HomeAcademicsYear Four and Five Ālimiyyah

Intermediate to Advanced Programme - Year Four and Five Ālimiyyah

The intermediate Ālimiyyah programme - Year Four & Five will provide the student with a rich and in-depth journey into the methodology behind the Islamic tradition and a deeper understanding of the major Islamic Sciences. Students attain a firm grounding in Islamic theology (ʿAqīdah). Strong foundations in the methodology and principles of Qurʾānic tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Discursive Theology and Islamic theology which differs from philosophy in that it considers revelation as a true source of knowledge and studies epistemology, ontology, and eschatology with the light of revelation Allah revealed to His final Messenger and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Students also gain an in-depth and thorough understanding of one Madhhab (Legal School of Thought) is explored. The Year Five curriculum is designed to further deepen the student’s understanding of advanced Islamic Sciences.

The curriculum synopsis below focuses on classical academics combined with modern-day applicability and personal development. Some of the subjects explored are highlighted below:

Qurʾānic Tafsı̄r (Exegesis)

Tafsīr al-Jalālayn is a mainstay exegesis that has featured in many curriculums across the Muslim World for years. This exegesis of the two Jalāls (al-Jalālayn)—Jalāl al-Dı̄n al-Mahạllı̄ (d. 864/1459) and his student the famous polymath Jalāl al-Dı̄n al-Suyūtı̣̄ (d. 911/1505)— is probably the most well-known exegetical work in the Islamic world and its succinct, comprehendible style clearly displays why. It uses a number of different approaches to explaining the Qur'ānic text. These include linguistic commentary, legal commentary, and Qur'ānic exegesis through the Qur'ān (tafsı̄r al-Qur'ān bi-l-Qur'ān).

Through this work one will study the subject of Qurʾānic Exegesis in detail. Supplemental lectures accompanying a further detailed elaborated commentary from the teacher introduces the student to the world of exegesis. The desired outcome of studying this work is to give the students access to the world of exegesis and its various genres. This component focuses upon the following objectives:

• ❖Engage with the Book of Allāh through the acclaimed commentary Tafsīr al-Jalālayn.
• ❖Become proficient in researching the Qurʾān’s verses from the relied-upon works of tafsīr.
• ❖Observe how the scholars expound on the Qurʾān’s verses.

Introduction to Qurʾānic Sciences & Principles of Qurʾān Commentary

Two texts with respect to Quranic studies are read in this segment. The first is Imām al-Nawawī’s Al-Tibyān fī Ādāb Ḥamalat al-Qurʼān, a work which serves to educate the reader as to the etiquette of learning, teaching, reading, and generally interacting and inculcating respect for the Qurʼān. Second is Muḥammad ʿAli al-Ṣābūnī’s Al-Tibyān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān, in which he delineates the methodology by which the Qurʼān is interpreted.

Al-Tibyān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān is taught to:

• ❖create an awareness of the broader themes of the Qurʼān.
• ❖introduce the doctrine of abrogation (naskh) in the Qurʼān.
• ❖acquaint the students with the causes of revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl).
• ❖introduce linguistic aspects to the Qurʼān.
• ❖familiarise the students with the primary exegetes and their respective methods.
• ❖provide a theoretical framework for Qurʼān exegesis (tafsīr).

A thorough study of Shāh Walī Allāh’s (d. 1175/1762) al-Fawz al-Kabīr fī Uṣūl al-Tafsīr is incorporated into the fifth year. The text, which was originally written in Persian, consists of five chapters. Each chapter elucidates principles and precepts needed to understand the science of Tafsīr (Qur’ānic exegesis) and Uṣūl al-Tafsīr (Qur’ānic hermeneutics). The objectives of the course include introducing the student to the circumstances of revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl), abrogating and abrogated verses (al-nāṣikh wa l-manṣūkh) and the unusual words and phrases of the Noble Qurˀān (gharāʾib al-Qurˀān). Though the text is brief, it is considered one of the best compilations prepared on the subject due to its scope which concisely elucidates concepts required to comprehend the subtleties of Tafsīr.

The History of the Qurʾānic Text: From Revelation to Compilation is also incorporated into the syllabus. This is one of the few English works in the syllabus and has been incorporated into the fifth year as a complimentary reading to al-Fawz al-Kabīr fī Uṣūl al-Tafsīr. There will be additional readings from the original Itqān, al-Zarkashī’s (d. 794/1392) al-Burhān, and al-Zurqānī’s (1367/1948) Manāhil al-ʿirfān to see how these concepts were developed and applied.

Together, these works provide the students with a well-rounded understanding of the topic and equips them to face any challenges in the form of objections to the veracity of Allah’s Kalām as we have it in the Muṣḥaf today.

