Fall 2026 cohort
The Art of Adab
Less a course on rules than a course on formation: practical methods for embodying Prophetic character in daily life, so sincerity, discipline, and presence show up in how we treat others and ourselves.
- Preteens and teens, 12–17
- 8 weeks
- $160
Applications open
The Course in Brief
How can faith become visible in the way I think, worship, speak, act, and treat others?
Adab is usually translated as manners, but it means something deeper: learning to place every part of one’s life in its proper relationship to Allah. It concerns the condition of the heart, the intention behind an action, and the way a person worships, speaks, disagrees, spends his time, treats his family, and carries himself when nobody is watching.
Through a sustained study of Surah al-Hujurat, selected Prophetic teachings, practical habits, and regular self-assessment, students explore how faith becomes beautiful when it is embodied. The course moves from self-knowledge and purification of the heart outward: to adab with Allah, with His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, with one’s own self, and with the people around us.
Students repeatedly practise small Prophetic habits, examine their own conduct, and begin constructing a personal way of life shaped by sincerity, discipline, presence, mercy, and dignity.
What the Student Will Learn
By the end, he should be able to
Explain the relationship between adab, character, spiritual purification (tazkiyah), and ihsan.
Recognize how the condition of the heart shapes outward conduct.
Read Surah al-Hujurat as a guide to reverence, speech, brotherhood, conflict, and human dignity.
Identify common diseases of the heart, and the habits by which they are treated.
Practise self-examination without falling into either self-satisfaction or despair.
Establish several sustainable Prophetic habits in worship, speech, relationships, and daily life.
Build a personal plan for continuing the cultivation of adab after the course ends.
The Curriculum
Where the term travels
Four phases, each standing on the one before it. The full week-by-week syllabus follows underneath.
Step inside a real session- Unit OneWeeks 1–2
Knowing and Ordering the Self
Students begin by asking what adab really is, and why outward manners cannot be separated from inward states. They examine intention, habit, self-knowledge, moral responsibility, and the relationship between repeated actions and the formation of character.
- Unit TwoWeeks 3–5
Directed Toward Allah and His Messenger
What it means to worship with presence, reverence, gratitude, and sincerity. Drawing on the opening verses of Surah al-Hujurat, students study adab with revelation, with the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, with prayer, with sacred knowledge, and with the commands of Allah.
- Unit ThreeWeeks 6–7
The Heart Made Visible
The social and spiritual teachings of Surah al-Hujurat: verifying information, resolving conflict, preserving brotherhood, and avoiding mockery, suspicion, backbiting, arrogance, and contempt. Speech and social conduct reveal what the heart contains.
- Unit FourWeek 8
A Life Shaped by Adab
Adab applied to family, friendship, teachers, digital life, time, the body, service, disagreement, and responsibility. Each student gathers the term’s practices into a personal Rule of Adab for life beyond the classroom.
Week by Week
The full syllabus
8 weeks, each with what is studied and what is attempted before the next one. Open any week.
Week 01What Is Adab?
What is adab, really, and why can’t good manners be faked for long?
The meaning of adab, akhlaq (character), tarbiyah (formation), tazkiyah (purification), and ihsan (excellence). Why Islamic character is acquired rather than merely admired, and the connection between repeated actions and the person we become.
PracticeAn initial character and habit self-assessment.
By the end of this weekDefine adab, akhlaq, tazkiyah, and ihsan in his own words, and explain why character is formed by repetition rather than resolution.
Week 02Knowing the Heart
What is actually moving my heart when I act?
Intention, sincerity, self-awareness, accountability, and the heart as the source of conduct. Students learn to notice motives, emotional reactions, recurring weaknesses, and openings for growth.
PracticeDaily intention-setting and an evening self-review.
By the end of this weekName his own recurring motives and reactions honestly, and run a short evening self-review without despairing or excusing.
Week 03Adab with Allah
What does Allah have to do with my ordinary Tuesday?
Gratitude, repentance, reliance, remembrance, humility, and awareness of Allah, and how an inward relationship with Him gives order and meaning to an ordinary day.
PracticeOne consistent daily act of gratitude, remembrance, or repentance.
By the end of this weekDescribe how gratitude, repentance, and remembrance re-order a normal day, and hold one daily act of each for a full week.
