Trad Islamic Knowledge @ Sunni Path.com

Assalam Aleikum.

After taking several course at the site www.sunnipath.com , I feel compelled to briefly share my insights and great satisfaction with the courses and teachers.

For anyone who is unable to travel to seek traditional religious knowledge, who does not have it available in their region, this is an outlet that I have is second none. Currently I am taking a pilot "Arabic" course which is the first course in a series of courses that are intended to take non reading/speaking natives of Arabic, and prepare them to navigate classical Arabic texts. It is not a conversaitonal course.

I have been involved with college "conversational" type Arabic courses, and I have studied some books on classical grammer (An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic by WM Thackston) which uses the Orientalist paradigm of classifying Arabic rules and terms as an analogue to western grammer (the west will use the idea of "posession" while classical Arabic uses "association construct").

The beginning course at sunnipath is taught from the Muslim paradigm of Arabic grammar. The assignments are challenging, and provide a deep understanding of the material. For anyone wanting to learn Arabic for the purpose of pursuing Islamic knowledge directly from the religous texts, then I highly recommend this class.

I am also taking a course entitled Approaching the Sunnah. It is an indepth look at the science of Hadith. I have read numerous books on the subject, but I can say that after four of the lessons, I have a new outlook on the ulema who worked on the hadith, and one can see, by way of examples and the course matn, just how profound the system of isnaad is, and how brilliant the scholars were. I highly recommend this course for anyone who would like to see how the basic mechanics of this science works, and why every Muslim should have deep confidence in the shcolars of old, and their work.

COURSE SYLLABUS

HMT100: Approaching the Sunna

Have you ever been told that there are no truly authentic hadiths, and that the entire science of hadith methodology should be disregarded? Those studying Islam at universities are often taught this by Western academics. Indeed, there are also groups of "Qur�an-only" Muslims who believe that hadith science is inherently flawed, and that hadiths are not needed to understand the Qur�an. How do we understand and respond to such claims?

Allah says in the Qur�an "Nor does he (the Messenger of Allah) say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than revelation (wahi) sent down to him" (al-Najm, 3-4). The statements and actions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, were thus meticulously preserved and passed on to those not present. "We have without doubt, sent down the Message; and we will assuredly guard it" (al-Hijr, 9), and the promise here refers to the preservation of both the Qur�an and the Sunna.

Early Muslim scholars thus took to carefully examining and analyzing every utterance that came down to them, utterances attributed to the blessed Prophet, his companions, or other early Muslims. Out of this, the concept of isnad, or chain of transmission, was developed. Imam Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, one of the early Muslims, said that "Isnad is part of religion, and if it was not for isnad, people would have said whatever they desired" (Introduction to Sahih Muslim). The life and character of each person included in a chain of transmission was recorded and studied in detail, and these records are unique amongst scholarly traditions.

The science of hadith is not only unprecedented but also unmatched until today as a rational framework for the analysis of historical reports. Approaching the Sunna: An Introduction to Hadith Methodology will explore the reliability of hadith and their fundamental role in the Sacred Law. You will gain insight into the mistakes of orientalist critcism of hadiths, the errors of "Qur�an-only" claims, and the problems with the methodologies of some recent scholars of hadiths.

The course will begin with an exploration into the meaning and importance of the Sunna, and an explanation of how the science of hadith methodology came to be developed. Shaykh Hamza Karamali will then detail the science of hadith methodology (mustalah al-hadith), covering key concepts, terminology, and methods of analysis. Finally, the key hadith collections will be discussed and compared.

You will have the opportunity to apply theoretical concepts to practical case studies of hadith analyses. To cover theoretical concepts, the main text studied in this course will be al-Bayquniyya, a 34-line poem covering over 30 different hadith terminologies. Written by Shaykh al-Bayquni, who lived in the early 11^th century Hijri, this poem is a popular primer on hadith methodology studied all over the world. In conjunction with the text, you will also study an abridged translation of one of the most famous commentaries of al-Bayquniyya � the commentary of Shaykh Muhammad al-Zurqani, a Maliki hadith scholar also of the 11^th century Hijri. Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature by M. M. Azami is also another key text of this course.

