The Dars-e-Nizami Syllabus of Islamic Studies

The Dars-e-Nizami is a syllabus of books taught in all traditional religious schools ( madrasahs) that are associated with the religious centre of Deoband (India). The outstanding feature of this syllabus is that by a thorough study of the most difficult classical texts in each field of the classical Islamic sciences, the student develops the ability to read the remaining material on his own. This list of books and my descriptive notes is ust a sample!although most of the books remain the same there are differences in style of teaching and in books taught from one instructor to the next.
(Unless otherwise specified all books are in Arabic.) Sarf ("rabic con ugation) Sarf e Mir, by #yed #harif al$%ur ani (d. &'&(). )lementary nahw, in *ersian. ' lm al-Si!hah, by +ufti ,Inayat "hmad (d. &-./ a.h.). Intermediate sarf, in *ersian. "#sool e Akbari$ by #yed ,"li "kbarabadi (d. before &0-1). "dvanced sarf$ in *ersian. Al-Shafi%ah$ by ibn 2a ib (d. &-'/). "dvanced sarf. Nahw (Arabic sentence structure) Nahw e Mir, by #yed #harif al$%ur ani (d. &'&(). )lementary nahw, in *ersian. Sharh # Mi&ati 'Amil, by "bd al$3ahir al$%ur ani, elementary nahw. The student parses the entire book passage by passage in front of the teacher. 'ida%at#n Nahw, by "bu 2ayyan al$"ndalusi (d. &(''). Intermediate. Al-(afi%ah, by Ibn 2a ib. Taught with extensive commentary. Sharh al-(afi%ah )il *ami, by "bd al$4ahman al$%ami. Taught with extensive commentary. Mantiq (Logic) sa +ho,i, by "thir al$din al$"bhari (d. &('') )lementary. Mir-at, by 5a6al Imam al$7hairabadi (d. &0-/). )lementary. Sharh .ahzib, by "bdullah al$8a6di (d. &9.(). Intermediate. Sharh al-/isalah al-Shamsi%%ah, (commonly known as al-0#tbi) by 3utb al$Din al$4a6i (&(1'). Intermediate. Mir 0#tbi, by #yed #harif al$%ur ani (d. &'&(). Intermediate. S#llam al-'Uloom, by +uhibbullah al$:ihari (d. &.;.). Intermediate. Sharh S#llam of +ullah 2asan, by +ulla 2asan (d. &.0/). "dvanced. Sharh S#llam of 2amdullah, by 2amdullah (d. &.'.). "dvanced. Sharh S#llam of 3adi +ubarak, by 3adi +ubarak (d. &.'/). "dvanced. Sharh M#lla *alal of +ir <ahid, by +ir <ahid (d. &00/). "dvanced. Falsafah (Natural Philosophy) Al-'ad%ah al-Sa'idi%%ah, by 5a6al 2a= al$7hairabadi (d. &01&). )lementary. Ma%bazi, by 3adi 7amal 2usain (d. &10'. "lthough the book is at an intermediate level professors cover all of the commentary known as 'A%n al-0#dat in their discussion. This makes it an advanced text. Ma'ani (Arabic Rhetoric) .alkhis al-Miftah, by %alal al$Din ibn "bd al$4ahman (d. &(0/). )lementary. M#khtasar al-Ma1ani, intermediate, and M#ttawal al-Ma'ani, advanced. :oth by #a,d al$Din al$Tafta6ani (d.&(0/). >nly selected portions of the M#ttawal are covered. A ab (Arabic !elles Lettres) Nafhat al-1Arab by I,6a6 ,"li of Deoband (d. &/9'). )lementary. Nafhat al-2aman, #haykh "hmad ,"rab al$8amani (d. &0';). )lementary. Al-Ma-amat lil 'ariri, 3asim ibn ,"li. "dvanced. 5ifteen ma-amat$ with special attention to expanding the students, vocabulary by exposing them to changes of meaning as the root takes on different forms. Diwan al-M#tannabbi, "hmad ibn al$2asan (d. /19). #elections. "dvanced. Di3an al-'imasah, "bu Tamam 2abib ibn ,"us (d. 0';). #elections. Al-M#'alla-at al-Sab', by different %ahili authors.

(The Dars$e$?i6ami #yllabus of Islamic #tudies *age & of -)

"ala# ($heological %isputation) Sharh al-A-a'id al-Nasafi, ?a m al$Din al$?asafi (d. &&'-). Intermediate. Al-(hi%ali 'ala Sharhil 'A-a1id, "hmad ibn +usa al$7hiyali (&'19). "dvanced Fiqh Ma )a 4#d Minh#, by Thanaullah al$*anipati. In *ersian, elementary. N#r al-5 dah, by 2assan ibn ,"mmar al$#hurumbulali (d. &(90). )lementary. M#kkhtasar al-0#d#ri, by "bu al$2assan ibn +uhammad al$3uduri (d. &;(.). Intermediate. (anz al-Da-a1i-, by "bdullah "hmad ibn +uhammad al$?asafi (&(&;). Intermediate. Sharh al-6i-a%ah, by #adr al$#hari,ah ,"bdullah ibn +as,ud (d. &('1). Intermediate. Al-'ida%ah, by :urhan al$Din al$+urghanani (&&/.). "dvanced. $afsir " translation cum exegesis course taught over a period of three years with reference to exegetical works. (+y teacher relied mostly on /#h al-Ma'ani, Al-.afsir al-Mazhari of 3adi Thanaullah al$*anipati and the 4i%an al-0#r1an of "shraf ,"li al$Thanawi.) .afsir al-*alala%n, by %alal al$Din al$+ahilli and "l$#uyuti. .afsir Anwar il .anzil by 3adi :aydawi (d. &-09). Al-"awz al-(abir by #hah @aliullah (d. &.1-). " treatise on #s#l al-tafsir. &sul al'Fiqh Us#l al-Shashi$ by Isha= ibn Ibrahim. )lementary. ?ur al$"nwar, by +ullah %iwan. )lementary. M#khtasar al-'#sami$ by +uhammad ibn +uhammad al$"khsaykathi. Intermediate. Al-.awdih wal-.alwih$ by #a,d al$Din al$Tafta6ani (d. &(0/). "dvanced. M#ssalam al-.h#boot, by +uhibbullah al$:ihari (d. &.;.). "dvanced. &sul al'(a ith Sharh N#khbat al-"ikr, by Ibn 2a r al$,"s=alani. )lementary. Alfi%at al-'adith, by al$#uyuti. @ith extensive reference to .adrib al-/awi. (a ith

The books of :ukhari, +uslim, Tirmidhi, ?asaAi, "bu DaAud, Ibn +a ah, the M#watta of +alik and that of +uhammad, along with Sharh Ma'ani al-1Athar are all covered in the final year. The disputations of the urists are extensively covered in Tirmidhi, less extensively in Sharh Ma'ani il 1Athar and "bu DaAud. This leaves the teacher free to concentrate on the special aspects of the remaining books (for example, on the tara,im of :ukhari and the M#--adamah of +uslim ). The disputations are also covered in detail in the year before the final year, in which the collection Mishkaat al-Masabih is taught primarily to give the students time to memori6e the disputations. +y teachers had me bypass this year!so I did not study the Mishkaat.

(The Dars$e$?i6ami #yllabus of Islamic #tudies *age - of -)