Crisis in Faith - Whitethread Institute

Crisis in Faith​

Learn to deal with Controversial Issues in Islam

This online course helps the student to understand the rationale behind controversial, taboo and difficult questions concerning Islam and builds confidence to engage in active discussion through step-by-step analysis using sound logic and critical intellect.
Register Your Interest
“What I seek is knowledge of the true meaning of things. Of necessity, therefore, I must inquire into just what the true meaning of knowledge is.”

Imam Ghazali

The intellect is a friend of faith, not a foe. The Qur’an appeals to it in many places and urges us as its readers to use it in a sound way. We are repeatedly encouraged to deeply reflect and ponder on the creation around us in order to appreciate the magnificence and greatness of its Creator – Allahﷻ. However, the reality is that we are not properly trained on how to use our intellect to inquire, search, think and reason according to how its Creator intended it to be done.

This course will offer tools for the student to use the intellect in a critical way that defines sound rational thinking in order to deal with controversial, taboo and difficult questions concerning Islam within the modern world. It will also help students to break down these questions that often come in complex forms to remove the underlying misunderstanding and misconception that cause unnecessary doubt and confusion.

This course aims to provide the student with the following outcomes:

  • Strengthening conviction in core Islamic beliefs by addressing doubts surrounding common controversial issues through clarity.
  • Building appreciation of tools such as logic and critical thinking and their role within the Islamic theology to clarify and articulate doctrine.
  • Learning how to understand, probe and interrogate complex questions by challenging the unstated assumptions behind the questions before offering responses.

Limited Time

Pre-Recorded Sessions

Available online to learn at your own pace

Course Duration

Access is available for 2 months upon enrolling

Course Fee

For Only £49.95

100's of satisfied students have taken the course

Register Your Interest

What Our Students Say...

"It has allowed me to truly understand some of the 'controversial' questions about Islamic beliefs and I have personally been able to put these arguments across when discussing such issues with non-Muslims"
Nasir Hussain
Student, UK
"Al Hamdu Lillah! A fantastic course... It gave us all a good insight on Atheism and how to deal with controversial questions. I benefited immensely and think every British Muslim should attend this course"
Ismail Satia
Student, UK
"Throughout the duration of the course, many queries that I had were satisfied, as well as many questions that I didn't know I had. The knowledge I gained from this course has empowered me in unimaginable ways. To understand Islam and philosophy in the way that this course has enabled me to is something that I will value forever"
Muhammad Amin
Student, UK
"The course was very beneficial as it helped answer many unanswered questions and helped give guidance on how to answer questions and how to present arguments to challenging questions."
Anonymous
Student, UK
"Al Hamdu Lillah! A fantastic course... It gave us all a good insight on Atheism and how to deal with controversial questions. I benefited immensely and think every British Muslim should attend this course"
Ismail Satia
Student, UK
"Throughout the duration of the course, many queries that I had were satisfied, as well as many questions that I didn't know I had. The knowledge I gained from this course has empowered me in unimaginable ways. To understand Islam and philosophy in the way that this course has enabled me to is something that I will value forever"
Muhammad Amin
Student, UK

100's of satisfied students have taken the course

Register Your Interest

Instructors

Dr. Abdur-Rahman Mangera

A British Muslim scholar educated in both the Islamic and Western traditions.

He memorised the Qur’an by heart and graduated from the Darul Uloom seminary Bury, UK, and later undertook studies in ifta’ at Madrasah Zakariyya, South Africa, under Mufti Rada’ al-Haqq, and then at Mazahir ‘Ulum Saharanpur, India, under Mufti Muhammad Tahir Ghaziabadi.

He earned his BA from the University of Johannesburg and completed his MA and PhD in Islamic Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. His PhD research was a critical edition of Shaykh Abu ‘l-Layth al-Samarqandi’s Kitab al-Nawazil, hailed as the first fatwa collection in the Hanafi school. He holds an honorary fellowship at the Cambridge Muslim College and at The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan.

