Inheritors Ijaza

Inherit real scholarship.

The Inheritors Ijaza track allows you to gain complete mastery of a particular religious discipline by studying its classical teaching texts in their original Arabic, the language of Islamic religious scholarship.

You will gradually progress to higher level texts until you reach a level of independence. This level of independence means that you can use and reference the authoritative works of the discipline to answer questions that you receive related to the discipline and also teach these texts to others.

This is real scholarship, and true inheritance of our scholarly tradition.

What Is an Ijaza?

An ijaza is your connection to the Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace, through an uninterrupted chain of teachers, along with an authorization to teach from your own teacher. Through direct aural instruction, the teacher gives birth to the student into the world of religious scholarship, and the student becomes like the teacher's child. Merely listening to a teacher deliver a lesson is not sufficient for being born into the world of scholarship—for a student to claim a teacher as his parent, the teacher must approve of the student by authorizing him to convey sacred knowledge to others.

Why an Ijaza and Not Just a Degree?

The difference between an ijaza and a degree is this: An ijaza certifies that you have acquired an ability to read and understand not just the text that you studied, but all of the authoritative reference works of that discipline that are of a similar level to the text that you studied. By completing the ijaza track all the way to its end, all books of the discipline open up to you, and you are able to use the entire body of classical scholarship to solve contemporary problems. In other words, you have become a scholar.

A degree, on the other hand, only certifies that you have learned the information contained in the particular text that you studied. Although you can teach what you learned, you must still depend on scholars to deal with issues not explicitly covered in the text. In other words, you are still a student, albeit an advanced one.

Upon Completion

As mentioned above, upon completing the study of a particular discipline, you will be given an ijaza. This will allow you to use the works of the discipline as references in answering questions, as well as teach the books of the discipline to others.

Texts

By completing the Seekers Degree, you will have gained both the experience with beginning-level classical texts and the Arabic skills needed to read intermediate-level texts in their original Arabic.

The series of texts listed below represent a typical path of learning that you would take when seeking mastery of a particular discipline. Beginning-level texts are omitted from the list because by completing the Seeker's degree, you have already completed these. The first book on each list is an intermediate-level texts, and it is with this text that you will begin this stage of learning. In some cases, you may have to take transitional courses after the Seekers courses in order to be prepared for Inheritors.

Law (Hanafi)
Kanz al-Daqa'iq by Abu al-Barakat al-Nasafi
al-Hidaya by Marghinani

Law (Shafi`i)
Fath al-Mu`in by Zayn al-Din al-Mallibari
Minhaj al-Talibin by Yahya b. Sharaf al-Nawawi

Legal Methodology (Hanafi)
Mukhtasar al-Manar by Abu al-Barakat al-Nasafi
Kashf al-Asrar by Abu al-Barakat al-Nasafi
Kashf al-Asrar by Bazdawi

Legal Methodology (Shafi`i)
al-Luma` by Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi
Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli's Commentary on Jam` al-Jawami` by Taj al-Din al-Subki

Belief
Sharh al-`Aqa'id al-Nasafiyya by Sa`d al-Din al-Taftazani
Sharh al-Maqasid by Sa`d al-Din al-Taftazani

Logic
Zakariyya al-Ansari's Commentary on the Isaghuji by Athir al-din al-Abhari
Khabisi's Commentary on Tahdhib al-Mantiq wa al-Kalam by Sa`d al-Din al-Taftazani

Hadith Methodology
Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar by Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani
al-Muqaddima by Ibn al-Salah

Hadith Commentary (Hadith Study with Isnad)
Muwatta of Imam Malik
Sahih Muslim
Sahih al-Bukhari
Jami` al-Tirmidhi
Sunan Abu Dawud
Sunan al-Nasa'i
Sunan Ibn Majah

Quran Commentary
Tafsir al-Jalalayn by Jalal-Din al-Mahalli and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
Sections of Tafsir al-Baydawi by al-Qadi al-Baydawi

Arabic Grammar
Hasan al-Kafrawi's Commentary on the Ajurrumiyya
Qatr al-Nada by Ibn Hisham al-Ansari
Ibn 'Aqil's Commentary on the Alfiyya by Ibn Malik

Arabic Morphology
Sa`d al-Din al-Taftazani's Commentary on the 'Izziyya
Marah al-Arwah by Ahmad b. 'Ali b. Mas'ud

Arabic Rhetoric
Mukhtasar al-Ma`ani by Sa`d al-Din al-Taftazani

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