scholarly journals Opportunities and Challenges of Teaching Islamic Studies in Theological Seminaries

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-162
Author(s):  
Fatima Siwaju
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Care ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Care Coordinator ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Theological Schools ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
President Elect ◽  
Muslim Student ◽  
Professional Degrees

On Saturday, November 21, 2015, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., a panel coorganized by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) entitled “Opportunitiesand Challenges of Teaching Islamic Studies in TheologicalSeminaries,” was held during the Annual Meeting of the American Academyof Religion (AAR) at the Marriott Hotel in Atlanta, GA. The panel was presidedover by Reverend Dr. Serene Jones (president of Union Theological Seminaryand AAR president-elect), and included contributions from Nazila Isgandarova(Emmanuel College), Munir Jiwa (Graduate Theological Union), JerushaLamptey (Union Theological Seminary), Nevin Reda (Emmanuel College),Feryal Salem (Hartford Seminary), and Ermin Sinanović (IIIT). Amir Hussain(Loyola Marymount University) served as respondent.The purpose of the roundtable was to address the growing trend amongChristian seminaries in North America of offering courses and, in some cases,professional degrees in the study of Islam, which has often involved hiringMuslim academics. The panelists endeavored to explore the opportunitiesand challenges posed by this new context, as well as the possible future directionof theological schools in addition to the future trajectory of Islamicstudies at them.Nazila Isgandarova, a spiritual care coordinator for the Center for Addictionand Mental Health in Canada and a graduate student at Emmanuel College,spoke of her personal experience as a Muslim student in a theological school.She noted that one of the unique advantages of studying Islam in a Christianenvironment is that it provides a space for the exchange of ideas. Isgandarovaidentified clinical pastoral education (CPE) as one of the major advantages ofstudying at a seminary. She emphasized that Islamic spiritual care educationshould be grounded not only in the Islamic tradition, but also in the conceptualand methodological frameworks provided by CPE. While she acknowledged ...

Pemikiran Politik Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi di dalam Karya Islamisasi Ilmu dan Tawhid

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-201
Author(s):  
Ariff Aizuddin Azlan
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Islamic Education ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
Islam And Politics ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Theology Education

As a scholar of Islam, Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi has made great contributions especially in the field of philosophy, theology, education, and thought. Provided with a vast knowledge of Islamic tradition and Western, his ideas have impacted the academic world crossing the disciplines. Al-Faruqi also went further by transforming his ideas into a decisive practice especially when he co-founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) as a symbol that showcases the relevance of the methodology of Islamic education. Two of his significant writings which are the Islamization of Knowledge: General Principles and Work Plan and Al-Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life have become one of the major references in the field of Islamic studies. By referring these two writings, this study argues that, Al-Faruqi’s view on politics is inevitable and he presented his political thought by establishing a substantial connection between Islam and politics. Besides that, Al-Faruqi also acknowledges the discipline of political science by arguing that such discipline is critical in assessing the problematic situation that the Muslim world is currently facing. Just like other Muslim political thinkers, Al-Faruqi also did not dismiss the important facts that the concept of khilafah is profoundly central to Islam and politics.

scholarly journals Observing the Observer

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-99
Author(s):  
David H. Warren
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Interested Reader ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Muslim Minority

This publication, a collection of ten essays incorporating both quantitative andqualitative studies, has emerged as part of a lengthy research project conductedby the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Center for Islamand Public Policy (CIPP) beginning in 2004 and concluding in 2007. Naturally,given the state of relations between the United States and those countries perceivedas comprising the “Muslim World,” as well as regular controversies andscandals relating to the American Muslim minority and those who purport toobserve, study, and teach others about them and their religion, such a study isparticularly welcome. The studies included are aimed at both students and specialists,not only in the field of “Islamic studies” itself, but also more broadlywith regard to such related academic fields as theology and anthropology. Anotheraudience is the more general interested reader who might wish to learnwhat may (or may not) have changed in that field attacked so successfully inEdward Said’s great polemic, that its title Orientalism ultimately entered Islamicstudies as a truly condemnatory and pejorative slogan ...

scholarly journals Rethinking Reform in Higher Education, From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Butterworth
Keyword(s):  
Educational Goals ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Great Books ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Major Attention ◽  
The Way

