Zaytuna College Master of Arts Brochure 2023

MASTER OF ARTS IN ISLAMIC TEXTS

GATEWAY TO A GREAT TRADITION

ZAYTU N A C OLLEGE

The greatest, truest, and only permanent good bestowed upon humanity is that of true knowledge. From such knowledge, all other goods flow, even faith. And this is why, at Zaytuna College, we have adorned our seal with the prayer Qul Rabbī zidnī ‘ilmā (“Say: O Lord, increase me in knowledge”). For it is our knowledge of the world alone that enables us to discern a creator; hence, true knowledge will always lead to true faith. The greatest Qur’anic commandment is “Know that there is no god but the One True God.” It is knowledge alone—and most importantly, knowledge of God— that differentiates us from beasts, making us unique among God’s glorious creation.

the qur’anic quotation is from surah ţā hā, verse 114.

SEEKING THE ARTS THAT FREE MINDS AND HEARTS

Dear prospective students,

Salam ‘alaykum. In 2018, we initiated a new, accredited graduate degree, the Master of Arts in Islamic Texts, in addition to our already accredited BA program. This unique program, headed by the Kurdish scholar Professor Mahsuk Yamac, enables qualified candidates to wholly navigate Islam’s primary sources in their original language. The program uses our Muslim civilization’s rigorous scholastic approach coupled with the best of Western academic disciplines. This dual approach sets it apart from most other programs. Students accepted into this course of study delve into the timeless canonical texts of Islam in their original Arabic. This enables them to grapple with the more abstruse elements within our tradition.

Our faculty, trained in both the Western academy as well as in the Islamic ijāzah system, guide our students on their journey toward the knowledge of two—oftentimes similar, sometimes divergent—intellectual approaches to the deep study of texts. With concentrations in Islamic law, Islamic philosophy and theology, and a newly developed track in Islamic finance and economics, students tackle some of the world’s greatest classics

using the tools of learning known in the Islamic tradition as al-‘ulūm al-āliyyah and in the West as the trivium, thereby addressing many of the intellectual and socioeconomical challenges we face today. The program fosters the development of excellent skills in academic analysis and writing as students work towards a summative master’s thesis in an area of their choosing. While we emphasize that our program, rooted in the liberal arts tradition, is not vocational, our graduates, nonetheless, have a wide array of careers open to them. Alumni have found placement in some of the world’s most prestigious universities and law schools, including Harvard, University of Chicago, Oxford, Georgetown, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis.

Take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to study your faith in a place of devotion, discipline, and camaraderie. We look forward to helping you on your journey.

Yours sincerely,

Hamza Yusuf President, Zaytuna c ollege

TESTIMONIALS

Maryam Awwal, MA Class of 2023

I was looking for the opportunity to study classical texts in a small class environment, in person, with classically trained scholars. The Zaytuna MA Program offered me all of that in an accredited degree program that was accessible for a female student. Getting a grounding in classical texts allows me to continue studying the Islamic sciences and to engage with them to inform my practice. This informed the work I did with the youth over the last year, and I plan to continue this work at a bigger scale soon, in sha Allah.

Ibrahim Qureshi, MA Class of 2021

The MA Program opened my eyes to avenues of research that I suspect may hold the keys to the roots of contemporary crises. I hope in the coming years to be able to unpack some of these insights hidden in the depths of unread texts and to bring them to light through teaching, translating, and writing. Zaytuna’s MA Program uniquely equips students with not only the tools to dive into texts but also the perspective to step out of them and see those same concepts and ideas embedded in the world.

Kashaf Zaman, MA Class of 2024

Often, those who craft the narrative of Islam do not appreciate nor understand its religious framework; thus, they cast it in a dark light. Only by studying under the tutelage of teachers and masters of the Muslim scholarly tradition are we equipped to challenge the misconstrued narrative of Islam that pervades academia. The MA Program at Zaytuna College is uniquely designed to meet this challenge. This endeavor only begins by revealing and consequently rectifying the first principles entrenched in western society, while disclosing those that undergird an Islamic worldview. To do so requires empathy and honesty, a deep understanding of both the Islamic and Western intellectual traditions, and a sincere commitment to portraying both in a balanced light.

WHY CHOOSE ZAYTUNA?

With Zaytuna’s Master of Arts (MA) degree in Islamic Texts, you can look forward to an advanced, guided study of Islam’s primary sources. Designed as a two-year program that culminates in a publishable thesis, the program combines many distinctive elements as compared to other graduate-level Islamic-degree programs. The trivium, known in the Muslim world as the instrumental arts (al-‘ulūm al-āliyyah), comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Our MA students immerse themselves in these and other related subjects. Simultaneously, they engage in a deep study of the Great Books of the Muslim scholastic tradition with qualified professors who contextualize the lessons for modern applicability.

