Zaytuna College, the first Muslim college in the United States, was recently awarded accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). As described on the college’s website, Zaytuna was founded in 1996 in Hayward, California with the aim to restore Islam’s scholarly legacy and make popular traditional Islamic teaching for modern-day Muslims. Originally co-founded by Hesham Alalusi and Hamza Yusuf, Zaytuna College has since received international acclaim for successfully marrying Islamic values with American liberal arts.
While the college has been pursuing accreditation since 2008, it was finally awarded the status on March 8. Current co-founders of the Berkeley campus, Zaid Shakir, Hatem Bazian and Hamza Yusuf have turned apologists for moderate Islam that hopes to strike a middle ground between ancient, spiritual ideas and modern aspects of Western culture, while preventing Muslims from turning to extremism. According to all three, Islam is a continually evolving subject that is open to diversity and interpretations that have been honed by centuries of scholars.
As reported earlier, Yusuf has gone to great lengths to advocate the acceptance of Muslims by hosting a reality show in the mid 2000s that saw him transporting Muslims across America and introducing them to various American organizations.
Bazian, who is also a professor at UC Berkeley, praised WASC, saying, “At a time of such extreme negative news cycle focusing on Muslims, the initial accreditation vote is a most positive development for a community that has been battered for more than a decade.”
Congratulations to Zaytuna College on its accreditation. It combines traditional Western liberal arts study with classical Islamic learning.
— Robert P. George (@McCormickProf) March 12, 2015
Yusuf hopes that the accreditation with further help Americans to accept Muslims and their ideas.
“[Accreditation] gives [the Muslim] community its first accredited academic address in the United States. And we hope, God willing, that there will be more such Muslim colleges and universities to come,” he said.
In keeping with the college’s aspirations to breaking various myths related to Islam, Zaytuna has declared a rather transparent admission procedure, which says that the college cannot discriminate among students based on race, age, religion, sex or ethnicity.
Looking towards the college’s future, Bazian added, “An accredited institution makes it possible to open many doors and creates local, regional, national and international academic relations. In a short period of time, Zaytuna College will be be ready to welcome students from across the globe and provide the much needed context to understanding Muslim circumstances in the West, as well as provide diverse opportunities to engage in conversations with faith and civil society partners that are dedicated to seeing and bringing forth a different world.”
As of March 2015, the college has as many as 30 students and it offers them a B.A. in Islamic Law and Theology as well as some other courses including astronomy, politics and American history.
Photo Credits: Intifaada's Blog
