Synopses & Reviews
The story of America’s first Muslim institution of higher education, Zaytuna College
In
the fall of 2010, anti-Muslim furor in the United States reached a
breaking point, capping a decade in which such sentiment had surged.
Loud, angry crowds gathered near New York’s Ground Zero to protest plans
to build an Islamic cultural center, while a small-time Florida
minister appeared on national television almost nightly promising to
celebrate the anniversary of 9/11 with the burning of Korans. At the
same time, fifteen devout Muslims quietly gathered in a basement in
Berkeley, California, to execute a plan that had been coming together
for over a decade: to found Zaytuna College, “Where Islam Meets
America.” It would be the nation’s first four-year Muslim liberal arts
college, its mission to establish a thoroughly American, academically
rigorous, and traditional indigenous Islam.
In Light without Fire,
Scott Korb tells the story of the school’s founders, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf
and Imam Zaid Shakir, arguably the two most influential leaders in
American Islam, “rock stars” who, tellingly, are little known outside
their community. Korb also introduces us to Zaytuna’s students, young
American Muslims of all stripes who admire — indeed, love — their teachers
in ways college students typically don’t and whose stories, told for the
first time, signal the future of Islam in this country.
From a
heady theology classroom to a vibrant storefront mosque, from the
run-down streets Oakland to grand ballrooms echoing with America’s most
powerful Muslim voices, Korb follows Zaytuna’s students and teachers as
they find their place and their voice. He ultimately creates an intimate
portrait of the school and provides a new introduction to Islam as it
is being lived and re-envisioned in America. It’s no exaggeration to say
that here, at Zaytuna, are tomorrow’s Muslim leaders.
Review
“Readers interested in Islam in America or the dynamics of Islamic education will find the book fascinating.” Publisher’s Weekly
Review
“Gracefully written [and] ultrarelevant.” New York Magazine
About the Author
Scott Korb is the co-author of The Faith Between Us: A Jew and a Catholic Search for the Meaning of God.
He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin
and graduate degrees from Union Seminary and Columbia University. He has
written for Harper's, Gastronomica, the Revealer, and Commonweal. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.