Start Here
Welcome to Islam
Welcome to Islam.
About one in four people in the world is Muslim. Most do not live in the Middle East: the largest Muslim populations are in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, and only about one Muslim in five is Arab. In the United States, Muslims include immigrants from every continent, their children and grandchildren, converts of every background, and African American Muslims whose roots go back to the enslaved West Africans who first brought Islam to America.
In this course you will study the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an, Muslim belief and practice, Sunni and Shi’a Islam, Sufism, Islamic civilization, and Muslim life today. You will learn Islam from Muslim sources and Muslim voices. And you will look closely at how Islam has treated women: the rights the Qur’an gave them, the women who shaped Muslim history, and the debates and injustices Muslim women face today.
How This Course Works
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite | None. Titles and degrees begin with ordination through the Ordination Orientation. |
| Pace | Self-paced. Most students finish in four to six weeks, studying about four to five hours a week. There are no deadlines. |
| Structure | Eight modules. Each module has a lesson, a reading assignment, and a ten-question quiz. |
| Book report | Read one of the books offered, pass its ten-question quiz, and write a one-paragraph summary, after Module 8. |
| Final exam | Fifteen multiple-choice questions and one essay of 1,500 to 2,000 words, taken after Module 8. |
| Credit | 3 credit hours toward further titles and degrees. |
Grading
| Part | To pass |
|---|---|
| Module quizzes (8) | Pass each with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report quiz (10 questions) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Book report summary (one paragraph) | Approved by the school |
| Final exam, Part 1 (multiple choice) | Pass with 70% or higher. Retakes allowed. |
| Final exam, Part 2 (one essay, 1,500 to 2,000 words) | Approved by the school |
Required texts
- The Qur’an, translated by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (or any English translation)
- Islam: A Short History, Karen Armstrong
- No god but God, Reza Aslan
Many of these books are available from public libraries, used bookstores, and as ebooks.
What you will study
Module 1: Who Are the Muslims? Module 2: The Prophet Muhammad Module 3: The Qur’an and the Sunna Module 4: Belief and the Five Pillars Module 5: Sunni, Shi’a, and Sufi Module 6: Islamic Civilization Module 7: The Muslim Year and Life Cycle Module 8: Women in Islam and Muslim Life Today
Book report choices
No god but God, Reza Aslan; Islam: A Short History, Karen Armstrong
Academic honesty
All written work must be your own. You may quote and discuss the course readings and other sources, but you must say where the words and ideas came from. Submitting work written by someone else, including work generated entirely by AI tools, is not permitted.