In the continuous pursuit of traditional Islamic education, modern students often find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer breadth and depth of the curriculum. Addressing this timeless challenge, scholar Shaykh Talal al-Azem recently delivered an insightful seminar titled How to Arrange Your Studies of Islamic Sciences, offering a systematic approach to learning rooted in classical pedagogy.
Drawing from the classical pedagogical framework outlined by the esteemed Imam Sajaqlizada, the seminar—serving as the fifth installment in an ongoing series exploring educational methodology—emphasizes a foundational principle for all seekers of knowledge: nothing should be studied before its proper time. Whether an individual begins their educational journey in early childhood or embraces the faith later in life, the core trajectory remains remarkably consistent, provided it is adapted to the student’s current capacity and life stage.
The Same Path
Imam Sajaqlizada posits that adult beginners and young children ultimately travel the same general educational sequence. However, the immediate practical requirements differ because an adult is already obligated to observe daily prayers. Consequently, the initial step for an adult student is the memorization of Surah al-Fatiha alongside a selection of short chapters from the Quran. Following this vital introduction, the student transitions to mastering the correct recitation of the Quran under the direct supervision of a proficient and qualified teacher.
Belief, Ethics, and Prayer
Once the initial recitation is established, the curriculum progresses naturally into the detailed articles of religious belief, foundational ethics, and the precise legal rules governing daily prayer. True to the principle of accessibility, these crucial subjects are delivered in the adult student’s native language to ensure complete comprehension and internalisation.
Historically, this phase was followed by the complete memorization of the Quran, which was considered the expected norm during Imam Sajaqlizada’s period of study. Only after committing the entire sacred text to memory would the student advance to studying a classical primer in Arabic diction.
The Quran and Arabic Diction
Placing the memorisation of the entire Quran before the study of an Arabic grammar primer is a deliberate pedagogical choice. According to this traditional framework, no textbook or instructional material teaches Arabic diction and eloquence better than the Quran itself. This linguistic supremacy was widely acknowledged across cultural boundaries; historical records indicate that even non-Muslim Arabs living in Lebanon during the late 19th and early 20th centuries frequently memorized parts or even the entirety of the Quran simply because they recognized it as the absolute pinnacle of the Arabic language.
Within this educational philosophy, knowledge is never treated as a mere technical matter of diction. Instead, it is viewed as something meant to be deeply internalized—a protective force that guards the individual who embodies it. Whatever specialized science a student chooses to pursue afterward, its ultimate point of reference and benchmark remains the speech of Allah.
Tools Before Texts
As students progress past these initial milestones, the paths of the child learner and the adult beginner officially converge. At this juncture, the student turns intensively toward the instrumental sciences of Arabic morphology (sarf) and subsequent syntax (nahw). These disciplines equip the learner with the essential linguistic tools required for everything that follows in their academic journey.
Without acquiring these foundational instruments first, a student risks spending years reading advanced texts and participating in translation circles without ever developing the independent analytical capacity needed to study properly.
Rulings Before Reasons
Following the mastery of basic Arabic grammar, the curriculum introduces the science of legal rulings (ilm al-ahkam). Imam Sajaqlizada draws a careful and important distinction between simply knowing practical rulings and mastering Islamic jurisprudence as an academic discipline. Knowing rulings means understanding precisely what actions are required in daily life, whereas Islamic jurisprudence involves a deep comprehension of those rulings alongside their underlying evidence and legal reasoning, a pursuit that requires the separate study of legal theory (usul al-fiqh).
Students study practical rulings first for immediate, pragmatic reasons. Married life, commercial transactions, and daily affairs invariably present pressing questions that require clear answers, regardless of whether the individual has yet mastered the complex underlying proofs. Furthermore, familiarity with practical rulings establishes a vital foundation for the subsequent study of legal theory and legal maxims (qawa’id al-fiqh), allowing students to navigate specific legal cases that they might otherwise struggle to comprehend.
After mastering practical rulings, the student is introduced to logic (mantiq), which serves strictly as another analytical tool rather than an educational end in itself. This is followed by the study of dialectics (munazara).
A Caution About Theology
With the preparatory tools firmly in place, the student turns their attention to the science of theology (kalam). Here, Imam Sajaqlizada offers an important caveat, steering students away from the kind of deep, unproductive speculation that consumed many scholars of his own era—pursuing abstract questions of little practical benefit simply for the sake of intellectual debate.
Instead, the focus is directed toward a much narrower and more essential scope: mastering the foundational questions of Islamic creed securely enough to be able to express and defend them articulately. Having authored theological works himself before later renouncing certain portions of them, Imam Sajaqlizada’s counsel carries the sobering weight of historical experience. He urges learners to concentrate squarely on the questions that offer genuine benefit to a scholar’s spiritual formation and intellectual integrity.
A Foundational Skill
Before diving into advanced Islamic jurisprudence, Imam Sajaqlizada inserts one more specialized linguistic tool: the study of signifying meaning (ilm al-ma’ani), a specialized branch of classical rhetoric (balagha). This science focuses precisely on how specific word choices and sentence structures convey nuanced meanings.
Rather than requiring the student to master every intricate aspect of classical rhetoric, the curriculum isolates this specific skill to prepare the learner to follow the sophisticated interpretive reasoning characteristic of legal theory, which immediately follows in the sequence. Only after navigating legal theory does the curriculum officially introduce the formal study of Islamic jurisprudence. Historically, theology and jurisprudence are two fields that eager students have often rushed into prematurely, bypassing the essential steps designed to precede them.
Hadith, Then Tafsir: The Crowning Sciences
Once jurisprudence has been firmly established, Imam Sajaqlizada advances the curriculum to the foundational sciences of Hadith. The study of prophetic traditions is approached through two distinct dimensions: the transmission, reading, hearing, correction, and memorization of texts (riwaya), paired alongside their deeper understanding and interpretation (diraya).
The Quran, however, remains the ultimate foundation and totality of all Islamic knowledge. A student must first develop a mature appreciation for jurisprudence, the core questions of creed, and sound rational thinking before they can truly comprehend the sophisticated methodologies employed by a scriptural exegete. By the time a student reaches this advanced stage, they will typically have spent years deeply familiarizing themselves with the Quran through continuous recitation and memorization.
What Can Wait, and What Cannot
Naturally, not every auxiliary subject fits neatly into a rigid linear sequence. Disciplines such as the rules of correct pronunciation (tajwid), variant Quranic readings (qira’at), and the conventions of writing the Quranic script do not occupy a fixed slot in the primary order. Students are encouraged to pursue these subjects whenever appropriate opportunities arise, provided they are completed prior to undertaking formal Quranic exegesis (tafsir). Maintaining a graded approach remains paramount, as a student might otherwise spend years mastering intricate theological arguments while inadvertently invalidating their daily prayers through faulty recitation.
A similar flexibility applies broadly to ancillary subjects such as arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and poetic prosody, which can be acquired whenever convenient for the learner. The singular exception to this flexibility is arithmetic, which must be studied prior to the laws of inheritance, as calculating precise estate shares mathematically depends upon it.
As the seminar series continues to unfold, educators and students alike are continually invited to reflect on these classical methodologies to bring greater structure, intention, and balance to contemporary Islamic education.