In my time, I have tried lots of places in the UK and Europe to try and gain knowledge: from the age of twelve, I have been to Deobandi madrassas, Salafi gatherings and ‘aqeeda’ lessons, Brelwi celebrations and even ‘Dawah’ groups as well as too many others to even recount. Let’s just say the results have been somewhat of a let-down and in each case I ended up having to fend for myself and not only failing to get the grounding I so desperately wanted and needed, but having to do even more research on my own due to the confusion caused by ‘gaining knowledge’ from these and other sources
I recently had the honour of being invited to attend these guys’ ‘Muslim Retreat’ at Ilham Hall. Frankly, I was left stunned. I am familiar with Sheikh Atabek, but I was amazed at how well trained and grounded the students of Avicenna Academy were. Lay Muslims were treated to a three day session of Islamic teaching the likes of which I personally have failed to find before.
A guy had come all the way from Trinidad just to attend. And I could see why. It made me feel grateful that I had such a valuable resource at my doorstep here in the UK.
You will be able to see for yourself, as they were open enough to let me film the whole thing, so I will be posting the lectures here, but in the meantime, I found this trailer for their Islamic Scholarship Courses.
To top it all off, this is a smashing promo by any standards.
I for one will be signing up immediately.
Asharis: Assemble 
Unlike some resent fake courses endorsed by dawah organisations that should know better (see the Muslim Debate Initiative’s shameful participation in a fake “academic diploma” course), this is the real thing – taught by real scholars of classical Islam such as Shaykh Atabek Shukurov An-Nasafi.
As distinguished dawah carrier Nazam44 commented,
“These guys are the real deal. As far as I am concerned, this is the best place to learn Islam in the U.K if not Europe (and I have had the misfortune of trying LOTS of other places and ‘Muslim groups’). Superbly made trailer as well. These guys are bringing back the excellence and academia Muslims were once envied for.”
I too recommend this excellent new scholarly initiative which, inshallah, will bring many blessings to the Muslim community in the United Kingdom.
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Well, as everyone knows, Sheikh Williams does not endorse rubbish!
This looks excellent!!! Really impressed. The online and distant learning courses are very appealing.
Salam Alaykum,
I want to be clear about a few things Insha Allah. If one is like myself who cannot devote a specific time, can I attain the full ‘Aalim course by studying each module little by little?
Also, I want to know what is the contact through which I can ask questions to the admins of this site directly. If you wish you may email me on the email available on my own blog in the “Contact Us” section, if it is not good to put emails on the site publicly.
WS. Well, I am not running their group, I was just amazed at the quality of teaching and how well trained even their junior students were.
However, I can answer your question: they have a full-time course which is three hours a day five days a week (plus) and takes three years and can be done online or in person or both. It is completely flexible as long as you can pass the exam and be assessed by the tutors. Then there is part time which takes six years and is 2-3 days a week. Or you can take individual modules and ijaazas and work your way towards it that way (for example, just Arabic language etc.)
There is already a lot of stuff by Sheikh Atabek online, so you can see what you are getting into.
It is a good point about the lack of a ‘contact us’ section. I will pass you a personal e-mail in the meantime.
Their website also gives a good idea about fees and stuff. All registration is online.
I too cannot dedicate a specific time and am overseas a lot as well, so it is ideal for me as well.