Starting a taleem (learning) circle

[rpwelton]

:sl:,

The masjid that I attend is comprised mostly of Arabic speaking Muslims, although alhamdulilah the sheikh almost always gives a translation in English. There is a halaqa session once a week that the imam gives, which lasts for maybe an hour (half Arabic, half English) and covers various aspects of fiqh.

I've been wanting to create a circle of learning within the masjid specifically for English speaking brothers (and anyone else who wants to join and can understand us), covering such things as aqeedah, tafseer and hadeeth.

Does anyone know what the ruling is for creating a taleem circle when nobody in the circle is a scholar or well versed in Islamic studies? The idea I had was to read directly out of a well known book by a scholar, that way I'm not injecting any of my own ideas into it, but merely teaching what the scholar is teaching.

Something inside me says this is dangerous and should not be done, because only an imam or scholar could lead such a group. The problem is that the imam does not have time to take on additional responsibilities due to the fact that most of his energy is consumed by the islamic school for children at the masjid.

Has anybody done anything like this? What are the etiquettes for setting up such a study group?

Jazak Allah khayr!

[Umar001]

:sl:,

The masjid that I attend is comprised mostly of Arabic speaking Muslims, although alhamdulilah the sheikh almost always gives a translation in English. There is a halaqa session once a week that the imam gives, which lasts for maybe an hour (half Arabic, half English) and covers various aspects of fiqh.

I've been wanting to create a circle of learning within the masjid specifically for English speaking brothers (and anyone else who wants to join and can understand us), covering such things as aqeedah, tafseer and hadeeth.

Does anyone know what the ruling is for creating a taleem circle when nobody in the circle is a scholar or well versed in Islamic studies? The idea I had was to read directly out of a well known book by a scholar, that way I'm not injecting any of my own ideas into it, but merely teaching what the scholar is teaching.

Something inside me says this is dangerous and should not be done, because only an imam or scholar could lead such a group. The problem is that the imam does not have time to take on additional responsibilities due to the fact that most of his energy is consumed by the islamic school for children at the masjid.

Has anybody done anything like this? What are the etiquettes for setting up such a study group?

Jazak Allah khayr!

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

As-Salaamu 'Alaykum Wa Rahmatullah

Why not do stuff which occupies his time to free his time up for him? Do his shopping? Or clean his house if that's what takes his time up? Or whatever else it is that may take his time (obviously stuff that you can do properly).

One brother does it one week and you have a circle, the next week another brother from the circle does it, and you exchange notes. Would that not be possible?


Br.al-Habeshi

[crayon]

My mother and our neighbors here do something similar. My mom has memorized the quran and her tajweed is great mashallah, so once a week, she and several neighbors get together and they recite what they've memorized over the week, and she corrects their tajweed. Then they just read some more quran, so they can practice just tajweed, without memorization.
One of the neighbors studied shariah, and once a week she gives them a lesson. Sometimes it's fiqh, sometimes tafseer, etc. It's just basic stuff, nothing too detailed. Each week, it's at someones house, so they take turns and one person isn't overburdened.

I think, when you're teaching people, you need to be confident of the knowledge you are giving them. As long as you're sure that what you're teaching is correct, then inshallah there would be nothing wrong with it. If you're looking to teach people who only speak english, and for example are new reverts, then you'd have the knowledge needed, right? Like the basics of islam, prayer, wudu, different basic sunnahs, etc. Like teaching islam at an elementary level. If you're going to be teaching islam at a higher level though, I think it would be best to stay away from it until you have the sufficient knowledge.

Brother Al Habeshi's idea is also good. Maybe you could talk to this specific imam and ask him what he thinks of your idea? Ask him if it's acceptable to start a learning circle on your own, what the etiquette are, etc. If he says it isn't advisable, mention that you could help him out with his daily duties, so he could have more time for lectures, lessons, etc.