[accordion clicktoclose=true tag=p scroll=true][accordion-item title="▽ The Modern Worldview
Instructor: Ustadh Mobeen Vaid & Dr. Sharif El-Tobgui"]

Course Description

Many Muslims today live torn between two distinct worldviews, value systems, and ways of life: that of Islam and that of the contemporary, secularized world created by the modern West. Though we believe in Islam, we live in the midst of an alternative – and very powerful – intellectual, social, and moral paradigm that impinges on us constantly and seeks to mold our views, judgments, and personalities in its own image.

Course Objectives

The objective of this session is to start building up a solid and comprehensive framework by which we may understand these distinct worldviews. The assumptions that underlie the questions of our day are often very deep-lying, frequently at the very root of our worldview itself. Intellectual and moral crises can arise when Islam and the dominant paradigm conflict and the questioner is unable to uncover the underlying genealogy of each view, in order better to manage the conflict and to find peace and conviction in a continuing commitment to Islam.

This session aims to begin answering the following questions: What is a worldview? What are the main differences between the Islamic worldview and that of the dominant contemporary culture? and How can we build a framework for analyzing the modern worldview critically from an informed and principled Islamic perspective? The deeper our grasp of both our religion and the world in which we live, the sharper will be our analysis of our situation and, hence, the more balanced, persuasive, durable, and authentic will be the answers we eventually seek to provide to the many challenges of our age.

About the Instructors

Mobeen Vaid is a Muslim public intellectual and writer based in the Washington, DC area who focuses on how traditional Islamic frames of thinking intersect the modern world. He has authored a number of pieces on Islamic sexual and gender norms, including “Can Islam Accommodate Homosexual Acts? Qur’anic Revisionism and the Case of Scott Kugle” and “‘And the Male Is Not like the Female’: Sunni Islam and Gender Nonconformity, Part I” (Part II on the verge of publication), in addition to numerous other articles on the moral, ethical, spiritual, political, and social challenges of Muslim life in the modern world.

Carl Sharif el-Tobgui holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from McGill University (2013) and currently serves as Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Brandeis University, outside of Boston. He has recently published a study on Ibn Taymiyya’s Darʾtaʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql and is interested in the many philosophical, moral, and other challenges facing Muslims in the modern world.
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[accordion-item title="▽ Forged in Fire: Purifying the Soul in Unconducive Conditions
Instructor: Shaykh Tameem Ahmadi"]

Shaykh Tameem Ahmadi (may Allah preserve him) is a Bay Area native and a Newark Memorial High School graduate. After initially studying at San Francisco State University he went on to pursue the higher calling of sacred knowledge. Over the greater part of the next decade, Shaykh Tameem engaged in a rigorous curriculum of religious knowledge, studying under some of the foremost scholars of North America, Africa, & South Asia.

During this span Shaykh Tameem was granted numerous ijazaat, surpassing the equivalent of a masters degree, in the Islamic sciences including Fiqh, Hadith, Aqidah, Tafsir, Usul, Arabic Grammar & its Branches, Spirituality, and more. In addition he was granted ijazah with isnad in numerous books of ahadith including the Sihhah Sittah, the 6 most authentic collections of hadith. Some of the illustrious scholars from whom he attained Ijazah of hadith from are the likes of Mufti Taqi Usmani and Maulana Salimullah Khan.

After completing the highly regarded dars nizami curriculum and being granted the shahadah alimiyya (recognition of Islamic scholarship), Shaykh Tameem immersed himself in the study of the Islamic Spiritual Sciences of the Heart under the private tutelage of one of the most honorable Spiritual Masters of our time, focusing on the subject of tazkiyah & tarbiyah (Purification of the Heart). Being granted the mantle of authorization to teach and transmit, he returned to the Bay Area under the advice and suggestion of his Shaykh.

Since his return to the Bay Area, Shaykh Tameem has dedicated himself to teaching and benefiting the community with what he had mastered abroad. Shaykh Tameem currently teaches classes on Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Aqidah, Tazkiya, and Arabic Grammar. He is a regular lecturer at numerous Masajid and Halaqahs throughout Northern California. He has translated a number of booklets and articles, and continues to strive in his literary efforts.

The respected Shaykh currently heads many scholastic efforts and is a counselor and mentor for religious seekers of all ages, teaching both the dedicated student of knowledge and the casual learner. He is fluent in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and English.

