Reflections: The longest course I have ever taught

We live in an age of instant gratification. People want things quickly in the shortest format possible and want immediate results. To cater to these changes in society, lectures have gotten shorter, bite-sized content increased, and long-term studies all but disappeared. The sensible thing to do in such situations is to give people what they want; short bursts of knowledge packaged as entertainment. I am not one for doing the sensible thing.

For the bulk of Muslim history, Islam was taught in a very specific manner. The primary focus of scholars was on transforming a group of students over a long period of time. The teacher would meet with his students once a week and spend years teaching a single text to that group of students. Together, the students and teacher would grow while studying these great classical works. This tradition is in danger of dying out in the era of short-form content.

Two years ago, I decided to try an experiment, to do things differently. Instead of producing more short-form courses, I will try to revive this long-term system of study and replicate it online. To do this, I chose a book very close to my heart that had recently transformed my life, Adab al-Dunya wa Al-Din (Ethics of Worldly Life and Religion) by the Abbasid Qadhi, Imam al-Mawardi.

A self-help classic

Adab al-Dunya wa Al-Din is a classical work in personal development. The author is more famous for his work in Tafsir as well as his masterpiece in Islamic governance, al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyyah, which is considered one of the greatest works ever written on how a Caliphate functions practically. Adab al-Dunya wa Al-Din was written by him as a way of sharing wisdom on how to live a balanced and happy life, achieving both worldly and religious goals. This book became a classic in the Arab world and remains a book that is often gifted to young graduates as a source of life advice.

The book covers many important topics on happiness, success, and moderation. It focuses on the importance of intellect and knowledge, and the dangers of ignorance and stupidity. It calls for a balanced understanding of the religion focused on understanding the wisdom behind Allah’s laws, obeying the commandments and avoiding the prohibitions. It offers timeless advice on choosing a good land to live in, developing meaningful relationships, and finding balance between zuhd and wealth building. Finally, the book ends with a detailed chapter on how to refine one’s character and continuously improve oneself.

The philosophy behind the class structure

I wanted to share the deep and timeless wisdom in this book with my students and use this as an opportunity to share my own insights into these topics. This is a book that cannot be done justice to in ten or twenty lessons, so I decided to do something very different. A two-year intensive online course, one class per week every Monday, covering the entire book over an extended period of time.

This is based upon the educational philosophy that I have developed and that governs my courses and writings:

At Islamic Self Help, we prioritize long-form long-term in-depth study over short consumerized edutainment. We believe that studying once a week in-depth with a teacher over multiple years plays a bigger role in shaping one’s mind, soul, and practice of the faith than regularly consuming bite-sized media.

Our courses are for serious learners who want to grow through knowledge. Knowledge is a light that purifies the soul, lightens the path, clarifies truth from falsehood, and guides actions and intentions. To gain this light, we must dedicate time weekly to the long-term study of our religion. Islamic Self Help is dedicated to providing you with the resources to do so.

This course, Ethical Living, was a first attempt at applying this philosophy. Alhamdulillah, despite a crazy two years in which I travelled the world and moved to a new land, the course continued every week until this week, when I recorded the final lesson. 88 lessons over two years, recorded in five different countries across three radically different phases of my life. I pray that I have done justice to this book and its teachings.

The end result

Alhamdulillah, over 450 students joined the course over the past two years. (You can help push that number to 500 by signing up for a membership here) These students have been regularly watching the online courses, sharing feedback with me, and have been very grateful for the course.

Together, we learned, grew, and were transformed by the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah, as explained by one of the early scholars of Islam. The end result is a beautiful comprehensive course packed full of practical transformational advice. Alhamdulillah, teaching this course has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I learned and grew through it along with my students.

Lessons learned

Teaching a two-year long online course was a unique experience. I learned a lot during this period including the following:

1. There is no way to do justice to a topic in a short course.
2. Long-term study with a teacher leads to stronger bonds between students and their teacher
3. Real knowledge is that which transforms your soul, not just information that is memorized
4. Years will pass anyway, might as well do good work with it
5. Instant gratification is ruining people’s chances at real growth and change
6. Anything worth doing takes time. Get used to taking your time with good things.
7. There is no substitute for the traditional method of studying a text over a long period of time with a teacher
8. When teaching longer courses, expect less students but expect higher quality students
9. Teaching a single book over a longer period of time transforms the teacher, just as much as it transforms the student
10. We must resist the urge to give in to the instant gratification culture, especially when teaching and studying classical knowledge. Which some short-form content is good for getting people into classes, every teacher should have some long-term classes they teach.

What’s next

Teaching this course has given me the courage to do something even more ambitious. This year, I started the Tafsir Intensive program, which I plan to teach over a 10-year period, covering the entire Quran over ten years in shaa Allah. We are at the end of year one in which we covered Surah al-Fatiha and Surah al-Baqarah, and I plan to teach Surah Ale-Imran and Surah al-Nisa in year two.

I am yet to figure out a balance between providing long-term courses and shorter forms of study for those who cannot manage long courses yet. This is something I plan to work on in 2027, to create some bridge courses that are short enough for new students to gain a footing before they dive into these longer courses. In the long run, however, I would love to see long-term online teaching become a norm again.

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