School of Islamic and Social Sciences Completing First Year of Courses in U.S.

by M.M. Ali

From the time of Prophet Mohammed, whenever Muslims migrated from one area to another the first institution they established was the mosque. Next came the school, or madresa. This sequence indicates the reverence attached to faith and learning in Islam.

Since the major inflow of Muslims into the United States that began in the 1960s, Muslims have set up more than 1,200 mosques and community centers across America. Many of these have established weekend schools to impart religious instruction to Muslim children. Muslim secondary schools also have been started in major metropolitan areas, and Islamic institutions of higher education have been established in Chicago and elsewhere.

Now the first graduate-level Islamic institution, the School of Islamic and Social Sciences, has been opened near the national capital in northern Virginia. Although the beginning is modest, its financing seems solid, its plans are ambitious and, according to Dr. Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, president of the infant institution, "they are attainable."

The Leesburg, Virginia location of SISS puts it in good company. In addition to George Mason University in Fairfax, in recent years several other prestigious universities including the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and George Washington University have set up satellite campuses in northern Virginia. They have located there because the area, selected by the governor of Virginia as a hi-tech corridor, already has become the state's largest population center.

Across the United States, dozens of U.S. institutions of higher learning have departments of Arabic and/or Islamic studies. There also are separate universities and colleges for Christian and Judaic education. SISS hopes to combine some of the aspects of both by providing an opportunity for students and scholars of Islam to study under a largely Islamic faculty in the United States.

Dr. Al-Alwani explains that SISS is not going to be a "traditional school" where Islamic theology is taught along lines largely unchanged since the 11th century A.D. and only "juridical (fiqh) interpretations" of Islam are offered. The SISS catalog states that it provides a "curriculum designed to clarify the vision of Islam, revitalize its traditions of learning, and prepare future generations of Muslims to understand, interact with, and contribute creatively to Muslim culture and civilization in North America and throughout the world."

SISS founders are guided by a realization that literal interpretations and legalistic approaches to Islam have stifled intellectual growth in the ummah (Islamic world), and contributed to a lack of understanding of this religion by non-Muslims in recent centuries. "We have to free ourselves from the weight of history and recognize the dynamics of the 20th century," says Dr. Al-Alwani. "We must foresee the coming thrusts and trends of the 21st century, and help a better understanding of Islam by adhering to the word and the spirit of the Qur'an and the Sunnah in the light of today and tomorrow."

Although this may not be a radical shift in scholastic methodology, it can be described as a fresh way of imparting Islamic knowledge wherein spiritual and temporal studies are attuned to the exigencies of our times. If this is not an altogether new promise, it contains a welcome resolve for renewed study and interpretation.

Program of Study

The School started with 36 students in the fall 1996 semester and has continued with a total of 30 students enrolled for the current spring semester. SISS offered four graduate courses in the fall, and doubled the number to eight this spring. At present the school has two areas of study. One is a Master of Arts program in Islamic Studies with possible specializations in shariah sciences or in history or political science. The courses are so arranged that students, after they have completed their core courses, have the option of choosing which specialization to pursue. The second area of study offered is a Master's program for imams, Muslim prayer leaders.

The M.A. degree in Islamic studies requires 36 semester credit hours to complete. The Imamate degree calls for 90 hours of course work, which includes 24 hours of work-study credits. Although there is no provision for clergy in Islam, and any Muslim can fill the role of imam leading group prayers, the Imamate program of study that is being offered by SISS has the specific purpose of qualifying Imams in shariah and Islamic history for apppointment as chaplains in the U.S. armed forces. The increased credit hours (90) requirement is to meet Department of Defense stipulations.

The Imamate program is open to all students. However the main thrust of the SISS curriculum appears to be on the Master's degree in Islamic studies with two optional specializations.

Although at present the school is confining itself to graduate studies, it has plans to branch out into an undergraduate program in the future. It also expects to expand its graduate studies into doctoral programs.

Support Services

The School of Islamic and Social Sciences is in temporary rented facilities which are adequate for its present needs. But the school management is looking for a permanent site in the area.

In less than a year SISS has set up a library with close to 50,000 books, periodicals and other holdings, and has appointed Mr. G. Yazdani, a fully qualified librarian. A state-of-the-art Ameri-Tech computer system with Arabic-English (Horizons) software capability at eight stations has been installed at a cost of over $150,000. The system also is linked with other U.S. universities and library systems that have Arabic-language holdings on line.

In addition to Dr. Al-Alwani, who studied at Al Azhar University in Cairo, has taught at universities in Saudi Arabia, and has written several books on fiqh and other aspects of the shariah, SISS has other full-time and part-time faculty members. One is Dr. Ali Mazrui of Kenya, who presently is Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities at the State University of New York. He has taught at Ivy League schools, has authored books on Islam in Africa and has written profusely on contemporary issues. He also is known for the TV documentary "The Africans: a Triple Heritage" that he produced in collaboration with the BBC.

Other faculty include Dr. Mona Abul-Fadl, who earned her doctorate from the University of London and has taught at Cairo University; Dr. Nasr Muhammed Aref, a professor at Cairo University and currently a postgraduate fellow at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University; and Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, translator from Arabic to English of books, monographs and theses and a scholar in his own right.

The school utilizes the services of other ulema (Muslim scholars) from across the United States to conduct seminars, conferences and workshops for its researchers and students. In recent weeks Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University conducted a series of such seminars on Islamic topics. The school also includes on its Academic Advisory Board such prominent scholars as Dr. Charles Butterworth from the University of Maryland, Dr. John Esposito from Georgetown University, former German diplomat and author Dr. Murad Hofmann, and prominent author and scholar Dr. Yvonne Haddad from Amherst College in Massachusetts. Dr. Iqbal Unus serves as the dean of student affairs and Marjorie Cappellari as director of academic affairs.

SISS, which has received permission to run graduate level classes from the Virginia Council for Higher Education, will seek authorization to grant its first degrees this spring. But there is no established body in the United States to review its Imamate program. SISS may have to initiate action in collaboration with other schools to create an accrediting body for the program.

However, with its philosophy as propounded by Dr. Al-Alwani and endorsed by the scholars around him, SISS already has established a need and a niche to occupy in U.S. academia. Friends of Islam, including the Washington Report, will be watching its progress with pride and hope.