Islamic Online University

I found this school, Islamic Online University, while doing some research online. They claim accreditation through the Ministry of Higher Education in Somalia. I am wondering if this is legitimate accreditation or not? I am Muslim and would appreciate an accredited education in my faith that is actually in English and doesn't require me to travel thousands of miles from home. :smile: Thanks.

 

I've decided call it Levicoff's Rule:

"If you're compelled to ask the question of whether a school is a scam or is legitimate, the answer is that it's a scam."

 

Nailed It!!

 

For some reason I always think they are affiliated with this school.

American University for Islamic Science

 

"AUFIS was established in 1995 and was the first University in the West to offer Islamic Studies through a Distant Learning System." LOL

 

There's also Levicoff's Other Rule:
The phrase Online University is an oxymoron. :biglaugh:

 

Is it legit?

Depends on what you consider legitimate. Will it be accepted in Islamic circles? Probably, but possibly only the most conservative ones.

If you need a reason beyond questionable accreditation to pass on this school, consider this...

The school's chancellor and founder is Bilal Philips. While Dr. Philips appears to have a legitimate PhD (University of Wales) one might be more concerned with the fact that he has been banned from entering the nations of Australia, the UK, Germany, Kenya and has been deported from the Philippines for his rhetoric supporting terrorism. He's also of the opinion that there is no such thing as marital rape.

But, you know, he was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. If you draw the line at only avoiding the schools of those who were actually indicted then I guess it's good to go.

In short, this degree might be acceptable in some circles. But maybe consider if this is a circle you want to run in.

 

:yup:

 

I think this is a legitimate point; any American who enrolls in an Islamic University these days probably stands a pretty good chance of landing on the FBI's Terrorist Watch List.

 

You just described a valid reason for this place's existence. Not anyone attending this place is a terrorist, but most are at least ripe for radicalization. Good tool for the FBI to identify such individuals.

I think it is one of extreme examples on how "legitimacy" is insufficient criteria to evaluate a school.

 

The Somali license looks fake as they day is long, four different fonts and lots of color in a photoshop doc.

 

I can't speak to what lands a person on a watch list these days. But if I were in the market for an Islamic university I imagine a school like Zaytuna College in California (RA) would be your safest bet. I don't know much about the school. But the RA at least assures us that someone, with secular eyes, is looking at the curriculum.

Somali (or Somaliland) accredited and led by a guy with ties to the 1993 WTC bombing? Yeah, that seems to me like a line one doesn't want to cross.

I imagine that a Muslim in the U.S. doesn't have to do much to draw unwanted attention. Even through affiliation to more or less mainstream organizations. But this school, even if not filled with terrorists, is filled with people who want to learn at the feet of someone who, very publicly, is at least sympathetic of terrorism.

It has a very easy sign up process and I can picture someone enrolling just out of curiosity. In fairness, part of the reason why I know about the school is that I was looking last year for some cheap Intro to Islam courses for a non-professional project of mine and I signed up for the free courses. I bailed as soon as the rhetoric started sounding a bit concerning.

So I can imagine others signing up out of curiosity and walking away in the same manner. But what worries me more is that I can imagine many others, ripe for radicalization as Stanislav says, just drinking all of this up.

I ended up settling for YouTube videos. I really need to break the habit of defaulting to higher ed whenever I want to learn something. I may end up there in the end but it probably shouldn't be my first stop at this point.

 

I thought I'd revisit this thread because I recently ran into a few articles related to IOU. I still don't know what to think about this school but when I looked at the front page of their website I noted that they offer a free degree(s) in Islamic Studies and because "free is nice" I thought I'd throw it out just for people to take a peek

https://www.islamiconlineuniversity.com/

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2017/04/10/buk-signs-mou-islamic-online-university-exchange-lecturers/

Nigeria: 12,000 Nigerians Join Islamic Online University - allAfrica.com

 

^^^

Pretty interesting stuff, actually. I wonder how many students who do not possess any background in Arabic are tripped up in the final "level" by the three Arabic courses.

https://diploma.islamiconlineuniversity.com/opencampus/freediploma-courses.php

 

I would hope not many, at least among students who have the desire to become Muslims. The Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, عليه السلام wanted all Muslims to be clean and (Arabic) literate, from Day 1. It is interesting to note that cleanliness and literacy were far from universal requirements for Christians until the modern era - and then, the requirements were societal, not religion-driven.

I guess one is required to walk the walk AND talk the talk. A sound, unifying concept.

J.

 

And speaking of Arabic literacy, did you know that many early American slave-owners had their plantation records kept - in Arabic - by trusted slaves, who were Arabic-literate Muslims in their native Africa?

J.

 

Englishmen.

That's fascinating. Where can we see some of these records?