Where the £10,000 goes
Every pound buys a written, reviewed page of curriculum
The fee is fixed in a signed agreement: £250 for each programme specification and £100 for each of the 95 course specifications, with the independent review and the signed scholarly declaration included.
£500 · 2 programme specifications
The architecture of each programme: aims, outcomes, structure and the mapping tables
£9,500 · 95 course specifications
Each course: outcomes, hours, assessment, set texts and its record of changes
What we are building
Two programmes, built on Madinah, shaped for Britain
We are not writing a curriculum from nothing. Both programmes are built on the study plans of the Islamic University of Madinah, then restructured, course by course, to the standards a British university requires before it will validate a programme.
Programme one · Level 3
Diploma in Arabic for Non-Native Speakers
دبلوم اللغة العربية لغير الناطقين بها
Year 1
Year 2
UK Level 3: the gateway to degree study
- Two years, four levels, 28 courses
- Built on the programme of the University's Arabic Language Institute, which has taught Arabic to students from across the world for decades
- Takes a student from the alphabet to reading the Qur'an, ḥadīth and classical texts in Arabic
- Stands alone as a qualification, and is the gateway to the Bachelor's
Programme two · Degree level
Bachelor's in Sharīʿah
بكالوريوس الشريعة
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
UK Levels 4 to 6: the span of a British bachelor's degree
- Four years, eight semesters, 67 courses
- Built on the study plan of the University's Faculty of Sharīʿah, its first and oldest faculty
- ʿAqīdah, tafsīr, ḥadīth, fiqh and uṣūl al-fiqh, Arabic and the sciences that serve them, taught in Arabic by specialists
- The set books of the Madinah plan are kept; a few courses are adapted for the Muslim student in Britain, with every change recorded
Why Madinah
A curriculum proven on students from every continent
founded, with the Faculty of Sharīʿah its first
students today, Saudi and international
countries its students have come from
The Islamic University of Madinah was founded in 1961 to teach the Islamic sciences and Arabic to students from across the Muslim world. Its Faculty of Sharīʿah dates from that founding year, and its Arabic Language Institute exists for one purpose: taking non-Arabic speakers to fluency in the language of the Qur'an. Today the University teaches more than sixteen thousand students, Saudi and international, including scholarship students from around the world. Its graduates teach in Britain's mosques and institutes today, including the scholars who guide this College.
How the work is done
- 1
Foundation
One approved template for every course and programme, matched to the British framework; the Madinah plan mapped onto UK-sized courses.
- 2
Writing
Two programme specifications and 95 course specifications: measurable learning outcomes, study hours and assessment to the British credit system.
- 3
Adaptation
Books and foundations kept; courses tied to the Saudi context adapted for Britain; every change entered in a reasoned record of changes.
- 4
Review
Academic and linguistic quality check, then a signed scholarly declaration that the content is sound and complete.
Built to British standards
Written the way a UK university expects
A British university will not validate a programme on reputation. It examines every course against the national frameworks and sends back anything that falls short. So every specification is being written, from the first draft, on the templates and rules UK universities use for their own degrees.
credits in a full-time year
of student work in every credit
measurable outcomes per course, at most
The frameworks
- The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ). The Diploma sits at Level 3; the Bachelor's runs through Levels 4, 5 and 6, and each year's courses are written for the demands of its level.
- The UK credit system. One credit equals ten hours of student work. A full-time year is 120 credits, and each course is sized at 15, 20 or 30 credits, so the smaller Madinah courses are combined into courses of British size.
- The UK Quality Code for Higher Education. The templates follow the programme specification and module descriptor the Quality Code expects for every award.
Inside every course specification
- Four to six measurable learning outcomes, written in the verbs of the level: a first-year student explains and applies; a final-year student evaluates, weighs evidence and researches independently.
- Assessment mapped to outcomes. Each assessment states what it tests, its size and its weight, so that no outcome goes untested. Pass marks follow the validating university's regulations.
- Hours that add up. Teaching hours, including recitation circles, plus independent study equal the credit value times ten.
- Named set texts with edition and portion studied, and a record of every change from the Madinah original, with its reason.
Validation
How a UK partner university turns this into a recognised degree
In Britain a new college cannot award its own degrees. Instead, an established university validates the college's programmes: its panel examines the curriculum, staff, assessment and quality processes, approves the programmes, and then awards its own degree to the College's graduates while the College teaches them. The curriculum is the heart of that submission: the first thing the panel reads, and the thing most often sent back for rewriting.
That is why we are having it written properly, once, by a specialist, and checked by others before a university ever sees it. Our target is to teach the first cohort from January 2028; validation typically takes a year or more, so the curriculum must be finished, reviewed and translated in the first months of 2027.
Who checks it before it is taught
- Step 1Dr Kamalwrites every specification
- Step 2Two specialistsreview and co-sign the declaration
- Step 3Academic DirectorShaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Turkmānī approves
- Step 4Senior scholarsfrom six countries review the full draft in person, December 2026
- Step 5A UK universityvalidates the programmes
In December 2026 the complete draft goes before senior scholars gathering in Leicester from Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Senegal and other countries, among them members of the College's advisory council and teachers with more than forty years in Islamic higher education. They read it together, in one sitting, and their notes are worked into the final text before it is signed.
Who is writing it
A specialist who has done this before
The College commissioned the work from a scholar who studied at Madinah at every level, spent nine years on a university faculty in Saudi Arabia, and has built curricula, regulations and accreditation self-studies for most of his career. The College does not use scholars' photographs in its appeals.
Academic consultant
Dr Kamal Muhammad Deen Mahjoob Abduh
د. كمال محمد دين محجوب عبده
Associate Professor of ʿAqīdah · academic consultant for the development of the College's academic programmes
years in academic and administrative work
degrees from the Islamic University of Madinah
years as university faculty
university courses taught
academic regulation templates drafted
published research papers
●Qualifications
- BA, Faculty of Sharīʿah, Islamic University of Madinah, 2003
- MA 2009 and PhD 2015 in ʿAqīdah, Faculty of Daʿwah and Uṣūl al-Dīn, Islamic University of Madinah; all three graded Excellent
- Member of the Saudi Scientific Society for ʿAqīdah, Religions, Sects and Schools
●University and administration
- Associate Professor of ʿAqīdah, Jouf University, 2020–2025; Assistant Professor, 2016–2020; secretary of its Islamic Studies department council
- Visiting lecturer in ʿAqīdah, Islamic University of Madinah
- Six years in the Islamic University's Deanship of Academic and Administrative Development
●Curriculum and accreditation
- Chaired the Standard 1 committee of his department's accreditation self-study, and the timetable committee; served on the strategic-plan and promotions committees
- Trained in building course syllabi (Islamic University of Madinah) and in Quality Matters standards for course design
- Has drafted more than 100 academic regulation templates
●At the Prophet's Mosque
- Three years teaching in, supervising and building the programmes of the scholarly-texts circles at al-Masjid al-Nabawī; on the supervision team of three intensive mutūn courses
- Founded and guided the gifted-students circles (al-Nawābigh)
- Wrote 55 regulation templates for the circles, including the teacher-qualification programme and the distance-learning regulation
●Qur'an, ḥadīth and research
- Ijāzāt in the Qur'an by Ḥafṣ and Shuʿbah; in tajwīd (Tuḥfat al-Aṭfāl, al-Jazariyyah); and in al-Adab al-Mufrad and the Thulāthiyyāt of al-Bukhārī
- PhD: critical edition of Kitāb fī al-Imāmah by al-Qalʿī (d. 630 AH), published 2022; MA: edition of part of Taḥbīr al-ʿIbārāt by al-Ghazzī
- Six peer-reviewed papers in journals of al-Azhar, the Islamic University of Gaza, the University of Algiers and Princess Nourah University; more than ten years' experience in manuscript editing
Why it matters
Written once. Taught for decades.
A curriculum is the one thing every student passes through. Once written and validated, these two programmes become the backbone of the College's teaching: every cohort in Leicester, and students joining online from across Britain and Europe. Over the years ahead we plan for them to reach thousands of students. Your gift sits in the foundation of every one of those classes, and in the reward of every teacher who teaches from them and every student who learns.
Ṣadaqah jāriyah
The Prophet ﷺ said that when a person dies, their deeds end except three, and one of them is knowledge that benefits. A curriculum is exactly that: written once, it is taught year after year. Every teacher who teaches from these pages, and every student who learns from them, becomes part of the reward of those who helped write them.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1631
Why this matters more than anything but the campus
A building can be rented and staff can be hired, but without a validated curriculum there is no degree to teach, no university partner, and no college in the full sense. Everything the College plans to become rests on these two documents. For £10,000, less than one year's fees at most universities, they are written to last.
Where the College is today
- Founded in Leicester, October 2025, as a not-for-profit company
- National Qur'an Competition 2026: 340 registrations from Britain and Europe
- at-Taʾṣīl Foundation Diploma in the Islamic sciences, open since September 2026
- Muwaṭṭaʾ Dawrah with visiting mashāyikh, December 2026
- Academic Director Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Turkmānī; an advisory council of senior scholars
What happens next
Oct 2026 · now
Agreement signed; templates approved; writing begins
Dec 2026
Full draft reviewed in person by the visiting mashāyikh
Jan 2027
Final curriculum delivered, reviewed and signed
2027
Translation, then submission to a UK university for validation
Jan 2028
Target: the first cohort begins, once validation is granted
Give today, once or monthly
Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and bank transfer are accepted. The campaign page is at give.theiic.uk/page/curriculum.
International Islamic College UK Limited is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (no. 16790844), registered in England and Wales. It is not a registered charity, so Gift Aid cannot be claimed. The College is not yet accredited and has no agreement with any university; validation by a UK university is the aim of this work, and no programme will be advertised as a degree until it is granted. Course numbers follow the Madinah study plans and may change as courses are merged to British credit sizes. Titles are working titles. Anything raised beyond £10,000 goes to the next stage of the same project: translation and the validation submission.