August 2001-Graduate students gathered Saturday morning in late August for the Fall 2001 orientation session. Dr. Taha Jabir Alalwani began the session by noting that 300 universities in the United States have some sort of Islamic studies division and about 1,000 offer some form of Muslim women studies. But these institutions depend upon one or two professors to take care of all fields of Islamic studies. "That means they can't give Islamic studies the in-depth expertise it deserves to have." Most faculty teaching Islamic studies in the United States come from a Jewish background that does not allow them to delve deeply into the field and to be neutral. "For these reasons, we decided to found this School. GSISS has a harmony between different fields we are teaching."

Dr. Taha explained the difference between GSISS and other institutions in their approach to Islamic studies. Some teach Islamic studies traditionally and most teach a certain madhab (Islamic school of thought). "GSISS teaches the Quran as the constituted source of Islam. Everything comes from the Quran. Sunnah is an explanatory source for the Quran.

We are trying to help students develop their critical sense. That does not mean you grab everything we say as Islamic studies, but rather you develop a critical sense." Dr. Taha continued: "We are trying to help students deal with this society. We need to understand differences between the present time and the time fiqh was developed. How to build on that and how to move from that time to the current time, that is the critical capacity to be developed. Other institutions offer something from Islamic history, from Islamic tradition, but other institutions do not help students understand how to move from that historical stage to this current stage. We need to delve into maqasid shariah, the causes of shariah. We do not intend to fill your mind with details. 'Do this, don't do that.' No, we will help you develop an understanding, a critical sense, and you will grow from that. As Jesus said, don't feed them dinner, teach them how to fish.

"We are also trying to help you understand differences between different religions and Islamic civilization and other civilizations," Dr. Taha continued. "This understanding will help you to deal with your community in a very effective way." Dr. Taha explained: "Islamic studies is ibada, it is worship. This is not an American university where you can put your legs on the table and do what you want. No, this is masjid and ibada. The Prophet said, peace be upon him, 'learning is worship.' " On the day of judgement, the ink of the ulam'a (scholars) will be weighed against the blood of the shuhada' (martyrs).

Dr. Eltigani Abdelgadir Hamid elaborated on the conception behind the name of the School: critically bringing the social sciences and Islamic studies together. When he majored in philosophy in Sudan, Dr. Eltigani discovered that "the philosophical issues that are very problematic are the same issues conveyed in the Quran, but in a different language." Yet philosophers do not like the idea of bringing the Quran in as a recognized source for philosophy, nor is it used in social sciences. In Islamic studies, they don't like the idea of bringing philosophy in. They say you are not teaching politics when you are teaching the Quran, but the entire Quran is about politics, sociology, economics, why not teach it there? "I saw this dichotomy, Dr. Eltigani said." It is not helping the Shariah sciences or the social sciences for each to exclude the other... You have to behave with proper scientific objectivity. It is challenging to me, also it is challenging to the students. As a student that you will not always be very comfortable. We are going to give you some real challenges. You are not going to be a scholar by copying something from here to there, you are going to be trained in an approach, a methodology."

Academic policies and procedures were discussed, along with the tremendous academic opportunities that exists in studying at a small School with a high faculty to student ratio. After the formal orientation session, students lingered for hours in discussions with faculty and with the administration concerning registration for courses.