The Institute of Islamic Education (IIE) was established in 1989 in Elgin, IL, approximately one-hour driving distance from Chicago. IIE is an independent, not-for-profit, full-time residential educational institution. Our aim is to provide its students with an education in the sacred and intellectual foundations of the Islamic heritage. Growing from its humble origins, the Institute now educates boys/men and girls/women on separate and fully equipped campuses. IIE Offers two full-time programs- Hifz-ul-Qur’an Program and Alimiyyah Program- and follows a classical method of instruction, emphasizing close teacher-student interaction and focusing on textual transmission and analysis. The Institute of Islamic Education also offers weekend and evening programs for young and adult learners.

         The Hifz-ul-Qur’an Program is a pre-secondary and secondary program designed to help its students to commit the entire Arabic text of the Holy Qur’an to memory. The Hifz-ul-Qur’an Program, previously restricted to Qur’anic memorization, is now integrated with standard curricular middle and high school academic classes. As such, and because Hifz is generally easier for younger students, the targeted group is grades 6 through 12 (roughly ages 12 through 18), although occasional exceptions are made for high school graduates who wish to memorize the Qur’an and demonstrate readiness to take on its rigors. Most graduating huffaz go on to lead Ramadan prayers and teach Qur’an in their local mosques and schools.

         The Alimiyyah Program is a five-year, post-secondary program designed to train its students in the classical foundations of the Islamic sciences. The Program is based on the Dars-e-Nizami curriculum of study instituted most famously at India’s Darul Uloom Deoband (est. 1866), to which the Institute has made essential modification to the curriculum to fit the American student body and the American audience with whom graduating scholars will most likely be working. The only educational prerequisite is high school diploma or high school equivalency, and basic sight-reading ability in Arabic; further knowledge of Arabic or the Islamic sciences, though helpful, is not required.

         The medium of instruction is English, then mixed with Arabic for advance classes in the final three years. The sciences covered, in belief, are: Arabic (incl. grammar, rhetoric, literature, speech, and composition), Qur’an Exegesis, Islamic Creed, Islamic Law and Legal Methodology (comparative with a focus on Hanafi), and Hadith. The Program culminates in the fifth and final year, called Dawrat al-Hadith, a comprehensive study of the major Hadith compilations. This results in an ijazah (or teaching authorization) in each text, and at graduation students are conferred with their degrees in the honorary Khatm al-Bukhari ceremony.

         We invite you to learn more about the Institute of Islamic Education and our programs, both full-time and part-time. May Allah bless you now and forever.