Basira Curriculum

Level 0: PRESSING QUESTIONS

Discover why Islam is true, why being Muslim is beautiful, how to spot the flaws in atheist arguments, and how a subtle change in your worldview will answer all of your questions.

Begin with our flagship course Why Islam is True and then methodically build on this truth-based worldview to learn convincing religious answers to pressing questions about atheism, religious morality, religion and politics, citizenship, and sexuality. They do this through a formal and contextualized study of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), the Quran, the science of Sacred Law, the science of Islamic character, and a creative study of Romeo and Juliet.

These seven courses will not merely answer your questions. They will build a truth-based Islamic worldview that will completely change the way that you look at the world around you and enable you to answer hundreds of other questions that you didn't even think of.

7 Courses

+ Why Islam is True

An evidence-based inquiry into the fundamental truths of Islam. See clearly that Islam is not a cultural preference but a clear fact. Follow an experienced theologian as he guides you how to respond to common atheist arguments.

+ Why Muhammad is God’s Messenger

Learn how we know that his life is historical fact and how that proves that he simply could not have been an impostor. Follow an experienced theologian as he walks you through the Meccan period of the Prophet’s messengerhood, revealing proof after proof of the beauty, genuineness, and truthfulness of the best man who ever lived.

+ Islam, Politics, War, and Women

The truth-based worldview of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is foreign to our modern minds, and when it is combined with stories of war, statehood, assassination, deception, martyrdom, and polygamy, it sparks associations with terrifying media reports of Muslim extremists. Follow an experienced theologian and philosopher as he walks you through the Medinan period of the Prophet’s messengerhood to reveal a breathtaking story of selflessness, courage, forgiveness, and God-given success.

+ What is Sharia?

The sharia assumes freedom and promotes morality. See this for yourself through a practical study of the rules of purification, prayer, zakat, fasting, hajj, trade, marriage, divorce, government, war, food ingredients, speech, and the vices and virtues of the heart, all in the context of modern life in secular societies. Grasp the hidden wisdoms of the divine command, respond to objections raised by Islamophobes, and acquire the worldview-altering skill of analyzing human actions through the lens of moral responsibility to God.

+ Muslim Character and Modern Culture

A detailed study of the theory of character, both good character (such as wisdom, bravery, humility, empathy, temperance, loyalty, responsibility, and sincerity) and bad character (such as anger, arrogance, envy, malice, and hypocrisy). Apply the traditional science of Muslim character to someone living in the modern world and understand why uncritical usage of social media, cell-phones, video games, and consumerism can give us bad character.

+ Love, Romance, and Sexuality

Begin to analyze Western culture and creatively navigate it as a conservative Muslim. Analyze the literary devices, theme, setting, characters, and plot of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, comparing its Christian Renaissance culture with traditional Muslim culture, experiencing and navigating possible conflicts between romantic love and doing the right thing, and imagine how a fallible but faithful and well-educated Muslim in the shoes of the protagonist would play out the series of events that he or she encounters. Apply what you learn to an examination of modern LGBQT+ issues.

+ Arabic Through the Quran

A unique introduction to the miraculously beautiful language of the Quran structured around key Quranic themes. Learn the vocabulary, syntax, word-structures, and rhetorical effects in verses about the universe, the names of Allah Most High, belief and disbelief, the Prophets Musa and Nuh (upon them be peace), the Day of Judgment, resurrection, jihad, worship, the life of this world, the Children of Israel, Jesus, Paradise, and Hell. Become independent. Leave with the ability to look up words in Arabic dictionaries and to apply your knowledge to analyze, interpret, and taste the beauty of hundreds of verses all over the Quran.

Level 1: BUILDING IDENTITY

Experience your religious confidence grow as you discover how your intelligent religiousness today has its origins in the most open-minded, moral, and genuinely happy civilization ever to exist.

With your most urgent questions answered in Level 1, you are now ready to build your religious confidence by learning where you came from (not ethnically, but religiously). Through a formal and contextualized study of early Islamic history, the Quran and Sunna, the detailed rules of worship, traditional Islamic theology, Islamic art, and the role of modern science in scriptural interpretation, you will learn the intellectual and historical roots of Islamic tradition and stand tall as you come to identify with the great Muslim minds, spirits, activists, rulers, and civilizations that made you who you are today.

These eight courses will strengthen your Islamic worldview by teaching you to experience the miraculous eloquence of the Quran; to reflect that experience in your worship; to admire the miraculous wisdom of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace); and to understand how the Companions, the Caliphs, the Warriors, the Traditionalists, the Four Imams, the Theologians, the Scientists, the Quran-Reciters, the Philosophers, the Philanthropists, the Artists, and the Spiritual Devotees turned that miraculous wisdom into a living reality that thrived for over one thousand years.

That is who you are.

