Teacher Training for Why Islam is True (2-Day Intensive in Toronto) - Four Arguments From the Quran
Taught by Shaykh Hamza Karamali on the ground in Toronto - January 21-22, 2023
at Madaniyya Academy (Malton, Mississauga)
Co-sponsored by Canadian Council of Muslim Theologians (CCMT) and Gibraltar Leadership Academy.
*NOTE - Only open to Imams, Alims, Alimat and Maktab teachers. Not open to the general public.
The traditional Dars-e-Nizami curriculum contains all of the resources that we need to protect our children and our communities from the challenges of modern atheism.
The Why Islam is True course is a contemporary articulation of the Dars-e-Nizami curriculum. It uses rational arguments that are in the Quran and that were taught by scholars such as Mawlana Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) to demonstrate the truth of la ilaha illa allah muhammad rasul allah.
It has been taught on-the-ground by teachers all over the world in schools, weekend madrasas, and university halaqas.
This 2-Day intensive is a training course specially designed for Imams, Ulama, Alimat, Scholars, and Maktab teachers. It will teach them the Why Islam is True course with a special focus on the scholarly principles behind the design of the course and how it connects with the traditional sciences of the Dars-e-Nizami curriculum.
By the end of the course, you will understand the rational arguments for Why Islam is True, how to find them in the Quran and the Dars-e-Nizami curriculum, the most common objections of modern atheists, and how to use our own arguments to respond to these atheist objections.
All students will also receive a complimentary Why Islam Is True textbook ($35 value)
Spaces are limited.
Further Details:
This course is an intensive training in how to teach “Why Islam is True”. You will learn the discipline of formal reasoning using logical arguments, practice that discipline with the four key arguments of “Why Islam is True”, and then learn how to use those four arguments to nurture conviction in your students.
Our religion is based on rational evidence. (No other religion is). Even though this is not well-known today, this rational evidence is found in the Quran and in the Sira of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace). Traditional Muslim scholars of tafsir, sira, and theology have formalized this evidence into four key arguments.
This intensive training sessions will educate teachers in these key arguments and show them how to use them effectively to nurture evidence-based conviction in their students.
SATURDAY JAN 21 SCHEDULE (8:00 am - 4:00 pm)
8:00 to 9:00 - The Quran, rational arguments, and iman
Technique: Reject the Atheist Faith-Frame
9:00 to 9:15 - COFFEE BREAK
9:15 to 10:15 - How to prove the existence of God
The Argument From Contingency (dalil al-imkan)
10:15 to 10:30 - COFFEE BREAK
10:30 to 11:30 - Science, laws of the nature, and atheism
Three Worldviews: Islam, Christianity, and Atheism
11:30 to 11:45 - COFFEE BREAK
11:45 to 12:30 - The Intelligent Design Argument vs. The Quranic Design Argument
12:30 to 1:45 - ZUHR AND LUNCH BREAK
1:45 to 2:30 - Technique: The Atheist Design Trap
2:30 to 2:45 - COFFEE BREAK
2:45 to 3:30 - The Big Bang and the Kalam Cosmological Argument (dalil al-huduth)
3:30 to 3:45 - FREE DISCUSSION TIME
3:45 - DISMISSAL AND ASR PRAYER
SUNDAY JAN 22 SCHEDULE (8:00 am - 4:00 pm)
8:00 to 9:00 - The Problem of Evil and Suffering
Technique: Reject the Atheist Faith-Frame
9:00 to 9:15 - COFFEE BREAK
9:15 to 10:15 - Can God create a rock that He can’t lift?
Technique: The Unmask Strategy
10:15 to 10:30 - COFFEE BREAK
10:30 to 11:30 - The Quranic Argument For God’s Oneness (dalil al-tamanu’)
Mass-transmission (tawatur) and the historical uniqueness of Islam
11:30 to 11:45 - COFFEE BREAK
11:45 to 12:30 - Why miracles aren’t unscientific
How miracles prove genuine messengerhood (dalil al-nubuwwa)
12:30 to 1:45 - ZUHR AND LUNCH BREAK
1:45 to 2:30 - Exactly how the Quran is miraculous
2:30 to 2:45 - COFFEE BREAK
2:45 to 3:30 - Other proofs for the genuine messengerhood of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace)
3:30 to 3:45 - FREE DISCUSSION TIME
3:45 - DISMISSAL AND ASR PRAYER
Location:
Madaniyya Academy
3930 Nashua Dr. Mississauga, ON. L4V 1M5
Nominal admission cost of $50 USD
Please e-mail info@basiraeducation.org for any questions.
Syllabus
Module 1: The Prophet Made Arguments. The Meccans Argued
The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) was a teacher. That means that he didn’t simply tell his students what they had to believe, but he helped them discover for themselves that what he was calling them to was true.
Trainees will learn how to take this realization and bring it into their classrooms to cultivate an open and religious culture of learning where students gain the freedom to be inquisitive, to challenge, and to make their religion something that they choose for themselves.
Module 2: How to Make an Argument
There is not a single verse in the Quran that tells us not to use our minds. But there are dozens of verses that censure the Meccan polytheists for not using their minds and simply clinging to the customs of their ancestors.
But what exactly does it mean to “use our minds”? This session will give examples of Quranic verses that employ rational evidence and then analyze their underlying logical structure. (That logical structure is called an “argument”.)
Trainees will then find those same logical structures in an important verse of the Quran. This will set them up for a logical analysis of the arguments in future sessions.
Module 3: The Argument From Contingency
Scholars of all of the traditional Islamic sciences frequently refer to Allah Most High as “the being that exists necessarily” (al-dhat al-wajib al-wujud). This is an implicit reference to the most important traditional Muslim argument for the existence of God—the argument from contingency (dalil al-imkan). All of our scholars were deeply familiar with this argument and used it to explain hundreds of verses in the Quran.
Trainees will learn the concepts of “contingency” and “necessity” and then master this traditional Muslim argument for the existence of God. They will then use the formal structure of this argument to analyze and respond to a variety of common student questions and objections.
Module 4: The Argument for God’s Volitional Agency
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle developed arguments for the existence of God. These arguments became a part of the Christian tradition, but not the Muslim tradition. Traditional Muslim scholars recognized that Aristotle’s “God” was not the same as the God of the Quran—Aristotle’s God did not have any knowledge and didn’t choose to create the universe.
In this session, trainees will revisit some of the Quranic verses that they saw in the previous session and then study how these verses comprise an argument that rebuts Aristotle’s argument. They will then use the formal structure of this argument to analyze and respond to a variety of common student questions and objections.
Module 5: The Argument for God’s Oneness
The Quran is full of arguments for God’s oneness. But all of these arguments presuppose the two arguments above. Trainees will examine a variety of Quranic verses that argue for God’s oneness, analyze their underlying logical structure, connect them to the previous arguments, and construct an Islamic conception of God that is grounded in both the Quran and in rational arguments.
Module 6: The Argument From Miracles
The Quran explains that Allah Most High aided His prophets and messengers with “clear signs” (bayyinat). These “clear signs” are prophetic miracles (mu‘jizat).
Trainees will study the concept of “prophetic miracles”, learn how to respond to objections that they are unscientific, and then analyze the logical structure of the Quranic argument from miracles.
Module 7: A Walk Through the Textbook
The nineteen chapters of the “Why Islam is True” textbook are based on the four arguments and a classroom culture that encourages all the hard questions. Trainees will review the textbook in light of their training and learn how to use it effectively in their classrooms.