Level: One

Instructors: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani & Mohammad Tayssir Safi

Course Overview

An introduction to the formal study of Islamic beliefs through a traditional manual of Islamic theology. Take this course to understand the basic methods of Islamic logic and how to use them to gain evidence-based conviction in Allah Most High, His attributes, His messengers, and the afterlife. This knowledge that you will learn in this course is the context that will give your life its purpose.

About the Course Text

An introduction to the formal study of Islamic beliefs through a traditional manual of Islamic theology. Take this course to understand the basic methods of Islamic logic and how to use them to gain evidence-based conviction in Allah Most High, His attributes, His messengers, and the afterlife. This knowledge that you will learn in this course is the context that will give your life its purpose. The course is an explanation of al-Kharida al-Bahiyya (“The Lustrous Pearl”), an introduction to the science of Islamic theology by the great theologian, spiritual master, and foremost Maliki jurist of al-Azhar, Shaykh Ahmad al-Dardir (d. 1201 A.H. / 1786 C.E.). The Kharida is a 71-line didactic poem that, in its own words, is “slight and small in size, but great in knowledge.” For hundreds of years, it has been studied and memorized by beginners of Islamic theology, and is frequently quoted by students and teachers alike because of its pithy expressions. A downloadable copy of the course text in both English and Arabic is provided as part of the course materials.

Who is this course for?

• This is a second-level course in Level One.

• Before taking this course, take The Absolute Essentials of Islam (Hanafi) or The Absolute Essentials of Islam (Shafi‘i)

• Take this course before all courses in Level Two.

Course Outline

Lesson 1: Introduction to Class and Biography of Author Logical Rulings.

Lesson 2:  Introduction to Categories of Rational or Logical Rulings and What is Necessary for Allah Most High

Lesson 3: What is Impossible and Possible for Allah Most High and Islamic Atomic Theory Theology (Ilahiyyat)

Lesson 4: Introduction to Theology and Attributes of Negation

Lesson 5: Logical Absurdities: Infinite Regress (tasalsul) and Circularity (dawr)

Lesson 6: Attributes of Affirmation

Lesson 7: Relationship Between Attributes of Affirmation

Lesson 8: Logically Impossible for Allah Most High Prophetology (Nubuwwat)

Lesson 9: Introduction and What is Necessary for the Prophets

Lesson 10: What is Impossible and Possible for the Prophets Eschatology (Sam’iyyat)

Lesson 11: Angels, Jinn, and the Afterlife Sufism LESSON 12 – Sufism and Ending Comments

Learning Outcomes

• Learn and use the basic logical methods of traditional Islamic theology

• Memorize the attributes of Allah Most High, His messengers, His angels, and other unseen beings

• Memorize the key events that will take place after death

• Develop evidence-based conviction in all of the above

• Understand how to turn mental conviction into spiritual certainty

• Appreciate the logical rigor of Islamic theology

About the Instructors

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.

Mohammed Tayssir Safi is a doctoral candidate at Ibn Haldun University. At the university’s Islamic Studies department, he specializes in Ḥadīth Studies, with a particular focus on the epistemological framework used in the technical study of ḥadīth. In parallel with his academic studies at the university, Mohammed has been a long-time student of the Islamic Sciences in traditional educational circles. To that end, he has spent years studying in Damascus (Syria), Cairo (Egypt), Tarim (Yemen), and most recently, Istanbul (Turkey). He is also a graduate of Sultan Ahmet Madrasa’s “IKAN,” program, which focuses on Islamic theology (Kalām). Mohammed holds a master’s degree from the University of Michigan in applied linguistics (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language), as well as a certificate in Manuscript Editing from Istanbul’s main Islamic Research institution, ISAM.

Mohammed currently teaches courses in Islamic Theology (Kalām) and Ḥadīth Studies for SeekersGuidance and resides with his family in Istanbul