8 Courses

+ RLG101: The Linguistic Power of the Quran

A detailed study of the final thirtieth part of the Quran in the linguistic context of ancient Arabia. Study translations, memorize key vocabulary, and experience the linguistic power of the Meccan suras through a study of common Quranic rhetorical techniques. Situate your study of Quranic beauty in the original linguistic context of ancient Arabia and learn about the authoritative scholars of tafsir who have preserved the experience of the Quranic miracle using the science of Quranic eloquence (balagha).

+ RLG102: The Wisdom of the Unlettered Prophet

A detailed study of 100 hadiths that summarize the miraculous knowledge and character of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace). Study translations, memorize key vocabulary, and learn to love and admire the perfect prophetic example in worship, spirituality, companionship, ethical commerce, law, government, war, and every sphere of life. Grasp the miraculous wisdom of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) by situating your studies in the original tribal culture of ancient Arabia and learn about the critical historical method developed by Muslim scholars of hadith to objectively preserve this wisdom for all time.

+ CLTR101: The Era of the Companions

In the 30 years following the demise of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), his Companions took his message all over the world, eradicating the Sassanian Empire, bringing the Byzantines to their knees, and permanently establishing Islam in what we know today as the Muslim heartlands. This unique study of the era of the four “rightly-guided” caliphs is far more than just a chronological list of famous battles: it explains why Arabian tribes rebelled, what motivated the early Islamic conquests, how the Quran was preserved, what caused the conflicts between the Companions, and how, through their deep religiousness, humility, and selflessness, they established principles such as democratic government, ethical conduct in war, and the separation of powers, showing the world that they were truly (as the Prophet (Allah bless hm and give him peace) described them) “the best of generations”.

+ CLTR102: The Era of Civilization

In the 600 years following the era of the rightly-guided caliphs, two great dynasties (the Umayyads and the Abbasids) led the Muslim world through the throes of civil war, revolution, heresies, and foreign invasions to firmly establish Islam as the greatest civilization that the world had ever known. This unique study will explain what motivated the Kharijites, the Alawites, and the Assassins; the historical significance of the Mu'tazilite inquisition; how the translation of Greek philosophy spurred the development of rational theology; and how great scholars such as Imam Bukhari, Imam Abu Hanifa, and Imam Ghazali established a scholarly tradition that has preserved the legacy of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) down to the present day.

+ RLG103: Traditional Islamic Theology

Experience the truth-based religious worldview of the Muslim scholarly tradition by studying a traditional primer in Islamic theology that summarizes a millennium of top-notch religious scholarship into 144 lines of Arabic verse. Become adept at traditional arguments that show the truth of mainstream Muslim creed, study how Muslim theologians responded to the arguments of the Mu‘tazilites and the falasifa, and learn how to apply those arguments to modern problems of atheism, irreligion, and religious extremism. Imagine what it was like to be a student sitting at the feet of a traditional shaykh in al-Azhar of old.

+ SNC101: The Quran and Science

The Quran describes the universe, sometimes in great detail, with stunning scientific accuracy that is confirmed by modern embryology, geology, physics, astronomy, and cosmology. Learn the modern science that explains these verses alongside the traditional interpretations of those same verses in light of pre-modern science. Situate your learning against the classical backdrop of Aristotle and of great Muslim scientists such as al-Khawarizmi, Ibn al-Haytham, and al-Biruni, who used mathematics and the scientific method to discover new facts about the universe centuries before the Scientific Revolution in Western Europe.

+ RLG104: The Detailed Rules of Worship

The purpose of our existence is to worship God. Fulfill your purpose by studying the detailed rules of purification, prayer, zakat, fasting, and Hajj. Imagine religious Muslim worship-culture by reflecting on the spiritual insights of sages such as Ghazali and ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and learn how to use these rules to give meaning to your life in the modern world.

+ CLTR103: Islam, Beauty, and Modernity

Traditional Islamic civilization is beautiful—captivating calligraphy, majestic mosques, powerful poetry, and, most of all, sincere and religious people. Experience the deeply religious beauty of Muslim character, calligraphy, literature, music, fashion, architecture, and art. Contrast that religious beauty with the worldliness of modern liberalism, typography, movies, sexuality, and advertising. Then imagine how religious beauty might be expressed today.

Level 2: CRITICAL THINKING

Lose your defensiveness and embrace a confident open-mindedness as you learn the skill of organizing all of your religious ideas into a clear logical framework.

With a strong Muslim identity in place through Level 2, you are now ready to think clearly and critically about your religious commitments. You will begin by learning the critical tools of your Islamic past: Islamic logic, Islamic historical criticism, Islamic legal theory, and Islamic psychology. As you learn these tools, you will revisit important religious concepts and arguments that you have learned in your past studies, as well as more sophisticated modern arguments. Then you will apply your knowledge to a contextualized tafsir of Surat al-Baqara; rules of marriage, divorce, and inheritance; and modern religion-science debates.

