President's Report 2020 by Zaytuna College

Where There Is Knowledge, There Is Hope

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The greatest, truest, and only permanent good bestowed upon humanity is that of sound knowledge. From such knowledge, all other goods flow, even faith. And this is why, at Zaytuna College, we have adorned our seal with the Qur’anic prayer, Wa qul Rabbī zidnī ‘ilman (And say, “O Lord, increase me in knowledge”) (20:114). 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” (47:19). It is knowledge alone—and most importantly, knowledge of God—that differentiates us from beasts, making us unique among God’s glorious creation. President Hamza Yusuf

I n the Na m e of G od , the Be nef icent, the Mercif ul

Where There Is Knowledge, There Is Hope

Presiden tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Report 2 0 20 N co n te n ts Letter from the President 2 Education during a Pandemic 6 The College and the Commonweal 22 Investing in Our Collective Future 38

Letter from the President P Dea r F ri en d s an d S u pport e r s : Assalamu alaikum. This has been a trying year for all of us, whether we live in Berkeley, Beirut, or Beijing. Covid-19 brought the world to a standstill, and no one was left untouched by the effects of this new virus.

which first accredited Zaytuna College for five years in 2015, that our accreditation has been reaffirmed for another eight years. Accreditation paves the way for our graduates to be accepted in top schools, and it affirms our institutional integrity and viability to our generous supporters.

Zaytuna College was no exception. We faced a particular challenge because we offer an immersive learning experience where students live and study on campus and confer regularly with our faculty. Moving to an online format radically altered that learning experience for them. By the grace of God, and with excellent support from staff and faculty, we were able to make the transition as seamless as possible.

I want to highlight our MA program in Islamic texts, which we launched in 2018, and what sets it apart from most others: it enables our students to grapple with the difficult and timeless canonical texts of Islam—in the original language—and to do so with teachers trained within the oral tradition of transmission that still defines our scholastic approach to learning. This learning experience would be hard to match in any Western university because they approach the Islamic intellectual tradition as outsiders, which handicaps their ability to penetrate the more abstruse elements within it, let alone teach it to students. Zaytuna teachers are trained in the Western academy as well as in the traditional Islamic ijāzah system, giving our students the advantage of these two approaches to our intellectual heritage.

For all of us at Zaytuna, like everyone else the world over, the trials of the pandemic were unexpected, but so were the many gifts that came with them. Our enrollment did not drop at all; in fact, we had the largest-ever group of incoming students this Fall. Meanwhile, our 2020 graduates—including our first-ever MA program graduates—continue to distinguish themselves in further studies in law, medicine, theology, Islamic studies, philosophy, history, and psychology. They were accepted into notable institutions, including Harvard, Georgetown, the University of Chicago, the University of Texas, the Claremont Colleges, the University of Illinois, and others.

In the coming years, with your help, we plan to expand our MA program to include a concentration in education (including teacher certification), as well as in Islamic finance. In addition, we will also work to develop continuing education programs for medical doctors and lawyers in areas such as bioethics and inheritance and bequest laws.

One Zaytuna graduate, now at a top-tier law school, told me that our undergraduate program, with its emphasis on both Islamic and Western law, was more challenging than his law school studies, giving him a real advantage over other students. We feel increasingly confident that our BA and MA programs provide a rigorous educational experience that primes our students to succeed in any area of study they choose to pursue.

We have used the campus shutdown this year as an opportune time to make renovations, especially in the male dormitories in the lower campus. At our upper campus, work continues on our permaculture garden, a project of Zaytuna’s Center for Ethical Living and Learning, which teaches sustainable approaches to agriculture, and was generously endowed by the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America. In addition,

We were also delighted to hear in February from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, 2

our Center has a thriving fruit-and-vegetable orchard on the upper campus—funded by the family of the late Adil A. Barakat in his honor— that will continue to provide, God willing, organic vegetables and fruits for faculty, staff, and students. We also have a keen desire to develop a beautification program that we hope will make our campuses testimonies to the beauty of our faith for visitors from near and from far.

questions through engagement with the great texts and ideas of the world’s religions. This year, we received a generous grant to help expand the digital presence of Renovatio with more podcasts and video series. The Emir-Stein Center, meanwhile, provides excellent short educational videos—which promote empathy and understanding through religious literacy—that have garnered almost ten million views. Testimonies from all over the world speak to the effectiveness of these powerful videos. One person from India, who watched the video on shariah, wrote: “As a Muslim living in a Hindumajority country, even I thought the Sharia law was inhumane. This really opened my eyes.” Another wrote, “I’m an atheist, and I approve this content.”

“Islam, at its essence, is a faith that fosters individual growth—spiritual, intellectual, and moral—and a strong commitment to family, community, and the environment that sustains them.” This year, we crafted a robust online presence for our patrons and the broader community, as evidenced by our month-long series of events during Rabī¢ al-Awwal centered on the Prophet Muĥammad’s enduring legacy as a source of guidance for Muslims. We plan to continue investing in online education, and we are grateful for a generous gift by the family of Medhat Toufic Saleh that will help us build a state-of-the-art audiovisual studio on campus. Our own studio will enable us to offer exciting online courses, beginning with Logic and Constitutional Law, and expanding later with classes in Islamic studies, God willing.

By the grace of God, Zaytuna had many successes in 2020 amidst the trials of a pandemic, and we are filled with gratitude for the steadfastness of our supporters who remain, with their prayers and their financial gifts, the enablers of our efforts to build a world-class institution. Islam, at its essence, is a faith that fosters individual growth—spiritual, intellectual, and moral—and a strong commitment to family, community, and the environment that sustains them. We at Zaytuna College, with divine providence and then with your help, are committed to providing the tools and programs toward those lofty ends.

The most ambitious intellectual work we have planned may be our Curriculum Series—the publication of texts, commentaries, and new works from both the Islamic and Western traditions that reflect the full richness of our heritage, and which we hope will remain perpetual charity and knowledge for those who come after us. In 2020, we published An Introduction to Islamic Theology, a translation of and commentary on a classical Māturīdī text, which explains the central tenets of Islamic creed and provides a rare rendering in the English language of the enduring kalam commentary tradition.

On behalf of the wonderful staff, faculty, and students of Zaytuna College, I sincerely thank you for all you are doing to make a dream a reality. Fraternally yours, Hamza Yusuf P r e si d e nt

Our journal, Renovatio, is releasing its seventh issue this month, on the theme of “Suffering as Surrender,” and is succeeding as a welcome forum for scholars, theologians, and writers to examine contemporary ethical challenges and timeless 3

Voices from the College

Dr. Aisha Subhani Member, Board of Trustees “Zaytuna College, like all higher education institutions, faced the daunting challenge last Spring of closing our campuses and moving to online education and operations. I was profoundly impressed by the faithful resolve and hard work of the staff, faculty, and students, to seamlessly move to online work and study. Despite the challenges, classroom learning continued, online events were successful, and our long-standing supporters as well as new donors helped surpass our expectations given the ongoing financial uncertainties. In Zaytuna, I see the miracle of God’s providential care, and I’m grateful to be a part of this young yet remarkable institution.”

Larry Smith Accounting manager “As a relative newcomer to the Zaytuna team and as a Christian, I am truly impressed by its educational success, the shared sense of mission of the leadership and the staff, and by the commitment of its supporters. These are definitely challenging and uncertain times, financially speaking, but Zaytuna supporters made our 2019 December appeal and our 2020 Ramadan campaign the most successful in the College’s history. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to them for their prayers and gifts.”

Voices from the College

Scott Doolin BA ’18; MA ’20; PhD student at University of Chicago Divinity School “I believe the Muslim intellectual community needs to be firmly and fully engaged with the academic world. We need to be producing. We need to be writing. We need to be doing research. We need to be framing the discussion. We need to be articulating the questions from inside the tradition in a way that allows us to converse with those within academia. And so, entering a PhD program is an incredibly important endeavor for those of us who enjoy this struggle that is academic research, academic production, and academic engagement.”

Jannah Sellars Class of 2021 “My Zaytuna studies helped me in my life primarily to take a second to stop and think before I speak or I act. If there is one thing that I can take away with me when I graduate, inshallah, it is to continue that practice of just thinking, contemplating, reflecting, and having that kind of inner conversation before expressing it outwardly…. In rhetoric class we had to give speeches; in logic class we learned how to break down syllogisms; in hadith class we learned how to differentiate between different types of reports. I think all of those things really helped me figure out what it means to speak and what it means to offer an opinion and just to really make sure that it’s sound and that we are speaking for some benefit.”

Education during a Pandemic

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DR. OMAR QURESHI, PROVOST, TEACHING A COURSE ON METAPHYSICS

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Bridging the Distance: Education in a Virtual Classroom Like all educational institutions negotiating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zaytuna College, following the guidance of local public health authorities, closed its campuses as a precautionary measure midway through the Spring semester.

educational platform would accommodate the dynamic interaction that characterizes Zaytuna’s typical classroom experience. “I was expecting it to be a more difficult transition than it actually was,” said Phillbert Cheng, who teaches courses on formal logic and philosophy at Zaytuna. What he missed the most, he said, was witnessing the reactions of his students in their fullness. “When you’re teaching in a normal classroom scenario in person, you can see when the light bulbs go off for the students through their facial expressions and their body language,” he said.

