Islamic/Religious Studies

Greetings:

Is anyone aware of any seminary-type of graduate degree programs (whether masteral or doctoral, RA or legitimate non-RA) in Islamic and other (than Christian or Jewish) religious traditions? DL-related, of course.

 

Are you looking for a program in Orthodox Islamic studies or the more fundamentalist/fanatical variety? If the latter, there was some allusion to a school in Afghanistan called the Taliban Institute for Islamic Research , however, the school seems to have relocated several times since September 11. If you could locate them, I have all confidence the course work would be via DL.

 

I do not share your sense of humor. Reducing Islam to the Taliban and the like is akin to reducing Christianity to the abortion clinic bombers. The implication of the comment is unbecoming. My question was simple.

 

Agreed.

As to your question, it is possible to do degrees, master's or doctorate, at the University of Melbourne, University of New England, the University of South Africa, and the University of Wales-Lampeter, as well as doubtless others. Bears' Guide describes these programs in detail.

If I were looking into such a topic, I would also exchange e-mails with Tom Head (who, I suspect, will certainly post on this topic before long). He knows a great deal about non-Christian religious studies programs.


Tom Nixon

 

My comment was not directed at orthodox Islam, rather to fanatical sects such as the Taliban. A second reading of the post will reveal that the two were clearly differentiated. Yes, Christianity has its own fanatical sects (e.g., abortion clinic bombers), which are just as violent as the Taliban.

Several DL options are available for Islamic Studies, all requiring no residency:

University of Melbourne (M,D)
University of Wales, Lampeter (M,D)
University of New England (M)

 

Thank you Mr. Nixon for your response, (as well, Mr. Morris).

I am inquiring in behalf of a friend who is investigating whether there are seminaries that will offer religious credentials in Islam and other religions. The idea is not obtaining an academic degree but I guess a "ministerial" one, if the word works in this context. (I don't wish to imply that a ministry degree is not academic, rather that its function is different).

I perfectly agree with your recommendations but those degrees would be of an academic nature only.

 

There is also, listed in Yahoo, under distance education/universities, an Islamic American University, which is DL. I know nothing of the school beyond that. I glanced at the webpage and it does not look like an RA/GAAP school. They claim to be seeking an accreditation relationship with major Islamic universities.

Best of luck

Craig

 

There is a GAAP distance learning university in Pakistan, Allama Iqbal Open University, that may be useful to you; it is supposed to be possible to do their programs in English, Urdu, or Arabic, but I can't find anyone there who speaks my language (I phoned several different numbers, all of them answered by folks who spoke English about as well as I speak Urdu; panicked, I grasped at several half-remembered Hindi phrases in hopes of indicating in some way that I don't speak the language, including angrez mai, which I later realized means "I'm British," and ap na kahna urdu mai, which probably means either "I won't speak Urdu to you" or "Don't eat me if I'm Urdu"; no wonder he sounded annoyed, and that's assuming that these Hindi phrases have any meaning at all in Urdu).

There is also a school in the United Arab Emirates by the name of World Al-Lootah University, but I've never been able to ascertain whether or not it meets GAAP. None of its degrees (as far as I know) are in Islamic studies per se, but deal with issues relevant to same (Islamic banking and such).

Beyond that, I have to admit I'm stumped; Russell listed the only options I'm familiar with, and, as you pointed out, they're all academic programs. The only other thing I can recommend is the Open University ICDL Database.

One of our sometimes-regulars, Neil Hynd, resides in the United Arab Emirates and may have some additional advice to offer. I've sent a message to the most recent e-mail address I have for him, and hopefully he'll be able to respond and offer further advice.

Please keep us posted on your search. Good luck!



Cheers,

 

I gave you the incorrect URL. This is the one you want:
http://www.aiou.edu.pk/

They seem to have completely redone their web page--and done a wonderful job with it. I may have to e-mail someone over there and see what programs might be available to U.S. students; I phoned them about 18 months ago, and at that point I don't think there was a web page (or if there was, I couldn't find it).


Cheers,

 

Unfortunately, I don't know very much about Islamic education. But my layman's eye view tells me that Islam has two broad tendencies: One is legalism, the other mysticism.

One type of Islamic cleric is essentially a jurist. He is educated in a Madrasa in Arabic, Quran, Hadith (traditions), Tafsir (Quranic interpretation), Kalam (theology) and Fiqh (Islamic law and jurisprudence). And (yes, Russell), a student at a Madrasa is termed a Talib, or collectively Taliban. The word roughly means 'seminarian'. The movement in Afghanistan was originally a movement of radical Islamic seminarians.

Most Madrasa are associated with Mosques. So I'm not really sure whether it is entirely possible to pursue this kind of education at a distance. I would suggest that whoever is interested in following this path consult with the leaders at his Mosque and get guidance from them.

One thing to check out may be this:

http://www.open-university.edu/

I can't say whether it is credible or a mill, since I'm not qualified in this area. It is not regionally accredited, but it does claim to be "accredited" by al Azhar in Cairo. While this 'accreditation' is apparently just an endorsement and would carry little or no weight in traditional academia, al Azhar is probably the world's most prestigious center of Islamic studies. So conceivably an al Azhar endorsement may carry more weight than RA in some corners of Islam. Again I would suggest consulting with one's Mosque before proceeding.

For something *entirely* different, you might consider the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto. They have a DL masters program and are now accepting applicants for a new DL Ph.D. program in transpersonal psychology. It is WASC accredited. The Islamic connection is that one of ITP's top administrators is also very big in Bay Area neo-Sufi circles. So you could almost certainly do a transpersonal psychology degree with a Sufi emphasis, which may have some utility in Western Sufi centers.

http://www.itp.edu

I think that most Middle Eastern Muslims and the immigrant Muslim community here in America probably wouldn't recognize this stuff as being Islam (certainly not orthodox Islam), but it is big among many Caucasian Americans here in California who follow neo-Sufi Shaikhs like Idries Shah or Pir Vilayet Khan.

