Works of Abul Baraa Muhamad Amreeki

Why don’t we have any solid Islamic Institutions of learning in the US?

My view is that many American Muslims speakers in the US mimic Islamic personalities overseas in the Muslim world, or just translate their works. So their speech and topics are just like theirs the outwardness of their speeches and talks and lectures, but they fail to understand these personalities as in scholars overseas lectures and talks come from their inward roots which were established by the Islamic institutions of education through universities and major scholars and Islamic government.

So to mimic their speeches but not establish the knowledge from its roots and the places of knowledge it will not benefit you when it comes to establishing institutes here. Because you do not have the knowledge and know-how, just know how to mimic and repeat what you hear. So when someone asked ‘why we do not have Islamic institutions in America to learn and teach Islam?’ This is why, personalities you follow many just mimic in speech, very few have that foundation and solid knowledge to build institutions especially if the person you are follow acquired his knowledge just from books & audios and not from its peoples, or those who they mimic did not learn Islam the correct way  from a scholar.

Some of the American Muslims speakers personalities do not have the qualifications to teach but are just followed by others here by default due to his popularity and trend. But the same personality, if he was in the Muslims world might not have the qualifications to lead the salah in a masjid or let alone be a teacher in any Islamic college or university or grade school. So this shows why they can not build here an institution because they do not have the knowledge to do so or the know how.

Different view most Muslims in this country came here for wealth and not Islamic knowledge so they did not come to establish Islam. Rather yet when their build their communities they just want to mimic what they see with the Islam in their country but do not have any ideas how to establish it and do not have the knowledge itself to do so.

Another view why there is no establishment because in the US religion is one’s personal choice, and many cases religion is viewed as someone’s leisure pursuit, and something that the society they live in does not live under these codes and ethic laws. Where in the Muslim world it codes and ethics and laws are related to Islam. Rather in the West and America, a learning institution in this country you will find in college like law school other secular academic studies. But in the Muslim world where it is most likely, you find Islamic law you will find the colleges have Islamic degrees in many fields to uphold the Islamic laws and cultures and keep these traditions alive because the government needs it. This is why you do not find in the US Islamic institutions for high learning.

So to have an Islamic institution in the US you need to have a market to find the consumers to finance the school. If Islam is practice and viewed in the US with the Muslims as something that is a leisure pursuit, then finical gain for the school will be little to none. So then the fees for the school to keep it alive must be high and if the consumers are not many in this district or close then there is no finical gain to support the school and the teachers to keep it open unless they get donors and they find a way to connect to Muslim minority in the US who are scattered out all over the US to study with them, this is where it get more expensive and the student will need income to pay for a tuition in a field that when he finish the society he lives in that non-Islamic will find little to no work.

Then online school might be the best way to reach the consumer. Now teaching Islam online is not learning in front of ‘the scholar’. Just like a person who study in Harvard or an enrolled institute of learning, it is not the same as the person who studied at Phoenix online college.

So we can compare Muslim scholars today like a person who studied in Azhar ‘Tafseer’ or ‘Shariah’, or ‘the Arabic language’ and a person who study the same field in Saudi they have a valid debate saying Azhar studies are more strong in these fields of studies compare to Saudi universities. Which are in reality all new compared to Azhar. Where you will find in Saudi schools their teachers in their college might come from Azhar or other Universities of Egypt and other Arabic-speaking countries.

Now compare the student who came out these schools with a brother or sister who studied online in an America online Islamic university. You can not even compare the two that is the only downfall to studying Islam online unless it is the only source of knowledge you have around you.

There a lot more reasons why we do not see any Islamic Institute of learning in the US but most of the important reasons why because it is an eternal conflict with the Muslims in the West and the Westerns’ agenda and goals related to Islam. Also, Islam in the West is new so maybe in the next 10 to 20 years, Allah knows best there might be if Islam grows, and the Muslims are awakening.

Written by Abul Baraa Muhammad Amreeki