Aalim Course

1. Arabic Language

The Arabic language is studied intensively, so that a student gains expertise in Arabic literature. Grammar begins in English and proceeds to the Alfiyya of Ibn Mālik. Literature and poetry begin with the Qaṣaṣ of Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan al-Nadwī, move on to the Mukhtārāt, and lead ultimately into the Qurʾān and Ḥadīth.

2. Islamic Jurisprudence and Principles of Islamic Law

A deep understanding of the Qurʾān and Sunna requires the study of Fiqh and Uṣūl al-Fiqh. Beginning with Imam al-Qudūrī’s Mukhtaṣar and proceeding to the Kanz of al-Nasafī, a student is finally able to follow the intellectual discussions of al-Hidāya of Imām al-Fuqahāʾ ʿAllāma al-Marghīnānī.

To acquire the tools of the fuqahāʾ, a student undertakes an intensive study of Uṣūl al-Fiqh. From Uṣūl al-Shāshī onwards he encounters the reasoning and theories of Mullā Jīwan in Nūr al-Anwār and al-Taftāzānī in al-Talwīḥ. Fiqh and Uṣūl al-Fiqh are among the most important subjects in a Muslim scholar’s academic formation, and they teach a student to think academically and sharpen his powers of comprehension.

3. Aqida and Fundamentals (Beliefs)

To be firmly grounded in monotheism, and able to refute and eradicate polytheistic beliefs and the arguments made for them, a student of ʿilm first studies the ʿAqīda of Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī in depth. Having grasped the foundational discussion within that beautiful text, he turns to the Ḥāshiya of Imam al-Bājūrī upon Jawharat al-Tawḥīd of Imam al-Laqqānī, an essential tool for going further into the matters of ʿAqīda. From there he is able to follow the logical arguments of al-Taftāzānī’s Ḥāshiya on al-ʿAqāʾid of Mufti al-Thaqalayn Imam al-Nasafī.

4. Tafsir and Usul al-Tafsir

It is the desire of every Muslim to learn and understand the love letter sent to them by their Creator through the two most truthful servants of Allah, Jibrīl al-Amīn and Muḥammad Muṣṭafā ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam. In the madrasa, a student is not taught only the apparent meaning of the Qurʾān. He studies the core of the Noble Qurʾān intensively, and with it the tools that will allow him to give Tafsīr of the Qurʾān to the public in the masjid.

In the first two to three years, the instructor discusses each āya with the students: the place and reason for its revelation, the related aḥkām, and the opinions of the Ṣaḥāba and the Tābiʿīn mufassirīn. Alongside the improvement in his Arabic, a student is equipped to research the many books of Tafsīr written since the earliest period, and to understand the temperament of the Sharīʿa of Allah.

Thereafter, Tafsīr al-Jalālayn of al-Imāmayn al-Maḥallī and al-Suyūṭī enlightens a student’s memory and sharpens his capacity for Tafsīr. As tools to this science he studies ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān of Shaykh Taqī ʿUthmānī, al-Fawz al-Kabīr of Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī and al-Tibyān of Shaykh al-Ṣābūnī. Finally, teacher and student undertake a close study of al-Itqān of Imam al-Suyūṭī, which greatly extends a student’s ability to research.

5. Hadith and Usul al-Hadith

The sayings and traditions of the Noble Messenger are understood to be the demonstrating explanations of the āyāt of the Qurʾān. To bring the noble traits of the Noble Messenger of Allah into a student’s day-to-day life, and to beautify his outward conduct with nabawī character, Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn serves as the essential tool at entry level. Al-Khaṭīb al-Tabrīzī’s Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ then introduces the books of Ḥadīth. In the final year of his journey of ʿilm, a student studies the six books of Ḥadīth, together with the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Imam Mālik and Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār of al-Ṭaḥāwī, under the tutelage of authoritative traditional jurists and muḥaddithīn.

Alongside the texts of the aḥādīth, a student must also understand the science of qualifying and disqualifying a narrator of ḥadīth. Taqrīb al-Irshād of Imam al-Nawawī introduces the anwāʿ of ʿilm al-muṣṭalaḥ plainly. The Muqaddima of Abū ʿAmr Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, an essential tool in this regard, then follows more easily, with Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar’s Sharḥ Nukhbat al-Fikr as accompanying notes, and a student becomes able to weigh the strength of a ḥadīth. He is not, however, taught to disregard or turn a blind eye to the efforts of the early muḥaddithīn and jurists, or to their rulings with regard to a ḥadīth.

6. Mahfuzat and Memorization of Texts

It was an old custom of our predecessors to keep numerous books, in numerous subjects, in memory. It eases the work of encompassing and comprehending the major subjects a scholar of Dīn must command. The following are committed to memory, according to the capability and capacity of the student:

• Alfiyya of Ibn Mālik in Naḥw
• Alfiyya of al-ʿIrāqī in Uṣūl al-Ḥadīth
• Al-Mukhtaṣar of Imam al-Qudūrī in Fiqh
• Al-Manār of Ḥāfiẓ al-Dīn al-Nasafī in Uṣūl al-Fiqh
• Bulūgh al-Marām of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar or Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn of Imam al-Nawawī
• Muqaddima of Imam al-Jazarī in Tajwīd
• Al-ʿAqīda al-Ṭaḥāwiyya of Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī in Tawḥīd

7. Languages

An Islamic scholar in the West needs expertise in three languages. The environment within the madrasa is such that a student picks up Arabic, Urdu and English readily over the course of his stay on this noble journey: some instructors speak only English, others only Urdu, and others only Arabic.

8. Other Subjects

• Manṭiq and Islamic philosophy
• Arabic calligraphy
• Mīrāth and inheritance
• Mathematics
• Lecture and bayān training
• Imam and khaṭīb training
• Qirāʾāt and Tajwīd