Postgraduate Program
This page will be updated with information for the 2024–25 academic year in May 2024 InshaAllah.
Continue Your Education
The postgraduate program at Qalam is intended to provide students with a valuable array of courses not typically offered in a traditional Dars Niẓāmi curriculum. These courses are designed to further develop the well-rounded student and qualify students for specialization in the various fields of Islamic study. Students who have already successfully completed a course of study from the Qalam Seminary’s ʿĀlimīyyah program or an equivalent ʿĀlimīyyah program from a qualifying institution may enroll in classes in the postgraduate program.
The postgraduate program is a full year of study divided into a Fall Semester, a Spring Semester, and a shorter Summer Semester. Two classes will be offered simultaneously in the Fall and Spring semesters and one class in the Summer semester. The courses and their descriptions are below.
Esteemed instructor
Shaykh Uwais Namazi is a full-time instructor, researcher, and curriculum advisor at Qalam. At the Qalam Seminary he teaches Arabic Poetry and Literature, Fiqh, Research, Writing, and Translation.
Learn More About Shaykh Uwais Namazi
Course Curriculum
Course Schedule
September 26th, 2022 - December 22nd, 2022
HIST-621: Islamic History
Monday & Wednesday 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM CST
HIST-611: Epistemology, Pedagogy and Education
Tuesday & Thursday 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM CST
Fall 2022
HIST-621: Islamic History
HIST-611: Epistemology, Pedagogy and Education
Spring 2023
ARAB-631: Arabic Poetry & Prose
THEO-631: Islamic Theology
Course Descriptions
HIST-621: Islamic History
Course Description: Students will use Ṭuqūsh’s mukhtaṣar al-tarīkh al-islamī, al-Tārīkh al-Islāmī al-wajīz or something similar, which will be supplemented with readings from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources to include the multi-volumed chronicles and histories of al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Sa’d, Ibn Kathīr, Ibn al-Athīr et. al., whereas secondary sources include the likes of Marshall Hodgson, Hugh Kennedy, Jonathan Berkey, Robert Hoyland etc.
Considerable focus will be paid to the early period, viz. the Caliphs, Umayyads and Abbasids, sources of history, along with an exposure to alternative approaches and narratives to history.
Expectations: This is a presentation based course. Students are expected to prepare the Arabic text for class, go through reading materials and present a summary or review of sorts in class, with a view to provide input, generate discussion and take questions.
THEO-631: Islamic Theology
Course Description: Students will undertake readings from Imam Abū Mu’īn al-Nasafī’s seminal work on Māturīdī theology, the tabṣirat al-‘adillah, building upon their pre-existing knowledge, esp. their engagement with Imam Abū Ḥafṣ’ al-aqā’id al-nasafiyyah.
The author is arguably the most influential Maturidi scholar after Maturidi himself to have defended and articulated Maturidi theology. The same could be said of this work, which won him lasting fame and by which he is known amongst non-Maturidis, Ṣāḥib al-Tabṣirah, ‘the author of tabṣirah’.
Expectations: Students are expected to come to class having read assigned material and discuss in class. Assessment is based upon an essay and an end of year exam (tentative).
ARAB-631: Arabic Poetry & Prose
Course Description: Students will read through selections from the iconic pre-Islamic ’seven hanging odes’ (al-mu’allaqāt al-sab’), considered the most eloquent samples of Arabic poetry and in whose expressions and language the Qur’an was revealed, along with poems from other collections like Abū Tammām’s Dīwān al-Ḥamāsah.
For prose, students will read chapters from Ibn al-Muqaffa’s Kalīlah Wa Dimnah, al-Hariri’s Maqāmāt and other such works of high prose.
Proficiency in Arabic is a must for any serious engagement with the Qur’an and Sunnah, let alone accessing primary and secondary sources in Arabic
Expectations: Students are expected to prepare for class the poems and prose they have been assigned. Assessment is based upon comprehension, classroom performance, and an end of year exam (oral or written, tentative).
HIST-611: Epistemology, Pedagogy and Education in Light of the Muqaddimah Ibn Khaldun
Course Description: Students will undertake a reading and study of the final chapter of the muqaddimah, which pertains to topics of epistemology, theories of knowledge, its classification and production, practices in education and the place of knowledge in society and a given civilization. This is to enrich their own understanding of how the sciences developed with the passage of time, what was being taught in various regions of the Islamicate, and how.
This will also allow students to recognize their teaching and learning strengths and weaknesses, and develop long term plans.
Expectations: Students are expected to come to class having read assigned material and discuss in class. Assessment is based upon an essay or assignment project.