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Ask About Islam LIVE: Female Scholarship Today

Anne Myers
01 August, 2017

Throughout the history of Islam, women have been active in the academic world. Some of our greatest teachers were women. But today, it seems like very few scholars of Islam are women.

 

Our counselor, Anne Myers, has studied Islam under Sh. Suhaib Webb and others, both formally and informally. She has personal experience with all the ins and outs of seeking higher knowledge as a Muslim woman, particularly in the West, today.

 

She worked as a chaplain in Boston before moving to the West Coast. She is currently the Director of Operations at a mosque in southern California.

 

Join us LIVE at 7pm Makkah (10am PST, 4pm GMT) on Friday, August 4th. In case you can’t make it, send your questions in advance! Use our handy question option, or send any questions you have to [email protected]

Friday, Aug. 04, 2017 | 19:00 - 21:00 GMT

Session is over.

Asalaamu alaykum. I live far from any real Muslim-populated area and I don't know how to study Islam. Like, I can't just find a sheikh near me and go learn under him. How can I study Islam, beyond the basics, in a free (or cheap) online format that will still give me all I need?



Salaam alaikum, and thank you for your question.

 

Alhamdulillah, it’s great to hear that you are enthusiastic about wanting to study more in-depth about Islam.

 

The possibilities for getting an Islamic education have widened tremendously in this modern era. Thanks to advanced transportation methods, people can travel all over the world in a matter of hours to obtain knowledge.

 

For those who are not able to travel or be physically present at learning sessions, the lessons can come to them through the Internet. This really is amazing! It is also especially beneficial for people who have historically been (and still are, unfortunately) marginalized and prevented from seeking Islamic knowledge, particularly women, disabled people, and people with limited finances.

 

A very well-known and highly respected free online resource is SeekersHub. They offer classes on a wide variety of topics, from the basics to fiqh to societal issues to madhab-specific guidance.

 

Some of the courses require registration and are only available at certain times, but there are other courses that can be downloaded immediately and taken anytime. Most of the teachers of these classes are men, but there are some women who teach as well.

 

Another free online program is the Maryam Institute. They offer an alimah program (a rigorous program that includes Arabic texts), a fundamentals program (for more basic knowledge), and a Qur’an program (a three-year course that goes over tafsir of the whole Qur’an).

 

With the exception of one class and one teacher, every class is open only to women, and all the teachers are women. Taking classes with programs like these is a way to support female scholarship.

 

Finally, even if you decide not to pursue courses with multiple online meetings, there are many other ways to gain Islamic knowledge online. Some mosques and Islamic centers offer livestreaming of their khutbahs or halaqas so that everyone can benefit from them.

 

These mosques include the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center which publishes their weekly khutbahs and livestreams halaqas on their website and on their Facebook page, the Islamic Center of Southern California, which also posts their khutbahs and halaqas on their website and Facebook page, and the Ta’leef Collective, which has a special focus on converts and new Muslims.

 

I have a degree in Islamic Studies but have not started job hunting yet. How likely is a female scholar to get a job with a degree in Islamic Studies.



Salaam alaikum, and thank you for your question.

 

I must preface this question with a disclaimer that I am not a scholar. I have briefly studied under a well-known shaykh, and I did pursue Islamic studies at a graduate level, but I am not qualified enough to call myself an expert in either traditional or secular Islamic knowledge. Therefore, I don’t have personal experience in searching for a job as an Islamic scholar.

 

It is difficult to say exactly what the likelihood is of a woman getting a job with a degree in Islamic studies because there are many factors at play.

 

First, it depends on what kind of Islamic studies you specialized in. Did you study Islam in the traditional sense, with a shaykh or shaykha, where you learned tafsir, fiqh, etc.?

 

Or did you get a degree in Islamic studies from a secular university, which follows rigorous academic procedures but may lack the devotional aspects of traditional study?

 

If you have a degree in Islamic studies from a secular university, it is likely that you would find a job within academia, perhaps teaching Islamic studies or doing research.

 

If you have a degree in traditional Islamic studies, you may become a resident ustadha/shaykha for a mosque or Islamic organization, or you could become a teacher.