Hadith Studies

Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ is a pivotal book that represents an important station on one’s ʿālimiyyah journey. In fact, this year is sometimes referred to as “Mishkāt” and students at this level are often called “Mishkāt students.” An extensive study is undertaken of the six-thousand plus hadith narrations (mutūn) found in al-Khaṭīb al-Tibrīzī’s (d. 737/1108) hadith super-collection Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ. The study provides a thorough and critical analysis of the theological, legal, and ethical rules derived from its narrations as well as their historical authenticity. Through the study of a work that collects hadith of not only the six canonical Ṣaḥīḥ works but also those of Imams Mālik, Aḥmad, al-Dārimī, al-Bayhaqī, al-Dāraquṭnī, and Razīn, students are given a thorough exposure to the Islamic understanding (al-mafhūm al-Islāmī) found in hadith literature. Students are expected to engage with not only the hadith texts but the valuable gloss of Mawlana Aḥmad ʿAlī al-Sahāranpūrī (d. 1297/1880) and commentaries such as those of Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1014/1605) and Shaykh ʿAbd al- Ḥaqq al-Dihlawī (d. 1052/1642). Mishkāt is Tibrīzī’s abridgement of Imām Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn b. Masʿūd al-Baghawī’s Maṣābīḥ al-Sunnah. Furthermore, Mishkāt has received a good amount of attention from the scholars. Many have written commentaries on it. Regarding Mishkāt and some of its commentaries, the great Turkish Ḥanafī jurist Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr Sājiqlī Zādah al-Marʿashlī said in his book Tartīb al-ʿUlūm: “It is necessary that every scholar make it his companion.”

This component focuses upon the following objectives:

• ❖Undertake a scholarly study of Mishkāt;
• ❖Engage the Prophets’ ﷺ narrations with the asset of having completed multiple years of advanced Islāmic Studies.

ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (Ḥadīth Sciences) – Critical Hadith Methodology

This segment critically analyzes the intermediate-level hadith sciences text Nuzhat al-Naẓar of Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852/1449), to lay a strong foundation through which one soundly understands the subject’s terminology and principles; most especially, after the effort of codification and crystallization that happened at the hands of the subject’s later-day authorities. Students are able expand the study of the hadith sciences beyond terminology and into subfields such as narrator criticism (jarḥ wa al-taʿdīl), prosopography (rijāl), and the ethics of hadith reception and transmission. Students will be expected to analyze the text critically using glosses and commentaries written by the author’s own students Imam Qāsim b. Quṭlūbghā (d. 879/1474) and al-Kamāl Ibn Abī Sharīf (d. 906/1501). Students will also focus on the historical development of critical Hadith Methodology and how early critical Hadīth scholars authenticated aḥādīth, and what methodologies they used to verify and distinguish authentic aḥādīth and non-authentic.

ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (Ḥadīth Sciences) – Narrator Criticism

The authenticity of aḥādīth is one of the most important discussions in ḥadīth learning. The authenticity of ḥadīth is dependent on knowing the characters of ḥadīth transmitters. Scholars of ḥadīth used different terminologies to identify individual narrators and their characters as hadith transmitters. This is known as ḥadīth criticism or ʿIlm al-jarḥ wa al-taʿdīl. Mawlana ʿAbd al- Ḥayy al-Laknawī's (d. 1305/1886) work on narrator criticism entitled al-Rafʿ wa al-Takmīl is studied with the critical notes of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah. Students will additionally be taught to explore and access various genres of hadith works, especially the glossaries, indexes, dictionaries, and catalogs unique to the field as an introduction into takhrīj al-ḥadīth wa dirāsat al-asānīd. Students will discusses the nomenclature used by scholars when investigating the status of the ḥadīth narrators. They will also be introduced to the terminologies used by ḥadīth critics when investigating the status of ḥadīth narrators.

ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (Ḥadīth Sciences) – Legal Authority of the Sunnah

The Sunnah, as the second source of the Sharīʿah, faced many challenges in the past as well as in the present. Some of these challenges led some people to deny its authority completely and some denied it partially. In recent times, these challenges are entertained by some Orientalist scholars and some Muslim scholars who follow their suit. This course, together with the selected course material aims at disclosing these arguments and providing answers to these allegations. It also points out the errors in the findings of some scholars who criticise the early reliable and prolific ḥadīth transmitters such as al-Zuhrī, etc. This segment aims at placing emphasis on the authoritativeness of the Sunnah. In so doing, it outlines the major challenges of the past and present and provide answers to those allegations. Students are also introduced to some key figures of Orientalist scholars. They also compare the hadīth methodology with different methodologies of various disciplines. Attention is paid to different arguments that attempt to undermine the efforts of early hadīth scholars in preserving the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Synthesizing the Legal Hadith: Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār

