SRJC doesn’t currently offer an Islam class in its religious studies program, but an SRJC teacher hopes to change that beginning in Fall 2011, amid some controversy about the timing of the new class due to the budget crisis. Although Islam is one of the largest religions in the world, an Islamic studies class hasn’t been proposed until now.

Eric Thompson, faculty member in the humanities department, has already written his proposal for the Islam class and thinks that although SRJC faces financial problems, the program is long overdue.

“We have a religious studies program that covers every major world religion in much more depth than Islam,” Thompson said. “In the context of the world, Islam is the most immediately relevant and important issue today.”

The humanities department offers courses on the Hebrew Bible, early Christianity, and one that goes in-depth on major Asian religions, while the anthropology department offers a course on Native American religions. Islam is mentioned in those courses and a few others, but is covered less than any other major tradition, Thompson said.

The class would cover pre-Islamic Arabia, the historical Muhammad, the Qur’an and theories about divine revelation and prophecy, and other relevant literature like the Hadith and early biographies. The course would also discuss Sufism, the differences between Sunni and Shiite traditions and the perception of Islam in Western media.

The course is already on the preliminary schedule for Fall 2011, and it’s currently up to deans from various departments to decide which classes to cut and which to keep.

Victor Cummings, dean of language arts and academic foundations, expressed the difficulty of deciding which areas of study should be cut. “We are cutting 10 percent of our courses next semester,” he said. “We are at a place where if there isn’t enough student interest we simply can’t keep it in the schedule.”

The Islamic Studies class will satisfy the same course requirements as the religious studies courses currently available. Cummings agreed that the course is both timely and relevant, and seemed optimistic that the course would be available to students in the coming semesters. With the majority of students taking humanities courses to satisfy GE requirements, he felt that this addition would help diversify the options for students as well as teachers.

 “As long as there is student interest, it will most likely be on the fall schedule,” Cummings said.