Description

Bayan Claremont Islamic Graduate School will develop a project to educate imams and religious leaders on gender-based violence and sexual abuse.  The project begins with the recognition that institutions within the Muslim American community have not taken seriously enough the conditions that give rise to gender-based violence, including the privileging of male authority and limitations on women’s roles in various spaces.  Responding to calls for greater transparency and accountability in Muslim institutions, the project will seek to consolidate Islamic perspectives for dealing with gender-based violence and sexual abuse. Bayan will solicit a series of topical articles, gather contributors and others for an in-person convening, and distill its findings in an executive summary.  Based on this material, the School will then revise its existing chaplaincy curricula and develop a new online certificate course for religious leaders.  The Luce Foundation’s grant will support project leadership and coordination, the authorship of articles, the convening of scholars, and the work of expert consultants who will advise on all important aspects of the project’s work.
 
Established in 2011, Bayan Claremont operates as a division of the Claremont School of Theology. Bayan is part of an interreligious consortium involving institutions representing Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and other faith traditions, and offers M.A. degrees in Islamic leadership and education, as well as an M.Div. in Islamic chaplaincy.