Virtual Istighfar and tawbah Series
Get Ramadan-ready in this 6-part online program, taught by ALIM's respected scholars, Sheikh Ali Sulaiman Ali, Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans and Ustadha Zaynab Ansari. By registering, you will get access to two recorded sessions from each scholar that you can complete on your own time! In this self-paced course, you will learn how to implement the practice and learn the power of tawbah and isighfar in our own life. Below, you can find the course schedule, topics that will be covered, and information about instructors.
Sessions and topics
Session 1 |
Ustadh Ubaydullah: The Differences Between Tawbah and Istighfar |
Session 2 |
Ustadh Ubaydullah: Types of Tawbah and Istighfar |
Session 3 |
Sheikh Ali: The Best Du'a and Istighfar |
Session 4 |
Shiekh Ali: Tawbah and Istighfar in the Qur'an and Sunnah |
Session 5 |
Ustadha Zaynab: Tawbah in Ramadan |
Session 6 |
Ustadha Zaynab: Stories of the Penitent |
Program Instructors
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Dr. Ali Sulaiman Ali was born in Ghana where he spent his childhood studying with various Muslim scholars. He then moved on to Saudi Arabia where he enrolled in Medina’s Islamic University. His curriculum included all the traditional Islamic sciences and in 1979 he graduated with a degree in both Islamic Studies and Arabic. Dr. Ali pursued further scholarship at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) where he received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic Studies. Dr. Ali’s dissertation on Tafsir bil Ma’thurdealing with the question of Hujja (the question of authority of or binding proof) was a seminal study in an important field. Dr. Ali is a co-founder, Core Scholar, and member of the Board of Trustees of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM), an academic institution where scholars, professionals, activists, artists, writers, and community leaders come together to develop strategies for the future of Islam in the modern world.
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Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans is ALIM’s first Scholar-in-Residence. He converted to Islam while in high school. Upon conversion, Ustadh Ubaydullah began studying some of the foundational books of Islam under the private tutelage of local scholars while simultaneously pursuing a degree in journalism from Columbia. Since then he has studied at Chicagoland’s Institute of Islamic Education (IIE), in Tarim, Yemen, and Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, where he is the first African-American to graduate from its Shari’a program. As the ALIM Scholar-in-Residence, Ustadh Ubaydullah is a core instructor at the ALIM Summer Program. He teaches History of Islamic Law, Shama'il, and Aphorisims of Ibn Ata'illah along with other courses.
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Ustadha Zaynab Ansari spent a decade studying Farsi, Arabic, and traditional Islam, sitting with male and female scholars in seminaries in the Middle East, including traditional scholars in Damascus in the 1990s. Upon her return to the United States, she earned degrees in history and Middle Eastern Studies from Georgia State University. Since 2014, Zaynab Ansari has served as a scholar-in-residence for Tayseer Foundation, offering enrichment courses and halaqahs to women and youth in the Muslim Community of Knoxville, and working on interfaith dialogue. She is currently an instructor and board member at Tayseer Seminary, which features a one-year intensive in Islamic Studies, drawing students from Tennessee and all regions of the United States. She is part of the teaching faculty of the Ribaat Program, an online Islamic Studies curriculum led by Anse Tamara Gray, a leading woman scholar of traditional Islam.
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“…but I have to say that my favorite sessions were with Ustadth Ubaydullah Evans. His “Islam in America” classes were just the re-orientation I needed. I spent a good deal of my life thinking Islamic jurisprudence was black and white. For someone who had studied at Al-Azhar in Egypt, he is still very much aware of the times in which we live, Ustadh Ubaydallah was able to speak to the students in a way that gave us hope: that navigating Islam in the West in the 21st century was going to take commitment, but it was possible.” Our class had people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and understandings of Islam. It brought different perspectives, but more importantly, it brought clashes. From from those clashes, I was challenged. And from those challenges, I learned some of the most important lessons of my life. We live in a time in which learning can be made very convenient and comfortable online. I think it’s that comfort that makes online debates get so ugly – we are unwilling to leave our comfort zones to understand another perspective. The sacrifice we all made of distancing ourselves from our physical and mental comfort zones made us grow together. I’ve made some of my best friends at ALIM despite vehemently disagreeing with them. In that way, we’ve become something like a family. And I really think that’s what growth in Islam is all about.” |
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As a teenager in search of self discovery, in need of purpose and affirmation of faith, I attended and greatly benefited from The ALIM Program. Seventeen years later, I find that my quest for knowledge has come full circle. Now as an adult, I return not only as a counselor but as a student of scholars both home grown and of our international community. One of the many advantages of studying with the diverse group of scholars at the program is the ability to enjoy an environment where ontology is encouraged as a means to approach faith. I am grateful for this opportunity, as I have established friendships and bonds that I believe will last a lifetime. I highly recommend this program for students of knowledge of all ages and walks of life, who seek understanding in an encouraging, diverse environment.” |
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I attended the ALIM Summer Program in 2001, right after graduating from Brown University. The Summer Program remains one of the most intellectually and spiritually fulfilling experiences I have had since converting to Islam back in 1998. It was a rigorous overview of Sunni thought, coupled with a focus on issues of contemporary importance to American Muslim communities. It helped me bridge the world of “the academic study of Islam” and “traditional Islamic thought” in a way that helped me enormously in graduate school at Princeton, and as a Muslim chaplain at Dartmouth College and Brown. In many respects, the class I currently teach on Islamic law at New York University is built on the hybrid model of Islamic Studies I first learned at ALIM. May God bless my teachers.” |
The Alim Summer Program
The ALIM Summer Program is an intensive three-week retreat seeking to educate and empower Muslims with the requisite knowledge to understand their religion in the light of a changing world. The curriculum addresses traditional subjects such as Fiqh, Tafsir and Sirah as well as contemporary issues in courses like Islam in America, Modernism, Sectarianism, and Liberalism.