Revolutionary changes in Islamic institutions: Introducing Al sharaf et al.

TBH, you can get the fanciest certificates and diplomas degrees out there with the title Darse nizami and still won't have the ability to read books like quduri. Meanwhile you can study with your local imam, who might be a strong teacher, and learn so much more.

Often you might see Ml abu Hasan rant over sanad yafta Ulama, but over time when you place your foot in this arena you realise how bad the situation is. This is due to many institutions handing sanads without ensuring their graduates have proper grounding and understanding of the sciences.

Initially I used to also look forward to the best qualification and well known institutions but over time that died down as the realization hit that it's not the institution or sanad that will build you, it's your work ethic as a student and your grounding in the first 2 years over primer texts. If you are a strong student of knowledge and can display this, any senior teacher will be able to hand you a sanad if they find you capable.

Once you have mastered and sarf and nahw majority of the subjects in darsi nizami can be studied by reading their sharah (probably the intermediate text atleast).

You don't want to be that student whose spending thousands of pounds searching book stores for arabic books with Tashkeel.

InshaAllah I'm hoping Ml abu Hasan sheds light on this and shares his syllabus so that students of knowledge can benefit.

Kamiyaab hone ke liye nahi, Qabil hone ke liye padho, phir kamiyabi aapke qadam choomegi.

As a wise man once said:
Invest in yourself not your image.
Focus on the craft, not the spotlight.
The true reward lies in the mastery.
I will not chase success I will craft excellence.
I will not seek fame, I will cultivate expertise.
I will not rush the process; I will relish the journey.

[nb. Not saying this to you brother khanah, just some general thoughts I have on this subject matter].

May Allah grant us beneficial knowledge that will enable us to get closer to Him سبحانه و تعالى . Āmeen

 

Jazak Allah khair for the great info. Mostly I was thinking of certification so that I could potentially join a full course at a more advanced year down the line rather than doing the same books again but will have to look into all this.

 

Depends. An average tutor in the UK for primary/secondary student would charge £15/hr; so at £80/month for 25 hours/month DI's fee is 75% cheaper by (crude) comparison.

I don't think DI tutor would get to keep the full £80 for each student. Probably the tutor makes £25-30/hr/student; while the rest would go for admin and DI's other projects/expenses. If the tutor teaches 5 hours a day, he probably takes home £130/month (approx PKR 50,000 per month). This is just a guesstimate without any factual information.

DI uses own books for Sarf (Nisab us-Sarf, Abwaab us-Sarf etc.) , Nahw (khulasat un-Nahw, Nisab un-Nahw etc.), Mantiq etc. for first-year primers. For the rest (Sharh Miatul Aamil, advanced Nahw, Balagha, Fiqh), the standard classical texts (in Arabic, without any Urdu commentary) are used. Typically Bushra colour edition would be used.

Takhlees Usul as-Shashi is not the core text, but only recommended for extra reading/revision. Usul's unabridged text is used for class. For fiqh, Nur al-Idah, Hidaya & Mukhtasar al-Quduri are used in first 2 years. Mantiq is taught through Nisab ul-Mantiq, Jawahir ul-Mantiq and Mirqat - which is one too many in my opinion. Imam Nabhani's Ithaf al-Muslim is used for hadith 101.

There's monthly test and final test (at the completion of each book).

The above information is only for 1st 2 years for 4-year programme. The full syllabus and book list may be available on DI's website.

 

تنظیم المدارس اہلسنت پاکستان
Kindly see the tanzeemul madaris website for more info with respect to the certification process in pakistan.

DI Created their own education board called
Kanzul madaris - kanzulmadaris-education-board

Also i just saw now, they changed their daris nizami to 8 years and 2 hours each. See below.
Darse Nizami Course | Become an Islamic Scholar

 

80*12 = 960 pounds which is expensive.

I rather suggest you try apply to al-sharaf next year which is FREE. Possibly they use donors to fund students.
Or try Baytul hikmah with Sayyid samdani as they also offer the Darsi Nizami full time and part time with recorded lessons available. I think their yearly fees is 600 pounds which can be paid on term basis or even monthly.

