THE
REVELATORY
SCIENCES
Takhaṣṣuṣ in Ḥadīth & Tafsīr
Mission Statement
The Revelatory Sciences program at DarusSalam Seminary is a rigorous postgraduate takhaṣṣuṣ program committed to the advanced study of the Islamic textual sciences (ʿulūm naqliyyah) of ḥadīth and tafsīr and their ancillary sciences. The program emphasizes close engagement with classical texts and methodologies, equipping students with the research skills necessary to critically analyze and synthesize foundational works. Through this process, students are prepared to address contemporary critiques and misconceptions surrounding the Quran and Sunnah, and to articulate a principled, academically grounded defense of the revelatory tradition in the modern intellectual landscape.
Introduction
Imām Mālik reported that the the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
"I have left with you two things. As long as you hold on to these, you will never stray: The Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم."
The Quran and Sunnah have always served as the bedrock of a Muslim’s belief and practice, providing grounding amidst turbulent times and shifting ideas. Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need to cultivate well-trained scholars who are deeply rooted in the revelatory sciences, able to aptly apply them and defend them in today’s increasingly complex world.
The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم once deputed Hadhrat Ḥassān b. Thābit, a poet, to respond to criticism of the disbelievers on his behalf, saying, “Ḥassān! Respond on my behalf. Allah! Aid him through Jibrīl!”
Regarding this incident, Imām Ibn Ḥibbān commented, “The Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم told Ḥassān to respond to the disbelievers on his behalf, even though their baseless allegations did no harm to the believers nor altered creed or legislation. It is then more imperative to fend off falsehood about the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم from other Muslims —falsehood which does alter creed or legislation. I ardently pray Allah will aid those who defend the Sunnah through Jibrīl, just as the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم prayed for Ḥassān, who defended the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم himself.” (al-Majrūhīn)
Program Overview
Through the ḥadīth module, students will, in shāʾa Allāh, gain the ability to:
- Locate narrations in their primary sources.
- Assess the status of narrators.
- Compare variant narrations.
- Ascertain the authenticity of individual narrations.
- Identify weakness in narrations.
- Understand and appreciate the methodology and approaches of authors inḥadīth literature.
- Identify signs of spurious narrations.
- Understand and weigh varying approaches to ḥadīth sciences.
- Understand challenges to the ḥadīth corpus and gain competency to address these challenges
Through the tafsīr module, students will, in shāʾa Allāh, gain the ability to:
- Navigate through tafāsīr and understand the authorial methodologies behind individual tafāsīr, appreciating their contributions to explaining āyāt.
- Utilize fundamental sciences to aid in understanding tafsīr, such as naḥw, ṣarf, balāghah, lughah, fiqh, & uṣūl.
- Analyze difficult excerpts in tafāsīr using other tafāsīr and source material.
- Practically apply their knowledge of tafsīr in a public or private setting.
- Comprehend and apply uṣūl al-tafsīr accordingly to recognize unsound explications from sound ones.
- Research different questions pertaining to tafsīr or requiring tafsīr-based knowledge.
General Overview
This program is ultimately geared towards equipping students to serve the ummah as specialists of the revelatory sciences in today's increasingly complex world. The modules studied will serve to train students in three main areas of focus:
- al-Taʾhīl al-ʿIlmī: Equipping students with a strong foundation in Quran and ḥadīth sciences, providing a grounding and basis for further research.
- Khidmat al-Nās: Public Service. There should always be specialists who serve as a recourse in Quran and ḥadīth matters for both ʿulamāʾ and the general public. These matters include explaining misunderstood ḥadīth and āyāt, locating ḥadīth, prioritizing some aḥādīth and tafāsīr over others, understanding the role and usage of weak ḥadīth, avoiding spurious narrations, reviving forgotten sunan, explicating āyāt in new ways, explaining real-world phenomena using the Quran, etc.
- al-Difāʿ ʿan al-Kitāb wa-l-Sunnah: Defending the Quran and the ḥadīth corpus. Today, in a world that advocates for dismissing either one or both of these glowing lights, a defense of both sources is needed more than any other time.
