Fatih Mosque
Programs
Islamic Boarding SchoolAlimiyyah
A four-year Islamic seminary program in Brooklyn — Qur’an memorization, Arabic and fiqh, taught on Ahl al-Sunnah, with two further years in Istanbul for those who will teach.
4 years
at the mosque
Then Istanbul
two years, for ijazah
14–20
young men
$500 / $1,000
online / boarding
A four-year program at the mosque for young men who want to carry the Qur’an and understand what they are reading. Students study here, at the mosque, for the whole four years. There is one course of study and everyone follows it, from the Arabic alphabet in the first year to jurisprudence and rhetoric in the fourth.
Communities call this different things — a hifz or tahfiz program, an alim course, a darul uloom, an Islamic seminary. Here it runs for four years at the mosque, and two more in Istanbul for those who go on to the ijazah.
The whole program is taught on Ahl al-Sunnah.
The path
From your first assessment to the day you leave
Your level is assessed at registration and you join the year that fits. From there the path is the same for everyone.
What you study, year by year
The same course of study every student follows, in the order it is taught. Titles are the classical texts of the tradition; the English names say what each one is.
Year 1
at the mosque
The first year builds reading. Students start from the Arabic alphabet, work through recitation and the rules of tajweed, and begin the essentials of belief and practice.
- ·Arabic alphabet primer
- ·Qur’an recitation
- ·Tajweed — the rules of recitation (Karabaş)
- ·Basic Islamic knowledge — ilmihal
- ·Arabic handwriting — ruq’a
- ·Seerah — the life of the Prophet ﷺ
- ·Character and manners — adab
- ·Turkish, first level
Year 2
at the mosque
The second year deepens recitation and tajweed, and opens Islamic history alongside the continuing study of belief, practice and character.
- ·Qur’an recitation
- ·Tajweed (Karabaş)
- ·Basic Islamic knowledge — ilmihal
- ·Arabic handwriting — ruq’a
- ·Islamic history — Silsilat al-Dhahab
- ·Seerah
- ·Character and manners — adab
- ·Turkish, first level
Year 3
at the mosque
Formal Arabic begins. Students work through the classical morphology primers and the first grammar texts, and start speaking and writing the language.
- ·Arabic morphology — al-Amthila, al-Bina, al-Maqsud
- ·Arabic grammar — al-Awamil, al-Izhar
- ·Morphology and composition drills — tasrif and tarkib
- ·Arabic conversation, first level
- ·Literary composition
- ·Qur’an and tajweed continue
- ·Arabic handwriting — ruq’a
- ·Basic Islamic knowledge — ilmihal
- ·Turkish, second level
Year 4
at the mosque
The last year in Brooklyn: intermediate syntax, logic, the first book of jurisprudence and the beginnings of rhetoric.
- ·Arabic syntax — al-Kafiya
- ·Jurisprudence — Nur al-Idah
- ·Creed — al-Amali
- ·Logic — Isaghuji
- ·Rhetoric — al-‘Alaqa
- ·Arabic conversation, second level
- ·Morphology and composition drills
- ·Literary composition
- ·Islamic history — Silsilat al-Dhahab
- ·Qur’an and tajweed continue
- ·Turkish continues
Two years in Istanbul
only for those who will teach
Taken after the four years, by students who intend to teach the Qur’an to others, to lead prayer as an imam or serve as a muezzin, or to go further in the Islamic sciences. These two years carry advanced grammar and logic through to the specializations of a trained scholar, and end in ijazah.
- ·Advanced grammar and logic — Mulla Jami, Isaghuji
- ·Jurisprudence — al-Quduri
- ·Rhetoric — Talkhis
- ·Rhetoric and legal theory — al-‘Alaqa, al-Manar
- ·Arabic conversation, third level
- ·Principles of jurisprudence — Mir’at al-Usul
- ·Jurisprudence — Durar al-Hukkam
- ·Logic — al-Risala al-Shamsiyya
- ·Theology — al-As’ila wa’l-Ajwiba fi ‘Ilm al-Kalam
- ·Commentary on the Qasidat al-Burda
- ·Islamic civil law — Majallat al-Ahkam al-‘Adliyya
- ·Inheritance law — ‘Ilm al-Fara’id
- ·Hadith sciences — Usul al-Hadith
After the four years
Students who want to serve as a hoca spend two further years in a medrese in Istanbul and come back holding the ijazah — the icazet of that tradition. Everyone else finishes at four.
With it a graduate is qualified to teach the Qur’an to others, to lead prayer as an imam or serve as a muezzin, and to keep going deeper in the Islamic sciences — tafsir, hadith and fiqh — first as a student of them and, in time, as a teacher of them. UAMA mosques, in any state or any country, are one place where that work is needed and graduates are welcome in them; but the ijazah belongs to the person who earned it and it goes wherever he goes.
What an ijazah is
Not a diploma. It is the record of a course of study completed under named teachers, and permission to pass on what you were taught. That permission is what makes the chain a chain.
Throughout the program, students are supported to continue high school or university externally through schools coordinated with the mosque — so nobody has to choose between this and a diploma.
How to attend
Board here, or follow it online
Boarding students live at the dormitory beside the mosque — an Islamic boarding school in the middle of Brooklyn — and join the program during the day. Everyone else follows the same four years remotely.
You live at Fatih Muslim Dormitory alongside the university students, and join this program during the day instead of going out to classes.
The same four years, followed from wherever you are. The lessons at the mosque are open to you remotely.
Students in financial difficulty can be given a reduction at registration. Ask — it is a normal conversation, not a favor.
Apply for a placeWho can apply
This program
Young men, 14 to 20
Boarding at the dormitory beside the mosque, or following the same years online.
For girls
There is a UAMA institution on Long Island
It runs this same service for girls. Write to us and we will put you in touch.
Get in touchQuestions we get
Communities use both names for it. There is one course of study here: the Qur’an and tajweed from the first year, Arabic morphology and grammar from the second, then syntax, logic, jurisprudence and rhetoric. Students who go on to the two years in Istanbul finish with the ijazah.
After four years, the Qur’an, Arabic and fiqh. Students who go on to the two years in Istanbul return with the ijazah — the license to teach and to lead prayer.
Yes, and we expect you to. Students are supported to continue high school or university externally, through schools coordinated with the mosque. Nobody has to choose between this and a diploma.
No. The whole four years can be followed online, from anywhere, for $500 a month.
Not to this program. UAMA runs the same thing for girls at an institution on Long Island — message us on WhatsApp and we will put you in touch.
Come and be assessed
There is no entrance exam to prepare for. We listen to you read, talk about where you want to get to, and start you where you actually are. Send the form and we will call you to arrange it.