In a letter published in March announcing the transition to online learning, President Hamza Yusuf shared his thoughts on how best to respond to the new uncertainties ushered in by the pandemic: “Prayer abides as our greatest weapon against fear, panic, and despair,” he wrote. “If anything troubled or alarmed the Prophet s, he hastened to prayer. So let us see the opportunity and the blessing in the tribulation.” He also reminded the Zaytuna community of God’s injunction in the Qur’an to rely on Him and to “recognize that these trials and tribulations emanate from our Lord for our benefit, whether known or unknown.”

Classes continued online for the remainder of the Spring semester, and the MA thesis presentations for that program’s first-ever graduating class also took place online. In lieu of a formal commencement, a virtual ceremony on May 17 captured the sentiment of bidding farewell to the Class of 2020.

Even as students and faculty returned to their homes in cities and towns across the nation and overseas, Zaytuna’s administration began preparing for the new reality, relying on the talent and skills of the College’s audiovisual and technology teams, who collaborated to ensure that the virtual

His Excellency Adama Dieng, Esq., a renowned Senegalese jurist and the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide at the United Nations, honored Zaytuna’s graduates with the keynote address and highlighted what he saw as the significance of Zaytuna College, saying: “It is very

“It is very critical for the Muslim community, and for the community at large, to have such colleges preserve a normative Islamic identity that is integrated within the fabric of the North American identity.” HIS EXCELLENCY ADAMA DIENG, ESQ.

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OMAR AHMED IN A CLASS WITH FACULTY MEMBER DR. ABDULLAH ALI ON-SCREEN

critical for the Muslim community, and for the community at large, to have such colleges preserve a normative Islamic identity that is integrated within the fabric of the North American identity.”

“The students’ enthusiasm and creativity have contributed to making learning at Zaytuna College true to its vision despite the challenges.”

Graduating senior Alisha Ahmed, a native of Sacramento, California, represented her class at the ceremony, concluding her talk with a heartfelt reflection on her departure from Zaytuna. “To be honest,” she said, “graduating from this blessed institution and leaving behind all the sacred moments I’ve had with the faculty and the entire Zaytuna community has been really difficult for me. But I’ve been telling myself that I’m blessed to have had these beautiful moments and to have gained these relationships that make saying goodbye this hard for me.”

Provost Omar Qureshi through the Ājurrūmiyyah and selections from authentic classical texts before capping off their summer of study with an online certificate ceremony. In his keynote remarks for the ceremony, President Yusuf emphasized the centrality of language throughout Islamic civilizations, with a particular focus on the arts of grammar and diction as foundational to disciplines such as law, ethics, and theology. He said Muslims were historically multilingual peoples with common access to sophisticated poetry and whose languages had an essential relationship to Arabic, which served as a lingua franca uniting believers across time and space. “Arabic is an extraordinary civilizational language that is worth a lifelong study,” he told the students. “The truths that will emerge

Zaytuna’s annual Summer Arabic Intensive was also held online, with program director Ustadh Yusuf Mullick teaching an eager cohort of rising sophomores across the global village from California to Ireland and New York to India. For eight intense weeks, the students dedicated themselves to studying morphology and grammar 10

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GRADUATING SENIOR ALISHA AHMED (RIGHT) WITH A CLASSMATE, MARYAM AWWAL, ON ZAYTUNA’S UPPER CAMPUS BEFORE THE PANDEMIC

metaphysically from Arabic words are quite extraordinary.”

and straightforward. Students have demonstrated remarkable resilience in managing different time zones, technological challenges, and screen fatigue. The students’ enthusiasm and creativity have contributed to making learning at Zaytuna College true to its vision despite the challenges.”

In late August, Zaytuna commenced its Fall semester online, after further refining the virtual education experience during the summer. The challenge of providing students library access for research was swiftly resolved by leveraging the College’s relationship with the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. The GTU graciously provided all Zaytuna students and faculty with full access to their robust library and online resources. Ultimately, however, the quality of Zaytuna’s education depends on the relationship between students and their teachers; while the pandemic created unavoidable distance, the mutual love for knowledge often bridged it. “As a senior, it is humbling to see my Zaytuna education culminate through the amazing tutelage of my teachers,” said Sulhat Alam, a senior. Dr. Omar Qureshi, provost of Zaytuna College, added that while online learning is not ideal, “the transition has been, by God’s grace, mostly smooth 11

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Welcoming Our Largest Incoming Class

Zaytuna College welcomed its largest-ever group of incoming students with twenty-eight young men and women joining either the BA or the MA program this Fall.

faculty member Shaykh Faraz Khan, highlighting the essential distinctiveness of a Zaytuna education. To address the challenge of finding the best and brightest students for next year, the College’s admissions staff has embraced new online platforms for recruitment, which include a weekly webinar that allows students and their families to learn more about Zaytuna and speak with an admissions officer. The College also launched new social media pages dedicated exclusively to potential applicants and has partnered with Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA), a subsidiary of the Islamic Society of North America, to tap into their pool of promising students.

The new students arrived with impressive accomplishments, such as standardized test-score results in the 99th percentile, the memorization of the Qur’an, advanced training in Arabic, and experience leading Muslim youth in their local communities. They also came from diverse backgrounds—the American first-year students hail from nine states, and the international students are from Kenya, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Despite these differences, in their applications and interviews they all demonstrated their passion for Zaytuna’s educational vision of helping revive the symbiosis between reason and revelation in the Islamic tradition.

The College’s admissions team remains optimistic that Zaytuna’s growing reputation and the success of its graduates will persuade an increasing number of Muslim students with the highest academic qualifications to choose Zaytuna over more established options for their educational futures.

“A Zaytuna education provides the knowledge and tools of learning that are foundational for cultivating virtue, both intellectual and moral, as an expression of the remembrance of God,” said 12

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“A Story of Institution Building” As Sumaira Akhtar, Senior Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning at Zaytuna College, sees it, the Islamic tradition’s emphasis on personal responsibility provides an essential foundation for ensuring that the entire College community enthusiastically participates in the ongoing project to maintain its accreditation. “As believers who take ourselves to account before being taken to account, we welcome the scrutiny of our institution,” Akhtar said. “Our staff and faculty make it a regular practice to renew their intentions and act in accordance with those intentions as they strive to do work that is pleasing to God.”

“Accreditation affords us credibility among our peers in higher education, and we hope it signals to our supporters a sense of the integrity and viability of Zaytuna College,” said Akhtar, who also serves as Zaytuna’s liaison to WASC. “Zaytuna’s history is a story of institution building,” she continued. “During the last decade, we laid the foundation, and now, by the grace of God, we strive to calibrate, to grow, and to beautify. If you’ve ever offered us a prayer or donated your time or your finances, inshallah this is your legacy, all the good in it.”

Zaytuna’s emphasis on self-accountability paid dividends in February when the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) reaffirmed the College’s accreditation for a period of eight more years. Since first receiving accreditation in 2015, Zaytuna has continued to participate in peer reviews to sustain its status. Institutions receive six, eight, or ten years of reaffirmation, with the longest period usually awarded to long-established institutions such as Stanford University or UC Berkeley. Accreditation helps pave the way for Zaytuna graduates to be accepted into established colleges and universities, such as the University of Chicago, the University of Dallas, Georgetown University, and Harvard University—all schools that have accepted Zaytuna’s graduates for further study.

A WASC OFFICIAL READS THE LETTER OF ACCREDITATION TO ZAYTUNA COFOUNDERS IN MARCH 2015.

“Zaytuna’s history is a story of institution building. During the last decade, we laid the foundation, and now, by the grace of God, we strive to calibrate, to grow, and to beautify.” SUMAIRA AKHTAR, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AND PLANNING

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First MA Graduates Meet Success after Zaytuna

DR. JAWAD QURESHI: “MANY OF OUR STUDENTS FEEL EQUIPPED TO ENTER THE FIELD OF LAW BECAUSE OF THEIR EXTENSIVE STUDY OF FIQH AND USŪL.”

In May, Zaytuna College’s new MA program successfully graduated its first group of students. Despite the program’s infancy, these graduates have already begun to fulfill the hope the College placed in the initiative as they embark on their varied paths, enrolling in top-tier professional and PhD programs, teaching, and pursuing private study.

in the Muslim world and going into professional schools as well,” said Dr. Jawad Qureshi, the program’s administrative director, who also noted that, even with its Islamic studies focus, the program can equip students for law school because of the opportunity it provides to study Islamic positive law and legal theory. The graduating students transitioned to an online classroom during their final semester, which in turn necessitated an online thesis defense. Students presented their findings on rich topics that included Imam al-Rāzī’s contributions to the literature on the proof of prophecy; Imam al-Ghazālī on reason and revelation; Islamic ethics and abolition; the legal roots of Islamic finance; and the transcendental philosophy of Ibn Sīnā.