This volume, one of the most important and timely publications of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), represents the latest effort by scholars associated with the organization to formulate an educational program for Muslims. Ziauddin Sardar and Jeremy Henzell-Thomas revise and update the attempts by Ismail Faruqi and fellow founders of IIIT in the 1980s to address the crisis of education faced then by Muslim societies.That is appropriate, for the crisis has not disappeared with the passage of time. If anything, it has become greater and now encompasses Muslims worldwide—not just those in Muslim societies. And, as the authors of this volume note repeatedly, it has captured the attention of educators in the US, UK, and most other European nations.Now, eschewing the older Islamization of knowledge approach, Sardar and Henzell-Thomas propose the integration of knowledge. They set aside the old paradigm while offering minimal comments about the shortcomings that warrant such a change, perhaps so as to avoid giving rise to unnecessary quarrels. Major attention must be accorded, therefore, what the authors understand integration of knowledge to be and how it might address the needs of their specific audience—Muslim societies. One must wonder, all the same, why the audience is so defined. After all, the crisis of education affects people everywhere, Muslims in Muslim and non-Muslim societies as well as non-Muslims living in Muslim and non-Muslim societies. How do differences in political and economic problems faced by these various groups affect the educational goals to be achieved and who is affected by them?Another preliminary objection concerns the way both the earlier IIIT reformers and those involved in the new project ignore or neglect the critique of shortcomings in educational approaches launched in the US early in the twentieth century by Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, a critique that culminated in the Great Books movement. It, or, more accurately, offshoots of it, have given rise to attempts at general or liberal education in numerous American and European institutions. Especially pertinent for the integration of knowledge project is how these offshoots of the Great Books movement, ostensibly centered on Western writings at the outset, have gradually come to incorporate fundamental texts from the Golden Age of the Arabic and Islamic tradition. Today more than ever, it is essential to promote the cultural phenomena common to all. Only greater awareness of the extent to which we are one people will allow us to counter those who seek to divide us and thereby fuel enmity.Finally, no attention is accorded here to how the issues identified with the crisis of education are addressed in other faith traditions or to the way members of those traditions attempt to integrate the teachings of revealed texts with ones arising from simple human reasoning. Such a broader focus would have permitted the authors to propose an approach that might resonate with the general malaise expressed by many educators and suggest a way forward that all, not just Muslims, could embrace.Still, these preliminary objections are just that, preliminary. To assess their merit, it is essential to consider carefully what is actually proposed in the volume under review. It consists of a Foreword setting forth the basic principles of the revised project and four chapters. The first, “Mapping the Terrain,” is by Sardar, as is the second, “From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge.” Henzell-Thomas is the author of the third and fourth chapters, “The Integration We Seek” and “Towards a Language of Integration.”

scholarly journals Editorial Note

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Sulayman S. Nyang
Keyword(s):  
Editorial Note ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The World ◽  
Part Presentation ◽  
The University

In this issue we have a collection of very interesting articles. There is thelead article written by the late Professor Ismail al Faruqi, founding Presidentof the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Reston, Virginia, and thefirst President of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in 1972. Thesetwo organizations, which are separate but work together as partners in Muslimscholarship in North America, are the sponsors of this journal.Dr. al Faruqi's contribution on the important question of world theologyintroduces a four-part presentation on aspects of the Islamization of Knowledge.Well-grounded in this field of knowledge and coming from a background whichclearly made him one of the few Muslim scholars capable of engaging in ameaningful dialogue with Western thinkers on their own ground, Professoral-Faruqi identifies the main areas of discourse and then offers a critical Islamicperspective on the problem.Following his article are two position papers on pressing current issues.The first is the piece written by S. Abdullah Schleifer, an American Muslimcurrently working and living in Cairo, Egypt. A prominent journalist withmany years of experience in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world,Schleifer looks at the needs, feasibility and limitations of an independent IslamicNews Agency. This piece is provocative and provides food for thought to thoseMuslims who are interested in the current debate on the New InternationalInformation Order (NIIO). The second paper deals with the operations ofmodern financial markets for stocks and bonds and its relevance to an Islamiceconomy. Written by Professor Raquib uz-Wan, it focuses on a very importantissue in the current discussion on Islamic economics.We regret to announce that Dr. Musa O.A. Abdul, a member of our AdvisoryEditorial Board has passed away due to natural causes. Students andfaculty of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and all others who came to knowhis work in Islamic studies will always benefit, inshallah, from his inspiringdevotion to the cause of Islam.We hope that this issue will continue the steady improvement in the qualityof this journal. We are determined, insha' Allah, to raise the quality of productionand the quality of scholarship in this journal. For this and other relatedreasons we call on all scholars who are interested in the Muslim World tosend in their comments and suggestions. Contributions are welcome fromall over the world ...

scholarly journals Issues in Methodology of Islamic Thought

1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-372
Author(s):  
IIIT - Cairo Office
Keyword(s):  
September 11 ◽  
Scientific Methodology ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Ibn Khaldun ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Municipal Council ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The University