 

Thanks for the prompt, Tom.

A source might be:-

http://www.lootah.sch.ae/

This is a relatively new DL organisation, but I think has some Islamic studies.

Whilst not "in the educational mainstream" here, the Lootah organisation runs Dubai Medical School and Dubai Pharmacy College as campuses, is serious, has a strong Islamic element and its graduates recognised to practice.

It is also mentioned on the UAE government information site in the edcuation area:-

www.uaeinteract.com

Good luck.

Regards,

Neil Hynd

 

Thanks for all the replies, especially Messers. Head and Dayson:

The suggestions offered are interesting, and I will pass them along to my friend. My interest in Islam is quite academic, therefore, I am not looking for a seminary for my own purposes.

My preliminary independent research on the subject has yielded the following:

Touting itself, a distance education institution in Virginia, The American Open University ( http://www.open-university.edu/ ), which asserts accreditation(in the recognition sense instead of the RA one) from al-Azhar University, arguably the first and oldest university in the world, (established in 12 th century CE in Cairo), is offering DL programs. According to their website, they offer undegraduate and graduate programs. (I just noticed that Mr. Dayson noted this school).

Also, there is the Graduate School of Islmaic Studies and Social Science (SISS) which is located in Virginia, as well:

http://www.siss.edu/

Another school is one based in London, UK. The Islamic College for Advanced Studies, offering DL studies:

http://www.islamic-college.ac.uk/index.php

Accreditation is claimed by:

"The British Accredition Council for Independent Further and Higher Education has accredited Islamic College for Advanced Studies and recognised it as an efficient college."

I shall keep the list members informed of anything new that I learn on this subject.

One small correction, Mr. Dayson, in regard to the meaning of the word Talib, which in Arabic means student (of any kind, Kindergarten to doctorate), and its plural is Tullaab in stead of Taliban, the latter is Pashtu's way of appropriating the word (as languages do borrow in this way) and has employed Talib (sing.) and Taliban (plu.) to mean a specific kind of student, namely, seminarians, as you pointed out. Thus, Taliban means Seminarians (plural in Pashtu), whereas the word does not exist in Arabic as such.

 

Unisa can usually be counted on to have a program in any field, and this is no exception: Dept. of Semitics - Islamic Studies. But it's not a "seminary-type" of program, and so perhaps irrelevant here.

 

With regard to the ministerial issue. My understanding is that Imams are not necessarily required to have a formal education. If your friend is considering the need for a ministerial credential for a purpose such as to enter the US military chaplaincy he may want to contact the Army Chief of Chaplains office. There are a few Moslem Chaplains now in the military. The requirement for Protestants/Catholics was a 90 credit hour Masters degree (M.Div). They have modified this for Mormons and I assume Moslems because of the lack of an equivalent credential. I believe the Mormons were allowed to focus in Counseling which is what military chaplains do a lot of anyway. The military accepts accredited degrees from a recognized agency (RA, ATS, or TRACS). The did have the provision that it had to be full time and residential study.

North

 

The other problem is that, if memory serves, only a BA is offered--nothing at the graduate level.


Cheers,

 

Dear Mr. North,

You are quite wrong in your information. In deed, in Islam, an Imam, (a leader of the congregation) must be a learned individual--the person must be conversant with Islamic law and theology in addition to "service ritual"among other things. Please review Mr. Dayson's posting in which he described in a "nutshell" a Muslim cleric.

And, yes, it is "Muslim" and not "Moslem"--the latter being an archaic, Europeanization of the term, and has a history of meaning different things than what a Muslim or Islam is all about. And, generally, Muslims find the term very offensive much like a racial slur would be.

As to the matter of Military Chaplaincy, Muslim clerics have to achieve similar credentials as their ministerial brethren in order to serve.

In fact, I believe, G SISS has a chaplaincy-credentialling program. Look them up.

 

Mr. Head,

Your recommendation of Allama Iqbal University is likely the most promising option along with SISS, AOU and ICAS for my friends purposes. I have conveyed that recommendation.

I shall continue to learn more about this area of ministry-credentialling and periodically report on it to the list.

KKA

 

Which is precisely what I intended to convey. Religions which did not have the *standard* (pardon my use of the word) credential were required to have the equivalent. Hence, LDS (aka Mormons)were required to come up with the equivalent number of graduate credits to qualify for the military. The Islamic clerics had to meet similar standards.

You read to much into my statement about formal educational requirements for Muslem clerics. I am not implying they are ignorant anymore than Christian clergy who are form denominations who do not have *formal* (seminary degree) requirements. Other learning processes are quite productive. My understanding is that the Rabbinic methodolgy is quite effective. Many learned Orthodox Jews do not go off to seminary but are extremely learned through tremendous study.

You seem to be attempting to find insult where none is intended.

Best of luck to you.

North

 

Islamic American Univeristy

Greetings,

In addition to the schools reported above, there seems to be another one based in the US. It is called the Islamic American University: http://www.islamicau.org/

It claims "accreditation" through connection to prominent scholars and outside sponsors, that is, it tries to establish credibility based on the people who are affiliated with it. But it is not an RA institution, although it may be the equivalent of serious Christian seminaries that do not have RA.

I guess there are more than a few out there.

KKA

 

Here's what the Unisa website says:

• Upon graduation, you may continue your studies by obtaining the Honours degree. Prospects for a Master’s degree (either through course work or a full dissertation) and a Doctoral degree are currently being investigated. See courses offered by the Department of Classics for further details.