The reason why i would not go with the DI one is i feel they personally have summarized the syllabus quiet abit. Their curriculum is to produce Muballigh type ulama who know how to deliver bayaans do dawah and basically know fard ayn. This again is my personal opinion. Hence they have summarized most of the Arabic books like e.g. created nisabus sarf, mukhtasar miat e aamil etc.

So you rather choose an instituition that will atleast teach you core books like tasreef izzi, nahw mir, hidaytun nahw, kaafiya even qatrun nada, ilmus seegha durusul balagha, hidaya, sharhul wiqayah, qudoori, usul shashi, sharhul aqaaid. I may have missed a few books here but at minumum the above books. Maybe DI does have these, but the last i enquired they use their own books like even for usul shashi they use takhlees usul shashi which is a summarized version of the book.

Somebody can correct me on the above. But the way i see it, the UK is currently the best bet for online studies due to the manner in which they are operating it.

Don't forget institutions like Manchester Muslim college etc. who also offer these courses online.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the certification.
Im sure all insititutions offer sanads.

I seen a new trend of calling darsi nizami a diploma so that it suits modern terminology, but this is mostly the case where a course is 3 years to 5 years. Probably Mufti course would be called degree and a further takhasus in fiqh/hadith would be masters level as its based on research.

In pakistan they created a board which recognizes the darsi nizami to be equivalent of a BA in islamic studies. This is only for those darul ulooms who have registered with this tanzeemul madaris/ board dealing with this. I think mufti muneebur rahman was at the forefront of this. I remember DI not being part of this initiative and they created their own board of education (this according to my limited knowledge) and many sunni ulama in pakistan were not happy due to this segregation. I think this was done for students who want to further their studies at arabic universities like azhar etc where they name their 'darsi nizami' as BA in islamic studies which then allows you to qualify for MA etc.

I will try to find out more on this for you.
But i suggest you consider AL-sharaf next year for a good syllabus.

 

Certification is optional. You can choose not to go for certification, unless you need to flaunt it or use it as credential to secure admission to higher/formal courses.

Between certified/non-certified options, course content may be slightly different (depending on the syllabus requirement of certified track). Examination method (testing frequency, mode etc.) is certainly different for both options.

 

I have a query about the certification aspect. I have previously looked into getting a tutor (let's say, from Pakistan) who can offer flexible teaching rather than needing to stick to a rigid time table because work and other responsibilities get in the way. And also the currency exchange rate means it could actually be affordable and you could cover a lot of books this way. I spoke to a couple of dawat e Islami graduates but I didn't understand this whole diploma thing because they talk about getting a certificate which is fine... But this seems to be different to an ijazah with sanad? How does that work? One tutor is the vice principle in a madrasah there and he was talking to me about some kind of Pakistani exam board certification and his syllabus goes from matric to BA and then MA whilst covering the standard books like quduri, hidayah etc? I didn't proceed as I thought this doesn't sound right but what do I know.

I've also requested faizan online academy to get back to me but they seemed to answer my question in a similar fashion. Is the system in Pakistan a little different as I presumed you are given ijazah back to the author of the book covered instead rather than a secular looking generic qualification?

£80 is a good deal by the way, I had someone quote me £140 per month! For six hours a week. Which would have been fine if the tutor wasn't living in Pakistan... Was expecting to get away with £2 an hour tbh, that's still decent money there.

DI also have a tuition option (seperate to the full dars nizami) where you can study individual books as such, in a 1 on 1 environment. Can help fill gaps in knowledge etc, or probably will cover even the study of Arabic. Cheaper than the tutor I've been using for Arabic for sure, on a per hour basis

 

Fee is a sensitive topic. Lot of people naively assume that no fee should be charged for imparting Islamic courses. But it's a necessity and needs to be viewed in context of other educational courses that people don't mind paying for (but strangely believe that they are entitled to free Islamic knowledge).

 

You could be correct.
I heard that the course was free and that they only charge an admin fee of that amount. Jazak Allah for the correction.

