• About
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    In 2009, Zaytuna College was founded in Berkeley, California, with a mission that called for grounding students in the Islamic scholarly tradition as well as in the cultural currents and critical ideas shaping modern society.

  • Academics
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    As a Muslim liberal arts college in the West, Zaytuna offers a curriculum that provides its students with a foundation in the intellectual heritage of two major world civilizations: the Islamic and the Western.

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  • Admissions & Aid
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    Our mission is to educate students to become morally, intellectually, and spiritually accomplished individuals ready to contribute to our contemporary world in ways that are proportionate to their gifts and to the needs of human society.

     

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  • Campus Life
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    Zaytuna’s campus is on Holy Hill and students enter the College as part of a cohort, a community of learners that travel together through the curriculum.

Zaytuna Day 2024

Zaytuna Day 2024
Zaytuna Day 2024

On Sunday, August 4th, 2024, Zaytuna hosted over 250 attendees for the second annual Zaytuna Day, an event filled with informational activities and educational opportunities. Held a few weeks ahead of the College accepting applications for fall 2025 entry to the BA and MA programs, Zaytuna Day offered guests a glimpse into the richness of our campus community as well as a first-hand experience of the verdant, hilltop campus which offers views of the San Francisco Bay.

Deans Dr. Ali Ataie and Professor Mahsuk Yamac, along with Khwaja Ahmed (Interim Director of Admissions and Financial Aid), offered informational sessions on the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts programs. One prospective BA student, a rising senior in high school from the San Francisco Bay Area, shared that her family thinks it would be a great opportunity for her and her sister to attend Zaytuna College. Interested in a STEM career, she felt like the community at Zaytuna would be a better experience for her than attending a public research university.

The day began with students offering tours of the campus; staff member Isa Dolan teaching archery lessons; and permaculture expert Rhamis Kent sharing updates on the garden and orchard, which has about 27 fruit trees now. One attendee of the garden talk, who completed the Permaculture Design Certificate course in 2023, offered a testimony that his life was so changed by Kent’s teaching and the content of the PDC course, that he converted to Islam after taking the course.

Faculty members Dr. Ali Ataie and Dr. Phill Cheng both taught sample classes from the BA curriculum. Dr. Ataie, who serves as dean of undergraduate studies, lectured on Muslim apologetics. He shared his expertise on the intersections of the three Abrahamic faiths, referencing accumulated historical research and primary texts from Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Dr. Cheng, offered a dynamic introduction to logic, unpacking foundational concepts of philosophy into a thirty-minute session.

Zaytuna Day also welcomed long-standing community members and donors from around the world. A mother of four children, two of whom were teenagers, said, “We have been part of Zaytuna since the institute days and are excited to see what it has become today, especially that it has grown into a place where our children can attend college.”

The community offered the mid-day prayer together in the musalla, which is undergoing renovation. After the congregational prayer, President Hamza Yusuf gave an address to the attendees of the event, detailing the mission of the College and what it means to be a liberal arts institution of higher knowledge in the age of artificial intelligence. Drawing upon examples from the life of the Prophet ﷺ, President Yusuf discussed the onus of the College to revivify the Muslim community, which is rampantly challenged by negative contemporary influences predicted by the Prophet ﷺ.