Bayyinah Institute: First Full Time Classical Arabic On-Campus Program in the US

Alhamdulillah, Bayyinah is proud to introduce the DREAM program – a program where students will experience ten months of intensive study, which will equip them with the quality of Arabic education that has thus far been unsurpassed in the western world. This powerful full-time  curriculum has been designed to remove the cultural barriers that students often face when traveling abroad to study and yet give them the exposure to classical texts and methods of study which have enriched Islamic traditions through centuries and generations. Bayyinah is introducing a system that will combine the best of both worlds – employing the innovative methods of teaching, which Bayyinah is widely known for, while giving classical Arabic instructional texts used throughout our scholarly traditions their full due.

The first batch begins its journey this September insha'Allah. The campus will be a state of the art facility in the heart of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas. The nearly 12,000 sq. ft space will comfortably accommodate a batch of fifty students [25 brothers and 25 sisters] each year. For students that will be attending from out of state, the location provides an additional advantage. It is close to the airport and there are several options for affordable, safe and appropriate housing within a square mile of the DREAM location, not to mention a major Islamic center.

The program will be taught by Bayyinah instructors Nouman Ali Khan, AbdulNasir Jangda, and Wisam Sharieff – along with additional modules from visiting scholars.

As the Muslim community in the West matures and move forward, a lot of discourse is taking place regarding the need to develop indigenous scholarship and community leadership. These scholars and leaders need to be well equipped to push our communities in a productive and positive direction. While this program will not produce scholars in and of themselves, it is our hope that Bayyinah can provide the foundation in Arabic and Quranic studies that will enable its students to move forward with a solid and practical foundation in the most crucial subjects needed to properly study Islam. In short, we are producing well qualified students that can truly benefit from scholars and bring that benefit to their communities.

To accomplish this, a thorough, one of a kind curriculum has been developed.

CORE ELEMENT: A rigorous Classical Arabic studies program with extensive focus on a deep literary and linguistic appreciation of the Qur’an. The program will produce graduates with advanced proficiency in key areas of Arabic studies including

• Grammar: Morphology and Syntax (Sarf & Nahw)
• Rhetoric: Word Order, Figures of Speech, Embellishments (Al-Ma'aani, Al-Bayaan, Al-Badee')
• Literary appreciation (Adab)
• Qur’anic linguistic analysis
• Reading & translating classical texts
• Advanced Composition
• Fluent Conversational Communication
• Oral Presentation
• Research

SECONDARY ELEMENT: The program will also include a memorization program requiring students to complete at least 6 juz of the Qur’an by the end along with a tradition certification (ijazah) in tajweed (proper recitation)

TERTIARY ELEMENT: Students will go through a number of lecture series focusing on linguistic beauty dealing with:

• Qur’an
• The 40 Ahadith of Al-Nawawi
• The Shamail of Tirmidhi
• Each utterance of the daily prayer and prophetic traditions of Friday sermons

The program steers clear of contentious issues in jurisprudence and theology focusing on the language and the beauty of the sacred text instead. In ten months, our graduates will have sound knowledge of the above, but additionally there will be a focus on instilling the following characteristics:

• A respect for scholarship and the Islamic scholarly tradition
• A sound awareness of one’s place as a well trained student, not a scholar
• A recognition of one’s role as contributor to the efforts of the community

By the end of the full time 10 month program, students who finish will be expected to:

• Have extensive knowledge of Quranic vocabulary
• Have a sophisticated understanding of Quranic grammatical analysis
• Be more than prepared to pass the ACTFL exam with a superior ranking. This allows for up to 16 college credit hours in foreign language.
• Learn Arabic not only through the innovative means that Bayyinah has become well known for, but also cover classical Arabic texts to learn the traditional method of learning Arabic

The full curriculum outline can be accessed here: Curriculum Outline.

We all come across talented and energetic Muslim youth in our communities. They are helping out at Islamic schools, Sunday Schools, Islamic centers, youth groups, da’wah programs, MSA's, relief project, and more. These unique individuals are the future of our community and of Islam in America. We talk about their importance in sermons and conferences. We worry about them and think deeply about how to cultivate them into tomorrow’s leaders. A sound future for the Muslim community in this country is predicated on inspiring a generation of mature, learned, balanced, and articulate leaders from within.

In order to acquire such an education, the real possibilities thus far have only been abroad. This is where the Bayyinah DREAM program comes in.

We humbly encourage you to look into your community and help sponsor such individuals. The best investment a community can make is in one of their own.

Lastly, the applications are now open, and at the time of this article roughly 15 spots [5 brothers and 10 sisters] remain.

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Bayyinah's campus: