Support Boston Islamic Seminary in training the next generation of Muslim American religious leaders who are grounded in the traditional Islamic sciences and equipped with knowledge of the contemporary modern world.

Boston Islamic Seminary (BIS) is committed to training leaders who are capable of serving the unique needs of the American Muslim community. We understand that all religious leadership positions, including imams, chaplains, mentors, Islamic school teachers, outreach representatives and many others are critical for the future vitality of our community, and that the people who fill these roles must be trained to understand and help navigate the realities that Muslims face in the United States.

$63,000 represents the cost of supporting one student of knowledge throughout this three-year program. Funds collected from this campaign will be used to cover the tuition and fees of students in the Seminary's Master of Islamic Religious Leadership program who require financial aid for their studies. This campaign is one of several needed to sustain the BIS. Any additional funds will go towards funding additional students at the Seminary.

If We Do Not Support Our Own Seminaries and Centers of Education, Who Will?

The American Muslim community is at a defining moment in determining its future outlook and place in American culture. Though we have seen growth in population and institutional development, there remain difficult and perplexing moral, intellectual, socioeconomic, and civic challenges that impede a more fruitful and God-conscious lived reality for Muslims in America.

BIS seeks to address this challenge by engaging students of all backgrounds in an exploration of Islam in the contemporary context, and by equipping future religious leaders with the intellectual, spiritual and practical training to serve the American Muslim community.

Master of Islamic Religious Leadership

In December 2020, BIS’s full-time Master of Islamic Religious Leadership (MIRL) program was unanimously approved by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. BIS is the first Islamic Seminary in the United States to receive the authority to award this degree. The first cohort will commence their studies Fall 2021, inshaAllah.

The MIRL program aims to prepare exemplary, professional Muslim American religious leaders for compassionate service to society. Our unique, interdisciplinary curriculum is designed to equip students with a deep understanding of Islam and the contemporary context, as well as the skills necessary to serve competently in one of three specialties: Religious and Spiritual Leader, Outreach Ambassador and Religious Counselor and Arbitrator.

Over the course of the three-year program, students will complete 102 credit hours of coursework and two summer internships. Students will develop critical analytical skills, explore linkages between past, present and future, and pay close attention to their own internal thoughts and external actions to develop a spirit of service that will take them into their professional lives. They will develop a scholarly approach founded on an appreciation of the Islamic scholarly tradition and an understanding of the needs and circumstances of contemporary societies.

How You Can Help

​Help launch the Master of Islamic Religious Leadership by Sponsoring a Seeker of Knowledge

Building a world-class academic institution requires hiring the highest caliber faculty, recruiting top notch students and supporting them through scholarships, and providing the facilities to support learning. Therefore, one of the most important ways you can help the BIS sustain itself during this most challenging period and continue its strive towards excellence, is to donate generously. Whatever level you are comfortable with, please donate.

We ask for you to support the education costs in whole, or in part, of a student pursuing the MIRL degree, who is unable to afford it due to financial reasons. Your sponsorship will help train prepare exemplary, professional Muslim American religious leaders grounded in the traditional Islamic sciences to help benefit our whole community. Your donations are also Zakat eligible.

Education costs are approximately $21,000 per year, for a total of $63,000 over the course of the three-year program.

The breakdown of the costs are as follows:

Tuition                                                                                  $16,000.00

Student services and activities fee                                      $250.00

Health insurance                                                                  $3,000.00

Books and materials                                                           $1,500.00

      TOTAL                                                                            $20,750.00

Boston is known throughout the world for its finest educational institutions. May your lasting legacy be the addition of another world renowned educational institution to the Boston skyline – an institution of Higher Islamic Learning in the form of the Boston Islamic Seminary.

It was said that, “There are only three good types of people in the Dunya: the student of knowledge, the teacher of knowledge, or the one who supports them”. May Almighty count you at least with one of the good types of people is this Dunya.

May Allah accept this as Sadaqah-Jariyah (ongoing charity) from you, Ameen!