America’s First Muslim College To Open This Fall: Letters of admission went out last month to the approximately 20 students who will make up the inaugural freshman class of Zaytuna College, which founders hope will become the nation’s first accredited Muslim institution of higher learning.The founders of the college, which is scheduled to open in Berkeley, Calif., this fall, say Zaytuna will be a Muslim liberal arts college in the same tradition as other sectarian liberal arts colleges that operate in this country. In its early years, Zaytuna will offer bachelor’s degrees in Islamic law and theology and Arabic, according to Dr. Hatem Bazian, a co-founder of the college and chair of its academic affairs committee. As the college grows, he says, it will add majors.
“We are trying to graduate well-rounded students who will be skilled in a liberal arts education with the ability to engage in a wider framework of society and the variety of issues that confront them,” says Bazian.