He currently resides in Fremont, CA with his family.
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[accordion-item title="▽ Partners in Faith: Journeying to Allah with our Spouses
Instructor: Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera"]

Dr. Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera is a British Muslim scholar educated in both the Islamic and Western traditions. He memorised the Qur’an by heart and graduated from the Darul Uloom seminary Bury, UK, and later undertook studies in ifta’ at Madrasah Zakariyya, South Africa, under Mufti Rada’ al-Haqq, and then at Mazahir ‘Ulum Saharanpur, India, under Mufti Muhammad Tahir Ghaziabadi. He earned his BA from the University of Johannesburg and completed his MA and PhD in Islamic Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. His PhD research was a critical edition of Shaykh Abu ‘l-Layth al-Samarqandi’s Kitab al-Nawazil, hailed as the first fatwa collection in the Hanafi school. He holds an honorary fellowship at the Cambridge Muslim College and at The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan. Mufti Abdur-Rahman has the unique experience of serving as an imam in Muslim communities on both sides of the Atlantic, eight years in Southern California and over five in the great city of London—and his continued work as an international speaker and lecturer enables him to address and offer advice on current challenges that face Muslims in the West. He is an avid traveller and continues to teach several post graduate courses and work on scholarly publications through White Thread Press (www.whitethreadpress.com). Many of his lectures are available on www.zamzamacademy.com and his courses through Rayyan Institute (www.rayyaninstitute.com).
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[accordion-item title="▽ Coronavirus Explained: Guidance in a Climate of Uncertainty
Instructor: Shaykh Dr. Mateen Khan"]

Course Objectives

• To learn what is the COVID-19  virus
• To learn the Islamic approach to the virus and dispelling misconceptions 
• To learn about the vaccines and fatwa considerations for permissibility

About the Instructor

Shaykh Dr. Mateen Khan was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. He completed his medical degree from Temple University Medical School, and specialized in Emergency Medicine.

As he began practicing as an Emergency Medicine physician, Shaykh Dr. Mateen simultaneously enrolled in the prestigious seminary program at Darul Uloom Al-Madania in Buffalo, where he spent six years intensively studying core disciplines of the traditional Islamic sciences, such as Arabic, Tafsir (Quranic Exegesis), Hadith (Prophetic Traditions), Fiqh (Jurisprudence), and other related subjects. As the new branch of the seminary opened in Chatham, Ontario by the name of Darul Uloom Canada, he relocated to it and completed his graduation there, gaining Ijazas or authorizations to teach the various subjects, most notably, the six most authentic books of Hadith, namely, Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Sunan an-Nasai, Sunan ibn Majah and Sunan Abu Dawud.

Currently, he resides in New Jersey where he serves the Muslim community and practices Medicine.
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[accordion-item title="▽ The Question of Gender and Gender Identity
Instructor: Ustadh Mobeen Vaid"]

Course Description

Though debates over gender have raged for some time, in recent years it has taken a particularly radical turn in questioning the foundational assumptions of gender itself. Today, an increasing number of people are asking: what is gender? And, more controversially, is it something we can change? The transgenderism movement has been built on the back of this very contention, namely, that gender is malleable and socially constructed. Moreover, it is a movement that is rapidly expanding, with increasing representation in the media, integration in school curricula, and federal legislation impinging on the ability of anyone to escape this now ubiquitous phenomenon.

During this session we will explore transgenderism in detail. What is “it”? Is it solitary, or are there differing manifestations of it? These and other questions will be covered during this session, bi idhnillah.

About the Instructor

Mobeen Vaid is a Muslim public intellectual and writer based in the Washington, DC area who focuses on how traditional Islamic frames of thinking intersect the modern world. He has authored a number of pieces on Islamic sexual and gender norms, including “Can Islam Accommodate Homosexual Acts? Qur’anic Revisionism and the Case of Scott Kugle” and “‘And the Male Is Not like the Female’: Sunni Islam and Gender Nonconformity, Part I” (Part II on the verge of publication), in addition to numerous other articles on the moral, ethical, spiritual, political, and social challenges of Muslim life in the modern world.
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[accordion-item title="▽ Reformation through Repentance: An Elucidation of Excerpts from Ghazali's Iḥyā′ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn
Instructor: Shaykh Dr. Shadee Elmasry"]

Dr. Shadee Elmasry was born and raised in New Jersey. He began studying at the age of eighteen, traveling to a number of countries including Egypt, KSA, Yemen and Morocco.

In addition to traditional learning, Dr. Elmasry has received has an M.A. from George Washington University and a PhD from the University of London SOAS. Dr. Elmasry went on to teach at several universities including Yale University, University of London SOAS, Trinity College, Hartford Seminary and Manhattanville College.

