03 · Four Institutes, One College
Institute of Islamic Sciences
Fiqh, Aqeedah, Hadith & Tafsir
Fiqh, creed, ḥadīth and tafsīr from the short, sound texts of the Madinah curriculum — every ruling with its evidence. The institute's current programme is at-Taʾṣīl, the one-year evening Foundation Diploma in Islamic Studies at Masjid Fida, Leicester.
Four sciences are taught here — fiqh, ʿaqīdah, ḥadīth and tafsīr — and one method runs through all of them: short, sound texts, read in Arabic, explained in English, with every ruling traced back to the evidence it rests on. A student who finishes should be able to say not only what the position is but why, and where it comes from.
That method asks something specific of a student. Texts are memorised rather than merely covered, written work is set weekly, and each term ends in an essay and a paper. It suits people who would rather know a small number of things properly than a large number vaguely.
The institute's current programme is at-Taʾṣīl, the one-year evening Foundation Diploma in Islamic Studies: three evenings a week at Masjid Fida in Leicester, for brothers and sisters aged sixteen and over, £40 a month for eleven months plus a £50 examination fee, so £490 for the year, plus books at cost. The Foundation Diploma is the College's own award. The College is independent: the award is not a regulated qualification, is not accredited, and carries no university credit.