Nirav Bhardwaj, a graduate from the Islamic law concentration, is now pursuing his JD ( Juris Doctor) at the UC Davis School of Law. Two graduates from the Islamic theology and philosophy concentration are pursuing doctorates: Muaz Inaam was admitted to Georgetown University’s PhD program in Arabic and Islamic Studies, while Scott Doolin is pursuing his doctorate in Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Yousef Seyal, also from the law concentration, is teaching Islamic studies at Granada Islamic School in Santa Clara, California, and Rozana Rahman is continuing her studies privately while working on translations of Arabic texts.

Dr. Qureshi also highlighted primary texts as the core of the curriculum. “Our master’s students study texts that are foundational to the Islamic tradition,” he said. “Our courses are structured primarily as reading and discussion. Students are expected to come to class having prepared the passages that will be covered in the session, so the discussion will be lively and in-depth.”

“We would like to see our students continuing Islamic studies in the top Western universities or 14

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MA GRADUATE ROZANA RAHMAN IS NOW STUDYING PRIVATELY AND TRANSLATING ARABIC TEXTS.

theory, and Arabic rhetoric; and Dr. Fadi Elhin, who holds a PhD from the University of Jordan and teaches in the Islamic law track.

“What Zaytuna takes from the tradition is a very heavy emphasis on texts, but not just excerpts—entire texts are studied from beginning to end.”

Due to the program’s intentionally small cohort size, the faculty can make bonds with students that extend beyond the classroom. “The connections I made through my teachers [at Zaytuna] was so beneficial,” said Doolin, now at the Chicago Divinity School. “One of them graduated from the same program I was accepted into. My teacher consistently reached out and talked to professors there. The care and concern they showed in helping me, in assisting me to get this acceptance, was immense.”

Muaz Inaam, pursuing a PhD at Georgetown University Muaz Inaam, the graduate now at Georgetown, believes the text-centered focus of Zaytuna’s MA program helped prepare him for the rigors of doctoral study. “What Zaytuna takes from the tradition is a very heavy emphasis on texts,” he said. “But not just excerpts—entire texts are studied from beginning to end. The idea is that if you can complete an intermediate-to-advancedlevel text with a teacher who has really mastered it, you can just about read any other text within the discipline with ease.” Another key attraction of the MA program is the intellectual diversity of its core faculty, which, in addition to Dr. Qureshi, includes Shaykh Mahsuk Yamac, a well-regarded Kurdish scholar who specializes in Islamic philosophy and serves as the program’s director of studies; Shaykh Talal Ahdab, an esteemed Lebanese-Canadian scholar who teaches courses in advanced kalam theology, legal

MA GRADUATE YOUSEF SEYAL TEACHES ISLAMIC STUDIES.

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The Zaytuna Canon Lecture Series: Universal Truths and Great Books Al-Mustaśfā min ¢ilm al-uśūl (On legal theory of Muslim jurisprudence), Imam al-Ghazālī’s foundational masterpiece on Islamic legal theory, occupies a privileged position in the study of Islamic jurisprudence. As Ibn Khaldūn observed, the Mustaśfā became one of the four major texts that all subsequent uśūl al-fiqh works would revolve around. Since its publication more than nine hundred years ago, it has been the subject of scholarly commentaries, footnotes, and many brief and extended summaries. In his presentation for the Zaytuna Canon Lecture Series, Shaykh Talal Ahdab, a member of the MA faculty, placed the Mustaśfā in the context of Islamic legal thought, focusing especially on its underlying structure and method before turning to what gives the book its continuing relevance. He described how Imam al-Ghazālī compared the legal researcher to a farmer who requires raw materials, such as land and seed (for example, evidence or legal principles), to cultivate (to assess and organize) and, eventually, to produce fruit, which represents legal judgments or conclusions. Imam al-Ghazālī, Shaykh Talal pointed out, was a master of employing such examples to help readers understand complex ideas.

“[A great book] speaks to every time because of the universal truths embedded in the particular circumstance out of which it arose.” P resident Hamza Yusuf The Canon Lecture Series, launched late in 2019 and presented by the College’s faculty, focuses on the primary texts, including great commentary works, which shape the intellectual history of the Islamic and Western traditions. The lectures address why these texts have enjoyed the status conferred on them by the scholarly tradition— and why they have earned a place in the Zaytuna curriculum. 16

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SHAYKH TALAL AHDAB’S TALK CENTERED ON IMAM AL-GHAZĀLĪ’S TEXT ON LEGAL THEORY.

synthesizes in ¢Umdat al-sālik (The reliance of the traveler). • Father Francisco Nahoe gave a talk on Oedipus Tyrannus, considered a masterpiece of Greek tragedy, which was part of a trilogy by Sophocles dealing with the story of Oedipus. His talk addressed its history and the salient issues of fate and free will exposited therein. • Shaykh Faraz Khan delivered a talk on Imam al-Laqqānī’s influential treatise on Ash¢arī theology, Jawharat al-tawĥīd (The precious pearl of divine unity), which encapsulates the basic creed of Islam and the distinctive doctrines of Sunni orthodoxy. • Dr. Fadi Elhin addressed Imam al-Qudūrī’s Summa, the Hanafi school of law’s major legal treatise, and discussed where his conclusions disagreed with the customs of his era as well as where they departed from the legal maxims of the Hanafi school.

In his inaugural lecture for the Canon Series, President Hamza Yusuf described the hallmarks of a great work and the benefits of reading these great works today. A great book, President Yusuf said, “speaks to every time because of the universal truths embedded in the particular circumstance out of which it arose. One of the greatest benefits to reading the great works of the past is an acquired immunity against the follies of the present.” A sampling of the lectures presented by Zaytuna’s faculty are as follows: • Dr. Abdullah Ali addressed the Muwaţţa’ of Imam Mālik b. Anas, a work of fiqh and a compilation of prophetic traditions, which became the most impressive legacy of the legal school of Medina, the first Muslim city-state. • Imam Zaid Shakir’s topic examined the origin, development, and features of the Shafi‘i school, culminating with the work of Imams al-Rāfi¢ī and al-Nawawī , which Imam Aĥmad b. Naqīb al-Miśrī

DR. FADI ELHIN SPOKE ON A MAJOR HANAFI LAW TREATISE.

FR. FRANCISCO NAHOE GAVE A TALK ON OEDIPUS TYRANNUS.

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“A More Advanced Student Teaching Less Advanced Students” Phillbert Cheng is both a teacher and a student. He teaches philosophy and logic at Zaytuna, while pursuing a doctoral degree at the neighboring Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT). As a student, he constantly acquires knowledge, and as a teacher, he eagerly passes it on to his own students. “In some ways,” he said, “I think of myself as not so much a professor looking down on the students and teaching them, but rather as a more advanced student teaching less advanced students.”

Finally, students arrive at Josef Pieper, a twentiethcentury Catholic philosopher who looks back to the ancient and medieval philosophical traditions for answers to modern crises. While his class serves as an introduction to Western philosophy, he knows that disciplines of knowledge are intrinsically interconnected, so he designs his courses to complement other Zaytuna courses. For example, because his students also take natural theology, he includes a treatment on proofs of the existence of God as formulated by Aquinas and Aristotle for the purpose of comparison with the Islamic tradition. “Medieval Latin theology was only able to develop in the way it did because of the influence of the great Arab philosophers,” said Cheng. “So I’m here as a side entrance to the Arab philosophers by way of the Western tradition.”

The first in his family to pursue doctoral studies, he accidentally discovered Thomism, the philosophical school that arose out of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, as an undergraduate exploring philosophy at Saint Mary’s College of California. And as an MA student at DSPT, he met Zaytuna’s future dean of faculty, Dr. Mark Delp, who became his thesis director and an intellectual mentor.

About teaching at Zaytuna, he said, “It’s refreshing to be at a college that is so unabashed about its religiosity” and that pairs religion so naturally with rigorous academic pursuit. “One thing that was pleasantly surprising to me is the great deal of propriety with which Zaytuna students comport themselves. I’d never seen students act that way before, so respectful and full of deference and so attentive in class.”

His philosophy class at Zaytuna—once taught by Dr. Delp—spans three major epochs: Greek Antiquity, the Latin Middle Ages, and the Modern and Contemporary period. Students read primary texts by authors who epitomize these great philosophical movements, beginning with Plato and Aristotle, and move on to Aquinas, Ockham, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, and others.

“Medieval Latin theology was only able to develop in the way it did because of the influence of the great Arab philosophers. So I’m here as a side entrance to the Arab philosophers by way of the Western tradition.” Phillbert Cheng, Lecturer

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Welcoming New Faculty Members

SHAYKH TALAL AHDAB

Zaytuna College welcomed Shaykh Talal Ahdab and Ustadh Yusuf Mullick as two new full-time faculty members in 2019. rhetoric, as well as seminars in classical literature and yearly summer intensives. He also serves as an editor and researcher for Renovatio and dedicates time to independently edit academic monographs and Arabic manuscripts in Islamic studies. Ustadh Yusuf graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2010 with a BA in pure mathematics and has also completed graduate coursework in classical Arabic linguistics and literature.