Curriculum
Year One, Semester One
Introduction to Hadith Books, Comparative Hadith Methodology (al-Taʾhīl al-ʿIlmī)
In this module, students will explore the various subfields of authorship within the ḥadīth sciences and learn how to use relevant works in each subfield. The goal is for students to emerge with a firm grasp on ḥadīth works and the ability to navigate authorship within the field.
Thereafter, the focus will shift to comparative ḥadīth methodology. Students will examine competing dominant viewpoints within ḥadīth discourse today.
Texts:
- From Sources to Schools: How Hadith Shapes Islamic Law, Yousuf Ghouse
- Manāhij Fiqhiyyah Muʿāṣirah, ʿAbdaIlāh al-ʿArfaj
- Athar al-Ḥadīth al-Sharīf fī Ikhtilāf al-Aʾimmah al-Fuqahāʾ, Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah
ʿIlm al-Rijāl (al-Taʾhīl al-ʿIlmī/al-Difāʿ)
Students will be introduced to the prolific narrators, their students, and other nuances of ʿilm al-rijāl. Students will learn how to identify trends in the chains of narration and the relative strength of some transmitters compared to others. This module serves as an important preface for ʿilm al-ʿilal.
Texts:
- al-Madkhal ilā Asānīd al-Kutub al-Sittah, Yousuf Ghouse
- al-Muyassirāt, Muhammad Abbasomar
Takhrīj is an applied discipline that enables one to locate narrations in their source material, compare variant chains, identify anomalies, and determine a narration’s most accurate version. This module begins by familiarizing one with the literature that is essential to carry out this task. Thereafter, students will be given weekly assignments to hone their takhrīj skills and master the discipline.
Texts:
- al-Nukat fī at-Takhrīj, Muhammad Abbasomar
- al-Madkhal ilā ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth al-Sharīf, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Mālik
- al-Kashf al-Ḥathīth, Muhammad Abbasomar
- Takhrīj al-Ḥadīth, Markaz al-Iḥsān
Project: Complete takhrīj of a book
The works of Shaykh ʿAwwāmah are revolutionary in their presentation of historical concepts in ḥadīth, the methodologies of ḥadīth authors, and in their exposition of often-misunderstood concepts. This module will study his works with the intent to thoroughly familiarize students with his thought and appreciate his scholarship.
Texts:
- Ḥukm al-ʿAmal bi-l-Ḥadīth al-Ḍaʿīf
- Lamaḥāt fī Madhhab al-Imām Ibn Ḥibbān
- Min Manhaj al-Imām Ibn Khuzaymah
- Manhaj al-Imām Muslim fī ʿArḍ al-Ḥadīth al-Maʿlūl
- Kalimāt ʿan Manhaj al-Imām al-Bukhārī
- al-Taḥdhīr min al-Tawārud ʿan Qawl dūn al-Rujūʿ ilā al-Maṣādir al-Aṣliyyah
- Kalimah ʿan al-Tawaqqī ʿan al-Taḥrīf
- Muqaddimat Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb (selections)
- Dirāsāt al-Kāshif (selections)
- Tathbīt al-Sunnah, Muhammad Abbasomar
This course will provide a foundation in the emerging field of Uṣūl al-Tafsīr, broadly following the format of Shaykh Musāʿid al-Ṭayyār’s al-Taḥrīr fī Uṣūl al-Tafsīr with reference to other works on the topic. Topics will include Tafsīr al-Qurʾān bi-l-Qurʾān; al-Tafsīr al-Nabawī; the tafsīr of the Salaf and its authority; the validity of new, novel interpretations and differentiating valid opinions from invalid opinions; al-Tafsīr al-Lughawī; Isrāʾīliyyāt; the methodology for critiquing tafsīr narrations; and difference of opinion within tafsīr. Discussions will be further augmented by weekly discussion-based seminars/workshops requiring student research.
