Islamic Studies as an Established Academic Discipline 

By Dr. Ashraf Amin

The field of Islamic studies one must remember is often taken for granted, so misunderstandings are inevitable. First and foremost, non-specialists in Islamic studies (both Muslims and non-Muslims) often fail to distinguish between theology and Islamic studies. Both the parties differ in nature, scope, objectives, and methodologies on approaching the discipline. Islamic Studies emerged as a formal social science discipline in the West at the dawn of the modern era, but a lot has changed since then. Gone are the days when this discipline was dominated by the scholarship of the Orientalists educated in a particular environment. They have primarily written for Western audiences. However, the Muslim communities were not immune to the developments happening in the West. At the same time, the West’s nefarious plans in Muslim countries, along with the colonial period, put Muslim communities at odds with the colonizers or Europeans.

Islamic Studies is an engaging discipline housing many correlative and multidisciplinary subjects, Islamic history and civilization, Islamic jurisprudence, Comparative religions, Islamic philosophy and thought, Islamic economics and finance, Public policy in Islam, Islamic societies, Islamic art, Islamic architecture and urban planning, Islamic ethics and bioethics are taught with fervor throughout the world.

Definitions:  Prof. Abdul Rashid Bhat, Former Head, Shah-i-Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir defines Islamic Studies as, “ An important academic discipline of religious studies, humanities, and social sciences. Its main aim is to study knowledge in an integrated way; primarily focusing on Divine knowledge through basic religious texts (Qur’an and Ḥadīth). It studies legacy of Islamic civilization, theological and philosophical developments, Tasawwuf, social and legal sciences of Islam, inter-faith dialogue and Muslim contribution to physical and natural sciences. It is never exclusively orientalism or  traditional madrasa system of education or even area studies but an inter-disciplinary and modern way of studying Islam, its civilization and sciences to  develop a broader understanding of Islam and Muslims viz-a-viz inter-religious and inter-civilizational harmony.”  (“Definition of Islamic Studies by Indian Muslim Scholars” (e-Brochure), Shahid Ali, September 2020, p.7.) 

Lisa Bernasek and Gary Bunt define the discipline as: “Islamic Studies is taken to include the study of Islam and Muslim societies in a variety of disciplines and departments, including Islamic Studies programmes as well as Religious Studies, History, languages and literature, Politics, Anthropology and Sociology, and interdisciplinary area studies programmes in Middle East or South Asian Studies.” (International Approaches to Islamic Studies, Bristol, GB Higher Education Funding Council for England, 2008, p.92).

Islamic Studies in 21^st Century

Public interest in Islam has increased dramatically in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The evidence for this includes a new abundance in colleges and universities of faculty openings and curriculums that deal with the Islamic religious tradition. As a consequence Islamic studies as a field in departments of religion in North America has recently become more apparent than in the past— in the classroom, bookstores, professional societies, and conferences worldwide on Islamic topics. The reasons for this sudden surge of interest in Islam since September 11, 2001 by liberal arts, deans, religious studies departments, and scholars worldwide require little explanation. As recently as the last decades of the twentieth century, however, interest in, and room for, curriculum on Islam and Muslims could be found in barely one-tenth of the approximately 1,200 academic departments of religious studies in North America. With the rapidly increasing demand for Islamic studies in the first decade of this century, when at least fifty academic positions for specialists in Islam in religious studies have been advertised annually, until the collapse of the economy in 2008 there were not enough qualified candidates trained in religious studies who are also trained in Islamic studies. Yet it was not so long ago that Islam did not even have a primary presence in the major professional society for faculty of religion, the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Indeed as recently as the middle of the twentieth century, Islam was included within the AAR’s coverage of world religions at its annual meetings as a subunit of the “History of Christianity” section. Now “The Study of Islam” is a major program unit within the AAR, with many subsections and sections cosponsored with other religious traditions. Was 9/11 the cause of all that? Not entirely, say Ernst and Martin. While Islamic studies as a field has been powerfully affected by political events, debates within the academy have had a longer and more pervasive role in shaping, and sometimes ignoring, this area of inquiry. That trajectory over the past quarter century has encouraged scholars to rethink how to theorize and problematize the textual and social data of Islam and how to adjust their investigations to methodologies that address the urgencies of Islamic studies in the twenty-first century. (C.Ernst, R.C Martin, Toward a Post-Orientalist Approach to Islamic Religious Studies, (pdf)  pp.1-2)

