By Ribāṭ Communications
Before there was even a university, President Dr. Tamara Gray and Dean of Academic Affairs, Anse Eamaan Rabbat sat down together at a chicken shop in Dubai, and mapped out what would eventually become Ribaat Academic Institute, which is now Ribāṭ Riverstead, Ribāṭ University’s Lifelong Learning program.
Two things were clear from the beginning: they wanted to train and uplift teachers in Islamic schools and weekend schools, and they wanted to flood the world with Muslim women scholars. Ribāṭ University’s Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Teachings and Traditions is the degree built to fulfil that ambition.
Why This Degree Is the Foundation
Every degree at Ribāṭ University is built on the conviction that the sacred and the secular cannot and should not be separated because when you bring Islamic epistemology and spirituality into any field of study, the learning becomes more whole. The BA in Islamic Teachings and Traditions sits at the heart of that belief. It is, as President Dr. Tamara Gray puts it, “the core foundation of the work that we do.”
Whether you’re beginning your academic journey or building on a degree you already hold, this degree is designed for you. It can stand on its own as a meaningful credential, or it can serve as the foundation from which you go on to a graduate certificate, a master’s degree, or further specialization. Whatever stage you are at, studying your deen at this level changes the way you engage with the world, and the way you engage with yourself.
A Mosaic of Learning
The BA in Islamic Teachings and Traditions is a four-year liberal arts degree, with a part-time option for those who need it. Like all bachelor’s programs at Ribāṭ University, it includes core competency courses that fulfil the general education requirement that every accredited university degree must carry, but these are not dry, box-ticking ones that most students dread. Every person who has read through the course descriptions thus far has expressed wanting to take all of them.
At the heart of the Islamic studies core are courses that many Ribaat students will recognize from their years with Ribaat Academic Institute, now elevated to full undergraduate credit level. Among them:
Sīra: Exploring the Life and Legacy of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ walks students through the prophetic narrative using the book co-translated by Dr. Tamara Gray; a text that has already been taught at advanced levels within Ribaat Academic Institute and is now available as part of the degree.
Sacred Texts: The Language and History of the Quran and Hadith builds genuine confidence in engaging with the sources of Islamic knowledge directly, rather than always through the interpretations of others.
Spiritual Formation: Tazkiya, Tarbiya and the Inner Path is one of those courses that students, by all accounts, tend to describe as transformative.
Women, Culture and the Shaping of Civilization brings into focus the profound and often undocumented role that women have played in shaping human history and Islamic intellectual heritage. It’s a course Dr. Gray describes as essential to understanding the kind of intentional, light-bearing impact that students of this degree are being prepared to have.
The Fiqh of Worship grounds students in the rules and wisdom of Islamic practice, building the kind of confident, grounded knowledge that means you can confidently answer a question from a friend or family member without the anxiety!
Tajdīd: Visionary Leadership and Transformational Change equips graduates to lead in masajid, nonprofits, schools, organizations, and communities with both competence and conviction.
The capstone for every major at Ribāṭ University is called Applied Islamic Studies, and it is where the degree becomes most personal. Working with an advisor, students determine how they will bring their learning into the world; through an internship, through Quranic study, through a hadith project, or through another pathway suited to their goals.
For Students at Every Stage
One of the questions the admissions team hears often is some version of: I already have a postgraduate degree, is a bachelor’s in Islamic studies really the right place for me to start?
The honest answer is that it depends on the person. For someone with a PhD who is approaching Islamic studies for the first time, the BA offers something that no shortcut can replace: a complete foundation. All the Swiss cheese holes filled in, as Dr. Gray puts it. The breadth of the ten branches of Islamic knowledge are covered in full, with the time and space to absorb them properly. For many women, it is the most meaningful academic decision they have ever made.
For those who have already studied extensively with Ribaat Academic Institute, there is good news: prior coursework may count toward equivalent classes in the degree, meaning the bachelor’s could potentially be completed in two and a half to three years rather than four. The admissions and student affairs teams can help map out exactly what that looks like for each individual.
Students who prefer to start at the master’s level but lack foundational Islamic knowledge also have a pathway, though it will involve additional coursework alongside the master’s curriculum. Whichever route is right for you, the goal is the same: that you stay motivated, stay excited, and find genuine joy in the learning.
A Community of Luminaries
There is something that does not always come through in a course catalogue but is woven into every conversation about this degree: the community. Students in the BA in Islamic Teachings and Traditions will move through the program alongside women who share their values and their curiosity, building friendships that will last well beyond graduation.
The goal of this degree is not simply to produce graduates with knowledge. It is to produce luminaries: women who carry light into every room they enter, every community they serve, every generation of students they teach. That is not a metaphor Ribāṭ uses lightly. It is the vision the university was built around, and this degree is where it begins.
If you are ready to build that foundation, explore the Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Teachings and Traditions. Applications re-open in November 2026.