Mufti Abdur-Rahman has the unique experience of serving as an imam in Muslim communities on both sides of the Atlantic, eight years in Southern California and over five in the great city of London—and his continued work as an international speaker and lecturer enables him to address and offer advice on current challenges that face Muslims in the West.

Dr. Safaruk Chowdhury

Studied Philosophy as an undergraduate at Kings College London after which he travelled to Cairo to study the Islamic studies curriculum at al-Azhar university, focussing on Islamic law. He also studied extensively in private with a number of scholars with a keen interest in Arabic tafsir (exegesis) and balagha (rhetoric).

He returned to the UK where he completed his MA in Islamic studies with distinction at SOAS thereafter taking up his doctoral studies on the life and work of the great khurasanian Sufi and hadith specialist Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 412/1021). His PhD was published in 2018 by Equinox Publishing.

Currently, he is pursuing studies in philosophical theology and Sufism with a forthcoming publication on the problem of evil within Islamic thought (AUC Press).

He is a professional translator, teacher and examiner as well as curriculum consultant for GCSE, A-Level and the International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.

Ustad Imran Iqbal

After initially completing his Masters degree in Engineering (MEng) at Queen Mary University (University of London) went on to diversify his academic background by pursuing an MA from SOAS (University of London) in Near and Middle Eastern Studies and another from Birkbeck College (University of London) in Philosophy with his thesis written on Imam al-Ghazali’s view on scientific knowledge and causality.

He has also pursued classical Islamic knowledge by studying under a number of local Ulama in London and concentrating on basic Islamic sciences such as Ilm al-Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Ulum al-Hadith, Aqida and Ilm al-Kalam.

His areas of interest include: Islamic philosophy and theology, Islamic legal theory, Islamic history of ‘ideas’, philosophy of science and the scientific method, epistemology and metaphysics in Western and Islamic thought.

He has a number of published book reviews in specialist academic journals and is currently pursuing a research project tentatively titled, ‘Trajectories in Islamic theological dispute’. He is also a qualified teacher of Physics and Critical Thinking.

100's of satisfied students have taken the course

Register Your Interest

Course Content

God and Religion

Proof of God
We start off by exploring what is meant by proof and its different categories. This links into the consequences of pure empiricism given that we live in an age of scientism. We’ll also look at some of the common arguments that are used for the existence of God (Kalam Cosmological Argument, Design Argument, De-clouding the Fitrah) and whether Islamic Theology can accept the idea of an eternal universe.

Understanding God
We discuss what we know about Allah ﷻ, what He requires from us, and what tools we can use to know Allah ﷻ. We will also deal with the problem of evil and suffering in the world (theodicy) as well as the doctrine of hell and eternal suffering. The section concludes by examining the philosophy of Perennialism and what Islam says about salvific exclusivity.

Responding to Atheism

Learn about some of the common concerns and arguments raised by atheists such as whether God is verifiable or falsifiable and can you prove a negation. On whom, lies the burden of proof? Is atheism the default and so hence, does the burden of proof rest upon the theist?

We examine why belief in the supernatural is restricted only to God and why we don’t consider other supernatural entities such as fairies. We will also look at the similarities and differences between atheists and agnostics.

Qadr and Destiny
Examining the fundamentals of Destiny (Qadr) through the lens of Quran and Hadith.

Religion, Science and Society

Principles of Islam
This section develops an in-depth understanding of what Islam is, its rational and intellectual basis and how Islam is representative of a world view. This includes concepts such as identity, values, aetiology, epistemology and praxeology. Finally, the Islamic worldview is inspected against human nature and rational postulates.

Science and Religion
A comparative analysis of Science and Religion, looking at the similarities and differences. We discuss whether science and Islam can be reconciled or does Islam contradict science. We cover the topic of miracles, the Islamic explanation and responding to any objection.

