MaryamInstitute · Dallas
A women's program in theology, ethics & gender · City of Knowledge, Dallas

Read the sacred
on your own terms.

The Maryam Institute is a cohort-based program for women who want to study theology, ethics, and gender — with the rigor of the seminar room and the warmth of a shared table. Led by Dr. Mahjabeen Dhala of the Graduate Theological Union, at City of Knowledge in Dallas.

Apply for the autumn cohort See the courses
6Seminar courses
12Women per cohort
PhDGTU faculty
The idea

God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The Light Verse · Qur'an 24:35

A seminar, not a sermon

Serious study, taken on women's terms.

Too often, the deep questions of faith — about God, justice, the self, and the good life — are handed to women already answered. The Maryam Institute does the opposite. You read the primary sources yourself, you argue with them, and you bring your own questions to the table.

Every course is small and discussion-led. The work is rigorous, drawing on the tools of the academy, but the room is warm, plural, and built for women who are returning to study or arriving for the first time. No prior degree is required — only curiosity and the willingness to read closely.

The curriculum

Six courses, one shared table.

Take them as a sequence or choose the ones that call to you. Each runs a single term and meets weekly, in person at City of Knowledge in Dallas.

01

Feminist Readings of Sacred Texts

Approaches to scripture that center women's questions and recover the women's voices already inside the tradition.

Foundational12 weeks
02

Foundations of Islamic Theology

The core debates of kalām — God, revelation, free will, and justice — read directly from the primary sources.

Core12 weeks
03

Ethics for a Complicated World

How classical and modern moral thought meets real dilemmas — in work, family, money, and public life.

Applied10 weeks
04

Women & Gender in Religious Tradition

How gender has been argued, lived, and contested across the history of the tradition — and what is still open.

Seminar10 weeks
05

Karbala & the Ethics of Witness

The moral legacy of Ashura, with the witness of Sayyidah Zaynab at its center — testimony, courage, and standing for justice.

Sacred history8 weeks
06

Voices of Women in Scripture

Close study of the women of the sacred narratives — Maryam, Hajar, Khadijah, Fatimah — as figures of agency, learning, and authority.

Capstone8 weeks
Dr. Mahjabeen Dhala
Your instructor

Dr. Mahjabeen Dhala

PhD in Islamic Studies · Graduate Theological Union

Dr. Mahjabeen Dhala is a scholar of Islamic Studies and Comparative Theologies specializing in theology, Qur'an and its interpretations, history, and ethics. She serves as Co-Chair of the Women and Religion Unit at the American Academy of Religion. Trained in both traditional Islamic seminaries and western academic institutions, she brings constructive Islamic thought in conversation with critical issues of our times. She has led several interreligious dialogues at Berkeley.

Her book, Feminist Theology and Social Justice in Islam: A Study on the Sermon of Fatima, published by Cambridge University Press (2024), was a finalist for a 2025 American Academy of Religion Book Award in the Excellence in the Study of Religion: Textual Studies category. Her research is also published in edited volumes by the Oxford Research Encyclopedia and numerous academic journals.

Dr. Dhala has spent more than twenty-five years serving Muslim communities as a religious educator, speaker, community leader, and spiritual pilgrimage guide across North America, Africa, South Asia, England, and the Middle East.

PhD, Islamic Studies (2020) Director, Madrassah–Midrasha 6+ years teaching adults Published scholar
How to join

Three steps to your seat.

Cohorts are small and intentional, so the process is short and human — no test scores, no transcripts.

01

Apply

A short written application — a few paragraphs on what draws you to the study. No prior degree required.

02

Meet your cohort

We keep each group to twelve so the discussion stays real and every voice has room.

03

Begin the term

Weekly seminars, guided readings, and a final project that's genuinely your own.

Applications open

The autumn cohort begins this fall.

Tell us what you're hoping to study. We read every application ourselves and reply within a week.

Start your application Ask a question

Limited to 12 women per cohort · Held at City of Knowledge, Dallas · hello@maryaminstitute.org