This course provides a broad overview of tafsīr works, acquainting the student with understanding methodologies and approaches of exegetes and style and sources of each tafsīr. Students will further discover which exegetes borrow from others and to what extent. This will begin with a broad overview of about seventy tafāsīr arranged chronologically. Thereafter, the scope will be narrowed to a core of tafāsīr arranged topically, first highlighting balāghah-based tafāsīr, centering on al-Kashshāf of Imām al-Zamakhsharī, Anwār al-Tanzīl of Imām al-Bayḍāwī, and Irshād al-ʿAql al-Salīm of Imām Ebbussud Effendi, then shift to naql-based tafāsīr, then dirāyah-based tafāsīr, and finally tafāsīr authored within the last century, including Urdu tafāsīr.
This module will include a detailed exposition of the history of tafsīr, its evolution, and the key works of the genre, allowing students to become more keenly aware of the value of major tafāsīr by understanding the role they played in shaping the genre and influencing the works that succeeded them.
Year One, Semester Two
In this module, students will embark on a detailed study of a portion of Imām Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd’s masterpiece, Sharḥ al-Ilmām. This work contains arguably a more detailed discussion on particular narrations than any other ḥadīth commentary. As an example, from a single ḥadīth alone, the author extracts over 400 rulings. This commentary will be studied to expand students’ horizons, train them in deciphering difficult texts, and expose them to the depths to which ḥadīth analysis can go.
Texts: Sharḥ al-Ilmām, Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd
This module will also be coupled with an exhaustive study of ḥujjiyat al-ḥadīth, giving students the necessary tools to engage with those who deny the authority and/or historicity of the Sunnah. Special attention will be given to highlighting the relevance of this discussion in our time, the extent of ḥadīth rejection today, and what causes lead to ḥadīth rejection or heresy in our time. Special seminars will take place discussing modernism, post-modernism, and their role in shaping approaches to ḥadīth in our time.
Texts:
- Tathbīt Ḥujjiyyat al-Sunnah wa-Naqḍ Uṣūl al-Munkirīn, Aḥmad b. Yūsuf al-Sayyid
- Ḥujjiyat al-Ḥadīth, Mawlānā Idrīs Kāndihlawī
- al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah Waḥy, Khalīl Mullā Khāṭir
- al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah, Markaz al-Iḥsān
A ḥadīth scholar serves the people, and one of the most important functions of a ḥadīth scholar is to know 1) what resources they can use to find answers to questions and 2) how to go about using those resources to find them. This module will serve as an interactive, engaging class on how to find answers to ḥadīth-related questions, as well as how to answer them properly:
Texts:
- al-Fatāwā al-Ḥadīthiyyah, Ibn Ḥajar al-Haythamī
- al-Yawāqīt al-Ghāliyah, Muḥammad Yūnus al-Jōnpūrī
- Practical ḥadīth questions
Transmission History and Hadith Fabrication (Khidmat al-Nās)
This module will serve as an in-depth analysis of the history of ḥadīth transmission as a whole, as well as the history of prevarication in ḥadīth, culminating in a detailed procedural approach to identifying mawḍūʿāt. This aims to impart the requisite skills required to identify spurious narrations and create greater appreciation for the scholars of ḥadīth in their role in upholding and defending the sunnah.
Texts:
- Lamaḥāt min Tārīkh al-Sunnah, ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah
- al-Maṣnūʿ fī Maʿrifat al-Ḥadīth al-Mawḍūʿ, ʿAlī al-Qārī, ed. ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah
- al-Waḍʿ fī al-Ḥadīth, ʿUmar Fallātah
Dirāsat al-Asānīd (al-Taʾhīl/al-Difāʿ/Khidmah)
Learning the names and mechanics of asānīd is one of the most fundamental knowledge bases of the ḥadīth scholar. As such, this class will serve as a fundamental base for future classes, such as al-ʿilal and al-jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl, and will be a detailed introduction to one of the greatest specialties of our religion:
Texts:
- Dirāsat al-Asānīd, Markaz al-Iḥsān
- al-Munāqashah, ʿAwwāmah & Maʿrūfī
- Muqaddimat al-Ḍurr al-Munaḍḍad, ʿAbdallāh Maʿrūfī
- al-Taʿqīb al-Mumajjad, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Mālik
- Kashf al-Maʿlūl
This course will build on the foundation of Uṣūl al-Tafsīr I by delving into more specific topics. Discussions will include:
- Abwāb of ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān: These include ʿilm al-makkī wa-l-madanī, gharīb al-Qurʾān, al-wujūh wa-l-maẓāʾir, al-muḥkam wa-l-mutashābih, munāsabat al-āyāt wa-l-suwar, amthāl al-Qurʾān, aqsām al-Qurʾān, ʿādāt al-Qurʾān, maqāṣid al-suwar, naskh and its historicity, etc.
