The Zaytuna Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of sciences associated with Islamic learning and their traditional teaching methods.

It is our deeply dyed belief that much of the confusion and turbulence that can be found in the modern Islamic world today is a result of a radical departure from the coherent and compelling tradition in which scholars and the general population were trained.

Our work is to identify for young students desiring Islamic learning places where this tradition is still being taught such as Syria, Yemen, and West Africa, as well as introducing to the Western hemisphere these methods and traditions.

In working towards these goals we have focused on certain priorities. They can be enumerated as follows:

• A complete curriculum for English speaking Muslims desirous of studying their Islamic tradition.

  This includes a complete course of Arabic based initially on using English as the medium of instruction and ultimately in working with advanced grammar sources in Arabic.

  The traditional and blessed text al-Ajrumiyya has been completed and augmented with additional visual aids thus using the advances and benefits of modern teaching methods as well.

  Books on Morphology, Rhetoric, and Logic from traditional sources are all planned for a complete course in the traditional "trivium" of both the Western and Muslim world.

• A complete course in jurisprudence based upon the rightly guided schools of the Sunni tradition including primary and intermediary texts in both worship and transactions.

  To this end, al-Akhdari, Ibn Ashir and the Risalah of Ibn Abi Zayd are being completed which will result in adequately preparing students to worship Allah and practice the sacred law based upon texts that are agreed upon by the greatest scholars of the Islamic tradition.

  The Reliance of the Traveler is the recommended Shafi' text and hopefully strong translations of the sound Hanafi and Hanbali texts will follow.

  Advanced fiqh studies will be done in Arabic.

• A preliminary course in juristic methodology that includes both the roots of jurisprudence as well as its principles.

  To this end, the Folio of Imam al-Haramayn and the traditional text of the Saulatiyya Madrasa of Mekkah are to be used. The courtesies of differing and conflict resolution will be emphasized in all of these courses.

• A complete course in the creed of the Muslims based upon the agreed upon primary text of Imam Tahawi.

• Seerah based upon Abu Bakr Sirajudin's The Life of Muhammad, the Shifa of Qadi 'Iyaad, and the Shama'il of Imam Tirmidhi.

• Qur'an and its sciences based upon Ibn Juzzay al-Kalbi's tafsir coupled with Imam Suyuti's al-Itqaan, and Qadi Abu Bakr's text on legal rulings from the Qur'an.

• Hadith science based upon the text of the Bayquniyya as an introductory text, followed by Sidi Abdullahi ould al-Hajj Ibrahim's abridgement of Imam al-'Iraqi's Alfiyyah.

• Abridged versions of hadith collections including the Forty Hadiths of Imam Nawawi, Ibn Abi Jamrah's abridgement of al-Bukhari, and Imam al-Murrakashi's abridgement of Imam Muslim and the Muwatta of Imam Malik.

• Islamic psychology based upon the Alchemy of the Hearts and the Prohibition of the Tongue both by Imam Muhammad Mauluud al-Y'aqubi, and the Aphorisms of Imam Ibn 'Ata illah.

The goal of this curriculum is to create a cohesive introduction into the Islamic sciences by scholars whose texts have been recognized as sounds sources by the vast majority of Sunni scholars.

It is recognized that there are many other texts that could be used that deal with the same subjects and represent the same tradition. The texts chosen above are texts that are by and large still used in the West African tradition which is still intact and vibrant.

In addition to these sciences, other readings will augment the curriculum, particularly material that relates to the present human condition and critically analyzes reasons for it in order to present to young Muslims the importance of understanding the age they find themselves in so that they can respond to the challenges accordingly.

Teachers who will be able to teach these sciences are being trained presently in Syria, Yemen, Mauritania, and Sudan and the first fruits of their endeavors are beginning to manifest.

Traditional scholars from these places are also teaching and insha Allah we will continue to derive benefit from them.

It is our hope that study circles will begin to emerge throughout Europe, Canada, North, and South America that unite in a desire to humble submit to an unbroken chain of textual study that has guided this Ummah for several centuries, and has only recently been challenged due to the confusion created after it was dismantled in its strongest bastions by the colonial powers.

Through this study will emerge a new type of activism based upon sound principles and a renewed invitation to the banquet of Islam.

Our Prophet, peace be upon him, said that knowledge was the inheritance of the prophets and whoever inherits it receives an abundant portion. This inheritance which is the right and responsibility of every Muslim - "Seeking knowledge is incumbent upon every Muslim"⁶² - has largely been ignored in its traditional method of transmission using the blessed sources of our sincere and inspired scholars of the past.

It is our deep belief that much of the animosity and lack of cooperation that exists among present-day Muslims is a direct result of leaving this guidance. "No people ever leaves their guidance except that they are given in its place argumentation."⁶³

Each group claims that the solution is to go back to the Book and Sunnah. Unfortunately, without going back to the broad based texts of our rightly guided scholars which recognize the valid differences in interpretation and understanding, we in fact use the same sources to arrogate to ourselves the role of sole interpreter of these texts for everyone.

The truth is that there is probably not a human being alive today with even the requisite knowledge of the Arabic language to understand the same sources with the clarity that the first generations did.

For over twelve hundred years this Ummah has lived with tolerance and love for diversity recognizing that diversity is in fact a sign of Allah. It is imperative that instead of demanding uniformity, we celebrate our diversity.

We must see diversity as challenging us to view matters in different, but not necessarily wrong ways. We must reflect on the fact that Allah has given this Ummah seven different ways of reciting the same book, which can make the same verse sound quite different and yet it retains the same fundamental meaning.

We must reflect on the fact that there are different ways of praying, of where we place our hands, of what we do with our forefinger, and of how we sit. And yet, despite those slight differences, there is an essential unity of praying to one Lord, with the same essential components of standing, bowing, and prostrating that no other religious tradition shares.