Throughout history, the Ḥanafī school of thought has been bombarded with claims that the school’s foundation is predicated on reason by the Ahl al-Raʾy (jurists) as opposed to the Prophetic tradition by the Ahl al-Ḥadīth (hadith transmitters). This dichotomy of the juridical schools along the lines of Ahl al-Ḥadīth (hadith transmitters) and Ahl al-Raʾy (jurists) was largely a consequence of claims from the former that the latter’s overuse of legal reasoning (raʾy) resulted in a neglect of clear and established hadith evidence. Imam Abū Ja'far al-Ṭaḥāwī addresses this claim in his magnum opus, Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār, shows the reader that the school not only adheres to the Prophetic tradition but does so in a manner that is in line with the Companions and the earliest generation of scholars. This serves as one of the earliest expansive hadith-based defense of the positions of Imam Abū Ḥanīfah and his followers. A thorough reading of the work will expose students not only to the specific textual evidence of the Ḥanafī school but also the wide range of juristic reasoning and principles (uṣūl) employed therein; those that are in line with the ḥadīth scholars and those that are specific to the Ḥanafī school. Students will be able to understand a significant amount of textual evidence in support of the Ḥanafī School, and become acquainted with the evidence, along with how the Ḥanafī School’s principles operate when engaging it.

Islamic Jurisprudence: al-Hidāyah

Al-Marghīnānī’s (d. 593/1196) acclaimed masterpiece in Ḥanafī Fiqh, al-Hidāyah Sharḥ Bidāyah al-Mubtadiʾ, will be perused. Hidāyah is based on Imām Qudūrī’s Mukhtaṣar and Imām Muḥammad’s al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr. al-Marghīnānī’s al-Hidāyah empowers the student with a comprehensive understanding of each legal issue through delving into textual and rational evidence. al-Marghīnānī furthers the discourse at times by mentioning similar rulings or drawing the student’s attention to subtle differences between apparently similar cases. The author relates differences of opinions from the School’s founders along with indicating to the relied-upon opinion in some instances. Accordingly, one will begin exploring cases of differences internal to the School and how those are dealt with by the researchers. The author also presents opposing opinions from both within and outside the Ḥanafī legal school. The author systematically presents differences of opinion between the Ḥanafīs and the other Schools. Imām Shāfiʿī’s opinions are cited frequently, and the author will present Imām Mālik’s opinions too. These opinions are referenced along with their proofs. After citing the differing viewpoints, the discourse is concluded by answering the objections of the opposition by transmitted evidence or legal maxims. Accordingly, this work trains one on how argumentation between jurists is approached and applied. The identification of ratio legis is addressed along with sourcing them to the primary evidence. Along with studying legal rulings in specific cases, this study equips one with insights into the intricate nature of the jurists’ efforts. al-Hidāyah has enjoyed special attention throughout the ages. The various commentaries and notes on the work ease the student’s journey.

The objectives of this segment:

• ❖Analyse how differing opinions in fiqh are debated amongst scholars, to a study of the use of rational arguments, dialectical sequences and juristic disagreement in exploring and expositing cases of the law.
• ❖Review the School’s ratio legis, how they are applied in specific cases, and the basis for them from the primary source evidence.
• ❖Study variations in the School’s transmission and how those are reconciled by the scholars.
• ❖To present a uniquely Ḥanafī legal epistemology which is underpinned by particular notions of authority, rationality and tradition.

Uṣūl al-Fiqh (Legal Theory) – Islamic Legal Methodology

Al-Manār al-Anwār of Imām Ḥafiẓ al-Dīn Abū l-Barakāt ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad al-Nasafī (d. 710/1310) is an influential text of Islamic jurisprudence wherein he abridged two seminal works of Islamic legal methodology: Imām Fakhr al-Islām al-Bazdawī’s Uṣūl and Shams al-Aʾimmah al-Sarakhsī’s Uṣūl. He summarized them, adding highly pertinent information, and generally followed the chapter sequencing found in Bazdawi’s work. Even with Manār’s brevity, the content contained therein fully represents the rich contributions from where Nasafī sourced the material. The result of his effort illuminated the subject for years to come. Countless erudite researchers wrote volumes explaining the treatise. The work is unsurpassed in the field. Ibn al-ʿAynī, remarked regarding it: “I have never seen anything like it in the subject of uṣūl al-fiqh.” In studying this work, one will inherit the Ḥanafī School’s legal theory from its masters and the examination of legal theory to extract the underlying epistemological foundations of this legal tradition.