Shaykh Talal Ahdab Shaykh Talal teaches courses in Islamic Legal Theory and Advanced Kalam Theology for the MA program as well as Islamic Law for the BA program. He brings to Zaytuna College extensive training in various Islamic sciences, including Islamic law, legal theory, legal maxims, hadith nomenclature, advanced kalam theology, logic, and dialectics, and more. Some of the scholars from whom he has earned licenses to teach are Dr. Nizam Yaqubi, Dr. Akram Abd al-Wahhab al-Mawsili, and Shaykh Muhammad â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Alawi al-Maliki. Prior to arriving at Zaytuna, Shaykh Talal served as the CEO of Razi Education, which served to provide educational solutions to the GCC market. Ustadh Yusuf Mullick Ustadh Yusuf Mullick joined the Zaytuna faculty as a full-time lecturer in Arabic. Ustadh Yusuf previously held a faculty position at Zaytuna from 2010 to 2013 and at the University of San Francisco, teaching courses in linguistics and

USTADH YUSUF MULLICK

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Creating a Virtual Community of Learning In normal times, students experience a vibrant community atmosphere as they travel through the curriculum with their respective cohorts, attend public events on campus, and even explore the San Francisco Bay Area. This Fall, instead of meeting new friends and catching up with old ones, the dispersed student body joined an online orientation that required thirteen sessions scheduled to accommodate multiple time zones, from Pacific Standard Time to Malaysian Standard Time.

unprecedented times, faculty and staff alike worked diligently and attentively to make the Zaytuna experience of every student enriching, transformational, and spiritually uplifting.” Heba el-Haddad, Zaytuna’s student pyschoemotional counselor, helped students adjust to learning in a virtual community without the benefit of relationships that emerge from a campus environment. “In our limited understanding, one may perceive these changes as untimely and as a type of potential hindrance to your academic success and growth at Zaytuna,” she wrote to students in a message about the transition, “yet what is often disguised as a hindrance can be a gift that brings forth much benefit when you patiently see it through.” Zaytuna faculty member Dr. Ali Ataie emphasized the centrality of the Prophet Abraham e to the Islamic tradition and the need to affirm it at a time when atheism and agnosticism are rampant in college campuses. “There’s a pandemic of apostasy,” he said. “We need to advocate a return to Abraham e. That is what Islam essentially is: it is an Abrahamic, theo-ethical, Judeo-Christianreform movement at its essence. It is a reformation of Jewish legalism and Christian theology and a restoration of the true way of the great patriarch.” In the Fall, the College unveiled the Gather & Reflect series to foster spiritual continuity in the absence of Friday prayer. Faculty, staff, and guest speakers delivered short talks on spiritual topics and engaged in candid discussions with students online. Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans, scholarin-residence at the Alim Program, focused on developing a love for the Prophet Muĥammad s, however long it takes. “In your own good time, you have to come into that love, but when you do, it will illuminate your understanding and it will vivify you,” he said. “So where I am now, looking at our community, looking at our nation, I know that we are sorely in need of cultivating that love because it is through the example of the Prophet s that we learn how to live both righteously and fully.”

“Faculty and staff alike worked diligently and attentively to make the Zaytuna experience of every student enriching, transformational, and spiritually uplifting.” Imam Dawood Yasin, Director of Student Life Still, they found a community awaiting them online. “We entered the Fall semester preparing for the ‘arrival’ of our students,” said Imam Dawood Yasin, Director of Student Life. “Despite these 20

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“There’s a pandemic of apostasy. We need to advocate a return to Abraham e. That is what Islam essentially is: it is an Abrahamic, theo-ethical, Judeo-Christian-reform movement at its essence.” D r. Ali Ataie

Students organized online events that included talks by Father Francisco Nahoe, on the extraordinary meeting between Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade; by Dr. Youssef Ismail, on the significance of the changing seasons; and by Imam Dawood Yasin, on the importance of connecting with the natural world. One popular event involved a cooking lesson with Arabic language instructor Ustadha Nawal Laymoun. In addition, students organized monthly khatams of Qur’an that included specific prayers for Zaytuna community members who have lost loved ones. The Zaytuna student publication, Olea Press, released its Fall 2020 issue, entitled “And He Taught Man Speech,” which reflected on language and its relationship to human beings. “From the language of the earth to the revealed tongue, we are always being spoken to—even though we may not be listening,” wrote editor-in-chief Maryam Awwal in her introduction. “Language shapes our identities, our worldviews, the sociopolitical climate around us, and the ways we learn. And we will surely be asked about it on that Day.”

“Language shapes our identities, our worldviews, the sociopolitical climate around us, and the ways we learn. And we will surely be asked about it on that Day.” Maryam Awwal 21

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A New Introduction to Islamic Theology

SHAYKH FARAZ KHAN TEACHES NATURAL THEOLOGY USING HIS NEW BOOK.

“Kalam (Islamic theology), like all the great sciences and teachings of Islam, needs renewal and development, especially in light of the immense strides our species has made in the physical sciences—sciences that Muslim theologians were always engaged in during the great periods of Muslim intellectual flourishing.”

The newest publication from the Zaytuna Curriculum Series, An Introduction to Islamic Theology: Imam Nūr al-Dīn al-Śābūnī’s Al-Bidāyah fī uśūl al-dīn, explains the central tenets of Islamic creed and provides a rare rendering into the English language of the enduring relevance of the kalam commentary tradition. A foundational text from the Māturīdī school of theology, Imam Nūr al-Dīn al-Śābūnī’s Al-Bidāyah fī uśūl al-dīn has been meticulously translated and annotated by Shaykh Faraz Khan of the Zaytuna faculty. His comprehensive annotations to the text bring to life classical theological discussions for the modern reader, and he provides a valuable introduction as well as an appendix on the kalam cosmological argument, arguably the Islamic tradition’s most important proof for the existence of God.

President Hamza Yusuf sciences and teachings of Islam, needs renewal and development, especially in light of the immense strides our species has made in the physical sciences—sciences that Muslim theologians were always engaged in during the great periods of Muslim intellectual flourishing.” The College expects the book, which is already being used by Zaytuna students in the classroom, to generate substantial interest from scholars and educational institutions across the nation and abroad because of its appropriateness as a tool for

In an illuminating foreword, President Hamza Yusuf emphasizes the importance of this particular text: “Kalam (Islamic theology), like all the great 25

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teaching Islamic theology to English speakers. We also pray that this text serves as a means for the Muslim community in the West to reacquaint itself with the incredible sophistication of the Islamic theological tradition and to ultimately build a modern discourse in conversation with that tradition.

to publish texts, commentaries, and new works from the Islamic tradition, as well as from other traditions, that reflect the full richness of our heritage. Upcoming releases in English from the Series include The Helping Guide, a translation of a teaching text from the Maliki school of law, and The Precious Pearl of Divine Unity, a didactic poem on Ash¢arī theology. An Arabic publication on the language’s prepositions, or “glue words,” is slated to be published in early 2021.

Board of trustees member Dr. Aisha Subhani describes the Curriculum Series as being “at the heart” of the College’s mission. The Series aims

COMI N G SO O N

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Emir-Stein Center Videos Viewed by Millions issues that dispel common misconceptions about Islam and Muslims, while simultaneously building bridges with other faith communities. That first video—by Dr. Garry Wills and entitled What Is the Qur’an?—has garnered over 1.7 million views just on YouTube, and a second video, by Pastor Bob Roberts Jr. on evangelical Christians and Muslims, has also surpassed one million views. The Center itself has 127,000 subscribers to its YouTube channel, and its videos have had more than seven million views worldwide.

While researching a book about an adventurous Viking woman of the Middle Ages, the author Nancy Marie Brown was astonished to learn that the leading mathematician and scientist of the year 1000 was Pope Sylvester II, who reigned from 999 to 1003. That discovery prompted another book by Brown, this one on the story of the “scientist pope,” whose achievements, she found, were inextricably linked to his exposure to Muslim civilization. In fact, he learned science living on the border of Islamic Spain, a world in which Arabic was the language of science and where the caliph’s library in Cordoba housed some forty thousand books.

Other videos published this year include The Miracle of Kindness by journalist Chris Hedges, Why Don’t Muslims Condemn Terrorism? by Catholic theologian and peace advocate William F. Vendley, and Noah in the Bible and the Qur’an by MacArthur Fellow Jack Miles.

Brown relates her journey of learning about the scientist pope and his connection to Islam in one of the newest videos for the Emir-Stein Center (Emir-Stein.org), and she concludes that the story of Pope Sylvester II made her “realize that the conflicts in our world today between Christianity and Islam, between religion and science, are not inevitable and inescapable.”

The Center is slated to release several more videos aimed to promote a better understanding of Islam in the coming months. “I’m so grateful for the Emir-Stein Center,” said Pastor Roberts. “They are filling a gap that is critical. We are living in a time of division as a result of cultural ignorance and religious misrepresentation. To be able to hear from scholars and respected leaders in a format that’s easy to digest is critical.”

