If proficiency is described as covering three levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced) of texts in each science, then most—if not all—graduates from Islamic institutions in the West (including South Africa) should be considered non-scholars. (1/10)
In Naḥw, for example, the last text studied in many of these schools is the overpraised ‘Hidāyah al-Naḥw.’ I once told Sh. Shāhjihān Naqqāb (who’s been issuing legal verdicts for decades in the Emirates, and has been teaching the sciences for 50+ years) about this and… (2/10)
…he was quite surprised. He said, “That primer is so small and basic. It doesn’t even cover enough content on the subject. How can a person become a scholar having studied only that [in naḥw]?” (3/10)
In Ṣarf, most places don’t go beyond covering ʿIlm al-Ṣīghah’ or its equivalent. That is definitely not an advanced-level text. In fact it has a notable amount of instances wherein the author has opposed the prevalent understandings of Morphologists. (4/10)
In Balāghah, most places do only ‘Durūs al-Balāghah’ or ‘al-Balāghah al-Wāḍiḥah.’ Some don’t even finish them. If you’re lucky then you do a few pages of the ‘Mukhtaṣar.’ The ‘Muṭawwal’ remains to be a mystery. I can’t tell you how many students/graduates I’ve myself… (5/10)
…seen who have retained only a bit from those two texts, as the ones who taught them these introductory texts themselves didn’t study advanced-level texts in the science. Many use non-Arabic commentaries to review-teach while their students play the roles of guinea pigs. (6/10)
The result of this is countless graduate-scholars who aren’t strong in Arabic. So many don’t even know a muḍāf from a manʿūt. I still remember the words of Sh. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm al-Nuʿmānī (d. 1442) to us: “Someone who doesn’t have strong Arabic can never be a scholar.” (7/10)
In Uṣūl, many places don’t study anything other than ‘Uṣūl al-Shāshī.’ Other places may cover ‘Nūr al-Anwār,’ or parts of it. That’s also not an advanced-level text. There’s no ‘al-Muntakhab,’ ‘al-Tawḍīḥ’ & ‘al-Talwīḥ,’ ‘Musallam al-Thubūt,’ etc. (8/10)
In ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth, the vast majority of places do only till ‘Nuzhat al-Naẓar.’ Maybe the primer of al-Dihlawī (d. 1052) is covered adequately. Some may do al-Bayqūniyyah—with broken metres—before them. None of these are advanced-level texts. (9/10)
I wouldn’t even get into Sīrah, ‘Tazkiyah,’ Manṭiq (even though it wasn’t mentioned), ʿAqīdah, etc. There are some institutions in the West that only cover al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah in the whole program!
I mean no disrespect by this. Just calling a spade a spade. (10/10)
I mean no disrespect by this. Just calling a spade a spade. (10/10)
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