And when will Canada get its first Islamic University???

Good news, the US is to get its first Islamic University!!!

Imam Zaid Shakir has high hopes for Islamic scholarship in America - aspirations that include the first accredited four-year Islamic college in the United States.

Having gained momentum - and funds - in the past year, Shakir and a group of American Muslims and scholars are now hoping to open the planned Zaytuna College next fall in Berkeley, California.

"Our goal is to attract top students," Shakir told The Jerusalem Post, describing a mission to provide a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship. "Where Islam Meets America" is a working motto for the school.

Offering courses in Arabic language and Islamic theology, the college is the brainchild of Shakir, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Dr. Hatem Bazian, and is based on educational programs they have nurtured in the Bay Area over the past decade. In 1996, Yusuf created the Zaytuna Institute in San Francisco, which offers educational programs and language courses. Five years ago, Shakir created a pilot seminary program that informed the new college's legal and theological curriculum.

According to its mission statement, the college "aims to educate and prepare morally committed professional, intellectual and spiritual leaders who are grounded in the Islamic scholarly tradition and conversant with the cultural currents and critical ideas shaping modern society."