Since launching its first video in March 2019, the Emir-Stein Center has published seventeen videos featuring notable scholars, writers, and religious leaders. The video series addresses key 27

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SHAYKH ABDAL HAKIM MURAD

DR. EVA BRANN

DR. MOHAMMED FADEL

DR. SARAH BARNETTE

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Renovatio Poised for Digital Growth In Renovatio’s latest issue, the noted British Muslim scholar Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, dean of Cambridge Muslim College, contributes to the publication for the first time, reflecting on the implications of Muslim migration to Western lands. “Those who ‘migrate for dunyā,’ for worldly gain, as the hadith puts it, are likely to be miserably assimilated and crushed,” he writes, “while those whose intention is noble, who are willing to see and understand and heal, can serve a redemptive purpose.” In its seventh print edition, releasing this month, Renovatio continues to welcome scholars, theologians, and writers—whether established and renowned or gifted but lesser-known—to examine contemporary ethical challenges and timeless questions through engagement with the great texts and ideas of the world’s religions. The issue, on the theme “Suffering as Surrender,” centers on the idea of suffering as submission to the reality of God. It presents the work of several returning writers, including Dr. Sarah Barnette, a scholar of Victorian literature who writes on the spiritual potential of keeping a notebook; Zaytuna’s emeritus professor Dr. Mark Delp, who meditates on the roots of moral action; and the liberal artist Dr. Eva Brann, who distinguishes between the characters that populate myths and those in novels.

a leading expert on Islamic law; Dr. William Chittick, the noted author and translator of Islamic spiritual texts; and Dr. Rosabel Ansari, a scholar of Islamic philosophy and metaphysics. In addition, Rabbi Reuven Kimelman, a scholar who specialized in the history of Judaism, contemplates God’s apparent silence about identifying which group of believers possesses the “whole truth”; the answer, he argues, is no group does because God alone “exercises a monopoly on truth.”

“Those who ‘migrate for dunyā,’ for worldly gain, as the hadith puts it, are likely to be miserably assimilated and crushed, while those whose intention is noble, who are willing to see and understand and heal, can serve a redemptive purpose.”

Renovatio was also a beneficiary this year of a generous grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to support the journal’s digital expansion. In the coming weeks and months, the publication plans to publish more writing on its website, produce a podcast conversation series, and work on a major video series in which Zaytuna President Hamza Yusuf, who also serves as Renovatio’s editor-in-chief, will exchange ideas with religious leaders and scholars of differing faiths and perspectives on addressing today’s moral challenges.

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad “The Silence of God” served as the theme of an earlier issue of Renovatio this year and reflected on how we continue to “hear” God even after the close of revelation. It featured the work of a number of first-time contributors, including the British philosopher Dr. Shabbir Akhtar; Dr. Mohammed Fadel of the University of Toronto, 29

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A Zaytuna-Inspired Education in Your Local Community Early in the year, before the pandemic halted most air travel, Zaytuna brought its faculty and other scholars to vibrant Muslim communities nationwide to address topics related to religion and modern-day challenges. The programs, part of the Zaytuna In Your Community (ZIYC) initiative, were hosted in collaboration with local communities in Minnesota, Florida, Illinois, New York, and California.

ZIYC also organized programs with presenters from outside Zaytuna, including Dr. Celene Ibrahim and Dr. Asad Tarsin. Dr. Ibrahim, a scholar and the author of Women and Gender in the Qur’an (Oxford 2020), spoke at Zaytuna’s campus in Berkeley, addressing archetypes of women in the Qur’an. She urged her audience to pursue knowledge as a way of leading a faith-centered life, saying: “One of the beauties of being a Muslim who does research in Islamic studies is that you can use the research as a spiritual quest.”

Shaykh Faraz Khan visited New York and Southern California for well-received seminars on proofs for the existence of God. He integrated material from his recently released Zaytuna Curriculum Series book, An Introduction to Islamic Theology, into his presentations, providing the attendees a grounding in Islamic theology derived from what he also teaches in the classroom. Dr. Youssef Ismail visited two California cities— San Francisco and Rancho Cucamonga—to share his approach of synthesizing religion and science and discussed the signs of God and what the history of numbers reveals about reality. Attendees remarked how accessible Dr. Ismail made complex topics.

DR. CELENE IBRAHIM

Dr. Tarsin, an emergency-room physician who authored Being Muslim (Sandala 2015), a popular introduction to Islamic faith and practice, taught a multisession course based on his book of the same title. Held in San Francisco, the course was designed for young professionals seeking to deepen their individual practice and knowledge of their religion. One of the attendees remarked, “It was an invaluable experience for me and others, and it definitely filled a hole that unfortunately often exists in our education on Islam. It was a refresher about the basics but in a very real, applicable, contextualized way.”

DR. YOUSSEF ISMAIL

Dr. Abdullah Ali visited Minnesota and Imam Dawood went to Central California, where each addressed ideas and trends in contemporary politics and philosophy, highlighting tools from the Islamic tradition that could be employed to respond to current challenges.

We plan to continue to offer ZIYC programs into the new year with a robust online component— which was unveiled during a virtual Rabī¢ al-Awwal series on the life of the Prophet s—that will allow the program’s benefits to reach an even broader audience, God willing. 30

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A Bookstore That Connects Human Hearts

pilgrims on their sacred journeys. And during Rabī¢ al-Awwal, the bookstore curated a beautiful selection of books and artwork on the theme of commemorating the life and legacy of the Prophet s, creating the ideal online destination for the audience that watched one of the virtual events in the For the Love of the Prophet s series.

The Zaytuna College Bookstore successfully pivoted to exclusively offering online shopping as a response to the campus closure caused by the pandemic. The bookstore had previously relied on drawing shoppers during large Zaytuna events at the college’s lower campus on Le Conte Ave. in Berkeley. While online shopping was always available, the store managers negotiated the circumstances by paring down the website to a partial selection of items that staffers working remotely could efficiently process and ship.

In addition to selling books curated by its faculty and special gifts, “there is also the human connection” the bookstore fosters, notes Khadija Annette O’Connell, the store’s creative director. “We see up-close that folks are looking for guidance, wanting, and hoping to become their better selves.”

The bookstore often aligns itself with the campaigns of the College and with major Islamic milestones throughout the year—and this year was no different. During the blessed month of Ramadan, the bookstore offered select gifts appropriate for Eid celebrations. During the Hajj and Umrah season, visitors found books to guide

The entire college community eagerly anticipates the day when the bookstore’s normal activities, including connecting humans to each other, can resume.

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The Audacity of a Garden “We’re on the same latitude as the ancient ruins of the Umayyad palace, Madina al-Zahra, in Spain,” said Imam Dawood Yasin, director of the Center for Ethical Living and Learning. Indeed, Zaytuna’s campus shares the latitude of the former Muslim capitol commissioned in the tenth century under the caliphate of ¢ Abd al-Raĥmān III, the first Umayyad Caliph of Cordoba. Imam Dawood sees this as more than a mere coincidence.

fruit are farthest along. Fences were added this year to protect the raised beds from deer that live in the nearby woods. Within about a year, after learning what seems to grow best, and what most agrees with the tastes of Zaytuna’s students, the garden and those who care for it seem to have found a harmonious kinship. “The intention behind creating the permaculture garden is to produce ţayyib food for the students,” explained Imam Dawood. While Zaytuna’s irenic campus serves as a place conducive to serious study, the permaculture garden also provides fuel for the students’ bodies. Student volunteers learn to cultivate the garden, preparing the raised beds and supporting the compost system that takes food waste and returns it to the soil.

When two places on the globe share a latitude, they tend to also share similar climates. That means that the vegetation that thrived in the old Muslim city may also be easily produced on this new Muslim campus. This reality inspires a goal of Zaytuna College’s beautification project: to recreate the glory of Muslim Spain’s gardens and architecture as a way to reveal to visitors the majesty and grandeur of Islamic tradition in form.

Imam Dawood has already witnessed how working in the garden expands a student’s sense of his or her own capabilities, and he hopes that as they cultivate the garden, they also reflect on how to fulfill their human potential.

While Zaytuna’s permaculture garden is still relatively new, its orchard already has thirty fruitbearing trees; among them the plums and passion

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President’s Events Focus on Education and the Role of Faith Communities President Hamza Yusuf has always traveled across the United States and abroad representing Zaytuna College and addressing matters of education and religion. In 2020, despite the pandemic, he accepted invitations from various universities and organizations to give major talks or to serve on panels with religious and academic leaders.

PRESIDENT HAMZA YUSUF SPEAKING ON MAURITANIAN NOMADIC SCHOOLS AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

“It’s not the knowledge that is of so much importance; it’s actually the transformative power of the knowledge. You don’t study to earn a living: you study to learn how to live.”