- Asbāb al-Nuzūl: This includes theory, history of the term, work of Andrew Rippin, examining recent theories regarding asbāb al-nuzūl (Waliullah, Farahi, Ibn ʿĀshūr), critiquing claims of asbāb al-nuzūl through ʿilal, understanding the principle of generality of application of a verse, and determining causative occurrence when there is a multiplicity of narratives.
- Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān: Consisting of understanding and responding to doubts and difference of opinion in regards to what the miracle of the Quran is; a detailed history of the science of iʿjāz (using Madākhil Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān by Shaykh Maḥmūd Shākir); a summary of the most important theories; and the relation between iʿjāz and tafsīr.
- Science and the Quran (al-tafsīr al-ʿilmī): Covers “scientific miracles,” including their scope and limitations and a case study of verses that are claimed to contravene science.
- Qirāʾāt and Tafsīr: Includes differences of meaning as per differences in qirāʾāt, efforts of the scholars to harmonize or resolve qirāʾāt, the field of tawjīh al-qirāʾāt, and how to understand the methodology of certain mufassirīn in their critiques of some of the qirāʾāt mutawātirah.
This module will begin with a brief history of the sciences of naḥw and balāghah and the influence they had on tafsīr. Thereafter, discussions of dalālat al-alfāẓ will be studied from works of uṣūl al-fiqh. Thereafter, the chapters pertaining to naḥw, balāghah, and dalalāt al-alfāẓ will be studied from Imām al-Suyūṭī’s al-Itqān. Students will then study portions of challenging tafāsīr, such as Irshād al-ʿAql al-Salīm, al-Kashshāf, Tafsīr al-Bayḍāwī, and naḥw-based tafāsīr such as al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ and al-Durr al-Maṣūn and explore application of these concepts in tafsīr, as well as acclimate themselves to begin navigating these challenging tafāsīr comfortably.
Year Two, Semester One
Narrator criticism is one of the most detailed and nuanced sciences of Islam. Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah said that if a student spent his entire life studying the science of al-jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl, he would be unable to reach its end. Emphasis will be given to both the theoretical and the practical components of the science, in shāʾa Allāh. Students will read the classic primers on the subject, while researching the biographies of narrators to learn and understand how the ḥadīth scholars assessed them. Furthermore, students will undertake studies into the missteps of certain researchers in the field to better appreciate the nuances of narrator criticism. This is a yearlong course that will continue into Semester IV.
Texts:
- Tadrīb al-Rāwī (Vol. 4), Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, ed. Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah
- Section on al-Jarḥ & Taʿdīl in Dirāsat al-Asānīd, Markaz al-Iḥsān
- Uṣūl al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl, Nūr al-Dīn ʿItr
- Muqaddimah of Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb, Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah
- Dirāsāt al-Kāshif, Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah
- al-Rafʿ wa-l-Takmīl, ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī
This reading of Tadrīb al-Rāwī will build on the student’s knowledge of ʿilm al-muṣṭalaḥ gained from Muqaddimat Ibn Ṣalāḥ. This course will thoroughly examine a wide array of topics in ḥadīth theory through the commentary and footnotes of Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah. This is a yearlong course that will continue into Semester IV
The science of ʿilal al-ḥadīth is an intricate science that deals with minor defects in the ḥadīth of reliable narrators. This module is a major point of focus in Year Two. This module imparts insight into how classical scholars detected minor defects in ḥadīth. This nuanced understanding of differentiating acceptable from unacceptable narrations forms the basis in countering the sweeping orientalist dismissal of the authenticity of the ḥadīth corpus.
