An Islamic educational group are offering a range of classes for the community.

The Nizami Institute was the idea of three men who sought to formalise their respective study circles to a wider audience.

The trio are recognised and certified scholars who are actively engaged in academia and wider society.

The institute promotes high standard courses which come under the broad rubric of the Islamic Studies, and fuse the contemporary with tradition in an open and friendly environment.

They say their aim is to help mobilise the many existing strengths of British Muslims to produce stronger, more dynamic institutions and communities.

Courses offered have included Approaching The Qur’an, which looked at contemporary and traditional approaches to studying the Qur’an; Theology, an articulation of the Sunni creed with a special emphasis on atheism/skepticism, humanism, materialism, neo-liberalism and many other -isms; Readings from the Qur’an, whereby chapters of the Qur’an were read in translation, studied and trawled for guidance; Study of al-Ghazali’s Revival of the Religious Sciences, where a book from this most influential and timeless work is selected per module and studied, and the Arabic language.

In addition to courses, Nizami hosts a monthly reading group or seminar.

This has included a seminar on why ‘ilm? and one monthly reading group read and debated Professor Jonathan AC Brown’s Misquoting Muhammad, a real tour de force, uncovering medieval and modern interpretive tools used in understanding Scripture.

Courses year’s offered include a continuation of Readings from the Qur’an and the study of al-Ghazali’s Revival of the Religious Sciences, as well as an introduction and overview of Islamic and contemporary political theory and applied/practical Islamic Law.

The classes are held weekly at Bangor Street Community Centre in Blackburn.

For further information or to keep in touch, you can e-mail them on on nizami.institute@gmail.com or visit our FB page at @Nizamiinstitute