradigm from "a knowledgeable person" to "a person prepared for life", this should be taken in consideration in the structure of curricula and innovative teaching methods. Relying on the results of monitoring of educational programs on history and culture of Islam, the authors highlight the core competencies, which implementation should be paid special attention.

Islamic Studies as a subject of scientific research require urgent revision. Modern trends of social development demand a multidisciplinary approach to provide quality peer review of current events. The object of Islamic studies today is not only classical original texts as it was before, but also modern mass media covering current political and social events. The latter frequently requires analysis of a big data set that can be provided by using special IT solutions (primarily for Arabic texts). The article gives examples of such developments.