Zaytuna's inaugural fifteen students (six men and nine women) will attend convocation and their first day of classes on ۲۴ August at their rented premises at Berkeley’s American Baptist Seminary of the West at Dwight Way and Hillegass.
The liberal arts college offers a four-year bachelor's degree with two majors: Islamic law and theology and Arabic language, and is open to students of any religion.
It was founded by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, one of America's most highly respected Muslim scholars; Dr Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer in Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley; and Islamic scholar Iman Zaid Shakir, who was born in Berkeley. The college presently has a total of five faculty members.
"We have looked forward to this day for many years, and are very pleased to welcome the first class of incoming freshman to Zaytuna," said Hamza Yusuf.
“We have long desired to establish an institution that recognizes the importance of shaping Islamic scholars and teachers that fully understand American culture.
Zaytuna College is the first institution of higher learning to address that need." Incoming students have expressed their excitement over being part of an important moment in Muslim American history.
Haroon Imtiaz, Zaytuna College freshman says, “I am very excited about coming to Zaytuna college. I am an American, and I want to fuse what I will learn here about traditional Islam with my American upbringing.”
Mission Zaytuna College aims to educate and prepare morally committed professional, intellectual, and spiritual leaders who are grounded in the Islamic Scholarly tradition and conversant with the cultural current and critical ideas shaping modern society.
The college, which is charging annual fees of $۱۱,۰۰۰, has its genesis in the Zaytuna Institute, an Islamic seminary founded by Shaykh Hamza in Hayward in ۱۹۹۶.
The motto of the college is "Where Islam meets America."
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