Studying the deen

Salam, I am a 17yr old Sunni Muslim girl who wants to take a gap year to study the deen. I have heard that there are many ppl who have studied the deen in Tarim, Yemen and that is really good there. Can anyone advise me on where I can study the deen or how to get into it?

Thank you n jazakumallah khair.

Reply 1

#FREEPalestine

Original post by R.als

Wasalam. Make sure your parents are cool with the idea. Don't build up an idea in your head because they may have genuine reasons to shoot it down.
Additionally, you don't need to travel abroad to do this. You could study with this school: https://www.cikedu.org/sunday.html.
That way you can stay at home, get a part time job and do some courses to prepare for your further education. Don't neglect your "worldly" studies while studying deen, as studying for "worldly" professions can be just as rewarding if done with right pure intentions. For example, studying medicine with the intention to help people will be far more beneficial compared to studying medicine for the money and prestige associated to the title in many cultures.
Hope this helps, Inshallah

Reply 2

I7V

Original post by R.als

This is excellent timing as there is dawrah that will be starting today (22nd June) at 2:10PM UK time, in shā' Allāh, on the "Garden of ilm" YouTube channel that is for people who want to start studying the deen. It will give you a good introduction on various Islamic sciences so it could be nice if you attend it.

As for studying abroad, I'm not too familiar with that process and you might need to get your family involved with that to see what is suitable for you and them. Allocating only a year for studying abroad may limit some of your options as you may not be able to attend actual universities, but there still could be other options. Do you know Arabic?

Reply 3

R.als

Original post by I7V

This is excellent timing as there is dawrah that will be starting today (22nd June) at 2:10PM UK time, in shā' Allāh, on the "Garden of ilm" YouTube channel that is for people who want to start studying the deen. It will give you a good introduction on various Islamic sciences so it could be nice if you attend it.
As for studying abroad, I'm not too familiar with that process and you might need to get your family involved with that to see what is suitable for you and them. Allocating only a year for studying abroad may limit some of your options as you may not be able to attend actual universities, but there still could be other options. Do you know Arabic?

Thank you for your response! I will try my best to attend that in sha Allah.

Yes I do know Arabic and the reason I would really like to study the Deen in this gap year because my plan is to study medicine straight after that bi’thn illah. As you may know, medicine is a long course so I won’t be able to take a break in between to study abroad so I feel like it’s a really good opportunity to study Islam solely and focus on my relationship with Allah. But yeah, it sounds good theoretically but I don’t know how to get into it or if 1 year is good enough.

Reply 4

I7V

Original post by R.als

Thank you for your response! I will try my best to attend that in sha Allah.
Yes I do know Arabic and the reason I would really like to study the Deen in this gap year because my plan is to study medicine straight after that bi’thn illah. As you may know, medicine is a long course so I won’t be able to take a break in between to study abroad so I feel like it’s a really good opportunity to study Islam solely and focus on my relationship with Allah. But yeah, it sounds good theoretically but I don’t know how to get into it or if 1 year is good enough.

Alhamdulillāh, then you are already many steps ahead of many of us. There are so many resources available in Arabic that are not available in the English language. There are an abundance of books and audios of the scholars you can access online which would not even require you to leave your house and you could gain so much knowledge from them. I recommend that you pay close attention to the works of the scholars who are well-known for their adherence to the Qur'ān and the Sunnah and have many works available to us, such as Shaykh ibn Bāz and Shaykh ibn al-'Uthaymīn, both of whom have passed away but are well-known for their immense contribution to teaching various Islamic sciences. I personally love the classes of Shaykh 'Abdur-Razzāq al-Badr, who is still alive - may Allāh preserve him - as he explains concepts very clearly.

It is a great blessing that Allāh has granted us such means of learning the dīn that we can access from anywhere across the globe. It is also great as we can access these anytime and we can benefit from these books, classes etc, in our free time and we don't necessarily have to travel to different lands to study. This way you can still continue your Islamic studies even when you are pursuing your medical degree and see is as a lifelong journey, rather than just that one year abroad, as you can dedicate some of your free time to utilising this material. That being said, don't let this discourage you from travelling to seek knowledge as this in itself comes with immense virtue. Also, it is essential for a strong tālib al-'ilm to have a teacher who he can learn from directly and ask questions to, which is not present if you only rely on books and audios. However, I mention these means just to let you know that you can still study while living at home and don't have to restrict it to this gap year.

Knowing where to start may be daunting but if we follow the structure that the scholars have set out for us, then this will make the journey so much easier. The scholars have laid out certain books to start with in each science, and from there you can progress accordingly. Let me know if you want to know which books to start with. Also let me know what level are you aiming for with your studies; do you seek to reach the high level of knowledge the scholars, or do you just want to moderately increase in knowledge so that you can get closer to Allāh? And also what level are you currently at?

Reply 5

I7V

Original post by R.als

Thank you for your response! I will try my best to attend that in sha Allah.
Yes I do know Arabic and the reason I would really like to study the Deen in this gap year because my plan is to study medicine straight after that bi’thn illah. As you may know, medicine is a long course so I won’t be able to take a break in between to study abroad so I feel like it’s a really good opportunity to study Islam solely and focus on my relationship with Allah. But yeah, it sounds good theoretically but I don’t know how to get into it or if 1 year is good enough.

The websites of the mashāyikh that I mentioned, containing audio recordings of their classes of various different books and subjects.

Ibn 'Uthaymīn: https://binothaimeen.net/

Ibn Bāz: https://binbaz.org.sa/audios/kind/1

'Abdur-Razzāq al-Badr: https://www.al-badr.net/