An Essay: Teaching Islam @ UFS December 2014 ~ 1 ~ Mounting an Islamic Studies Program: A University of the Free State (South Africa) Initiative Muhammed Haron * Abstract The study of Islam at many universities in the different parts of the world has been on the increase during the past three decades; the reasons for this have varied from one region to the other. In South Africa where it was initiated by Semiticists in Semitic studies departments and Missiologists in Missiology courses, its study gradually developed into full courses. “iŶĐe the populaƌitLJ of IslaŵiĐ “tudies has ďeeŶ of iŶteƌest to those opeƌatiŶg iŶ the seĐulaƌ aĐadeŵiĐ ĐiƌĐles, “outh AfƌiĐas UŶiǀeƌsitLJ of the Fƌee “tate pƌoposed to set up a Baccalaureus Divinitatis Degree in IslaŵiĐ “tudies; hoǁeǀeƌ foƌ this to happen it decided to host a colloquium to which the organizing committee invited various stakeholders. So the purpose of this essay is twofold: the first is to contextualize this colloquium by locating the teaching and study of Islam in a broad South(ern) African context and the second is to offer a critical report on the two day colloquium that took place. Key words: Islamic Studies, South Africa, University of Free State, Baccalaureus Divinitatis 0. Introduction † The study of Islam at many universities in the West has been on the increase during the past three decades. Though numerous reasons may be forwarded as to why this has been the case, the 9/11 tragedy may be considered one key watershed event that triggered a major interest in Islam. Consequently a plethora of appointments has been witnessed at numerous institutions in the Americas and Europe. At these American and European academic institutions the teaching of Islam as a subject has not only been revamped and transformed, but it is one that has been included in various programs; it is either found as a subject within the area studies programs such as Middle Eastern Studies 1 or in the disciplined oriented programs such as Religious Studies 2 . Traditionally Islam was only taught in Faculties of Theology at many Western institutions but this has since changed; of late it has been willingly appropriated by scholars who operate within the Social Sciences and this has indeed been a healthy development 3 . * He is an Associate Professor in Religious Studies at the University of Botswana and an Associate Researcher in the “tudLJ of Islaŵ pƌogƌaŵ at the University of Johannesburg. He authored The Dynamics of Christian-Muslim Relations (2006), edited Going Forward: South African-Malaysia Relations (2008), compiled/edited South Africas Muslims: Annotated Bibliography (1997) and South Africas Truth aŶd ‘ecoŶciliatioŶ Commission: An Annotated Bibliography (2009), co-authored with Yasien Mohamed First Steps in Arabic Grammar (2007) and Second Steps in Arabic Grammar (2009) and co-edited with Suleiman Dangor Islamic Civlization in Southern Africa (2009). He edited a special issue oŶ Aƌaďo-IslaŵiĐ MaŶusĐƌipts ΀iŶ AfƌiĐa΁ foƌ Tydksrif vir Letterkunde (University of Pretoria ϰϱ΀ϭ΁, ϮϬϬϴͿ, aŶd a speĐial issue oŶ Musliŵs iŶ “outheƌŶ AfƌiĐa foƌ BOLESWA: Journal of Theology, Religion and Philosophy (University of Botswana 4[1], 2012). † He wishes to take this opportunity of expressing his gratitude to Dr. M. Sukdaven (formerly at UFS and now at UP), Mr. A. Mukhtar and Dr. A. Rafudeen (UNISA) for their invaluable information that they shared with the author.