5 minute read
Letter from the President
P
dear friends and suPPorters:
Salam alaykum. We have lived through another year under the lingering cloud of a pandemic that has been woeful and wearying for many. Yet we are asked as believers to see the light that shines amidst the darkness of adversities as the Qur’an reminds us: “Surely with hardship comes ease; surely with hardship comes ease” (94:5–6). By the grace of God, we have witnessed this ease at Zaytuna College as we reopened our campus in August and students once again arrived to study and learn with our faculty in the classrooms, albeit with the requisite precautions for health and safety. That is only one of many gratifying openings God the Generous blessed us with. As a result, we look to the future of Zaytuna College with hope and optimism. We welcomed a new freshman class to Berkeley, one of the most distinguished classes to date in terms of preparation and qualifications, and we bid an online farewell to graduates of both the MA and the BA programs last May. Meanwhile, our alumni who chose to pursue graduate study elsewhere are thriving at major universities such as Oxford, Georgetown, Harvard, University of Chicago, University of Texas, and Rochester Medical School.
In October, we had asuccessful visit from ateam representing the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) to assess our progress in implementing their recommendations from 2019, when they had reaffirmed our accreditation for eight years.Every WASC review results incommendations and recommendations, and the commendations on the improvements made in the past two years were heartening: more efficient management, more effective fundraising, faculty expansion, increased student support, upgraded recruitment, refinedstudent assessment mechanisms, an almost seamless transition to online learning in 2020, and a holistic implementation oftechnology, safety, andsocial measuresto reinstate in-person learning in 2021. As we continue to grow and strategically plan for the future, we will take heed of their recommendations for greater capacity in personnel, more diversified revenue streams, stronger disability accommodation practices, and increased measures of student learning. Meanwhile, our public engagement and education initiatives have had a productive year, with the Emir-Stein Center continuing to produce videos dispelling ignorance and misunderstandings about Islam. In 2021, the Center produced seven new videos, and its videos have received nearly 12 million views since its inception.
“In October, we had a successful visit from a team representing the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) to assess our progress in implementing their recommendations from 2019, when they had reaffirmed our accreditation for eight years.” Our journal Renovatio—which publishes original work inspired by the philosophical and ethical traditions of the great world religions, especially Islam—had its most productive year yet, nearly doubling its archive on the website in 2021 to almost two hundred pieces. It also released a major seven-part series of conversations with scholars and writers on the Seven Deadly Sins entitled, “One Is Enough to Kill You.” We were delighted by the warm response from the community to the programs we hosted during the blessed month of Rabi’ al-Awwal on the teachings and the biographical study of Prophet Muhammads. On the operational side, we have been blessed with some extraordinary new additions to our staff,
including Dr. Aisha Subhani, who now serves as our new vice president, and Feraidoon Mojadedi, our event and volunteer manager. We have also added new members to our Board of Trustees who bring great experience and guidance to the College. Looking to the future, we have new initiatives that will benefit both our students and our supporters in the United States and abroad, God willing. In our ongoing effort to restore and beautify our campuses so they stand as testimony to the beauty of our faith, we plan to begin artful renovations in the coming months. A permaculture garden replete with fresh fruits and vegetables has been designed to extend and encompass over three acres on the upper campus.
We are excited about building a library at our lower campus next year to house thousands of books gifted to Zaytuna on Islam and its rich intellectual tradition. The generosity of a couple from Nevada has allowed us to launch the project this fall with architectural designs. By the grace of God, we acquired the bulk of the library of the late Dr. Shahab Ahmad of Harvard University, who had designated his collection for a worthy institute, through his executor’s decision to gift it to Zaytuna. We have also received the libraries of three others who donated to add to our collection.
We are nearing completion of a beautiful, state-ofthe-art audiovisual studio, and we are excited to offer online courses and public programs that we can film in that new studio, starting early in 2022, God willing. In the coming year, we also plan to publish new books in the Zaytuna Curriculum Series, including our first Arabic editions, which will help place our College on the academic map of the Arab world. And we continue to collaborate with the government of Pakistan as advisors for their school curriculums, including a groundbreaking program the Prime Minister has instituted that will introduce prophetic ethics to students around the country. These highlights—the reopening of our campus, the commendations from WASC, the growth of the Emir Stein Center and Renovatio, the permaculture garden, the expansion of our senior staff, the new library and audiovisual studio—and many others create, to borrow a Silicon Valley term, Zaytuna College 2.0, allowing this ambitious institution to spread its wings and soar, God willing. None of us knows what the future holds and the possible trials and tribulations it may bring, but whatever may come, we are filled with gratitude to our Lord for all that has been bestowed upon us, and we pray that we are made judicious and dutiful stewards of this sacred trust and the Muslim endowment. We ask that our exalted and generous Lord continue to bless, support, grow, and sustain our work for this community, for our Prophet— God’s peace and blessings upon him—and for Him, our beloved Creator, for the short time we have been allotted here on earth.
With gratitude,
Hamza Yusuf President, zaYtuna college