Objective of Marriage in Islam
Probing into inter-faith marriages, polygamy, underage marriage, rape and general misconceptions around marriage in Islam.

Slavery in Islam
We talk about the notion of slavery in Islam and how it is distinguished from the European slave trade, in particular the rights of slaves and their treatment. We explore the issue of why slavery was not immediately abolished whilst on the other hand recognising the encouragement of manumission in Islam. Finally, prominent figures who were slaves are discussed.

Contemporary Issues

Doctrine of Apostasy in Islam
Does Islam define any boundaries? We focus on the topic of apostasy looking at how Islam defines apostasy. How to approach the issue in contemporary times and its link to state politics. An understanding of its implementation is also built especially when an Islamic State is present and when absent.

Freedom of belief/expression, Homosexuality and Gender Fluidity in Islam
A number of contemporary issues are discussed in this section

  • Freedom of speech in light of Islam and the Shar’ia.
  • Islam and homosexuality and whether we can support LGBT rights groups.
  • An overview of Human Anthropology through an Islamic lens. Core societal problems such as pastoral care and Muslim integration are examined through this lens.

Women in Islam
Discussion and explanation of the contentious points around women in Islam. We look at the ruling of Hijab in detail, understand its rationale and how to respond to objections. We analyse the strands of feminism that exist today and their compatibility with Islam. The section concludes by answering objections against the hadith of the crooked rib and women being deficient in intellect.

Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and Islamic Traditions

Stoning/Hudood
Understand the principles of capital punishment in Islam. Their implementation and the moral justifications behind the rulings.

Responding to Hadith Criticism
This section addresses narrations which are deemed “problematic” by dominant social norms, modern science and technological advancements. It also discusses the overall veracity, reliability and importance of hadith. It concludes by dealing with classical and modern objections challenging the reliability of Sahih Bukhari.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, all the sessions are pre-recorded and are available to take at your own pace.

All our courses have a time frame to encourage students to participate and complete the course. From our experience, we have found if there is no deadline, then we naturally procrastinate and end up not completing the course.

We expect all students who pay for the course to have explicit use of the content and should not be shared, therefore if your partner or spouse wants to take the whole course, then we would advise purchasing the course, if you want to make them aware of some snippets or questions which are relevant to them, then that is fine, everything in the resources section are available for free and can be shared.

Unfortunately, all our sessions are copyright of Whitethread Institute, therefore students are not allowed save, record or recreate the content of the sessions as the content is constantly updated. We do provide resources which are free to download or share.

There is a forum which has been made available in the course content, you may create a discussion with your classmates or you may ask questions and a member of our team will try to answer your question.

Discount is available for students who took this course in the past. If you were one of those students and would like to re-take the course, please email [email protected]

Why Study at Whitethread Institute?

  • Great studying environment
  • High level discussions where teachers are open to questions and do not shy away from sensitive or controversial issues
  • Comfortable studying environment
  • In depth coverage of topics
  • Deep understanding of the nuances of fiqh
  • Intense levels of study
  • Experienced and knowledgeable teachers
  • Students guided throughout their studies
  • All lessons taught in a practical manner relevant to current times

100's of satisfied students have taken the course

Register Your Interest
Testimonial
“Throughout the duration of the course, many queries that I had were satisfied, as well as many questions that I didn’t know I had. The knowledge I gained from this course has empowered me in unimaginable ways. To understand Islam and philosophy in the way that this course has enabled me to is something that I will value forever”
Muhammad Amin

“The course would help, especially students of Islam in improving their language and thinking skills. I’ve benefitted from this course by expanding on some terms and learning to give answers that the individual would be content with and from their own viewpoint.”

Irfan

“The course was very beneficial as it helped answer many unanswered questions and helped give guidance on how to answer questions and how to present arguments to challenging questions.”

Anonymous

“I have been able to talk to people regarding the topic and with the knowledge gained from this course, I have been able to impact the lives of people who were once in doubt”

Anonymous