Currently, he serves as Scholar in Residence at the New Brunswick Islamic Center in New Jersey. He is also the founder and head of Safina Society—an institution dedicated to the cause of traditional Islamic education in the West.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Islamic Wealth Management: Investing Savings & Raising Capital
Instructor: Mufti Abrar Mirza"]

Course Description

Islam being a complete way of life addresses the different dimensions of a believer's life. These dimensions which are crucial for the success of a Muslim can be divided into distinct categories: our belief system, ritual acts of worship, and our inter-personal dealings socially as well as financially. A Muslim cannot succeed if they neglect even one of these dimensions. Having learned the basics of beliefs and worship, it is now time to learn the Islamic ways of managing finances.

Course Objectives

• Islamic Investments - Stocks, mutual funds, forex, bonds, derivatives, etc.
• Investing your 401k in a halal manner.
• Islamic home financing: Current Islamic models and their differences from conventional financing
• Business financing: Models, how to raise capital, privacy of total earnings

About the Instructor

Mufti Abrar Mirza began his Arabic and Islamic Studies at Benedictine University (Lisle, IL) while enrolled in a degree program in Information Systems. He graduated from Benedictine University in 2006 with honors and a degree in Information Systems while simultaneously pursuing his Islamic studies full-time. In 2009, Mufti Abrar completed his training under the tutelage of Mufti Ebrahim Desai (may Allah lengthen his life), a world-renowned jurist and expert in Islamic finance.  He is also fortunate to have received authorization to narrate from forty-four books of hadith.

Mufti Abrar is the founder of the American Fiqh Academy and is active in the field of research and issuing legal verdicts (fatwas).  In addition, he serves as an instructor of jurisprudence (fiqh) and hadith to advanced ‘Alim course students in Chicago, and he also trains ‘ulama in the field of issuing legal verdicts.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Parenting in the Digital Era
Instructor: Dr. Jawad Pervez"]

Dr. Jawad Pervez completed his undergraduate education at Loyola University Chicago and went on to complete his medical school studies at Midwestern University within the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He then went on to pursue his residency in Adult Psychiatry at Loyola University Medical Center. Dr. Pervez has been working for Advocate-Aurora Health in Kenosha, WI since 2015 in adult psychiatric practice with an outpatient clinic and consult-liasion work at the Advocate-Aurora hospital in Kenosha.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Crisis: What to Do In Confusing Times
Instructor: Shaykh Hamzah Wald Maqbul"]
He was born in Whittier, California, and lived in Southern California until the age of ten when he moved to Blaine, Washington. After graduating from Blaine High School, he went on to attend the University of Washington and in 2004 completed a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelors of Arts in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

During his study at the university he was active on campus, serving as the president of the UW Muslim Students Association. After 9/11 he was also listed by the University of Washington as an expert on Islam and was invited to address various groups from all walks of life from universities to high schools to community groups as well as all forms of media (TV, Radio, Newspaper, Internet).

After graduation Shaykh Hamzah went on to pursue traditional Islāmic studies, which took him to a number of countries, including Syria and Egypt where he studied the Arabic language, Morocco, Mauritania, and UAE, where he studied the madhhab of Imām Mālik, grammar, usul al-hadith, and the two renditions of the qira’ah of Imam Nāfi’, Warsh and Qālūn, and finally Pakistān where he had the opportunity to study tafsīr, Usūl al-Hadīth, Hadīth, ‘Ilm al-Rijāl and Hanafī Fiqh. All of these studies culminated in him receiving an Ijāzat al-Tadrīs, literally meaning “a license to teach” which is the equivalent in Pakistānī Islāmic seminaries to a MA in Arabic and Islāmic studies, as well as an unbroken chain of transmission by which to narrate the Hadīth of such books as the Muwatta' of Imām Mālik, the Sihāh al-Sittah (Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, Tirmidhī, Nasā'ī and Ibn Mājah), and the Sharh Ma'ānī al-Athār of Imām al-Tahāwī.

After his return to the United States, Shaykh Hamzah spent five years as the resident scholar of the Thawr Institute, a non-profit religious and educational organization based in Seattle, Washington, teaching, giving khutbahs in local Masājid, and travelling through America promoting the knowledge and practice of the sunnah. In parallel with his work at Thawr, he worked closely with Islamic Relief, CAIR Seattle, and a number of other non-profit organizations that serve the Muslim Community. He is currently the Imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, and the resident scholar for Ribāt, a center for learning and remembrance in the Midwest United States.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Silence No More: Hearing the Voices of the Oppressed
Instructor: Shaykh Sa'ad Quadri"]

Shaykh Sa'ad was born in Park Ridge, IL and grew up in the Chicagoland area. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Northern Illinois University in English and his master’s degree at DePaul University in Education. Along with his professional studies, Sa’ad also studied the sacred sciences initially through the Institute of Islamic Education and the Sacred Learning Individual Study Program. He eventually attended and graduated from Jamiah Islamiyya in Lusaka, Zambia. He has worked as an administrator and teacher for over a decade. He has also presented seminars and workshops on educational theory and practice with High Quality Education Consulting, with whom he has co-authored multiple books.