 

DI charges £80 per month for hour-long classes (6 days a week). That would work out to 28,000 PKR and not 500 PKR/month.

 

Great work being done in the UK sunni community, definitely should support where possible

 

I heard Mufti monawar ateeq runs a darsi nizami program too which caters for online students. His intake is January but you will have to be on the lookout as he doesn't take students annually.

I recently saw Shaykh Sayid Samdani from bolton found his own institution baytul hikmah (house of wisdom) where they are running the 5 year darzi nizami full time and part time with a fully recorded catch up program too.

Their part time darsi nizami runs for about 8 years on weekends only. See below introduction by one of the teachers.

Their program fees a year is like 600 pounds.

 

If I'm not wrong, Al sharaf started as the ICN Darsi Nizami 3 years ago where they were teaching it on site as a traditional darul uloom and had an option for online too. The online option back then required a student to attend live online classes with no recording/catch up option available.

Thereafter this year they re launched "ICN which stands for islamic centre Nottingham" as Al sharaf institute with a major change I.e. classes are now being recorded with an additional course being added which is the part time darsi nizami.


The website is still being updated. They have already completed the admission process for the 2024/25 year.

So yeah to sum it up. Al sharaf (previously ICN) relaunched to accommodate International students featuring recorded lessons to allow students to catch up is they miss classes.
See below shaykh asrar, mufti monawar, mufti Shams promoting the program 2/3 years ago.



Here is their Instagram page link
https://www.instagram.com/alsharafinstitute?igsh=MXU2bHk3aG0xMTV6NA==

Hope this helps.

 

The Al Sharaf one doesn't seem to actually be operational yet from their website? There doesn't seem to be any real info on there and the enrolment allows you to enter a particular year with no information as to what that entails etc. The only bespoke module seems to be nur ul Anwar for now.
Am I missing something or is it still being worked on @Hanafi Sunni. No timetable available too although I'm guessing it's also kind of self paced?

Have you found any other online programmes that are suitable in the meantime if Al sharaf is still being developed?

Agree that any sunni ventures in this field need to be supported and people enrol etc- so that they continue to provide the service.

 

I have been researching online darsi nizamis for about 2 years.

In my opinion the most run down online course is the one provided by dawate islami. 4 year darsi nizami with one hour a day. The exams are oral exams (I think a few are written). They charge like 500 Pkr a month.

They also offer a 6 year one online. But the fact that you can get a darsi nizami certificate (degree diploma whatever you wanna call it) will make students move toward the 4 year one.

 

Quiet interesting. Self paced makes it more interesting however I feel it's too pricy. Many books of the syllabus are taught for free ok youtube by many subcontinental Ulama.

At the moment Al sharaf seems the best. They seem to have a solid program as they say if they feel you not coping then they can remove you from the program.

Sunnis should invest in this noble cause by mawlana naveed Jameel. I feel if we really support this institution insha Allah it will become a great instite for learning and normal working class people, who passionate about the deen, can study with proper qualified Ulama like mawlana himself.

 

I've also seen this: https://iicoj.com/alim-mufti-course/

Although can't speak to any specifics but it's good to have online options available, whether free or otherwise. I understand the mufti teaching it is barelwi also. The 'degree' aspect is a bit weird but khair.

One thing I do hope with regard to the recorded classes (in any of the online institutes) is that it doesn't just become easy to skip classes and barely pass an easy multiple choice exam in order to get ijaza- some level of integrity with regard to testing the student's knowledge should still be there

 

]

Let's be optimistic my friend. There was a time when urdu would not have had any comprehensive works written in the language but the production of scholars led to the writing of such works. English today is the same as urdu once was... Maybe tomorrow English can also have a comparable corpus through the production of intelligent and pious scholars over the generations... And this organisation and others like it could be the seeds to that fruit

 

I couldn't see any courses on there but maybe it's too early.

Is this a course where you have to attend according to the specific time table or is there an option to catch up via recorded classes and the like also? Or is it all pre recorded?