The founding of the religion of Islam and the first Islamic polity by the Prophet Muhammad was a major turning point in human history.
There are currently more than a billion Muslims in the world. They live in dozens of countries and speak hundreds of languages and dialects. They are the majority population in a region spanning form Morocco to Indonesia.
The purpose of this concentration is to allow students to study systematically and coherently the global civilization of Islam - its religious traditions, histories and cultures - in all of its diversity.
The interdisciplinary program includes faculty from the departments of history, religious, studies, political science, international studies, Asian studies and modern languages and literatures.