August 20–23, 2019 Lindau, Germany: World Assembly of Religions for Peace President Yusuf joined hundreds of prominent religious leaders at the World Assembly of Religions for Peace, the largest international interfaith organization in the world. Delegates from different countries and faith traditions gathered to unveil a historic declaration, pledging mutual support in promoting peace and the common good through shared values and virtues. During the main assembly meeting, President Yusuf addressed the delegates in support of the declaration, stating, “We can differ about our concept of the divine and our understanding, but what we share is our understanding of the virtue of goodness and of beauty.”

President Hamza Yusuf January 13, 2020 Northwestern University, Illinois: Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa President Yusuf was invited by Dr. Zekeria Ahmed Salem, director of the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa at Northwestern University, to speak about the nomadic school systems (maĥżarah) in Mauritania. In an engaging talk entitled “College Caravans: The Mauritanian Scholastic Tradition,” President Yusuf explained the history of the Saharan educational system as well as his own experience as a maĥżarah student. “The product of the maĥżarah tradition is a human being,” he said. “It’s not the knowledge that is of so much importance; it’s actually the transformative 33

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power of the knowledge. You don’t study to earn a living: you study to learn how to live.” With over 350 attendees, including academics, students, and community members, the lecture was well received and prompted positive discussions and feedback.

April 19, 2020 Virtual Event: Concordia Forum At this year’s virtual Concordia Forum, President Yusuf joined Wajahat Ali in a public conversation on navigating the challenges of the coronavirus. Ali asked how the Muslim community can make the best of the current crisis, especially given the tremendous strain placed on families and community organizations. In response, President Yusuf provided clear examples from the Qur’anic narrative demonstrating that trials and tribulations are part and parcel of our worldly life and that turning back to God through sincere repentance, patience, and gratitude remains as the timeless antidote to the extraordinary challenges we face. With Ramadan around the corner, he said, Muslims can make their homes as mosques and use their time there for serious introspection, prayer, and charity.

April 1, 2020 Virtual Event: Baylor in Washington’s Robert P. George Initiative on Faith, Ethics, and Public Policy President Yusuf joined prominent faith leaders Dr. Robert George of Princeton University; Dr. Cornel West, a philosopher, author, and activist; and Dr. Daniel Mark of Villanova University in a virtual event hosted by Baylor University and the Trinity Forum on the topic of how faith communities can navigate the new realities that have arisen in the Covid-19 pandemic. The speakers, moderated by Cherie Harder of the Trinity Forum, addressed how religious communities can support their congregants as well as members of the broader society through service, charity, and spiritual support during this challenging period. President Yusuf emphasized that the Islamic tradition reminds believers to remain steadfast and patient during tribulations and to recount their blessings as a means to grow closer to the divine.

May 4, 2020 Virtual Event: University of Tunis Dr. Hammouda Salhi, director of the Master’s Program in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Tunis, invited President Yusuf to an online event on the topic “Interpreting the Discourse of Islam to Non-Arabs.” President Yusuf spoke to an audience of academics and graduate students on this important science, its nuances, and the contribution that Zaytuna 34

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College is making by publishing English translations, with introductions and annotations, as part of its Curriculum Series.

pandemic; President Yusuf focused on the need for religious communities to balance religious practice and social responsibility.

June 17, 2020 Virtual Event: Acton University

October 3, 2020 Virtual Event: Yale University

President Yusuf participated in Acton University’s online conference, joining other faith leaders— Rev. Robert A. Sirico, Acton Institute president, and Daniel Mark, former chairman of the US International Commission on Religious Freedom—in an engaging panel discussion on the topic “Religion and Liberty.” President Heather Templeton Dill of the John Templeton Foundation led the discussion, in which panelists spoke on the importance of religious liberty from the perspective of their own faith traditions. Significant contemporary issues were addressed, such as religious freedom in light of the Covid

The Choose Life student group at Yale University held its Eighth Annual Vita et Veritas conference as a virtual event this year, inviting President Yusuf to present the Islamic perspective on abortion. Hundreds of students, activists, faith leaders, and influencers joined the conference. President Yusuf presented his recent paper on abortion in the Muslim legal tradition, published in Renovatio, the journal of Zaytuna College, and answered audience questions. He emphasized the Qur’anic injunction on the sanctity of life and that all phases of life, including the potentiality of life, must be protected and honored.

Religion and Liberty Panel Acton University

HEATHER TEMPLETON DILL PRESIDENT, JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION

REV. ROBERT A. SIRICO PRESIDENT & COFOUNDER, ACTON INSTITUTE

DANIEL MARK, PhD FORMER CHAIRMAN, US COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

HAMZA YUSUF, PhD PRESIDENT, ZAYTUNA COLLEGE

in memoriam

Sir Roger Scruton (1944–2020)

I first met Sir Roger Scruton some years ago, at a conference on the pernicious effects of pornography. Sir Roger approached me, introduced himself, and said, “It’s very important that Muslims come to these events, as the Muslim voice of reason is too seldom heard.” It was the beginning of a wonderful relationship that led to Sir Roger penning powerful essays for Zaytuna College’s journal, Renovatio, and to many conversations, both public and private. After each encounter, I felt edified and enriched. Religious freedom and secular law became keen interests of his. In an essay for Renovatio published last year, Sir Roger was critical of “Islamism” but praised Islam, saying that the Western notion of citizenship, even though it confined religion to the private sphere, was worth defending—“but only if we recognize the truth of which Islam reminds us: citizenship is not enough, and it will endure only if it is associated with meanings to which the rising generation can attach its hopes and its search for identity.” He had studied Arabic so he could read the Qur’an. He appreciated the legacy of the intellectual giants of the Islamic tradition, including Avicenna, Ghazālī, and Averroes, and knew well the history of Muslim civilization’s significant contributions to the West in science, philosophy, and literature. Always in his talks and books, he embodied the Arabic term adīb, a word he knew well: “a learned gentleman.” As he came to know Zaytuna College and its mission of teaching the canons of two traditions—the Islamic and the Western—he said something that touched me: “Zaytuna is one of the points of hope in the world in which we live now.” In keeping with the Islamic tradition, I offer a Qur’anic verse for my departed friend: “We belong to God alone, and to God we return.” –President Hamza Yusuf An extended version of this tribute was published in First Things on January 20, 2020.

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in memoriam

Adil A. Barakat (1931–2020)

Adil A. Barakat’s five children dedicated the fruit orchard on Zaytuna’s upper campus with a gift in their father’s name. The Zaytuna community was blessed to host Mr. Barakat and his family in 2019 for the dedication ceremony. This reflection on his life and legacy is written by his grandson, Jamal Barakat, who serves as senior director of development at Zaytuna College. Even as a child I could see that my grandfather Adil A. Barakat, the patriarch of my large family, stood taller than most men. Anyone who met him quickly learned that he was a go-getter who did so with a smile. Ultimately, what explains his grand stature best is that he met extraordinary moments with extraordinary outputs. After all, this was a man who learned English as a child selling oranges to British soldiers in Palestine, a man who brought his wife and five children to a foreign country, with a foreign culture, and by the grace of God, and his own persistence, he came out on top. He sponsored Cesar Chavez’s labor movement so farmers could afford to go on strike. He founded the first Arab American writer’s guild and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to scholarships, humanitarian causes, and institutions both in the United States and in Palestine. “The best among you are those who benefit others” was his mantra—and he lived, and died, by that practice. My grandfather epitomized the American dream that eludes many who migrate to this country. If he were asked how he made it, he would no doubt credit God almighty; it was his God consciousness that surely secured the blessings on him and his family. Adil Barakat—in English, justice and blessings—embodied those concepts throughout his life. Prophet Muĥammad s says, “When a child of Adam dies, only three things remain to benefit him or her: perpetual charity, beneficial knowledge, or a righteous child who prays for the deceased.” Thanks to God, I am at peace knowing that on all three fronts my grandfather’s legacy lives, and I am honored to be of his lineage. May God bless him with the highest levels of heaven and grant him peace and ease in his grave until the blessed Day of Rising.

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Investing in Our Collective Future

The Generosity That Drives the College Amid the uncertainty and the challenges of this year, the prayers and the philanthropy of our supporters has made 2020, by the grace of God, one of the most successful years for financial support in Zaytuna’s history. Their support inspires us to stay the course and, as President Hamza Yusuf says, to “continue to reclaim the tools of learning that free minds and hearts from the shackles of uncertainty, spiritual malaise, and crushing nihilism.” Our students, who arrive from a variety of backgrounds, share a love for learning the tradition, restoring the balance of reason and revelation, and contributing positively to the commonweal. Zaytuna’s supporters help to ensure that all who want to participate in the acquisition, preservation, and development of this intellectual tradition—and are capable of handling the rigor—have access to its knowledge.

Looking Back to Look Ahead We started the year energized by the success of our 2019 year-end campaign on the theme of “Looking Back to Look Ahead,” a tribute to the College’s incredible first decade of growth and all the people who were instrumental in that journey, including those supporters who stood by us through the years. As President Yusuf expressed late last year,

“Through it all, the commitment and perseverance of our pioneering students, our broadly trained faculty, and our dedicated staff—along with you, our steadfast supporters—to plant Muslim scholarship and education in the West have been unwavering.”

