Ihsan represents the highest level of spiritual consciousness in Islam—the state of worshipping Allah as though one sees Him—and mastering this inner reality is the foundation for excellence in every aspect of life.
This seminar provides participants with the spiritual tools and practical wisdom needed to cultivate excellence in their worship and then extend that quality of being into every dimension of their lives, in a world increasingly mediated by digital technology.
This program directly addresses the crisis of distraction that afflicts modern Muslims: the difficulty concentrating in prayer due to mental fragmentation, the erosion of family presence due to device addiction, the coarsening of speech in online spaces, and the anxiety and restlessness that comes from constant digital stimulation.
By reconnecting these struggles to the spiritual framework of Ihsan, participants will be motivated to see their digital habits not as mere lifestyle choices but as matters of spiritual consequence, while being equipped with practical tools drawn from Islamic tradition—mindfulness in worship, consciousness of Allah's presence, ethical frameworks for speech and interaction, and time-management principles rooted in prioritizing the sacred.
Through this seminar, participants will gain both conceptual clarity about what Ihsan truly means and actionable strategies for implementation, moving from scattered, distracted engagement with faith to a centered, conscious practice of spiritual excellence.
- Teacher: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
- Parents seeking to model healthy digital habits while maintaining strong spiritual practices
- Students balancing their studies and spiritual commitments in a digitally saturated environment
- Anyone feeling spiritually scattered, distracted, or distant from the quality of worship they desire
- Define and articulate the classical Islamic concept of Ihsan and its relationship to the foundational practices of Islam and Iman
- Identify specific ways that digital technology and online engagement fragment attention, undermine presence, and create obstacles to cultivating Ihsan in worship and daily life
- Apply traditional Islamic principles of self-observation (muraqaba) to diagnose their own relationship with digital devices and online spaces
- Evaluate their use of technology through the lens of Ihsan, distinguishing between beneficial use that serves spiritual growth and harmful patterns that undermine it
- Integrate classical Islamic teachings on excellence, mindfulness, and God-consciousness with contemporary insights on attention, habit formation, and digital wellness
Instructor: Shaykh Ahmed El-Azhary
Course Overview
This course is a unique combination of beliefs and logic based on Imam Sanusi’s foundational theology treatise Umm al-Baraheen (The Summary of Theological Proofs) and Abhari’s indispensable Logic manual Isaghuji. A solid study of these two texts prepares seekers of knowledge to study the Rational Sciences at a higher level as they cover the most essential notions of Theology and Logic. In addition, combining the study of these two sciences together allows students to be equipped with both theory and practice. In this course, students will not only learn the methods of reasoning in general, but they will also learn about how to reason, specifically, in theological contexts. Students will also learn about the different approaches to the study of Beliefs and they will be able to define the role and scope of Theology.
About the Texts
Isaghuji by Imam Athir al-Din al-Abhari (d. 663 A.H. / 1265 C.E.) is the most popular foundational logic primer in traditional Islamic schools (madrasas). It provides students with the necessary basic principles and introduces them to the key terminologies and methodologies of Logic. The Sanusiyya by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi (d. 895 AH / 1489 CE) has arguably been the most popular introduction to mainstream Islamic Theology ever since it was written five hundred years ago by the learned and pious West African theologian.
About the Authors
Athir al-Din al-Abhari (d. 663 A.H. / 1265 C.E.) is famous as an astronomer, scientist, and philosopher, but he was also a scholar of Islamic Theology (kalam) and Sacred Legal Theory (usul al-fiqh). His primer on Logic is his most famous work, studied in religious seminaries all over the Islamic world ever since it was written all the way down to the present day.
Shaykh Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sanusi (d. 895 AH / 1489 CE) was a North African theologian and mystic. He is widely known for his series of theological manuals. He authored an entire curriculum of theological treatises of varying lengths and for varying pedagogical levels.
Learning Outcomes
• Explain what Muslims believe about Allah Most High and His Messengers.
• Prove the truthfulness of these beliefs.
• Respond to common objections to belief in Allah Most High and His Messengers.
• Describe the historical development of mainstream Islamic Theology.
• Appreciate the scholarly depth of the Islamic theological tradition.
• Understand the importance and the nature of Classical Logic.
• Identify and explain key Logic concepts and terms.
• Distinguish the different forms of logical reasoning within traditional texts.
Note:
Both are level two required courses in Islamic Studies Curriculum
About The Instructor
Shaykh Ahmed El Azhary is a researcher in Islamic intellectual history and a teacher of Islamic traditional sciences. He’s currently a teacher of Hadith, Usūl, Logic and Kalam at Rawdatul-Na`īm under the supervision of Habib `Ali al-Jifrī; and at Madyafat Shaykh Ismaīl Sadiq al-`Adawī (RA), a prominent learning center by al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo.
Shaykh Ahmed studied Anthropology at American University in Cairo and received his training in Leadership Communication from Tulane University and The University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is also a life-long learner. He holds a diversified portfolio of almost 50 certificates in a variety of subjects – extending from Teaching Character and Clinical Psychology of Children and Young People to Complexity Theory, Model Thinking and Conflict Analysis.
Shaykh Ahmed began his journey of studying traditional sciences about 20 years ago. In addition to studying with scholars from al-Azhar, he had the privilege of studying with visiting scholars from Algeria and India in a one-on-one format, and was thus given an exceptional opportunity to study and discuss advanced-level texts of different sorts and over a long period of time. Shaykh Ahmed has more than 70 Ijazas from scholars from all over the Muslim world.
Beside a number of edited works about to be released in Islamic pedagogy, linguistics and Hanafi Usūl, Shaykh Ahmed has authored Rūh al-`Ilm – a treatise in the art of scientific investigation, based on a survey of roughly 200 traditional Islamic texts, and has been endorsed by Dr. Jamāl Fārūq, the Dean of Islamic Da`wah College at al-Azhar University and Dr. Ahmed Mamdūh, the Chair of Research Division at Dar al-Iftaa’ al-Masrīyah. Rūh al-`Ilm will be published by Tabah Foundation in the early of summer of 2019.
- Teacher: Shaykh Ahmed El Azhary