A rise in student interest in the subject and attention to the need for better engagement of Muslim communities within each country has led to the development of new courses, research centers, and collaborations. The following general themes have emerged as important developments in Islamic Studies in higher education across most of the countries concerned: 

a. the development of interdisciplinary and trans-regional centers for the study of Islam and Muslims in the modern world; 

b. the development of networks of scholars, at national or regional levels, that encourage collaboration in research and teaching between universities; 

c. the promotion of efforts to incorporate aspects of the training of local Muslim leaders, including imams, into higher education programmes; 

d. the development of individual modules related to Islamic Studies that can be pursued by students on a variety of degree courses or offered as outreach education courses, in a variety of learning and teaching modes. 

Interdisciplinary and trans-regional centres for the study of Islam and Muslims in the modern world have been identified as key locations for the development of new approaches to Islamic Studies across the countries investigated. Such centers may be located in one institution or may represent collaboration between a number of institutions. They are often funded primarily by the national education ministry, with additional funding from the universities involved or from outside sources. They may also be funded by philanthropic donations from the Muslim world. Examples of such centers include: the Institute for the Study of Islam and Societies of the Muslim World (IISMM) in France; the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) in the Netherlands; the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies in Germany; the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding in the United States; and the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies in Australia. 

Scholarly networks to develop research and teaching related to Islamic Studies have also played an important role in the development of the discipline in the past ten years. These networks may be formal collaborations between a small number of institutions to develop joint research projects or degree courses. They may also be national networks developed to share resources and best practice. Such networks may receive state funding, or may rely on the resources of individual universities or outside funding bodies. In some countries, discussion of new approaches to Islamic Studies takes place within existing subject associations related to the study of Islam and the Muslim world. Examples of recently developed networks and collaborations include: the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education Al-Mushāraka (the collaborative) Initiative in the United States, and Islamic Studies collaborations between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University in the United States. The ISIM in the Netherlands and the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies in Australia are also collaborative projects that bring together the expertise of different universities. 

 In most of the countries investigated, the question of the relationship (if any) between higher education institutions and the training of local Muslim leaders, including imams, has arisen as a key priority in the past ten years. Each country has taken a slightly different approach to this question, related largely to the established relationship between the state and religious groups. In France, for example, a one-year programme for Muslim religious leaders focuses on providing students with an introduction to the principles of French secularism and the role of religion in society. In the Netherlands, Leiden University has developed a programme in collaboration with Muslim organisations that would provide a two-pronged training, the academic side being carried out by the university and the confessional side being carried out by the Muslim organisations. The wide variety of models highlighted in this report indicates the need for each country to develop an approach to this question appropriate to the local context.

With the increased student interest in Islam and the Muslim world, some universities have developed modules related to Islamic Studies that can be incorporated into different degree programmes. Themed courses such as Islamic finance or introductory courses on Islam for a general student population have been developed. Other universities have engaged in outreach education for those working in social services or government. Such courses and outreach programmes have been developed at various universities in the United States; at the IISMM in France; and at the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies in Australia. Analysis in this report of the way that Islamic Studies operates within two Muslim majority contexts offers an indication of the parameters and/or inherent flexibility of some programmes. 

The impact of these initiatives varies across the countries concerned, and in many cases the developments are too recent to be accurately assessed for long-term effectiveness. However, a number of the interdisciplinary research centres mentioned above (e.g. the ISIM in the Netherlands or the IISMM in France) have established reputations as leading centres for contemporary research on Islam and Muslims. Scholarly networks have had a direct impact on teaching and research outputs in many of the countries discussed, resulting in innovative modules and degree courses. Many of the collaborations between higher education institutions and Muslim organisations, particularly for locally designed imam training programmes, have only recently been developed, and further research would be required to assess their impact. This report provides a number of examples that, with further research and assessment, may provide appropriate models for developments in Islamic Studies in the United Kingdom. (International Approaches to Islamic Studies in Higher Education A report to HEFCE Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, June 2008, pdf. pp.3-4)

The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS) was founded as one of the first privately held, independent institutions in the United States dedicated in its entirety to teaching and research in Islamic Studies. It has focused on the American experience of Islam and Islamic studies in the United States and the West.  The school has developed its work around an “ijtihād orientation” that is a creative but disciplined intellectual effort to derive legal rulings from the Islamic sources while taking into consideration the variables imposed by the changing circumstances of the Muslim society.  The visionary behind the school was Dr. Taha Jabir al-Alwani, an outstanding scholar and man of deep faith, who passed away in 2015.

