The Faculty of the Islamic Sciences is one of the crucially important of the faculties of the University. Currently, there are 247 registered students from different nationalities (Dutch, Surinamese, Turkish, Moroccans, Egyptian, Algerian, etc) following their studies at the Faculty of the Islamic Sciences. Dutch is the main language for teaching the social sciences. Modern Standard Arabic is the main language of instruction for the Islamic Sciences. The Faculty of the Islamic Sciences advances the knowledge and understanding of the cultures and societies where Islam can either have a majority or a minority status (i.e., Asia, Africa, Europe and America), through instruction and research. Knowledge of Islam in both their historical and modern forms is delivered through well established research programs and from the perspectives of the social sciences and humanities, including such academic disciplines as law, political studies, economics, anthropology and sociology, art and archaeology, music, religious studies, linguistic, geography and development studies, to mention but a few.

The Faculty of the Islamic Sciences aims at:

• Training and retraining Imams according to the cultural specifics of the country where they are operating, in this case the Netherlands. If the imams carry out their tasks correctly and appropriately, the Muslim community will benefit from their education as religious and social guides, operating harmoniously in the Dutch society. It should be signaled that the University is developing and establishing collaborative relations with a number of religious associations and councils in the Netherlands.

• Shedding light on crucial aspects of the spiritual life of immigrant Muslim groups living outside the Islamic world, and more particularly those living in the Netherlands, taking account of their characteristics as close-knit groups.

• Developing new approaches to the Islamic education. Such approaches should be based on sound and scientific methodology, combining theoretical and practical perspectives, ensuring, thus, the platform necessary for conducting research. An eclectic approach - adapted not only from the methods used in Turkish, Egyptian, Moroccan universities but also from those used in European and Dutch universities, is opted for, reinforcing, thus, the multidisciplinary dimensions of the University. With respect to the Faculty of the Islamic Sciences, "Knowing Islam" as a major theme is designed to acquaint the students with the central historical, socio-political and religious issues of Islam and Islamic culture within and outside the Islamic world through a sustained interdisciplinary mode of analysis. Comparative perspectives are very important; and students may opt to concentrate in Islamic/Arab or Islamic/Christian and/or Islam and other religious studies, or combine the study of these religious cultures as a whole.
  
  

With reference to research within the framework of "Knowledge of Islam", the Faculty of the Islamic Sciences has an active research program. Students benefit from the University’s staff’s wide-ranging expertise within the field of the Islamic Studies, and the University’s commitment to the creation of a supportive research environment.

The corner stone of the IUR is the Faculty of the Islamic Sciences. This faculty offers programs of study leading to the degrees M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic Studies. Preparations are under way to enable the IUR to provide for the Bachelor Degree in Arts, Master Degree in Arts and Ph.D. Degree in Islamic Studies. The following outline according to the education structure WHW (Higher Education and Research Act), students who are willing to follow their study at the Faculty of the Islamic Sciences must pass an "entry" exam successfully or have to take courses at The Institute of Islam.

The Current Study Structure for FIS

This structure is changing into the following two structures outlined below in 2003-2004:

The New Study Structure for FIS

A short view of the curriculum

The core curriculum in the Faculty of the Islamic Sciences can be described as follows:

1. Islamic Sciences are;

a. Islamic Thought and Creeds

• Islamic Theology: Schools and Methods
• Basic Creeds of Islam
• Sufism: Doctrines and Practices
• Islam and Questions of Modernity
• Selected Readings in Islamic Creeds
• Primary Sources of Islamic Thought
  

b. Islamic Law and Legal Thought

• The Islamic Legal System (Introduction to Islamic Law)
• Methods of Islamic Law (Jurisprudence)
• Codification of Islamic Law
• Jurisprudence of Worship (Purity, Prayers & Fasting, Alms Giving & Hajj)
• Islamic Family Law
• Islamic Contract Law
• Islamic Criminal Law
• Human Rights and Islam
• Islamic Political System and International Relations
• Jurisprudence of Land of Peace (Dar al-Sulh) (How Muslims live in a Non-Muslim Country)
  

