The Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies, founded in spring 2000, administers the minor in Islamic and Arabic Studies. It is committed to supporting teaching and research focused on the lives of Muslim and Arabic-speaking peoples past and present. The Center’s study of the Islamic world focuses on the global context in which Islam emerged historically, the cultures and societies that it helped shape, especially in Eurasia and Africa, and the current global condition in which peoples in the Islamic world situate themselves today. It sees the Arabic language as the cultural medium for diverse ways of life that are of world-historical significance.

The Center is multi-disciplinary and includes in its scope of study the Arabic and Persian languages and literatures; the history of Muslim and Arabic-speaking peoples; political, economic, and social dynamics of contemporary societies; art and architecture; social political, religious, and philosophical thought; and the experience of Muslim communities in the United States and around the world.

Within this context, the Center's goals are threefold: to develop a rich state of the art curriculum in Islamic and Arabic Studies at SDSU, to organize outreach activities and programs that help educate the San Diego community at large on Islamic and Arabic subjects, and to engage in scholarly research on these topics in the national and international arenas.