Islamic Humanities and Intensive Language

This programme covers the social, cultural and intellectual history, literature, religion, philosophy, arts and digital humanities of the Islamic world, past and present.

Students deploy inter-disciplinary humanities approaches to the Islamic world, and engage seriously with its production in the humanities not as an afterthought to the traditional humanities but as a source of critical insights for a global humanities. Challenging essentialist narratives, the programme fosters an appreciation of diversity – regional, cultural and religio-intellectual – within the Islamic world.

The programme is suitable for students of a diverse range of academic backgrounds, and does not require prior knowledge of Islam or the Islamic world, nor proficiency in a language other than English.

Why study MA Islamic Humanities and Intensive Language at SOAS?

• SOAS is ranked 7th in the UK for African and Middle Eastern Studies (Complete University Guide 2026)
• We are ranked 2nd in the UK for 'graduate prospects' (Complete University Guide 2026)
• We are ranked top 30 in the UK for Arts and Humanities (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• We are ranked 13th in the UK for Modern Languages (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• Modern Languages and Linguistics at SOAS has been ranked 10th in the UK in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021
• 4th for research environment - with 100% of our research ranked as 'internationally excellent' and 85% as 'world-leading' - and 8th for research outputs in the REF 2021