If you, or someone you know, is planning on studying overseas, this information may prove useful. Most of the time, there’s a language barrier between people here and the staff. A lot people apply blindly, especially when it comes to the faculties–which seem to be pretty standard across Islamic institutes–not knowing what exactly to expect.

So we’ve put together a small list of the common faculties, and what they teach you in each. And of course, regardless of which faculty you study in, you will learn the basics of everything–how to pray, recite, etc.

  • Faculty of Qur’an: They teach you the ten qira’aat–that’s why you must be a hafidh to enter. You will memorize all ten (eventually) and be able to recite them fluently, with the respective tajweed rules. This is typically the smallest faculty, with only a handful of graduates each year.
  • Faculty of Hadith: People who graduate are on the road to becoming muhaddith. They are able to look at hadith, and cut them to pieces, analyze the authenticity of each. Aside from learning the science of hadith, you’ll also memorize a few thousand ahadith each year (with chains), not to mention the biographies of narrators. This is the second-smallest faculty, typically.
  • Faculty of Shari’ah: This is typically the biggest faculty, because there’s a huge need in the ummah for fiqh. Typically, you specialize in fiqh and usool-ul-fiqh, the science of deriving fiqh. By the end, you will have a strong grip on the tools of a mujtahid, with some basis of the skills necessary to make fatwa (as dangerous as that is) on new issues; and you should know some of the tools to research and resolve issues.
  • Faculty of Aqeedah and Da’wa: Admittedly, we don’t know much about this faculty–so if you do, post it in the comments insha’Allah! In Medina University, this is known as the “easiest” faculty–but people who go in come out very strong. In terms of ‘aqeedah, you’ll specialize–learning the basics (shirk, kufr, nifaaq) to advanced issues relating to Allah’s attributes, the day of judgment, the prophets, and even things like t he dividing line between Muslims and Faasiqeen, and what takes a person out of Islam (because an act of shirk does not make a person mushrik necessarily, nor does an act of kufr necessarily make someone kaaifr.)

And that’s it! Insha’Allah if you have any first-hand or second-hand knowledge of these faculties, share it with us! Your comments may help shape the decision and direction of someone’s future.