Center for the Study of Islam in India (CSII)

Advancing the Study of Islam in India

A scholarly center dedicated to understanding Islam in India through research, education, and public engagement, with attention to its historical depth and contemporary significance.

MISSION

A Scholarly Focus on Islam in India

The Center for the Study of Islam in India (CSII) at American Islamic College advances rigorous, interdisciplinary scholarship on the historical, intellectual, cultural, and contemporary dimensions of Islam and Muslim life in India and their contributions to society at large.

Grounded in the values of academic freedom, scholarly integrity, and pluralism, the Center seeks to document, analyze, and disseminate knowledge through research, teaching, public scholarship, and digital engagement.

Through this work, CSII contributes to and helps shape global discourse on Islam in India—centering centuries of intellectual tradition and contemporary lived experiences, engaging the Indian Muslim diaspora and the wider Muslim world, and fostering more nuanced conversations on pluralism, identity, and democratic life.

PURPOSE & VISION

A Hub for Research and Dialogue

Home to over 220 million Muslims, India represents one of the most significant yet historically understudied centers of Islamic civilization. The Center aims to address this gap in Western and South Asian scholarship.

The Center on Islam in India envisions American Islamic College as a leading global hub for the study of Islam in India, one that connects classical Islamic scholarship with contemporary inquiry, amplifies underrepresented intellectual traditions in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic, and fosters informed dialogue on Islam, India, and the subcontinent, pluralism, identity, and democracy. The Center aspires to shape scholarly discourse, educate future leaders, and contribute to a more nuanced global understanding of Islam in India through accessible, high-impact academic and public programming.

The Center aims to foster transnational dialogue that connects this scholarship to Muslim communities, academic institutions, and civic life in the US and beyond.

Why This Center Matters?

A Critical Global Gap

The Center for the Study of Islam in India addresses a major gap in global scholarship and public discourse: the absence of a dedicated platform to study, preserve, and amplify the intellectual and lived traditions of one of the world’s largest Muslim populations.

A global Indian diaspora of over 32 million, including 5 million Indian Americans and 500,000 Indian American Muslims, lacks a complementary institutional home to engage, validate, and share its heritage with the wider Muslim world.

At the same time, conversations about Islam in the West increasingly overlook or misrepresent the deep pluralistic traditions that have shaped Muslim life in India for centuries.

CSII exists to meet this moment.

Why Now?

A Changing Global Narrative

India’s Majoritarian Pivot, its shifting sociopolitical landscape towards exclusionary ideologies, is increasingly influencing global and diaspora conversations. Majoritarian narratives that marginalize long-standing traditions of pluralism are exported without meaningful scholarly or institutional responses.

An Overlooked Intellectual Tradition

Despite centuries of profound contributions—spanning theology, philosophy, law, and political thought—Islam in India remains underrepresented in Western academic and public discourse.

A Disconnected Diaspora

Millions within the Indian Muslim diaspora seek deeper connection to their intellectual and cultural heritage, yet lack a central platform to access, contribute to, and shape that legacy.

How the Center Works?

CSII advances its mission through three integrated pillars:

Rigorous Scholarship

We are building the leading academic platform dedicated to the study of Islam in India: its origins, evolution, and contemporary realities, positioning this field as essential to global Islamic studies.

Media & Narrative Leadership

Through digital archives, publications, podcasts, and visual storytelling, the Center actively shapes public understanding, countering majoritarian narratives, and brings nuance, depth, and historical grounding to global conversations that could reach an audience of nearly 2 billion Muslims worldwide.

Diaspora & Global Engagement

CSII serves as a “virtual intellectual home” for the Indian Muslim diaspora, which creates space for connection, contribution, and exchange with the broader global Muslim community. This in turn validates their identity, lifts up their history and provides a platform for the sharing of their intellectual capital with the broader global Ummah.

Why this Matters?

Defending Pluralism

The Indian Muslim experience offers one of the world’s most important case studies in pluralism, coexistence, and democratic engagement. Elevating this tradition strengthens broader global conversations about minority rights and shared civic life.

Global Intellectual Bridge

By reviving and amplifying the legacy of influential scholars and thinkers that are foundational to Indian Islam and indispensable for the wider Muslim world, the Center connects past intellectual traditions to present-day challenges—making them accessible and relevant across geographies.

Institutional Leadership

The Center for the Study of Islam in India positions the American Islamic College of a critical and underdeveloped field, pioneering the establishment of the first dedicated North American institution to host a dedicated platform for one of Islam’s most significant global populations.

Expected Outcomes

A Shift in Global Discourse

More accurate, nuanced, and widespread representation of Indian Muslims in academic, media, and public conversations.

Educational Innovation

Development of hybrid certificate courses, credit-bearing courses, and the exploration of degree programs that educate the next generation of scholars and community leaders.

Cultural Revivification, Preservation, & Access

A digital-first archive that secures centuries of intellectual and cultural heritage against erasure and makes it accessible to scholars and the global public.

The Case for CSII

WHY ISLAM IN INDIA

An Understudied but Central Tradition

India is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the world and has played a significant role in the development of Islamic thought, culture, and institutions. Despite this, Islam in India remains underrepresented in broader conversations within Islamic studies and the study of religion.

The Center addresses this gap by highlighting India’s importance within the global history of Islam and by situating local traditions within wider intellectual and historical frameworks.

OBJECTIVES

Advance Scholarly Research

Support and produce original, peer-informed research on Islam in India, including theology, law, history, literature, media, culture, philosophy, politics, and social life, with attention to both classical traditions and contemporary realities.

Preserve and Amplify Intellectual & Cultural Heritage

Document and make accessible the rich scholarly and cultural legacy of Indian Islam, particularly in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic, through digital archiving, curated collections, and scholarly translation and analysis.

Support Curricular Activities & Resources

Develop academic courses, certificate programs, student exchange opportunities, and curricular resources that serve AIC students, scholars, and lifelong learners, utilizing virtual and hybrid formats consistent with best practices in higher education.

Promote Public Scholarship, Informed Discourse, & Intellectual Exchange

Engage broader audiences through lectures, conferences, publications, and media initiatives that connect academic research to contemporary discussions on Islam in India, pluralism, arts and culture, minority experience, and democratic life.

Foster Global Academic Collaboration

Build sustained partnerships with universities, research centers, and scholars in the United States, India, and the global diaspora to encourage collaborative research, faculty exchange, and joint programming.

Develop Media and Digital Literacy

Advance critical analysis of media representation and existing digital narratives, and their influence on public perception and policymaking.

Support Academic Freedom and Independent Inquiry

Provide an academic platform for sustained, critical engagement with the study of Islam in India, especially at a time when scholarly space for such inquiry is increasingly constrained.

Serve as a Bridge

Strengthen intellectual and institutional connections between scholars of Islam in India, the wider Indian subcontinent, and academic, civic, and interfaith communities in the United States.