Currently the GSISS is in transition from offering accredited academic courses to offering student and public seminars and other learning opportunities. It has worked closely with Virginia International University and other institutions to continue its role in Islamic education.  It offers consortium students and faculty members, access to an outstanding library in Islamic Studies through the Taha Jabir al-Alwani Library housed at IIIT. (www.washtheocon.org)

Today, academic Islamic Studies is usually taught and studied alongside or after an extensive study of the Arabic language, with named undergraduate and graduate degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies existing at universities such as Georgetown University, the University of Exeter, University of Oxford, University of Leeds, SOAS at the University of London, Yale University and several universities in Holland and Germany, notably Leiden University and Tubingen University. (wikiislamicstudies.org)    

Besides, writing on Islam and things Islamic─ be it on Islamic sources or Islamic history, thought or philosophy, thinkers or personalities, trends or movements, contemporary discourses or issues/ challenges─ has seen tremendous surge over the recent decades, especially in the 21^st century. Unsurprisingly, one finds a remarkable rise in the production of literature pertaining to ‘Islam’ and things Islamic vis-a-vis contemporary world from publishing houses based in the West, Muslim world, and/or rest of the world. In the West especially, such has been the rise in the production of books/volumes related to Islam that ‘with every passing day, one finds a new book on Islam, its history, or any other aspect─ classical or contemporary─ published’. Some of the reputed Western Publishing Houses, with branches in different parts of the world are publishing vigorously on Islam. Some of them are Ashgate, Blomsbury, Brill, Cambridge, Edinburg, Fortress, Hurst, I.B. Tauris, Lynne Rienner, Macmillan, Oneworld, Oxford, Palgrave, Polity, Princeton, Routledge, Sage, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell, Yale, Zed Books, etc. (Tauseef Ahmad Parrey, “ 21^st Century Western Scholarship on Islamic History: An Evaluation of Some Selected Recent Works”, thefreelancer.co.in)

There are a considerable number of national and international journals of fame that publish quality research on Islam and Islamic Studies. Some of the notable ones are Hamdard Islamicus, Islamic Studies, Intellectual Discourse, Brill, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, World Journal of Islamic History and Civilization, American Journal of Islam and Society, Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur’ān and Hadīth Studies, Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean, al-Qantara, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy: A Historical Journal, Asian Affairs, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Central Asian Survey, Critical Muslim, Contemporary Arab Affairs, Contemporary Levant, Contemporary Review of the Middle East, History of Religions, Intellectual History of the Islamicate World, International Journal of Islamic Architecture, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Islamic Africa, Islamic Law and Society, Israel Affairs, Jerusalem Quarterly, Journal of Africana Studies, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Journal of Arabic Literature, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Journal of Humanity and Society, Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, Journal of Islamic Studies, Journal of the Middle East and Africa, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Journal of Muslim Mental Health, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Journal of Muslims in Europe, Journal of North African Studies, Journal of Palestine Studies, Journal of Qurʾanic Studies, Journal of Religion in Africa, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Journal of Sufi Studies, Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, Medieval Encounters, Middle East Critique, The Middle East Journal, Middle East Law and Governance: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Middle Eastern Literatures, Middle Eastern Studies, The Muslim World, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Politics and Religion, Politics, Religion & Ideology, Secularism and Non-religion, Turkish Studies, etc. (Journal Round up, themaydan.com, Dec, 2022).

Conclusion

The article may be summed up in the words of a renowned Muslim author, Akbar S. Ahmed, “The twenty-first century will be the century of Islam. Muslim civilization will be central to understanding where we will be moving into the future.” And the fact that there are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world with “about 25 million living permanently in the West and many of them making an impact on social, political, and economic life…” understanding Islam is “imperative to anyone wanting to make sense of living in the twenty-first century”. Reminding statements like the one call people to let their fears go and instead open their mind to a better understanding of Islam, and the world for that matter, because Islam is a part of the world we live in today. (Akbar, S. Ahmed, Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Islamic History and Society, Routledge, 2002, p.1)

The author is a Nodal Officer, Department of Religious Studies, Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Central University of Kashmir 

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