The Method of Teaching Arabic Language and Literature
Our esteemed colleague, Mawlānā Ṣafwān Aḥmad Ḥalīmī Qāsimī, has asked what is the correct method for teaching Arabic language and literature. The Arabic language…
Scholarship and Method
This topic concerns the pursuit of knowledge itself: who counts as a student of knowledge, how the sacred sciences are taught, and the manners and methods that scholarship demands. These articles by Shaykh Akram Nadwi reflect his lifelong concern with sound method, careful questioning, and the transmission of learning from one generation to the next.
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Different Approaches to Teaching Arabic Language
The debate within Nadwat al-ʿUlamāʾ Among the pedagogical questions that have occupied the educational mind of Nadwat al-ʿUlamāʾ, and have provoked a profound scholarly debate among its shuyūkh and lecturers, is the question of the…
Cold is Cold and Heat is Heat
The history of humankind is such that in every age of reason we have invented chains of the scaffold and the gallows. From the…
Women’s Education
Among the many problems confronting Muslims today, one of the most critical is the question of “the status of women in Islam.” Serious effort…
Exalting God and His Messenger
A retreat in Leicester Al-Salam Institute arranged a retreat for its students in the city of Leicester, United Kingdom, from 26–29 Shaʿbān 1445 AH.…
What is History?
The discipline of history is among those foundational sciences without which it is difficult to regard anyone as truly learned. There are three such…
Correcting Hadith Errors on the Basis of al-Bukhārī and Historical Research
Introduction “Ḥadīth is a kind of history.” On this theme I have written a number of articles in Arabic and Urdu. Scholars and students…
The Tale of the Fox’s Tail is False
One day I was giving a lesson to my students. The topic was envy (ḥasad), and I wanted its evil reality to be impressed…
Principles of Discussion
The fundamental principle of research and scholarly discourse is to understand correctly the relationship between language and meaning. In any investigation or intellectual debate,…
Learn to Walk Alone
A Counsel to the Students of Al-Salam Institute You are among the fortunate ones who have been blessed with the opportunity to breathe in…
Standard
A mi‘yār is a defined measure, an agreed-upon principle, or an established point of reference against which other things are assessed, weighed, or judged.…
The Light of Verification and the Defeat of Speculation
Verification (taḥqīq) is that refined and precious faculty of human consciousness through which civilisations progress and attain excellence. It is this very power that…
Knights of Knowledge and Literature
In an age in which libraries overflow with a multitude of publications, the book Fursān al-ʿIlm wa-l-Adab (Knights of Knowledge and Literature) by the…
Questions & Answers on Scholarship and Method
View all Q&A →Imām al-Bukhārī and Imām Muslim on the meeting of narrators
Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh Sidi Shaykh Akram I pray this message finds you in good health and I ask Allah SWT to shower you with His favours in both worlds. Beloved Shaykh this is your student Jawed Tarin…
The meaning of ‘ummi’
Dr Amsha Nahid from Australia asked the following question: Assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, Dear Shaykh, I read an article claiming that the word ‘Ummi’ in the Qur’an means “gentile” (non-Jew) or someone unfamiliar with the Law of Musa…
al-Jāḥiẓ on the definitions of balāghah
Assalamo Alaikum, I pray Almighty to find you in good health. Of late, I was studying up. It was Al-Bayan wa-Al-Tabyeen of Al-Jahiz (775-868 A.D.). An erudite para stuck me up. I was, indeed, at a loss. I could not…
Books on Scholarship and Method
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Usul al-Shashi
Usul al-Shashi is a well-known compendium on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence according to the Hanafi school. Despite…
Lessons Learned: Treasures from Nadwah’s Sages
I joined Nadwat al-ʿUlamāʾ and felt as if I had been raised from the dusty ground to the…
Foundation to Hadith Science
This primer on understanding and studying hadith was authored by Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi after the realization that…