Ihsan Circle · Fall 2026 Syllabus · المنهج
The Art of Adab
How can faith become visible in the way I think, worship, speak, act, and treat others?
- Instructor
- Irslan Ahmad
- Format
- Online, live cohort
- Schedule
- Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:00–7:00 PM Central
- Term
- August 25 – Oct 13, 2026
- Length
- 8 weeks
- Class size
- 10 students maximum
- Age
- Preteens and teens, 12–17
- Outside class
- About 15 minutes a day — one Prophetic habit, held all week
- Tuition
- $160
- Prerequisite
- None — no prior background assumed
About This Course
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.
Objectives
By the end of the term, a diligent student should be able to:
- 01Explain the relationship between adab, character, spiritual purification (tazkiyah), and ihsan.
- 02Recognize how the condition of the heart shapes outward conduct.
- 03Read Surah al-Hujurat as a guide to reverence, speech, brotherhood, conflict, and human dignity.
- 04Identify common diseases of the heart, and the habits by which they are treated.
- 05Practise self-examination without falling into either self-satisfaction or despair.
- 06Establish several sustainable Prophetic habits in worship, speech, relationships, and daily life.
- 07Build a personal plan for continuing the cultivation of adab after the course ends.
The Shape of the Term
Unit One · Weeks 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 Two · Weeks 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 Three · Weeks 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 Four · Week 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.
The Term, Dated
- 01Week of Aug 25
What Is Adab?
Practice: An initial character and habit self-assessment.
- 02Week of Sep 1
Knowing the Heart
Practice: Daily intention-setting and an evening self-review.
- 03Week of Sep 8
Adab with Allah
Practice: One consistent daily act of gratitude, remembrance, or repentance.
- 04Week of Sep 15
The Adab of Worship
Practice: A prayer-presence tracker, and one deliberate improvement to salah.
- 05Week of Sep 22
Adab with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and Revelation
Practice: One selected Prophetic habit, practised consistently through the week.
- 06Week of Sep 29
The Ethics of Speech and Interaction
Practice: A speech audit, and a deliberate period of guarded silence.
- 07Week of Oct 6
Brotherhood, Conflict, and Human Dignity
Practice: Repairing one relationship, or completing one concealed act of service.
- 08Week of Oct 13
Building a Life of Adab
Final project: A personal Rule of Adab — guiding principles, daily habits, known weaknesses, and practical commitments.
Assessment & Completion
There are no letter grades here. Formation is not ranked — the work is designed to make growth visible to the student first.
- An initial character and habit self-assessment in week 1, repeated in week 8 — so growth is measured against himself, not against others.
- One Prophetic habit attempted each week between sessions, tracked in the student workbook.
- Weekly self-assessments and short reflections, reviewed without public embarrassment or forced disclosure.
- Final project: a personal Rule of Adab — principles, daily habits, known weaknesses, and commitments.
Completion asks for consistent attendance (no more than two weeks missed), the weekly habit attempted most weeks, and the Rule of Adab presented.
Texts & Materials
Primary text: Surah al-Hujurat.
Provided: Selected Qur'anic passages, Prophetic teachings, accounts of exemplary conduct, and an Ihsan Circle student workbook containing reflection questions, habit trackers, and self-assessments.
The student brings: a notebook and a pen; a quiet place to join the live session.
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 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.