Texts:
- Selected notes of the instructor
- Sharḥ ʿIlal al-Tirmidhī (Vol. 2), Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī
- Muqāranat al-Marwiyyāt, Ibrāhīm ʿAbdallāh al-Lāḥim
- Maʿrifat Madār al-Isnād wa-Bayān Makānatihi fī ʿIlm ʿIlal al-Ḥadīth, Muḥammad Mujīr al-Khaṭīb
- Dirāsāt Taqyīdiyyah wa-Taṭbīqiyyah fī ʿIlm ʿIlal al-Ḥadīth, Aḥmad Maʿbad
Students will be tasked with preparing and delivering lectures on select sections of the Quran to a wide array of audiences. This exercise aims to train students in recognizing the best tafāsīr to consult for each purpose, citing an āyah appropriately in a real-world context (istishhād), correctly relating the verses to the current context, and reflecting on the verses (tadabbur), while highlighting common mistakes and teaching what to avoid. Thereafter, students will study translation of the Quran, its history, theory, and principles, the necessity of rooting translation in the tafsīr tradition, and differing approaches towards translation, all while highlighting importance of fluency in the language being translated into. Included is a survey of multiple translations, identifying trends and approaches of various translators. The course will then explore provide an overview of the history of the genre of mushkil al-Qurʾān, culminating in a study of difficult verses and tasking students with generating satisfying explanations. Moreover, students will study the emerging genre of al-tafsīr al-mawḍūʿī and learn how to effectively utilize it in a public setting.
This will build on the tafsīr exposure acquired in the previous year by training students to understand the process behind tafsīr, understanding the workings of an exegete’s mind while generating tafsīr. Portions of advanced tafāsīr, both concise, such as al-Jalālayn, Anwār al-Tanzīl, and Madārik al-Tanzīl, as well as voluminous, such as Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, Rūḥ al-Maʿānī, and al-Taḥrīr wa-l-Tanwīr will be studied, supplemented with the breath of tafsīr scholarship. In this way, students will endeavor to understand why the exegete selected those specific points to mention and what background concepts were necessary in understanding āyāt. Students will be further trained in utilizing source material of these tafāsīr to aid in understanding the tafsīr at hand.
Students will also be trained practically in the art of tadabbur of the Quran, cultivating the ability to better understand and thereafter generate tafsīr bi-l-raʾy. This class, therefore, will be a culmination and practical application of all the theory studied in the first year: uṣūl, lughah, and manāhij al-mufassirīn. The student will be instilled with the ability to break down and decode the texts of the more complex tafāsīr, gaining insight into the intent of the author behind every word that was carefully chosen to convey the intended meaning.
Year Two, Semester Two
Continued from previous semester.
Continued from previous semester.
This module will serve as a deep-dive into the Orientalist movement, its principal motivations, and objections against the ḥadīth corpus. It will examine the misconceptions behind those objections and discuss responses to them. The module will culminate in an advanced confutation of Orientalist texts, papers, or arguments hitherto left unaddressed in their particularity. This course serves as the culmination of many of the previous courses, providing grounding to the scholar in critically engaging with our age’s predominant perspectives towards ḥadīth.
Texts:
- Notes prepared by the instructor
- Chapter Nine of Jonathan Brown’s Hadith: Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World
- al-Anwār al-Kāshifah, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muʿallimī
- Critical reading of Joshua Little’s The Hadith of ʿĀʾishah’s Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory
This course is aimed at cultivating students’ research skills with Quran and tafsīr. Topics will include: general tafsīr questions, Isrāʾīliyyāt (Judaica), taḥqīq of tafsīr narrations and/or asbāb al-nuzūl narrations, translation of excerpts, misunderstood verses, tafsīr methodology, heterodox interpretations, etc. This course will conclude with a detailed thesis on a particular Quran-related topic. Students will choose a thesis topic to write on in their first year, continue working on it throughout the course, and present it in Semester IV.
