Our program grounds students in a study of Islam as a worldview/civilization and living reality. The program engages students in exploring primary texts, history, global Muslim communities and regional issues of the Islamic world. Three assumptions undergird the philosophy of this program: Islam is a religious tradition, an historical civilization and a living reality; it has interacted with all known forms of government and thus produced varied cultural expressions; and the religious core ties all of these cultural expressions together.
Students will not only investigate the history of Islam, major texts and ideas and sources in their coursework, but will also focus intensively on specific aspects of global Islamic experiences. Included in this coursework are the opportunities to take a closer look at the various histories of Islam in places such as the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, Europe and the Americas. Central to this project is a focus on specific contexts, local communities and individuals that continue to shape the legacies of Islam in their unique contexts.
This approach to the study of Islam is currently unmatched anywhere else in the United States and perhaps the world.