During the period from Safar 9-12, 1410 H. / September 11-14,1989 A.D.,a seminar on the "Issues in Methodology of Islamic Thought" was held atAmir AM al Qadir University of Islamic Studies (Qusantinah, Algeria). Theseminar was organized by the university in conjunction with the InternationalInstitute of Islamic Thought (Washington, D.C.). A group of professors andstudents of both sexes from Amir Abd al Qadir University, as well as fromthe Central University, participated in the seminar activities. The openingsession was attended by representatives from Qusantinah Province, the NationalLiberation Front, the Municipal Council, and the Religious Committee.Speeches were delivered by Dr. 'Ammar al Talibi, the University Presidentand Chairman of the seminar; Dr. Gamal El-Din Attia, Academic Advisorof the International Institute of Islamic Thought and convenor of theseminar; and by Dr. Muhammad 'AM al Hadi Abu Ridah representing theguests of the seminar.The seminar included seven panels where twenty-one research papers,prepared for the seminar, were presented and discussed. These research paperscovered the following topics:1- Inference Methodology in the Qur'an: A Response to the Opponentsof Faith, by Dr. Ahmad 'Atwah.2- The Elements of Scientific Methodology in the Qur'an andal Sunnah, by Dr. Ghawi 'Inayah.3 - Muslim Methodology in Islamic Theology, by Dr. FawqiyahHusayn.4 - The Methodology of Ideology in the Light of ContemporaryScientific Advances, by Dr. Muhammad Abd al Sattar Nassar.5- An Overview of the Methodology of Recording History, byDr. 'Abd al Halim 'Uways.6- The Methodology of the Principles of Jurisprudence, by Dr.Abd al Hamid Madkur.7- The Crises of Methodology in Modem Ideological Studies,by Dr. Muhammad Kamal al Din Imam.8- The Scientific Methodology and Spirit of Ibn Khaldun andIts Relation to Islam, by Dr. 'Imad al Din Khalil ...

scholarly journals Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-174
Author(s):  
Brian Wright
Keyword(s):  
San Antonio ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Santa Barbara ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
History Of

At the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Antonio,the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) hosted the third annualIsmail al Faruqi Memorial Lecture. Delivered by Ahmad Atef Ahmad (Universityof California Santa Barbara), the lecture focused on the changing academicfield of Islamic studies: where the field has been, where it is now, andwhere it should go in the future.Ahmad began by outlining the history of approaching both Islamic studiesand comparative religion in general. After decades of claiming neutrality, hebelieves that the field has now reached a new phase. “In the past there was anassumption that there is a neutral, global set of rules and tools that can help usunderstand religion, like those of philosophy or anthropology. However, overtime we have come to realize that these tools are in no way neutral and comewith their own kinds of baggage.” This failure of neutrality has particularlyaffected scholars of Islam, because “You find that Muslim scholars who taketheir primary sources seriously find the deck stacked against them, especiallyfor those who are working in the West and trying to engage in conversationswith other religious traditions.”As a result of the realization that the tools of religious studies cannot beneutral, academia has undergone a significant shift ...

scholarly journals ISIS and the Challenge of Interpreting Islam

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-165
Author(s):  
Ayşenur Sönmez Kara
Keyword(s):  
San Antonio ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Text Context ◽  
Final Question

The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) organized an “ISIS andthe Challenge of Interpreting Islam: Text, Context, and Islam-in-Modernity”panel at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting held onNovember 21, 2016, in San Antonio, TX. After the panel, it held a receptionand presented the al Faruqi Memorial lecture. The panel brought together seniorscholars of Islam, history, and cultural studies.Moderator Ermin Sinanović (director, Research and Academic Programs,IIIT) divided it into three rounds and allowed questions after each round. Eachround addressed an ISIS-related question: (1) “How should we best understandISIS? Is it a product of Islamic tradition or something inherently modern? Whatis ISIS an example for?”; (2) “What role does the Islamic tradition play in enabling,justifying, or delegitimizing ISIS?”; and (3) “Is ISIS Islamic?”The first speaker, Ovamir Anjum (Imam Khattab Endowed Chair of IslamicStudies, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University ofToledo) reminded the audience of the commonality of violence for politicalends in history by arguing that this is not a uniquely Islamic phenomenon. Accordingto Islamic tradition, groups like ISIS that employ violence to kill Muslimsand non-Muslims are ghulāt (extremists), rebels, or khawārij. One mustunderstand ISIS within the Islamic tradition, because the group is using Islamicsymbols. But this does not mean that it is an Islamic phenomenon.In the second round, he contextualized the issue by stating that the numberof Syrians killed by Bashar al-Assad is seven times higher than those killedby ISIS. He remarked that “ISIS is horrifying for psychological reasons becausethey use the pornography of violence, for example, not because theyare a uniquely murderous threat. There are a lot of those in the world.” Anjumalso found its acts dangerous because its members justify their own biases inthe name of Islam. He restated that the group is khawārij, enslaves and killsnon-combatants, and rejects the authority of existent Islamic scholarship becausethe Islamic juristic tradition forbids killing non-combatants.Anjum responded to the final question by refusing to call ISIS “Islamic,”for “Of course ISIS is making Islamic claims, but Islamic tradition is verycomplex and has been very difficult to agree on things except for a very, veryfew fundamentals throughout Islamic history.” He also argued that “those whoexcommunicate Muslims en masse and kill for that reason are khawārij, andthey must be fought. This is agreed upon by both Sunni and Shi‘a scholars.” ...

