Islamic Religious Studies
Islamic Religious Studies (M.A.)
The Master’s degree program “Islamic-Religious Studies” offers students the opportunity to deal intensively with the religion of Islam. This involves not only the classical topics such as theology and law, but also the current challenges facing Muslims in today’s society.
The interdisciplinary course of study combines theological, philosophical, historical and social science perspectives and thus enables a broad understanding of Islam as a religion, but also as a culture and social phenomenon.
- Degree
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Duration of studies in semester
- 4
- Start of degree program
- Winter semester
- Study location
- Erlangen
- Number of students
- 1-50
- Subject group
- Language and Cultural Studies
- Teaching language
- in German and in the languages of the respective core subjects
- Admission Requirements
- Qualification assessment
What is the degree program about?
The Islamic Religious Studies (IRS) master’s degree program is a research-oriented master’s degree program in the philosophy of religion and ethical discourse that focuses on the study of religious and ethical foundations and the world of ideas in Islam.
Content
Theology is regarded as a systematically reflective unfolding of religious statements of faith and spiritual doctrinal traditions. It is by no means the domain of a particular discipline. It acts in correspondence with philosophy, ethics, mysticism and other religion-related fields of knowledge. On the one hand, the origin and historical development of the contents of faith are studied, on the other hand, the social significance of religion in the present.
The goal of religious studies should be the development of sustainable concepts on contemporary issues such as freedom, human rights, tolerance, religious pluralism from an internal perspective as well as from an interdisciplinary point of view. The focus of the Master’s degree program is on ethics and philosophy of religion and includes theoretical reflection on the essential content of Muslim religious doctrine as well as its diversity and discursivity in historical and contemporary contexts.
Interdisciplinary interlocking
The Master’s degree program in Islamic Religious Studies sees itself as part of the humanities tradition of the Faculty of Humanities at FAU and is thus in close methodological and content-related exchange with other reference sciences, which help to establish an outside perspective on all Islam-related topics. Methodologically, Islamic theology is therefore understood as an interdisciplinary science. Important partners in this regard are “Media Ethics Religion” and the “Chair of Oriental Philology and Islamic Studies” and the “Chair of Arabic and Semitic Studies”, respectively, all of which also offer a master’s degree program; all master’s degree programs import modules (e.g., Research Methods and Source Analysis; Quran and Modernity; Islamic Ethics in the Context of History and the Present) jointly and make teaching content available to each other.
The degree programme is designed to teach general scientific methods of theological, as well as historical, anthropological, and philosophical fields of study. The aim is to bring together the most important intellectual topics and problems of the Islamic world of faith and to explore them in the light of religious diversity.
Uniqueness
Islamic Religious Studies is a new academic discipline with five university locations in Germany so far. FAU is the only location in Bavaria to offer a master’s degree program in this discipline. The master’s degree program serves research foci that have not been offered at the master’s level in Germany to date. Within the faculty, the cooperation at the module level results in an important complement to the master’s degree programs “Arabic Studies, Islamic Studies, Semitic Studies”, the “Middle Eastern Studies” as well as “Media-Ethics-Religion”.
-
The Master’s degree program is primarily concerned with the critical reflection of Islamic religious content, whereby the focus here, in addition to theology, is on philosophy of religion as well as interdisciplinarity with reference disciplines working in relation to Islam.
Semester 1
- 1.1 Textual Basics of Islamic Religious Research
- 1.2 History of ideas of Islamic beliefs
- 1.3 Research methods and source analysis (interdisciplinary)
Semester 2
- 2.1 Islamic beliefs from a theoretical-reflective perspective
- 2.2 Islamic ethics in the context of history and present times
- 2.3 Quran and Modernity (interdisciplinary)
Semester 3
- 3.1 Islamic philosophy of religion
- 3.2 Contemporary issues in Islamic religious discourse
- 3.3 Orientation Module (Alternative: Internship)
-
- Admission requirements (first semester)
- Qualification assessment
- Application deadline winter semester
-
15.07.
- Content-related admission requirements
-
The Master’s degree program in Islamic Religious Studies is open to Bachelor’s graduates with the following qualifications from the following degree programs:
- Single-subject or double-subject BA Islamic Religious Studies at FAU or comparable degrees in a university BA degree programme in Islamic Theology (subject-specific).
- Degrees in social sciences, humanities and cultural studies, provided that the degree program covers topics of Islamic-Religious Studies with a systematic, practical and textual focus amounting to at least 40 ECTS credits.
- For the admission of applicants with subject-specific and subject-related degrees to the Master’s degree program, an overall grade of 2.5 of the Bachelor’s degree is considered the minimum criterion.
- Applicants with subject-specific degrees with overall grades in the range of 2.51 to 3.0 may be invited to a selection interview. Language proficiency in Arabic at least at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. (Proof of Arabic courses amounting to at least 40 ECTS credits or equivalent language certificates, e.g. UNIcert level II or higher, are required).
Language skills
- German language skills for international applicants
- DSH 2 or equivalent
Do you need help or more information?
Our Student Advice and Career Service (IBZ) is the central point of contact for all questions about studying and starting a degree programme. Our Student Service Centres and subject advisors support you in planning your studies.