This MA degree is intended for students who have completed a degree in Islamic studies or its ancillary fields (e.g., theology, philosophy, Arabic, Islamic law, and history) and already have substantial knowledge in the Islamic tradition. As an MA student, you will read, discuss, and engage with the primary Arabic texts of the Islamic tradition at an advanced level.

Depending on one’s area of concentration, coursework includes the study and research of classical Arabic language and literature; Qur’an and Qur’anic commentaries; Islamic philosophy, theology, and mysticism; Islamic law; the history of Islam; and Islamic finance and economics.

Alongside this, students develop a summative thesis under the supervision of a faculty member specializing in their field of choice. This 20,000 to 25,000-word research effort integrates knowledge of the Islamic and Orientalist traditions. Students will use the analytical and interpretive skills gained through coursework to produce a unique, meaningful academic contribution.

Here are titles of some of the theses our MA students completed:

• Stem Cell Research: Islamic Jurisprudential and Islamic Bioethical Perspectives (Suzanne Jamal Kasim)

• Theodicy as Praxis: Al-Ghazali on Divine Justice and Mercy (Marwan Tayyan)

• The Parameters of Fatwa and Determining a Scholarly Methodology for Minority Law (Yousaf Hassan Seyal)

• What is Moral Action? The Relationship Between Human Flourishing, Character Traits, and Right Action in Classical Islamic Ethics (Ibrahim Qureshi)

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

The main goals of the MA program in Islamic texts include the following:

• Advanced skills in reading and interpreting traditional Islamic texts in the stated fields of research

• Further-advanced Arabic reading and speaking skills at the professional, expert level

• Fluency in both the dialectical and didactic elements of traditional teaching methods

• A broad understanding of Islamic intellectual history from its roots in Arabic language and literature, Qur’an and Qur’anic commentaries, hadith tradition and commentaries, law, philosophy, theology, and the spiritual sciences.

Students accomplish these goals by:

• Demonstrating in class discussions, oral presentations, written work, and the thesis and thesis defense a scholarly proficiency in logic, dialectics, and research skills

• Achieving doctoral-level research skills in Arabic texts, as well as in texts in a modern language other than English and/or another ancient language (e.g., Persian or Greek)

• Directing seminars in the primary texts that demonstrate students’ readiness to teach professionally in the areas of concentration

• Writing publishable papers that make significant contributions to the scholarly literature

• Expertly translating Arabic when quoting Arabic texts in scholarly papers and in the thesis

• Writing a publishable thesis of 20,000 to 25,000 words demonstrating scholarly methods of reasoning and inquiry

AREAS OF CONCENTRATION

Islamic Law

The Islamic law track covers both legal theory (uśūl al-fiqh) and positive law (furū‘ al-fiqh). This course of study takes students through a series of texts that embody the scholastic approach to concepts and problems in the two disciplines, including the juridical and theological schools of legal theory. Students study, analyze, and evaluate the major hermeneutic approaches to the sources of Islamic law, as well as focus on the legal reasoning and principles employed by a jurist when interpreting and applying the law to new cases. Additionally, the program emphasizes the rich interplay between law, kalam theology, and the Arabic language when considering the various schools of legal theory, with the goal to read, interpret, and explicate advanced texts in Islamic law.

Islamic Theology and Philosophy

This track takes students through the foundational texts of kalam theology and philosophy. Coursework and texts range from the Ash‘arī and Māturīdī schools of theology to the Peripatetic and the Transcendental (ĥikmah muta‘āliyah) schools of Islamic philosophy (falsafah).

Issues of general ontology (umūr ‘āmmah)—such as existence, quiddity, oneness, multiplicity, emanation, and causality— are studied using classical texts by major philosophers and theologians of the various schools. Theological problems of the divine attributes, prophecy, infallibility, ethics, and eschatology are studied. In addition to training students in each of the disciplines, emphasis is placed on cultivating the reading, analyzing, and inquiry skills required for accessing texts in the disciplines. This allows students to conduct research on current problems in the areas of kalam theology and philosophy.

Islamic Finance and Economics

The Islamic Finance concentration combines instruction in Muslim legal theory, positive law, and finance. While it shares foundational legal training with the law concentration, it provides specialized instruction in the fields of economics and trade within Muslim jurisprudence. This program pairs the study of theory with a tight focus on contemporary Islamic finance applications, including how alternative institutions might provide ethical alternatives in a financialized world. Providing a deep grounding in Islamic moral principles, this program equips its graduates to navigate the world of finance.