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[accordion-item title="▽ Spiritual Pandemic: Effects and Remedies of Pornography Addiction
Instructor: Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed"]

Azeemuddin Ahmed serves as director of Masjid DarusSalam. He was born and raised in the Chicagoland area. At a tender age, he memorized the Holy Qurʾān. Thereafter, he traveled to South Africa where he studied a rigorous eight-year ʿālimiyyah and iftāʾ course. During his studies, he was blessed with the opportunity to spend extensive time in the company of one of the world’s elite jurists and scholars. After graduating with top honors from South Africa, he went on to earn a BA in Psychology from Elmhurst College. He served as the director of AIA Masjid in Frankfort, Illinois from 2006 to 2012.

Azeemuddin’s dedication and passion for Islāmic education is unparalleled. He is continuously in the service of both scholars and students. An individual with sincere love for scholarship, he strives to ensure that everyone at the institute is well and benefiting from the program. His love and enthusiasm bring the classes he teaches to life, every class conveys priceless points that enrich and benefit those in attendance. As well, he serves as an associate Imām at Masjid DarusSalam.[/accordion-item]

[accordion-item title="▽ Saving the Muslim Family: Threat of Post Modernism
Instructor: Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali"]
Course Description

We have been taught that the stability of any society rests upon stable families and a well-informed populace. Families are the foundation of every society. And informed and moral populations pursue the true, the good, and the beautiful. What happens, however, when what is true, good, and beautiful are distorted and new definitions are imposed on society? What happens when family and personhood are redefined? This short course aims to acquaint students with the moral dangers that the media, feminism, queer theology, and other aspects of postmodern philosophy pose to Muslim families.

Course Objectives

• To learn the role the media, Hollywood, and public education play in shaping reality and morality
• To learn about the main corporations responsible for most of the information we consume and their goals
• To learn about the main postmodern philosophical strains that currently threaten religious and societal order
• To learn about the different waves, merits, and demerits of feminism
• To learn about LGBTQ efforts to redefine the human being, the moral consequences of that, and the members’ ideological diversity

About the Instructor

Abdullah bin Hamid Ali is an assistant professor of Islamic law and Prophetic Tradition at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California (2007-present). His course teachings include Prophetic Tradition, Commercial Law, Family Law, Inheritance Law, Jurisprudential Principles, Islamic Virtue Ethics.

He holds a Ph.D. in Cultural and Historical Studies in Religion (2016) and an M.A. in Ethics and Social Theory (2012) from the Graduate Theological Union. He obtained his B.A. (ijaza ‘ulya) in Islamic Law (Shariah) from the prestigious Al-Qarawiyin University of Fes, Morocco in 2001. He served as full time Islamic chaplain at the State Correctional Institute of Chester, PA from 2002-2007, and is the founding director of the Lamppost Education Initiative. His research interests include the interconnection between law and identity formation, comparative Islamic law, and Islam’s role in the modern world.
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[accordion-item title="▽ Twin Trials: Doubts and Desires
Instructor: Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed"]

Minhajuddin Ahmed serves as the Principal of the Academy as well as one of the institute’s directors. Born and raised in Illinois, he memorized the entire Qurʾān at a young age. Later in life, when he reached college age, he opted to dedicate his life to Islāmic Studies and traveled to South Africa.He studied the eight-year ʿālimiyyah and iftāʾ program graduating with teaching licenses and the permission to issue fatwā in the Ḥanafī School.

Upon returning to the United States, he served as the director of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis for several years before becoming involved at Masjid DarusSalam. He oversees the administration of the institute. His passion for knowledge and dedication to providing a high-quality institute to serve the North-American Muslim community is phenomenal. Along with imparting knowledge to students in the classroom, he envisages creating a brilliant beacon of knowledge that will inspire future generations by offering an opportunity to study Islām in a way that is relevant in contemporary contexts while holding fast to tradition. Along with teaching and overseeing the institute’s administration, he serves as the imām at Masjid DarusSalam.[/accordion-item]

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