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More than ever, local also means global. Our neighborhoods are (usually) bursting with adherents of various religious traditions, including those who do not affiliate with any whatsoever – the “nones.” Even within a single tradition there are several cultural and religious variations. Accordingly, learning about a tradition other than one’s own is crucial. But learning about a tradition other than one’s own is markedly different from using that knowledge to engage those belonging to a different tradition. The CMSP helps to cultivate both. Through its course offerings, the CMSP educates and trains dynamic scholars and future leaders to promote mutual understanding, reconciliation, transformation, and cooperation between and among Muslims and Christians. All of this is done with a social justice telos to ensure that the interreligious training positively contributes in direct ways to cultural and societal issues at large.

Catholic-Muslim Studies Program

CMSP

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The CMSP cosponsers events and programs that support interreligious dialogue both within CTU and in the broader community.

Syed Atif Rizwan grew up in New Jersey and completed his undergraduate studies at Rutgers University, where he majored in Economics and minored in Chemistry. After graduation, he spent 8 years in the financial services industry, during which time he worked in New Jersey, New York, and Los Angeles. In 2009, he matriculated in Claremont Graduate School’s Master’s in Islamic Studies program and in 2011 he enrolled in the Islamic studies doctoral program at the University of California, Los Angeles. Syed joined the CTU faculty in 2018 and became director of the Catholic-Muslim Studies Program in 2020. His research interests include history of Islamic law; hadith studies; medieval and post-modern theories of punishment; and interreligious dialogue and studies.

  • Community Organizing: Interfaith Perspective and Practice
  • The Qur’an and the Prophet Mohammad
  • The History of the Muslim-Christian Relations
  • Islamic Mysticism and Spirituality
  • Islam: Faith, History, and Modernity
  • Comparative Christian-Islamic Ethics
  • Hadith Studies
  • Islamic Law and Jurisprudence
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The CMSP is committed to supporting Muslim scholars in their pursuit of higher education that bolsters their interreligious and intercultural leadership. CTU is able to offer two Muslim students full-tuition scholarships every year.
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The CMSP brings together scholars to deliver interreligious public programs for both CTU and the broader communities.

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Catholic-Muslim Studies Program

Syed Atif Rizwan, Ph.D.
Director, Catholic-Muslim Studies Program
Assistant Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies