Mission
The Foundation for Islamic Scholarship and Teaching (FIST) is a non-profit organization providing financial support and assistance to scholars and students of classical Islam.
A Long-Term Sustainable Model
Classically, the inheritors of the tradition of Islam – the scholars and the seekers of knowledge – were supported by endowments so that they could better serve their own communities. Today, institutional support has vanished, leaving students unwilling to pursue knowledge and scholars handicapped in their attempts to both teach students and make ends meet for their own families. In the face of greater challenges from contemporary discourse and ideologies, these scholars and their students can serve as a barrier, protecting Muslims and advancing their interests.
The Why
The financial needs of scholars today loom so large that almost all programs supporting Islamic scholarship direct their donations toward these immediate needs. Consequently, this model remains forever dependent on community donations.
The What
Our vision is to build an endowment (waqf) from your donations. Only the returns from this invested endowment are needed to support our programs. Zakat and project-specific funds are directly allocated to grant recipients.