You will rediscover that the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) was the most intelligent human being who ever lived, and his Companions, their Followers, and great scholars such as the imams Abu Hanifa, Bukhari, and Ghazali were, in turn, the most intelligent, the most educated, and the most open-minded human beings of their times.

8 Courses

+ LGC201: Islamic Logic

Apply the techniques of traditional Islamic logic to clearly define widely-used religious concepts and to give precise structure to key religious arguments. Then extend traditional Islamic logic to examine the structure of modern scientific and statistical inference and to identify common logical fallacies in atheist arguments.

+ LGC202: Islamic Historical Criticism

Marvel at the astounding story of tens of thousands of men and women who painstakingly preserved the Quran and the Sunna. Learn what it means for a historical report to be mass-transmitted, strongly authenticated (sahih), weakly authenticated (da‘if), and fabricated (mawdu‘). Then apply the methods of Islamic historical criticism to demonstrate the historicity of prophetic miracles, the sincere life of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), the mass-transmission of the canonical recitations, and to analyze the authenticity of a variety of controversial hadiths.

+ LGC203: Islamic Legal Theory

Learn why some verses and hadiths appear to conflict, why that is not a logical contradiction, how to resolve that conflict, why almost every inclusive statement has an exception, when to interpret scripture figuratively, how to do analogical reasoning (qiyas), why scholarly consensus is binding, and whether or not the door of ijtihad has been closed. Then extend these principles to explore the relation between our moral sense and the divine command, and whether that divine command engenders an absolutist or a utilitarian worldview.

+ RLG201: Islamic Psychology

Learn what Muslim scholars have taught about the heart and soul; how it gets corrupted by spiritual diseases such as envy, arrogance, and anger; and how it is purified by spiritual virtues such as gratitude, love, and humility. Evaluate yourself to determine the presence of these diseases and virtues within yourself, develop a plan for self-improvement, compare these techniques with the techniques of modern psychology, and grasp how the desires and fears of a corrupted soul can be manipulated by modern media to focus on this world and turn away from God.

+ RLG202: Judaism, Christianity, and the Exegesis of Surat al-Baqara

Use the exegesis of the first half of Surat al-Baqara along with the techniques of Islamic logic, historical criticism, and Islamic psychology to situate human history in the Adamic context of prophecy culminating in the Children of Israel, to compare Quranic accounts with Biblical narratives, to study Biblical prophecies of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), to understand the difference between the Judaism and Christianity of ancient Arabic and the Judaism and Christianity of today, and to analyze the psychology of the Jews and Christians who accepted the message of the Prophet (Allah bless and give him peace) and those who rejected him.

+ RLG203: Feminism, International Relations, and the Exegesis of Surat al-Baqara

Use the exegesis of the second half of Surat al-Baqara along with the techniques of Islamic logic, legal theory, and Islamic psychology to grasp the wisdom and philosophy of the gendered society that is assumed in the Quranic worldview, to relate that philosophy to modern feminist arguments, to understand how verses of the Quran about war, commerce, and charity relate to modern statehood, citizenship, economics, and reducing the modern disparity between the rich and the poor.

+ RLG204: Detailed Rules of Marriage, Divorce, and inheritance

A detailed study of the Sacred Law of gender roles, marriage, family, divorce, custody, court settlements, polygamy, domestic violence, duties to parents, maintaining ties of kinship, financial support, child abuse, and estate division. Distinguish between healthy and abusive applications of these rules and then critically compare them to the corresponding laws in modern liberal democracies.

+ SNC201: Christianity, Darwinian Evolution and the Big Bang

Trace modern religion-science debates to the conflict between Christianity and modern science that began in medieval Europe. Compare the critical methods of medieval and modern Christians to the critical methods of Islamic civilization as you apply Islamic logic and legal theory to create a new Islamic intellectual space amidst Christian intelligent design theories, young earth creationism, evolution debates, New Atheism, Big Bang cosmology, the Kalam Cosmological Argument in modern philosophy, the Fine Tuning argument, and the Anthropic Principle.

Cross-Curricular Theme: Arguments and Fallacies

• Essential Definition
• Nonessential Definition
• Probabilistic Knowledge
• Conclusive Knowledge
• Noninferential Knowledge
• Inferential Knowledge
• Categorical Syllogism
• Conditional Syllogism
• Modus Tollens
• Modus Pollens
• Begging the Question
• Affirming the Consequent
• Loaded Question
• Hasty Generalization
• Inference to the Best Explanation
• Equivocation
• Ad-Hominem Argument
• Appeal to Authority
• Fallacy of Materialism

Cross-Curricular Theme: Modern Catchwords