 

Second, it also depends on where you are located. In countries or areas where there aren’t a lot of Muslims, job prospects may be limited. In places where there is a large Muslim population, the demand for Islamic knowledge is higher, so there may be more jobs available.

 

One field that may be of interest to you where you could utilize your knowledge is chaplaincy. Chaplains serve as religious and spiritual counselors to people in a variety of settings (e.g. hospitals, universities, prisons, the military, and many others).

 

In a position like this, you would be able to use your Islamic knowledge in a very holistic way. You may be called upon to give religious advice, lead people in worship, help people make big life decisions, or simply be there for people in times of crisis and vulnerability.

 

Rather than merely knowing about Islam, chaplaincy jobs require one to actively live out their Islam. As institutions realize how valuable chaplaincy work is, and as the Muslim population in the West grows, there is an increasing need for Muslim chaplains (especially Muslim women chaplains). It may be something worth looking into, insha’Allah.

 

I really want to study Islam in-depth but I feel nervous. There is such a need for female scholars, and I am very intelligent and academic, but I just feel like the more I study the ins-and-outs of Islam, the more it feels like a set of empty rules and regulations. How can I balance the spirit of Islam with the deep, in-depth rulings??



In the spirit of honesty, I must start off by saying that I am not a scholar in either the traditional or secular academic sense. However, I have studied briefly under a well-known shaykh, and I did get a Master’s degree in Divinity focusing on Islamic studies, so I do have some experience in the field.

 

When you first begin studying Islam in depth, you are opening yourself to a vast ocean of knowledge. The amount of information out there related to Islam is absolutely massive, and it can be tempting to dive right in and soak up as much as possible.

 

On the other hand, this plethora of information may be too overwhelming, causing one to back away from learning entirely. To prevent information overload, one must make sure they have a solid foundation in the fundamentals of Islam.

 

This doesn’t just mean the key laws or practices. It is also essential to remember the basic tenets, what everything in Islam is based around.

 

There is no god but Allah; Allah is All-Merciful, All-Powerful, and All-Knowing; Allah wants us to believe and do good works so that we may earn eternal life in Paradise; Allah desires ease for us.

 

When these are kept in mind, it makes wading through and analyzing all the technical details much easier because there is a “bigger picture” in place.

 

The “rules” of Islam are undoubtedly an important part of the religion. However, they don’t exist for no reason, or just to make things difficult; rather, they are there as an elaboration of the basic tenets and “spirit” of Islam.

 

This is illustrated in the famous “Hadith of Jibril”, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explains the difference between islam, iman, and ihsan.

 

“Islam” (with a lowercase-i), or “submission”, refers to the acceptance of and practice of the five pillars of our deen (shahadah, salat, sawm, zakat, and hajj).

 

“Iman”, or faith, refers to belief in the six articles of faith (belief in Allah, the prophets, the angels, the Day of Judgment, the revealed scriptures, and divine destiny).

 

“Ihsan” is the state of being where one can worship Allah “as if Allah was standing right in front of them”.

 

These three concepts are described in terms of levels, with islam being the lowest level and ihsan being the highest level.

 

Notice how the level involving rules and practices, islam, is considered lower than the level involving belief in these big, fairly abstract concepts, iman.

 

Ihsan goes even further, where one’s beliefs and practices are so ingrained in a person that they have devoted their whole selves, body and mind, to Allah.
It may seem a bit odd that iman is not the most basic level; after all, don’t you need to believe if you’re going to fulfill all the pillars of Islam and follow Islamic rules?

 

In reality, you don’t need to have faith/belief in anything to fulfill Islamic rules, because they are merely physical actions. Anyone can pray five times a day or fast during Ramadhan or refrain from eating pork or observe hijab or any other Islamic practice.

 

It is the faith in Allah and acceptance in Allah’s Guidance that makes these actions meaningful; it transforms the mundane into acts of worship. Rules, or the letter of the law, are meaningless without the spirit of the law to back it up.

 

Similarly, simply knowing lots of rulings as a scholar won’t do a person much good if they don’t remember why these rulings exist in the first place. Renewing one’s intentions for studying Islam and making a commitment to nurturing one’s spirit is essential when being a scholar.