About the department

VISION

• To help the students develop a well rounded personality imbibed with the moral and ethical values of Islam in order to make them an asset for the society and humanity at large.
• To impart education and conduct research in the field of Islamic tradition and theology.
• To inculcate the spirit of social reform in the students with the amalgamation of well-rounded religious and contemporary education.
• To prepare them to respond to the challenges of the modern time through powerful verbal and written expression.

MISSION

• To make this Department a Centre of Excellence for Islamic theological learning in the country.
• To emerge as a research hub on Islamic Theology and Traditions with particular focus on Bengal and Eastern India.
• To produce academics, researchers and world leaders well equipped with the modern knowledge and firmly grounded in the Islamic religious traditions, who can lead the community and mankind as a whole.

The Dept. of Islamic Theology is the first academic department of Aliah University which was created after the upgradation of Calcutta Madrasah College to the status of a State University. In the beginning, the Department commenced its functioning in the Old Heritage Campus of the erstwhile Calcutta Madrasah College situated at 21, Haji Md. Mohsin Square, Kolkata-700016.

Aliah University – a State University under the Department of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education, Government of West Bengal – came into existence through the Aliah University Act (Act XXVII of 2007) passed by the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The Act came into force on 5 April 2008. Its parent institution – from which it was upgraded to a University – was usually mentioned in various old Government records varyingly as Calcutta Mohammedan College or Calcutta Madrasah or Aliah Madrasah which was established by the British Governor-General Warren Hastings in 1780 at the request of some Muslim gentlemen of Calcutta. 

The Calcutta Madrasa College which is the precursor of the Department of Islamic Theology originally imparted education based on the Dars-e-Nizami System which comprised of the subjects of Arabic grammar, Mantiq (Logic), Hikmat (Philosophy & Wisdom), Riadi (Mathematics), Haiat (Astronomy), Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence), Tafsir (Exegesis), and Hadith (Prophetic Traditions) which were strictly followed till the first two decades of 19th century.

The Department is witnessing a gradual increase in students enrollments in each Academic Session. In August 2016, the Department was partially shifted to the 8th Floor of the Park Circus Campus of Aliah University at 17, Gorachand Road, Kolkata-700014. Presently the Department has five permanent faculty members, twenty permanent part-time teachers along with six other non-teaching staff to run the Department smoothly. The Department of Islamic Theology offers courses of B.A.Hons.in Islamic Theology,M.A.Islamic Theology and Ph.D Islamic Theology.

It may be observed that Aliah Madrasah from its early days imparted education in both the traditional subjects of Islamic Theology and Modern Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities.In keeping with the great stress laid by the UGC on the Semester System of Education and Letter Grade process of marking, Aliah University has adopted semester system, credit system, continuous assessment, and letter grading from its very inception. The Department has already introduced the UGC prescribed Credit Based Choice System (CBCS) at the UG Level from Session 2019-20. The CBCS has also been introduced at the PG level from Session 2021-22 at the Department.