The "crowning achievement" of Muslim scholarship, Islamic law is arguably one of the most difficult disciplines to master. Yet it is extremely practical because it deals with real-world issues that Muslims face in their day-to-day lives, making the learning of every single scholar incomplete until they have studied a classical manual of Islamic Law from cover-to-cover. Mastering other disciplines, such as theology, legal methodology, Arabic grammar, hadith, and tafsir, only enable one to answer a very small set of questions that the common person has because the vast, vast majority of questions that they have revolve around Islamic Law. This is why anyone who is planning on being in a position where they will answer people’s religious questions must have a solid grounding in this area.
Few students of knowledge ever get the opportunity to read a classical manual of Islamic Law that covers all of the chapters of Islamic Law (not just worship or 'ibadat) from cover-to-cover under a teacher, and thereby they miss out on the comprehensive understanding of exactly what it means for our religion to be a "way of life". The Reliance Explained seeks to fill this void in a series of four courses that cover a complete classical manual of Islamic Law. By gaining a comprehensive understanding of Islamic Law, you will be able to attain godfearingness (taqwa) in your lives because you will know how Allah's command relates to everything you do. In addition, you will become familiarized with more and more fiqh terminology in Arabic.
By the end of these four courses, you will have read the Reliance of the Traveler word-for-word with the instructor, which is the classical way of acquiring knowledge. You will learn how to understand the terse expressions of classical manuals, and appreciate the value of writing manuals in such a manner. You will be able to sense before you do something in your life how it is religiously significant and what kinds of questions you need to ask before undertaking a particular action, because until someone has studied a manual of Islamic Law, they often do things not realizing that they may be falling into something unlawful.
The text of this series, the Reliance of the Traveler, is an in-depth manual of Islamic law based on 'Umdat al-Salik by the great scholar Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri. Shaykh Nuh Keller’s translation is the first Islamic legal work in a European language to receive the certification of al-Azhar.
Part 2 will build on your previous study of Islamic Law, particularly Introduction to Islamic Worship Part 1 and 2 based on al-Maqasid. The course will enable you to understand complex scenarios related to Zakat, fasting, and Hajj according to the Shafi`i school. Particular emphasis will be placed on high-level principles that subsume a large number of low-level details underneath them. You will also solve a large number of case studies based on what you learn in order to ensure that you can apply what you have learned to real-world scenarios. In areas of controversy, the course will also digress to discuss some of the proofs from the Quran and Sunna for legal rulings, and you will also be exposed (in some issues) to opinions held by scholars of other schools (may Allah be pleased with all of them).