With the myriad commentaries that elucidate Manār’s core, one will have ample opportunity to critically engage the various insights and observations documented from the scholars during the reading. Through the reading of ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al- Ḥiṣnī al-Ḥaṣkafī’s (d.1088/1677) Ifāḍat al-Anwār which is a commentary on the influential text of Islamic jurisprudence al-Manār, students will cover all the major topics of Islamic legal methodology according to the Ḥanafī school. Ḥaskafī’s commentary is distinguished by being one of the most concise commentaries on al-Manār and summarizes the insights of previous commentaries. The aim of the course is to teach students concepts and principles of Islamic legal methodology in detail with examples to enable them to do further research in the field. Students are recommended to use editions that have Ibn ʿĀbidīn’s gloss Nasamāt al-Asḥār and get a copy of Ibn Malak’s Sharḥ al-Manār for reference.

Islamic Theology and Introduction to Dialectic Theology

Ilm uṣūl al-dīn (lit. the knowledge of the roots of the religion), also called al­Kalām (lit. the discourse), which is a discipline of learning by which one is able to establish religious truths with evidence and remove doubts from these truths. Its primary subject consists of Allah and His attributes, the relation between the Creator and creation, and the nature of prophethood. Islamic theology differs from philosophy in that it considers revelation as a true source of knowledge and studies epistemology, ontology, and eschatology with the light of revelation Allah revealed to His final Messenger and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

This segment consists of an intensive study of al-Bidāyah fī Uṣūl al-Dīn of Nūr al- Dīn al-Ṣābūnī (d. 580/1184), a Māturīdi work on dialectic theology, which is an excellent exposition of the subject. Through this study, one will engage theology at an intermediate level allowing students to be introduced to concepts and methodology of Kalām (dialectic theology). Imam Al-Ṣābūnī’s work is his abridgement of his longer work al-Kifāyah fī l-Hidāyah. Ṣābūnī introduces the reader to comparative theology, discussing debates among Muslim theologians and between Muslims and non-Muslims with clarity and conciseness.

Students will learn Islamic theology’s primary chapters in detail. They will familiarise students with the concepts and language of kalam books while also providing them with a broader perspective on theological debates in Islamic history. The science of Kalām was developed as a defense mechanism to serve the Islamic creed against attacks from foreign philosophies and creeds, but not as a criterion for the Islāmic creed itself. This is a point which is emphasized during the study of this work.

Thereafter students undertake an intensive study of Sharḥ al-ʿAqā'id al-Nasafiyyah of al-Taftāzānī (d.793/1390) which introduces students to concepts and methodology of advanced works of Kalām (dialectic theology). Al-Taftāzānī’s work is a commentary on the influential creed of the Ḥanafī theologian Najm al-Dīn Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar al-Nasafī (d. 537/1142) and is distinguished by the impartiality and sophistication of its critique of theological arguments based on reason. Some have mentioned that it relies on Abū Muʿin al-Nasafī’s Tabṣirat al-Adillah. Al-Taftāzānī took Nasafī’s ʿAqīdah and penned a commentary on it. This work has thereafter been commentated on numerous times by many scholars and served as a textbook in many traditional curriculums.

Contemporary Applications of Traditional Islamic Theology

This segment covers how to address modern challenges to belief through the application of traditional Islamic Theology to contemporary intellectual challenges. This course is based on a masterpiece written by Ḥakim al-Umma Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī Thānawī (d. 1362/1943), known as al-Intibihat al-Mufidah. It is considered to be one of the earliest responses to challenges posed by Modernity. Facing the invasion of Muslim “epistemological spaces” by colonialism, the author contextualises concepts from sacred sciences to address newly-arisen doubts.

This segment helps students grasp the epistemological underpinnings of contemporary challenges and articulate theological responses that utilise their study of the sacred sciences in modern-day contexts. While it does incorporate responses to newly-arisen doubts, the course is not organised in a “doubt vs. response” structure. It is more of theological modelling on how to approach and respond to newly-arisen doubts. The doubts and responses included within the course are studied as particular “cases” through which students can observe the application of theological principles.

ʿIlm al-Mīrāth (Islamic Inheritance)

This segment covers Islamic laws of inheritance using Shaykh Sirāj al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rashīd's (d.~600/1204) al-Sirājī fī al-Mīrāth. Although there is little difference amongst the schools of fiqh in laws of inheritance, al-Sirājiyyah is written from a Ḥanafī perspective. Classically, books of inheritance are organized based on shares or recipients; al-Sirājiyyah follows the latter. In this study, one will master the laws of inheritance and be able to solve most queries that arise regarding it. One will study the theoretical aspects of inheritance in detail along with solving practical inheritance problems under the supervision of a qualified teacher until he becomes proficient in both the theoretical aspects of the discipline as well as its application.