All classes will be weekly live sessions that will be one and a half to two hours in length. Consequently, one of the major benefits of this course is that it will be highly interactive and dynamic. There are no required prerequisites.

http://course.sunnipath.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=HMT10 0

Andalus wrote: Assalam Aleikum. After taking several course at the site www.sunnipath.com , I feel compelled to briefly share my insights and great satisfaction with the courses and teachers. For anyone who is unable to travel to seek traditional religious knowledge, who does not have it available in their region, this is an outlet that I have is second none. Currently I am taking a pilot "Arabic" course which is the first course in a series of courses that are intended to take non reading/speaking natives of Arabic, and prepare them to navigate classical Arabic texts. It is not a conversaitonal course. I have been involved with college "conversational" type Arabic courses, and I have studied some books on classical grammer (An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic by WM Thackston) which uses the Orientalist paradigm of classifying Arabic rules and terms as an analogue to western grammer (the west will use the idea of "posession" while classical Arabic uses "association construct"). The beginning course at sunnipath is taught from the Muslim paradigm of Arabic grammar. The assignments are challenging, and provide a deep understanding of the material. For anyone wanting to learn Arabic for the purpose of pursuing Islamic knowledge directly from the religous texts, then I highly recommend this class. I am also taking a course entitled Approaching the Sunnah. It is an indepth look at the science of Hadith. I have read numerous books on the subject, but I can say that after four of the lessons, I have a new outlook on the ulema who worked on the hadith, and one can see, by way of examples and the course matn, just how profound the system of isnaad is, and how brilliant the scholars were. I highly recommend this course for anyone who would like to see how the basic mechanics of this science works, and why every Muslim should have deep confidence in the shcolars of old, and their work. COURSE SYLLABUS HMT100: Approaching the Sunna Have you ever been told that there are no truly authentic hadiths, and that the entire science of hadith methodology should be disregarded? Those studying Islam at universities are often taught this by Western academics. Indeed, there are also groups of "Qur�an-only" Muslims who believe that hadith science is inherently flawed, and that hadiths are not needed to understand the Qur�an. How do we understand and respond to such claims? Allah says in the Qur�an "Nor does he (the Messenger of Allah) say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than revelation (wahi) sent down to him" (al-Najm, 3-4). The statements and actions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, were thus meticulously preserved and passed on to those not present. "We have without doubt, sent down the Message; and we will assuredly guard it" (al-Hijr, 9), and the promise here refers to the preservation of both the Qur�an and the Sunna. Early Muslim scholars thus took to carefully examining and analyzing every utterance that came down to them, utterances attributed to the blessed Prophet, his companions, or other early Muslims. Out of this, the concept of isnad, or chain of transmission, was developed. Imam Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, one of the early Muslims, said that "Isnad is part of religion, and if it was not for isnad, people would have said whatever they desired" (Introduction to Sahih Muslim). The life and character of each person included in a chain of transmission was recorded and studied in detail, and these records are unique amongst scholarly traditions. The science of hadith is not only unprecedented but also unmatched until today as a rational framework for the analysis of historical reports. Approaching the Sunna: An Introduction to Hadith Methodology will explore the reliability of hadith and their fundamental role in the Sacred Law. You will gain insight into the mistakes of orientalist critcism of hadiths, the errors of "Qur�an-only" claims, and the problems with the methodologies of some recent scholars of hadiths. The course will begin with an exploration into the meaning and importance of the Sunna, and an explanation of how the science of hadith methodology came to be developed. Shaykh Hamza Karamali will then detail the science of hadith methodology (mustalah al-hadith), covering key concepts, terminology, and methods of analysis. Finally, the key hadith collections will be discussed and compared. You will have the opportunity to apply theoretical concepts to practical case studies of hadith analyses. To cover theoretical concepts, the main text studied in this course will be al-Bayquniyya, a 34-line poem covering over 30 different hadith terminologies. Written by Shaykh al-Bayquni, who lived in the early 11th century Hijri, this poem is a popular primer on hadith methodology studied all over the world. In conjunction with the text, you will also study an abridged translation of one of the most famous commentaries of al-Bayquniyya � the commentary of Shaykh Muhammad al-Zurqani, a Maliki hadith scholar also of the 11th century Hijri. Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature by M. M. Azami is also another key text of this course. All classes will be weekly live sessions that will be one and a half to two hours in length. Consequently, one of the major benefits of this course is that it will be highly interactive and dynamic. There are no required prerequisites.   http://course.sunnipath.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=HMT10 0

Assalamu Alaikum Brother. Jazak Allah Khair for very valuable information.

Peace