“Through it all, the commitment and perseverance of our pioneering students, our broadly trained faculty, and our dedicated staff—along with you, our steadfast supporters—to planting Muslim scholarship and education in the West have been unwavering.” President Hamza Yusuf

PRESIDENT HAMZA YUSUF SPEAKING AT THE LAST IN-PERSON ZAYTUNA EVENT ON MARCH 8 IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

Investing in Our Collective Future

From Love to Hate: Why Knowledge Is the Cure validate his anti-Islam views. But a thoughtful and compassionate response from Shaykh Abdal Hakim persuaded van Klaveren to further his study of Islam and led him to connect with President Yusuf and Zaytuna cofounder Imam Zaid Shakir. The more he learned about Islam, the more it resonated with him. “I learned that many of my ideas stated by orientalists, far-right politicians, and even Islamic extremists had little or no basis in historical Islam. My research often presented me with context and interpretations that were very different from those I had propagated for years. One by one my objections vanished.” Later he added: “I know now that Islam is a religion of both heart and mind.”

In early March, Zaytuna held its last in-person event before the campus shut down and all classes moved online, with administrators and staff continuing work from their homes. The annual benefit dinner, held in the San Francisco Bay Area, was successful, thanks to God. The packed ballroom of supporters heard from Ameena McElroy, a graduating senior, and two recent graduates—Reema Lateef (’16), now practicing law in New York, and Nida Ahmed (’19), now studying medicine at Southwestern Medicine Center at University of Texas, Dallas. McElroy spoke of her experience at Zaytuna and how the community of learning supported her study of the great books of both the Islamic and the Western traditions. “There is something very special about studying with people who are God-fearing,” she said.

President Yusuf closed the evening with his talk focusing on the importance of literacy and its relationship to revelation. “What makes us human is language, and literacy is the way that we preserve the insights and the brilliance of the past peoples so we can benefit from them—but it is also how revelation is preserved. The Qur’an is a qur’ān (recitation), but it is also a kitāb (written book). And it is one of the most extraordinary aspects of Islam that it maintains orality as central to the teaching tradition.”

The special guest speaker for the evening, Joram van Klaveren, formerly a Dutch politician who once sought to ban Islam from his country only to later convert to Islam, spoke about how knowledge was his cure. While conducting research for an anti-Islam book, he emailed Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad of Cambridge Muslim College in the United Kingdom with questions, hoping to

“I learned that many of my ideas stated by orientalists, far-right politicians, and even Islamic extremists had little or no basis in historical Islam. My research often presented me with context and interpretations that were very different from those I had propagated for years. One by one my objections vanished. I know now that Islam is a religion of both heart and mind.” Joram van Klaveren 41

Investing in Our Collective Future

The 2020 Ramadan Campaign Each year during Ramadan, Zaytuna scholars address the Muslim community across the United States and abroad in hopes of educating and edifying them regarding the Qur’an and the significance of the blessed month. In 2020, six members of the Zaytuna faculty wrote essays addressing the themes of mercy, forgiveness, and emancipation for a new publication the College introduced, The Ramadan Reader. Dr. Abdullah Ali wrote about mercy: “With the proper attitude, the fast of Ramadan and its accompanying hunger pangs, bodily fatigue, weariness, and agitation serve as mercies for the human body and spirit. The fast purifies us in more ways than one and redeems us in the sight of God.” To supplement the written material, President Yusuf conducted an online series of seven live sessions titled “Gateway to God’s Book: Reflecting on the Deep Structure of the Qur’an,” which explored the landmark work on Qur’anic exegesis by the great scholar and martyr Ibn Juzayy alKalbī al-Andalusī. President Yusuf examined Ibn Juzayy’s overarching and deep structural analyses of the Qur’an’s core messages, as well as the secrets of repetition and the remarkable nuances within the archetypal stories the Qur’an uses to illustrate the human condition.

The Muslim community, with families confined to their homes due to the pandemic lockdowns, responded with love and support for Zaytuna College and its scholars. About four thousand individuals made gifts during the blessed month— the best showing of support in Zaytuna’s history, which is remarkable given the campaign occurred during the early days of the pandemic. It is through the annual Ramadan campaigns that the College receives the majority of its zakat contributions.

A Legacy Gift: “An Investment in Sharing Knowledge” By the grace of God, during the month of Ramadan, the family of Medhat Toufic Saleh made a generous gift to Zaytuna College to provide seed money for building a state-of-the-art audiovisual studio on campus. The College began gathering the technology and resources to develop highquality and consistent video content in a dedicated space in the Bin Bayyah Hall on the upper campus. Haroon Sellars, Zaytuna’s audiovisual manager, says the new studio will enable the College to produce prerecorded and live multipart

courses, green screen recordings, interviews, and conversations in a controlled environment: “This generous donor gift will be an investment in sharing the knowledge being taught and preserved at Zaytuna College and a continuous charity in this life and the next, by God’s grace.” Zaytuna extends its heartfelt gratitude to the Saleh family for beginning the Medhat Toufic Saleh Memorial Fund, which will be, God willing, an immense source of blessings for him and his family in this life and the next. 43

Investing in Our Collective Future

A SPECIAL SELECTION OF BOOKS ABOUT THE PROPHET’S LIFE OFFERED BY ZAYTUNA’S BOOKSTORE

Reconsidering the Prophet s: Christian Possibilities

PRESIDENT HAMZA YUSUF AND DR. ANNA BONTA MORELAND IN CONVERSATION DURING ZAYTUNA’S RABĪʿ AL-AWWAL SERIES

Investing in Our Collective Future

For the Love of the Prophet s In mid-October, Zaytuna launched its first-ever month-long Rabī¢ al-Awwal program, centered on Prophet Muĥammad’s enduring legacy as a source of guidance for Muslims across generations and geographies. This major event series featured several Zaytuna faculty as well as other scholars in conversation with one another. Zaytuna was honored to host an online conversation with Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia of Chicago and President Yusuf, moderated by Imam Zaid Shakir, titled “In Mecca: Guiding a Community under Duress,” in which they discussed the Prophet’s leadership in Mecca.

Another virtual event featured Dr. Juan Cole, a historian at the University of Michigan, discussing elements of his book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires, with President Yusuf. Later in the month, Dr. Anna Moreland of Villanova University, author of Muhammad Reconsidered: A Christian Perspective on Islamic Prophecy, joined President Yusuf in conversation about new ground for Muslim-Catholic cooperation in scholarship on the Prophet’s life. Dr. Moreland said her work “uses very traditional Catholic sources to build a theoretical openness for the possibility that Muĥammad could be a prophet for Christians.”

A second program during that month featured Zaytuna faculty members Dr. Ali Ataie and Shaykh Faraz Khan in a conversation with Imam Dawood Yasin on the topic “In Medina: Building a Just Society,” in which they discussed lessons on justice and community derived from a period of prophetic political leadership.

During this month of the birth of the Prophet Muĥammad s, Zaytuna also held a special benefit event for the college, “Manning the Lighthouse in Turbulent Times,” with special guests including President Thomas Hibbs of the University of Dallas and messages of support from His Excellency, Prime Minister Imran Khan and renowned singer-songwriter and philanthropist Dr. Yusuf Cat Stevens (see pages 46–47).

The Zaytuna College bookstore complemented the programs with a special selection of books for sale that focus on the Prophet’s life.

PRESIDENT HAMZA YUSUF IN AN ONLINE DISCUSSION WITH PRESIDENT THOMAS HIBBS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS

Investing in Our Collective Future

His Excellency, Prime Minister Imran Khan â&#x20AC;&#x153;I believe that it is imperative that Muslims support knowledge centers. And I believe Zaytuna College is developing into that knowledge center which will impart knowledge to Muslims. Muslims need to be equipped to deal with the twenty-first century, and that can only happen if we lay emphasis on knowledge and research on Islamic subjects.â&#x20AC;?

His Excellency Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and President Hamza Yusuf of Zaytuna discuss online the possibility of a collaboration between Zaytuna College and Al-Qadir University, the soon-to-be-opened liberal arts college in Pakistan.

Investing in Our Collective Future

Dr. Yusuf Cat Stevens

Philanthropist and singer-songwriter “If you look at schools today, a lot of them are just dealing with the basic function of survival… but that veers away, very sharply from the original lesson that began our human life—beginning with Adam e. In that primal classroom, the lesson began with the name of the Creator. There is no education for a Muslim without the Creator, and to make sure that is integrated into the curriculum is a struggle that we have to meet…. I know how difficult it can be for colleges like Zaytuna to continue to deliver the high excellence and standards that they aim for without support…. I really hope you’ll be able to support and continue to support Zaytuna College and all those who are working for that glorious knowledge that we are inheritors of and which so many people are dying for.”