Two-Year Overview

* No credit units are awarded. Failure to submit an acceptable proposal before the start of the third semester is cause for dismissal. **

MA FACULTY: MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Mohamed Boufares, PhD

Dr. Mohamed Boufares is a scholar of Islamic law. His research interests include jurisprudence and its foundations, legal concepts, jurisprudence of reality, and translation from English to Arabic. He teaches Legal Theory and Arabic Rhetoric.

Fadi Elhin, PhD

Dr. Fadi Elhin is a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence with field specialties in Shafi‘i law, Hanafi law, uśūl al-fiqh, Arabic rhetoric, Arabic grammar, Arabic morphology, and teaching Arabic as a second language. He teaches Hanafi Family Law, Legal Maxims, both levels of Positive Law, the first two levels of Legal Theory, and all levels of Arabic.

Eiyad al-Kutubi, PhD

Dr. Eiyad al-Kutubi teaches Philosophy I. His research interests include Qur’anic studies, philosophy, theology, and uśūl al-fiqh

Jawad Qureshi, PhD

Dr. Jawad Qureshi is a scholar of Islamic studies with field specialties in religious studies theory and method, Islamic revival and reform, Islamic theological and philosophical

thought, sufism, and Qur’anic studies. He teaches Arabic Formal Logic, Research Methods in Islamic Studies, and all levels of Theology.

Harun Sencal, PhD

Dr. Harun Sencal is a scholar of Islamic finance, with a specialized interest in the areas of Islamic political economy and the shariah regulation of Islamic financial entities. His research encompasses an analysis of economic institutions from both a political and moral economy perspective with an in-depth examination of how capitalist social formation has influenced and transformed the economic institutions within Muslim societies. He oversees the newly developed Islamic Finance track in the MA Program.

Mahsuk Yamac

Professor Mahsuk Yamac, Dean of Graduate Studies, is a scholar of the classical Islamic sciences with licenses to teach in all pertinent knowledges. His field specialties include Islamic philosophy and the liberal arts, Arabic grammar and morphology, logic, argumentation theory, and the science of semantics. He teaches Arabic Grammar as well as all levels of Islamic Philosophy.

Professor Mahsuk Yamac, Dean of Graduate Studies

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

The MA program provides training and opportunities to conduct research across a vast array of disciplines. With access to one of the largest Islamic studies libraries in North America at UC Berkeley and a host of online portals, you will be able to engage in academic discourse that matters. Regular coursework comprises research papers each semester, while the summative thesis represents two years of dedicated research in a specialized field. As an MA student, you will use these avenues to hone your reading, writing, and analytical skills in both English and Arabic.

GRADUATE PROGRAM COSTS

they’ve been able to excel at a range of fields. Many have gone into academia, teaching, and community work. Others have pursued careers as lawyers, in the technology industry, and in STEM. They have also sought out continued study of the Muslim scholarly tradition, which many teach as a way of giving back to the community. Graduates of the program are well-prepared to pursue PhD studies and other research-based initiatives.

FINANCIAL AID AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Zaytuna College is committed to offering master’s students a degree without the burden of debt. The College offers both need-based and merit-based scholarships and grants upon receipt of an eligible financial aid application after applying to the MA program.

LOCATION

Zaytuna College has two campuses, both located in Berkeley, California, with accessibility to public transportation and amenities.

Lower Campus

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

Comprised of three buildings from the early to mid-twentieth century, the Lower Campus is located a few minutes walk away from the UC Berkeley Library, the library of the Graduate Theological Union, and downtown Berkeley. The male dormitory is located on the same block as the Lower Campus.

Upper Campus

WHAT COMES AFTER GRADUATION?

Zaytuna MA graduates have spread wide. With the reasoning and analysis skills that they developed through the program,

Located at the uppermost point of the Berkeley hills near the Tilden Park nature reserve, the Upper Campus hosts most of the College’s classrooms and the female dormitory, accompanied by views of the San Francisco Bay. It features a permaculture garden, prayer hall, archery area, as well as outdoor and indoor study spaces.

CAMPUS LIFE

The Zaytuna campus experience includes an enriching community of learning, where knowledge is shared both in and out of the classroom. Graduate students often have rigorous study schedules that limit social and extracurricular programs. At Zaytuna, our student-life services recognize these challenges and offer focused social and support activities with the College’s staff and faculty to facilitate a nurturing environment for our students.

LEARN MORE

• Discover more about our MA in Islamic Texts by visiting zaytuna.edu

• To speak with an admissions counselor, schedule a campus tour, or learn more about scholarships, please email admissions@zaytuna.edu

• To make a gift, email give@zaytuna.edu

Dr. Fadi Elhin teaching Positive Law 2 to MA students

The Sophia Hall at Zaytuna College’s Upper Campus