The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) concluded its Summer Programs on Friday, August 22 with the graduation ceremony of twelve graduate and undergraduate students who spent eight weeks at IIIT headquarters in Herndon, Virginia; in an intensive program in Arabic language and Islamic Studies. The coursework included subjects such as: Quran and Sunna, Islamic Jurisprudence, Islamic History and Civilization, Comparative Religion, Faith-Based Entrepreneurship, Organization and leadership, Strategic Planning, Media Criticism, Islamic Reform Movements, and Research Methods.

A week earlier – on August 14 – the IIIT Summer Institute for Scholars concluded its one month program organized around the theme “Contemporary Approaches to Quran and Sunna”. The program attracted more than twenty senior and young scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds including philosophy, religious studies, theology, political science, law, linguistics, cultural studies, sociology and Arabic language. More than twenty presentations, lectures and panel discussions were held during the four weeks program. The rich discussions led to many new and innovative ideas and recommendations to improve the quality, the scope and the methods of the study of Quran and Sunna, particularly in Western academic institutions. Selected papers from the program will be published by IIIT later this year. In addition, IIIT will post synopses from the presentations made together with some of the profiles of the leading scholars who took part in the program.

Summer Institute for Scholars' final week focused on Hadith studies

The Scholars Summer Institute is winding down this week with continued seminar events until Thursdsay, August 14, 2008. The theme of seminars since the end of July has been Hadith studies with a number of scholars presenting papers and engaging in vigorous discussions. Some of the scholars in the part of the program have included, among others, Dr. Aisha Musa, Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub, Omer Owass, Dr. Farhan Chak, Dr. Zahid Bukhari and Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad. Some other scholars during earlier part of the program have included Dr. Heba Musharraf, Dr. Muhamad Shafiq, Dr. Anwar Haddam, and Dr. Irfan Ahmad Khan.

As before, summer interns attending their own full load of classes have also attended some of the seminars in the Scholars Summer Institute. All in all, this has been an intense learning experience for them.