Dr. Thomas Hibbs Dr. Thomas Hibbs, president of the University of Dallas, spoke at the Zaytuna College virtual benefit event “Manning the Lighthouse in Turbulent Times” on October 25, 2020. “Zaytuna College and others like it provide truly holistic formation. Almost every college and university today claims to be forming the whole person.... What forming the whole person means [to them] is a little bit of this, a little bit of that, with no real unity or depth. At Zaytuna, students receive the skills they need to go to law school, medical school, or enter the professions, but they do so through pursuing substantive questions about the purpose and meaning of human life.”

Investing in Our Collective Future

Financial Review Even before the constraints to fundraising activities caused by the pandemic, Zaytuna College had been charting a course to tighten and stabilize its annual budget. Hence, despite increased enrollment, Zaytunaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating budget remains stable, as we improved our operational efficiency and increased fiscal oversight. In addition, the College has attracted even more supporters to its mission, doubling its new donor recruitment from 1,009 in 2018 to 2,097 in 2020.

Zaytunaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s online transition, which decreased onsite expenses. While the long-term effect of the pandemic on the College remains hard to predict, we modified our fundraising and donor recruitment strategies due to the initial economic strain. The Office of Development, anticipating a reduction of larger gifts, developed campaign strategies to enhance new donor recruitment. A strong online presence featuring live lectures and courses, as well as the newly developed zakat calculator, enhanced the Ramadan campaign in 2020. The College continues to sharpen its focus on developing online strategies, such as hosting virtual fundraisers and creating virtual educational content for its supporters.

As with other colleges across the nation, the pandemic precipitated an urgent revision of the budget and reassessment of college-wide expenditures, given the looming economic uncertainty and market instability. An expected increase in the annual budget was offset by

6,675 5,550

5,217

2,097 1,009

937

2018

2019

2020

2018

New donors

2019

2020

Total number of donors 48

Investing in Our Collective Future

Net Operating Expenses by Department Admin/Finance Marketing Advancement Academics Publications Auxiliaries Total Operating Budget

Auxiliaries 766,215 9% Publications 234,412 3% Academics 3,548,014 40%

FY18 $1,453,945 $846,408 $1,980,677 $3,548,014 $234,412 $766,215 $8,829,672

FY19 $2,533,867 $417,506 $1,395,921 $2,996,314 $321,538 $889,939 $8,555,085

FY20 $2,552,223 $345,410 $1,170,156 $3,097,617 $349,831 $899,761 $8,414,998

FY21 $2,721,079 $415,150 $1,285,684 $2,942,844 $350,552 $1,025,269 $8,740,579

Admin/Finance 1,453,945 16%

FY18 8,829,672

Marketing 846408 10%

Auxiliaries 1,025,269 12%

Advancement 1,980,677 22%

Publications 350,552 4% Academics 2,942,844 34%

Admin/Finance 2,721,079 31%

FY21 8,740,579

Marketing 415,150 5% Advancement 1,285,684 15%

Note Increases to Administration and Finance budgets are mainly due to reclassification of expenditures previously under Advancement or Academics.

A Strong Balance Sheet Zaytuna Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial picture, by the grace of God, shows a healthy balance between assets and liabilities. The College has $33,436,257 in total assets, including $25,197,896 in land and buildings, $5,515,180 in cash and equivalents, and $2,723,181 in endowed funds. The Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total liabilities, on the other hand, are only $3,872,628, of which $2,686,917 is long-term debt. (All figures are as of October 31, 2020.) 49

A College in a Garden

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Cicero (Roman philosopher and statesman) The great seats of Islamic learning were built around enclosed courtyard gardens with water fountains and pools. Zaytuna College’s vision for beautifying its campus, represented in spirit through the renderings on this page, includes careful landscaping—purposeful planting,

trees, and water features—to unify the campus buildings, echoing an Andalusian garden, adorned with hidden courtyards. We hope to transform our campus, God willing, into a college in a garden, an exemplar of the beauty of our faith and a destination for visitors from near and from far.

Directory Board of Trustees

Faculty

Faraz Ahmed, MBA (Chair, Finance Committee)

Assistant Professors

Dilshad Dhanani

Abdullah Ali, PhD, MIt

Marianne Farina, PhD, CSC (Chair, Education Committee)

Ali Ataie, PhD

Masood Khan, Esq. (Chair, Membership Committee)

Cindy Ausec, PhD (Director of Academic Support Center)

Suhail Obaji, MD

Hatem Bazian, PhD

Pervez Qureshi, MBA (Chairman)

Fadi Elhin, PhD, MIt (Director of Arabic Program)

Mubasher Rana, MD

Youssef Ismail, PhD, MIt

Syed Mubeen Saifullah, MBA (Secretary)

Francisco Nahoe, PhD, OFMConv

Zaid Shakir, MA, MIt (Observer) Aisha Subhani, DO

Jawad Qureshi, PhD, MIt (Director of Graduate Studies and Administration)

President’s Cabinet (Shūrā)

Lecturers

Hamza Yusuf, PhD, MIt1 (President)

Talal Ahdab, MASc, MIt

Omar Qureshi, PhD, MIt (Provost, Assistant Professor)

Faraz Khan, BA, MIt (Coordinator of the Honors Program)

Sumaira Akhtar (Senior Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning)

Nawal Laymoun, MAEd

Safir Ahmed (Director of Publications and Communications, Editor of Renovatio)

Tahir Anwar, BA, MIt

Yusuf Mullick, BA Amar Bellaha, MIt

Jamal Mohammad Barakat (Senior Director of Development)

Phillbert Cheng, PhD(c) Uzma Fatima Husaini, MA, PhD(c), MIt

Jacobus Botha (Manager of Facilities and Security)

Mahsuk Yamac, BA, MIt (Director of Teaching and Learning)

Faisal Hamid (Director of Admissions and Marketing) Ghaith Saggaf (Director of Advancement)

Adjunct Faculty

Larry Smith (Accounting Manager)

Lawrence Jannuzzi, Esq., PhD

Dawood Yasin, MA, MIt (Director of Student Life, Director of the Center for Ethical Living and Learning)

1 The Mujāz Ijāzat tadrīs (MIt) is a traditional teaching license in Islamic sciences that is equivalent to an MA or PhD in modern academia. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) recognizes its equivalency to Western academic degrees for Zaytuna College, and thus allows the holders of this license to teach at the College. Dr. George Makdisi, in his landmark work, The Rise of Colleges, argued that the ijāzah was a type of academic degree or doctorate issued in medieval madrasahs, similar to that which later appeared in European medieval universities. Devin J. Stewart also sees a parallel and asserts that “the license to teach law and issue legal opinions was clearly an actual document of official or legal standing,” while also noting a difference in the granting authority (individual professor for the ijāzah and a corporate entity in the case of the university). The theory of an Islamic origin of the degree was originally proposed in the 1930s by Alfred Guillaume, who cited the ijāzah as a precursor to the licentia docendi, which Syed Farid al-Attas agrees with.

Staff

Najeeb Hasan (Managing Editor)

Khwaja Ahmed (Admissions and Financial Aid Officer)

Uzma Fatima Husaini (Senior Editor)

Safir Ahmed (Director of Publications and Communications, Editor of Renovatio)

Naima Jameson (Director of Administrative Services)

Sumaira Akhtar (Senior Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning)

Faatimah Knight (Writer/Social Media Manager)

Jerry Jiminez (Maintenance Worker) Ibraheem Naqeeb (Residential Life Coordinator)

Manal Alfaouri (Donor Relations Associate)

Ismael Nass-Duce (Director of Emir-Stein Center)

Nehayah Alnajar (Administrative Assistant to the Provost)

Carol Nisar (Digital Marketing Manager)

Javier Alvarez (Facilities Maintenance Supervisor)

Pepy Prawira (Human Resource Manager)

Luis Alvarez (Maintenance/On-Site Events)

Ghaith Saggaf (Director of Advancement)

Maria Alvarez Moran (Custodian)

Aaron Haroon Sellars (Audio Visual Manager)

Khadija Annette Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell (Bookstore/Interior Design Manager)

Syed Tahir Shah (Campus Safety and Security Officer)

Jamal Mohammad Barakat (Senior Director of Development)

Aadhil Shiraz (Associate Accountant)

Jennifer Sherrill (Registrar) Akram Sirafi (Development Programs Manager)

Naâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;im Beyah (Audio Visual Specialist)

Larry Smith (Accounting Manager)

Jacobus Botha (Manager of Facilities and Security) Souad Bouali (Data Analyst)

Dawood Yasin (Director of Student Life and Director of the Center for Ethical Living and Learning)

Seema Duhan (Community Programs Manager)

Fida Yassine (Accounting Assistant)

Heba El-Haddad (Student Counselor)

Irshad Zakaria (Operations Specialist)

Faisal Hamid (Director of Admissions and Marketing) Iman Hamze (Special Events Manager)

God is the One who illuminates the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp: the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a glittering star lit from [the oil of ] a blessed olive tree—neither of the east nor of the west—whose oil would almost glow, even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. God guides to His light whom He wills. And God draws such comparisons for people; God has full knowledge of everything. (Qur’an 24:35)

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