c. The Sciences of The Qur’an

• Methods of Qur’anic Sciences (Introduction to Sciences of The Qur’an)
• Analytic Commentary of The Qur’an
• Thematic Commentary of the Qur’an
• The Legal Verses of the Qur’an
• Translations of the Qur’an to Western Languages and Current Approaches to the Qur’an
• Qur’anic Hermeneutics and Eminent Commentators
• The Concept of Icjaz al-Qur’an
• Rhetoric in Qur’anic Exegesis
  

d. The Sciences of The Hadith

• Methodology of Hadith (Sunnah=The Tradition of the Prophet Muhammad) (An Introduction to the Sciences of Hadith)
• Principles of Approaching Hadith and Contemporary Trends about Sunnah
• Great Texts of the Hadith
  

2. History

• Rise and Expansion of Islam to 132 AH
• The Abbasid Caliphate and History of the Ayyubids and Mamluks
• Ottoman History and Institutions
• History of Modern Islamic World
• History of Morocco and Muslim Spain
• History and Civilization of Europe
• Understanding the Muslim World
• Muslim Communities in Non-Muslim States
• Islamic Civilization and the Great Empires of Islamic Civilization
• Western Perceptions of Islam in the 14th and 15th centuries
• Foundations of Western Civilization
• Nationalism and Minorities in Europe
• Contemporary European History Since 1815

3. Islamic philosophy and comparative theology

• Islamic Philosophical Traditions
• Studies of Comparative Theology
• Islam and Contemporary Western Philosophy
• Topical Studies in Comparative Theology
• Formal Logic
• Islamization of Knowledge
• History of Christianity
• History of Judaism
• Islam and the Religious-Cultural Diversity in Europe

4. Social and cultural Sciences 

• The Netherlands: Western Tradition, Citizenship and Public Ethics
• Islamic Education: Philosophy & Methods
• Philosophy of Religion
• Historical Theory and Research Methodology
• Islamic Ethics (`ilm al-akhlaq)
• Islam and the Modern World
• Gender and Islam
• Media Portrayal of Islam
• Orientalism, Misinformation and Islam
• Sociology and Islam
• History of Islam and the Philosophy of Arts
• Islamic Psychology
• History of the Netherlands, Legal System and Higher Education
• Contemporary Doctrines in Islam
• International Perspectives on Islam
• Islam and Citizenship
• Islam and Environmental Education
• Islam and Public Ethics
• Islam in the Dutch Media
• Islamic Education in Modern Europe
• Islam in the World Literature
• Editing and Studies of Islamic Manuscripts
• Medical Ethics from the Muslim perspective

5. Linguistic Studies

• Advanced Modern Standard Arabic 1
• Advanced Modern Standard Arabic 2
• Colloquial Arabic
• Writing in Arabic
• History of Arabic Literature
• Arabic Syntax (Tarkib)
• Arabic Morphology (Sarf)
• The Science of the Rhetoric (Ilm al-Balagah)
• Religious Orthodoxy and the Formation of the Arabic Linguistic Tradition
  
  

Enrollment requirements

• A VWO-diploma or a comparable diplomas/certificates; or a course in the Institute of Islam
• Proficiency in Dutch
• Valid resident permit in the EU Countries
• An admission examination

Studies

• Propodeuse (1 year)
• Doctoraal 1 (1 year)
• Doctoraal 2-1 (1 year)
• Doctoraal 2-2 (1 year)

Post-graduation possibilities

• Postgraduate studies
• AIO
• Postgraduate research
  
  

Professional prospects

• Imams in mosques
• Moral guides in hospitals, prisons, etc.
• Experts in Islam in governmental and non-governmental institutions
• Policy making advisors at ministries or municipalities
• Teachers of Islam and other religions, after a pedagogical training
• Lecturers in the mosques and/or Islamic organizations
• Muezzins and/or Imam assistants in mosques