Islamische Studien

About this program

The BA program Islamic Studies is an Islam-related discipline that combines Islamic theology with general humanities, cultural, and social science disciplines. The study aims to enable students to engage with religious source material at a scholarly level, to deal with religious practice and its mediation, and to critically and systematically reflect on faith. The study of Islamic theology traditionally consists of the classical canon of Islamic scientific disciplines: Quranic exegesis (tafsīr), Hadith studies (ḥadīṯ), Islamic law (fiqh) and its methodology (uṣūl al-fiqh), systematic theology (kalām), biography of the Prophet (sīra), history of Islam (tārīḫ al-islām), and history of ideas. The minor in Islamic Studies, in addition to engaging with traditional Islamic theology, deals with Islam as a religion in the European and especially the German context. The goals of the major in Islamic Studies include acquiring the necessary language skills to access Islamic source material, gaining knowledge about the origin, development, content, and types of scholarly engagement with the canonical basic texts of Islam, the Quran and Hadith, such as Quranic exegesis, Hadith studies, and Islamic law and its methodology, enabling hermeneutic and exegetic engagement with Islamic source material, enabling source criticism, methodological reflection, and independent interpretation of the written sources of Islam, acquiring elementary theoretical-methodological, historical, and comparative competencies in historical and contemporary questions, the ability to contextualize historical and contemporary social phenomena of Muslim life, the ability to analytically engage with content and empirical methods on the topic of "Muslims and Islam in the European context," and the ability for critical reflection in an interdisciplinary context. The minor in Islamic Studies imparts intercultural and interreligious competencies in addition to an internal perspective on the Islamic religion: contextualization and further development of methods and teachings of Islamic theology (such as Islamic law, philosophy, ethics, and systematic-rational theology) in the modern pluralistic world, and comparison with other religious, secular, and intercultural ethical concepts. The Frankfurt Institute for Studies of Culture and Religion of Islam sees itself as an institution that conducts Islamic Studies scientifically and non-denominationally. Practice-oriented training goals are not the core objective; rather, the establishment of scholarly Islamic theology is the focus. Topics such as human rights, environmental protection, genetic engineering, or bioethics are just a few potential fields that are to be theologically substantiated. The primary goal of Frankfurt Islamic Studies in research and teaching is thus the acquisition, analysis, and critical questioning of classical Islamic knowledge based on primary sources and the application of established research methods and argumentation structures in the humanities.

Required documents

General requirements for Bachelor programs in Germany. Program-specific requirements are shown once you start a journey for this program.

• Tabular curriculum vitae (CV)
• Certified copy of secondary school leaving certificate
• Valid passport (photo page copy)
• Passport-style photograph
• Certified translation of secondary school leaving certificate

Academic requirements

Frequently asked questions

Static answers for the most common questions about applying to this program.

Country & application steps

Step by step, from choosing a federal state to your residence permit in Germany.