scholarly journals IIIT Intellectual Panels

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-143
Author(s):  
Hadeel Elaradi
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Real World ◽  
Annual Convention ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Chapel Hill ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Knowledge

The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) held a series of panels atthe 42st annual convention of the Islamic Circle of North America-MuslimAmerican Society (ICNA-MAS) in Baltimore, MD, on Saturday, April 15,2017. This year, the convention’s theme was “The Quest for True Success:The Divine Message of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.”IIIT’s intellectual panels dealt with a variety of topics. The first session,“The Concept of Madrasa: Context and Reform,” revolved around EbrahimMoosa’s What Is a Madrasa? (Chapel Hill: University of North CarolinaPress, 2015). Moosa (professor, Islamic studies, University of Notre Dame)reminisced about his time as a madrasa student in India, stating: “The way Icame into India was in a very pietistic orientation, that Islam was all about piety. India and the madrasas taught me that Islam is about thinking ... piety... goodness ... making a contribution to the world.” However, he continued,the “madrasas have done a good job in preserving the identity of traditionalIslam, but it’s unable to make that identity actually work in the real world. ...and that modern knowledge has been closed off from the lived experience ofMuslims.” ...

scholarly journals Rethinking Reform in Higher Education, From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Butterworth
Keyword(s):  
Educational Goals ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Great Books ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Major Attention ◽  
The Way

This volume, one of the most important and timely publications of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), represents the latest effort by scholars associated with the organization to formulate an educational program for Muslims. Ziauddin Sardar and Jeremy Henzell-Thomas revise and update the attempts by Ismail Faruqi and fellow founders of IIIT in the 1980s to address the crisis of education faced then by Muslim societies.That is appropriate, for the crisis has not disappeared with the passage of time. If anything, it has become greater and now encompasses Muslims worldwide—not just those in Muslim societies. And, as the authors of this volume note repeatedly, it has captured the attention of educators in the US, UK, and most other European nations.Now, eschewing the older Islamization of knowledge approach, Sardar and Henzell-Thomas propose the integration of knowledge. They set aside the old paradigm while offering minimal comments about the shortcomings that warrant such a change, perhaps so as to avoid giving rise to unnecessary quarrels. Major attention must be accorded, therefore, what the authors understand integration of knowledge to be and how it might address the needs of their specific audience—Muslim societies. One must wonder, all the same, why the audience is so defined. After all, the crisis of education affects people everywhere, Muslims in Muslim and non-Muslim societies as well as non-Muslims living in Muslim and non-Muslim societies. How do differences in political and economic problems faced by these various groups affect the educational goals to be achieved and who is affected by them?Another preliminary objection concerns the way both the earlier IIIT reformers and those involved in the new project ignore or neglect the critique of shortcomings in educational approaches launched in the US early in the twentieth century by Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, a critique that culminated in the Great Books movement. It, or, more accurately, offshoots of it, have given rise to attempts at general or liberal education in numerous American and European institutions. Especially pertinent for the integration of knowledge project is how these offshoots of the Great Books movement, ostensibly centered on Western writings at the outset, have gradually come to incorporate fundamental texts from the Golden Age of the Arabic and Islamic tradition. Today more than ever, it is essential to promote the cultural phenomena common to all. Only greater awareness of the extent to which we are one people will allow us to counter those who seek to divide us and thereby fuel enmity.Finally, no attention is accorded here to how the issues identified with the crisis of education are addressed in other faith traditions or to the way members of those traditions attempt to integrate the teachings of revealed texts with ones arising from simple human reasoning. Such a broader focus would have permitted the authors to propose an approach that might resonate with the general malaise expressed by many educators and suggest a way forward that all, not just Muslims, could embrace.Still, these preliminary objections are just that, preliminary. To assess their merit, it is essential to consider carefully what is actually proposed in the volume under review. It consists of a Foreword setting forth the basic principles of the revised project and four chapters. The first, “Mapping the Terrain,” is by Sardar, as is the second, “From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge.” Henzell-Thomas is the author of the third and fourth chapters, “The Integration We Seek” and “Towards a Language of Integration.”

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