This course will examine heterodox interpretations of the Quran and hermeneutical frameworks and investigate the underlying motivating factors behind them. Students will be trained to identify aberrant opinions and determine why they are incorrect. The course will include a broad overview of feminist, liberal, Ismaili, Shiite, and other readings of the Quran. Orientalist theories regarding the “sources” of the Quran will also be discussed in detail.
The course will also examine critically the tafsīr methodology of Muslim scholars such as Hamiduddin Farahi and his followers and his theory of naẓm and its implications.
Program Details
Starting August 2025
Monday through Friday
On-Site Only
7:40 AM to 12 PM
Instructors
Yousuf Ghouse was born and raised in Chicago. He completed his memorization of the Quran and then later graduated from UIC with a degree in Math and Economics. He graduated from Darul Uloom Zakariyya and pursued post-graduate ḥadīth studies under Mufti Muhammad Ishaq Bhana, a student of Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah.
Farhan Shariff was born and raised in St. Louis. He completed his memorization of the Quran and later graduated from Madrasah Inaamiyah. He pursued post-graduate ḥadīth studies under Mawlānā Muhammad Abbasomar, a student of Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah. He is a contributor on hadithanswers.com.
Jibril Mohammed was born and raised in Florida. He completed his memorization of the Quran and later graduated from Darul Uloom Azaadville. He pursued postgraduate ḥadīth studies under Mufti Muhammad Ishaq Bhana, a student of Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah.
Sulaiman Siraj was born and raised in Chicago. He completed his memorization of the Quran and later graduated from DarusSalam Seminary. He completed iftāʾ and pursued post-graduate tafsīr studies under the supervision of Mufti Rida al-Haqq in Darul Uloom Zakariyya for five years.
Application Process
Applicants are required to have completed a formal Islamic seminary education (the Dars Nizami curriculum or its equivalent). As part of the admission process, all applicants will have a conversation with the faculty to gauge their readiness in the key areas essential for success in the program. Applicants who may need additional preparation will be provided resources and recorded lectures by some of the faculty members. Upon completing this material, applicants will undertake an evaluative exercise designed to assess their readiness. Admission to the program is contingent upon demonstrating the necessary competence, ensuring that applicants are well-equipped to meet the rigorous demands of the curriculum.
- Complete the Online Application - You will be guided through the process to provide the necessary information. Please take your time to ensure that all required fields are completed accurately.
- Schedule Your Interview - Once your application has been successfully submitted, you will receive a confirmation email. This email will contain important information, including instructions on how to schedule your interview. Be sure to check your email promptly after submission and select a convenient time for your interview.
- Interview and Evaluation - During your interview, we will discuss your application in more detail and explore your motivations for applying to the program. This is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have about our program. As part of the interview process, we will conduct an evaluative exercise to assess your preparation. Following the interview, we will review your application, along with the insights gained during our conversation, and contact you regarding the next steps.
Important Information
- This is a two-year program that follows a 1 + 1 format.
- Merit and need-based aid is available; no applicant will be denied due to financial constraints.
- On-site attendance is required. Participants who are unable to attend onsite due to extenuating circumstances may email revelatorysciences@masjidds.org to request accommodations. In certain cases, accommodations for a tailored hybrid onsite/online setup may be provided. These may include international applicants who find difficulty securing a visa for extended stay in the US.
- Classes will begin in August 2025 taking place Monday through Friday from 7:40 AM to 12 PM.
- Qualified applicants, both male and female, are welcome to apply.
- Complete your application as outlined above. Your interview will include a discussion of your application and motivations for applying, as well as an opportunity to ask questions. Afterward, we will review your application and contact you with the next steps.
- For any immediate questions not addressed in the prospectus, please send an e-mail to revelatorysciences@masjidds.org.