Ihsan Circle · Fall 2026 Syllabus · المنهج
Exploring the Qur'an
What changes when the surahs I recite become words I understand and live by?
- Instructor
- Irslan Ahmad
- Format
- Online, live cohort
- Schedule
- Mondays & Wednesdays, 6:00–7:00 PM Central
- Term
- August 24 – Oct 12, 2026
- Length
- 8 weeks
- Class size
- 10 students maximum
- Age
- Preteens and teens, 12–17
- Outside class
- 20–30 minutes most days — memorization and review
- Tuition
- $160
- Prerequisite
- None — no prior background assumed
About This Course
Many Muslims memorize and repeat the same short surahs their whole lives while knowing little of their structure, imagery, vocabulary, context, or central message. This course invites students to return to those familiar chapters and meet them again — as revelation to be heard, understood, reflected on, and lived.
Students begin with what the Qur'an is: how it was revealed and preserved, why Muslims understand it to be miraculous, and how scholars distinguish translation, tafsir (explanation), and personal reflection. They then study selected frequently recited surahs through their Arabic text, key vocabulary, major themes, internal structure, classical explanation, and practical guidance.
Selections from Safwat al-Tafasir provide the principal exegetical foundation. Students are not trained to interpret revelation independently; they learn how responsible Qur'anic understanding rests on language, transmitted explanation, context, and scholarly method — while practising disciplined tadabbur, allowing the Qur'an to question, guide, console, and reform them.
Objectives
By the end of the term, a diligent student should be able to:
- 01Explain what Muslims mean by revelation, and by the miraculous nature of the Qur'an.
- 02Describe, at an introductory level, how the Qur'an was revealed, transmitted, preserved, and arranged.
- 03Distinguish translation, tafsir, and tadabbur.
- 04Approach the Qur'an with proper intellectual and spiritual adab.
- 05Identify the central message and structure of selected frequently recited surahs.
- 06Recognize recurring Qur'anic vocabulary, images, contrasts, and rhetorical patterns.
- 07Connect Qur'anic meanings to worship, character, relationships, trials, and moral responsibility.
- 08Memorize or strengthen the selected surahs, and recite them carefully.
- 09Produce a simple thematic map of a surah using reliable explanatory sources.
The Shape of the Term
Unit One · Weeks 1–2
Meeting Revelation
What the Qur'an is, how revelation came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, how the text was preserved, what makes it miraculous, and the adab required of anyone who reads and studies it.
Unit Two · Weeks 2–3
Learning How a Surah Speaks
How scholars attend to vocabulary, context, structure, imagery, repetition, contrast, and the relationship between verses — and how responsible tafsir differs from unsupported personal interpretation.
Unit Three · Weeks 3–7
The Surahs We Carry
Close study of chapters recited most often in prayer, beginning with their Arabic language and classical explanation before moving to their spiritual and moral implications.
Unit Four · Week 8
From Recitation to Response
What it means to receive revelation personally without reducing it to personal opinion. Students develop practices of recitation, memorization, reflection, supplication, and action that continue after the course.
The Term, Dated
- 01Week of Aug 24
What Is the Qur'an?
Principal surah: Al-Fatihah — as prayer, praise, covenant, and map of guidance.
- 02Week of Aug 31
Tafsir, Translation, and Tadabbur
Principal surah: Al-Ikhlas — and the Qur'anic presentation of divine unity.
- 03Week of Sep 7
Seeking Refuge
Principal surahs: Al-Falaq and al-Nas.
Labor Day week — Wednesday session only (Sep 9).
- 04Week of Sep 14
Time, Loss, and the Successful Life
Principal surahs: Al-'Asr and al-Takathur.
- 05Week of Sep 21
Worship and Responsibility
Principal surahs: Al-Ma'un and al-Kawthar.
- 06Week of Sep 28
Consolation and Expansion
Principal surahs: Al-Duha and al-Sharh.
- 07Week of Oct 5
Wealth, Speech, and the Corruption of the Self
Principal surah: Al-Humazah, with supporting selections from related short surahs.
- 08Week of Oct 12
Victory, Return, and Living with the Qur'an
Principal surah: Al-Nasr, followed by cumulative review.
Assessment & Completion
There are no letter grades here. Formation is not ranked — the work is designed to make growth visible to the student first.
- A personal Qur'an reflection journal, kept across the term.
- Short vocabulary reviews for each surah's key expressions.
- Private memorization and recitation check-ins with the instructor in weeks 3, 5, and 7 — never performative, never in front of the cohort.
- One-page thematic maps for selected surahs.
- Final: a presentation or written reflection on one surah's central message, structure, and practical guidance.
Completion asks for consistent attendance (no more than two weeks missed), the journal and surah maps kept up, and the final presentation given.
Texts & Materials
Primary text: The Qur'an in Arabic, with an instructor-selected English translation.
Provided: Instructor notes, vocabulary sheets, surah maps, memorization guides, and carefully selected material from classical Qur'anic scholarship.
The student brings: a mushaf — any standard print; a notebook and a pen; a quiet place to join the live session.
Principal tafsir: selected and adapted readings from Safwat al-Tafasir.
The exact selection of surahs may be adjusted slightly by cohort; the sequence above is representative.
Policies
Attendance. Sessions are live, and attended — a student can ask his question the moment he has it. If he has to miss a session, a recording can be shared on request; it is a fallback, not a substitute for being in the room.
Tuition help. No sincere student is turned away from our student programs for inability to pay. If tuition is the obstacle, write to us before applying and we'll find a way forward.
Refunds. Full before the first session, prorated after the first session but before the second, and none once the second session begins — see our Terms of Use.
Where the Term Leaves Him
A diligent student should no longer experience the selected surahs as familiar sounds. He should understand their central meanings, recognize something of their language and structure, recite them more attentively, and hold a responsible method for continuing to study and live with the Qur'an.