Week 04The Adab of Worship
Why does my salah feel empty, and what would presence cost me?
Preparing for prayer, punctuality, purification, attentiveness, stillness, supplication, and directedness toward Allah. The aim is to become present within worship, beyond performing it correctly.
PracticeA prayer-presence tracker, and one deliberate improvement to salah.
By the end of this weekPrepare for prayer deliberately, name what breaks his attention, and make one concrete, kept improvement to his salah.
Week 05Adab with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and Revelation
What does it mean to put the Prophet’s word above my own preference?
The opening of Surah al-Hujurat: reverence for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, following before speaking, receiving sacred knowledge with humility, and allowing revelation to correct preference, impulse, and habit.
PracticeOne selected Prophetic habit, practised consistently through the week.
By the end of this weekExplain the opening of Surah al-Hujurat as lived instruction, and carry one Prophetic habit through seven consecutive days.
Week 06The Ethics of Speech and Interaction
Would I speak this way if I could see what it does to my heart?
Verification before judgment, speaking truthfully, listening well, and avoiding mockery, insult, suspicion, gossip, and backbiting. The same Qur’anic adab is applied to texting, group chats, social media, and online disagreement.
PracticeA speech audit, and a deliberate period of guarded silence.
By the end of this weekAudit his own speech against the Qur’anic ethics of verification, mockery, and suspicion, including in group chats and online.
Week 07Brotherhood, Conflict, and Human Dignity
What do I owe a brother who has wronged me, or whom I have wronged?
Reconciliation, apology, forgiveness, loyalty, disagreement, good opinion, justice, and the dignity Allah has given every human being. Students examine how to respond when hurt, embarrassed, angry, or provoked.
PracticeRepairing one relationship, or completing one concealed act of service.
By the end of this weekWalk through reconciliation, apology, and good opinion in a real situation, and complete one concealed act of service or repair.
Week 08Building a Life of Adab
What would my life look like if adab ordered all of it?
Adab with parents, teachers, friends, the body, time, possessions, learning, and community. Students review the habits they attempted and build a realistic plan for continued growth.
Final projectA personal Rule of Adab: guiding principles, daily habits, known weaknesses, and practical commitments.
By the end of this weekPresent a personal Rule of Adab (principles, daily habits, known weaknesses, commitments) realistic enough to survive the month after the course.
How Learning Is Practiced
Every week carries the same rhythm, so the learning is attempted between sessions rather than only discussed inside them.
- A guided study of the relevant verses of Surah al-Hujurat.
- Selected Prophetic teachings and examples.
- A practical habit to attempt before the next session.
- A short personal reflection or self-assessment.
- Cohort discussion of realistic moral and social situations.
- A review of progress, without public embarrassment or forced disclosure.
Primary text
Surah al-Hujurat
Supporting material
Selected Qur’anic passages, Prophetic teachings, accounts of exemplary conduct, and an Ihsan Circle student workbook containing reflection questions, habit trackers, and self-assessments.
By the End
A diligent student should leave with a richer understanding of adab, a clearer awareness of his own habits and inner states, and a practical method for bringing greater beauty, sincerity, and discipline into his worship, his relationships, his speech, and his ordinary day. This is a beginning in the cultivation of character, not its completion.
How It’s Taught
Character here is practised between sessions and accounted for in them: daily Prophetic habits assigned, attempted, and reviewed together.
Online, live cohort. 10 students maximum. taught by Irslan Ahmad every week, start to finish.
The Details
- Who it’s for
- Young men
- Age
- Preteens and teens, 12–17
- Instructor
- Irslan Ahmad
- Format
- Online, live cohort
- Starts
- To be announced
- Applying
- Applications close two weeks before the first session
- Schedule
- Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:00–7:00 PM Central
- Length
- 8 weeks
- Class size
- 10 students maximum
- Outside class
- About 15 minutes a day: one Prophetic habit, held all week
- Tuition
- $160
Tuition & Terms
No sincere student is turned away from our student programs for inability to pay. If tuition is the obstacle, write to us before applying, or request a scholarship 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.
Ready to join this cohort?
Classes are kept small, so a seat is a commitment on both sides. Apply below and we’ll confirm your place.
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