Can I get accepted into fully funded divinity/religious study phd with bachelor's in finance and master's in islamic education?

[sufisophea]

Hello all, I really need some advice and comments here, maybe from those of you who might have/heard of similar experience. I hold double masters, one in Islamic Economics (3.83) and another in Islamic Education Management (3.89). I'm also a holder of Bsc (Hons) in Finance, Accounting and Management from University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus (2nd upper, something around 62%). However, I've developed interest in religious study and philosophy during my masters years, mainly from lots of reading and learning from informal, structured book discussions that I've been joining with faculty members from the Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC IIUM) and Center for Advance Studies on Islam, Science and Civilization (CASIS UTM) community in my country (Malaysia).

I'm particularly interested in the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and philosophy of education (comparing between pragmatism and islamic metaphysics).

In my masters thesis, I wrote on the comparison between pragmatism philosophy of education and the concept of 'perfect man' in the metaphysics of Islam. I questioned on what kind of 'man' or human being are varying educational philosophers theorize on? And since in the Islamic Civilization, most of the renown scholars are all at once theologian, the sufi, and philosopher, the separation of philosophy and religion simply does not apply. 

I am planning to apply for phd this December somewhere in the US or Canada since I read that their phd courses are more rigorous on the compulsory and elective modules you have to take, which provides avenue to learn in depth and discuss core texts.

So far, I have narrowed down few options for my phd but I'm still thorned between which path to take. 

1) Phd in Civilization Studies in Ibn Khaldun University Istanbul (in english). It is not a top ranked univ on QS, but they provide full tuition funding & stipend. Here, I can write on education philosophy, focusing on works of renown Muslim scholars such as Ibnu Arabi, Ibn Sina (avicenna), Ibn Rushd or Al Ghazali. The possibility of comparing their thoughts with of western theologian or philosopher such as Thomas Acquinas and John Dewey is there, but i doubt there are faculty members that specialize on them.

2) Phd in School of Education, majoring in Educational Philosophy. I believe pragmatism has its on research group in some of the education grad schools in UK & US (I appreciate if anyone has more info on this), but I don't know if they're welcoming or has expertise on theology & philosophy of Islam alongside it. 

3) Phd in School of Divinity and Religious Study. I've read quite a lot of literature on history of Christianity, including the impact of hellenism on shaping the current western civilizational. I really think that I would enjoy this course and there are many faculty members in the US who are experts in Islam, Christian, and Jewish theology, including their roots & dynamics in shaping the modern world. However, I'm quite concerned as I don't have bachelor's in theology, and my masters are also on the educational aspect of it. I'm afraid it won't be of a good impression, and hence deter my change of getting in. Also, does anyone know if phd in religious studies in Us/canada offer full funding and stipend such as in the case of phd in philosophy?

4) Phd in Philosophy. Here, I can learn both in more breath and depth, allowing bigger horizon of subjects of exploration, which really suits what I hope to do in the future. However, I also heard that the philosophy department is very not keen on someone who doesn't have formal philosophy background, & what more having background in religious thought and theology. So, I guess I have 0% chance to get accepted here unless I take another 2 years of MA in philosophy?

I know they are lots of phd students, lecturers and field experts here. I really appreciate any comments and opinion from you all on which path should I take, and any additional info on the fields I mentioned and my AOI. If anyone has any suggestion of faculty member or particular universities I should look up for, also do let me know. I owe you guys for your time.

P/s: Also, a full funding program with stipend is a must for me, as I am from the southeast asia, the cost of phd or even MA program in the US is almost impossible without a scholarship 🙏🏻

[xypathos]

Reputable PhD programs in the US will provide full funding, even for international students. I've come across a lot of international students, especially in education, who received funding from the Open Society Foundation so check them out.

If you're now wanting to engage Christianity, in a say interreligious dialogue with Islam - Georgetown would be hard to beat. They require you to already be quite familiar with one religious tradition and then you use your doctoral time to develop proficiency in the other.

When my wife was doing her PhD at Syracuse (Education), we had a number of friends also working on collaborative PhDs across departments. There were students doing PhDs in Education and utilizing resources in their Religion Department, International Relations, History, Philosophy, etc.