Islamic studies

Lore & Background

Generations of scholars in Islamic studies, most of whom studied with Orientalist mentors, helped bridge the gap between Orientalism and Religious studies. The subfield that grew out of this effort is called 'Islamic studies.' The study of Islam is part of a tradition that started in Western academia on a professional scale about two centuries ago, and has been previously linked to social concern. This academic tradition has led to an accumulation of knowledge and has witnessed major changes in interests, questions, methods, aesthetics, and ethics of Islam. Many academic Islamic studies programs include the historical study of Islam, Islamic civilization, history of the Muslim world, historiography, Islamic law, Islamic theology, and Islamic philosophy. Specialists concentrate on the detailed, academic study of texts written in Arabic within the fields of Islamic theology, Islamic law, and the Qur'an and Hadith, along with ancillary disciplines such as Tafsir. They also apply methods from Biblical studies, classical philology, modern history, legal history, and sociology. Scholars in the field are often referred to as 'Islamicists,' and the discipline traditionally made up the bulk of what used to be called Oriental studies. The transitional generation of Islamicists were between an era dominated by Orientalism and the post-Orientalist era of post-colonial criticism and critical theory. Some traditional Western universities still confer degrees in Arabic and Islamic studies under the primary title of 'Oriental studies,' as at the University of Oxford, where classical Arabic and Islamic studies have been taught since as early as the 16th century, originally as a sub-division of divinity.

Reader's Guide

Islamic studies holds significance as the academic discipline that systematically examines Islam, its history, texts, law, theology, and culture. It emerged from 19th-century Christian European Oriental studies, with the first attempt to understand Islam as a topic of modern scholarship rather than a Christological heresy. The field has evolved through major shifts: from philological and historical approaches in the late 19th century, led by German researchers like Theodore Nöldeke and Ignaz Goldziher, to the Revisionist School of the 1970s that questioned traditional Islamic sources using the historical-critical method. A recent HEFCE report emphasizes the increasing strategic importance for Western governments since 9/11 of Islamic studies in higher education. The field has also seen a surge in gender studies research since the early 1990s, influenced by politically and religiously active women scholars with Muslim and Arab backgrounds. Islamic studies continues to be taught alongside extensive study of the Arabic language, with named undergraduate and graduate degrees at universities such as Georgetown, Exeter, Oxford, Leeds, SOAS (London), Yale, Leiden, and Tübingen. The discipline remains internally dynamic and multifaceted, reflecting the heterogeneous living tradition it studies.

Did You Know?

• Islamic studies is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies.
• The discipline traditionally made up the bulk of what used to be called Oriental studies.
• At the University of Oxford, classical Arabic and Islamic studies have been taught since as early as the 16th century, originally as a sub-division of divinity.
• A recent HEFCE report emphasises the increasing strategic importance for Western governments since 9/11 of Islamic studies in higher education.