ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

Diploma in Comprehensive Seerah Studies

The life of the Prophet ﷺ studied within its historical, geographical and civilisational setting — documented from the recognised sources, and taught with maps, genealogies and timelines built for the purpose.

In academic development — enrolment opens after the Institute’s official launch.

Most Seerah courses narrate. This diploma explains. Every event is placed within the geography, economy, tribal structure and political circumstances that produced it, so that the student understands not only what happened but why it happened when and where it did.

The programme begins before the beginning: with the Arabian Peninsula in the sixth century, its trade routes and its tribes, and the empires that surrounded it. Only against that background does the life of the Prophet ﷺ become fully legible. Every claim is traced to its source, and the historical setting is made visible through purpose-built maps, genealogies and timelines rather than described in words alone.

Map of the Arabian Peninsula around 600 CE showing tribal territories, Makkah, Yathrib and the Byzantine and Sasanian frontiers — شبه الجزيرة العربية وقبائلها، نحو ٦٠٠م — The Arabian Peninsula and its tribes, c. 600 CE. Map by Murraytheb, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Duration

Four semesters — one year

Structure

12 weeks per semester · 2 classes per week · 24 lectures

Languages

English and Urdu

Level

Diploma — open to serious beginners

Semester overview

The diploma is structured across four semesters. Semester One is complete and is described below; the remaining three are in academic development and will be published in full before the Institute’s launch.

Semester One — The History of Arabia and the Early Life of the Prophet ﷺ

Twenty-four lectures across four units, from pre-Islamic Arabia to the first revelation.

Unit One
Geography, peoples, kingdoms, and the sixth-century world

Unit Two
Makkah, the Kaʿbah, Quraysh, Banū Hāshim, and the Year of the Elephant

Unit Three
Religion, society, economy and literature in pre-Islamic Arabia

Unit Four
From the birth of the Prophet ﷺ to the first revelation

Semester Two — From Prophethood to the Hijrah
In preparation

Semester Three — The Madinan Period
In preparation

Semester Four — The Later Years and Legacy
In preparation

What distinguishes this programme

Source criticism taught as a skill. Students learn where information comes from. The differing methods of Ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Hishām, al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr are introduced in the first lecture.
Every report graded. Weak narrations are omitted or marked as such. Where scholars differ, all recognised positions are presented with their sources.
History made visible. Maps, genealogies, timelines and comparative charts are produced for every lecture and treated as instruments of analysis, not decoration. A trade route explained on a map is understood; the same route described in a paragraph is memorised.
Geography and economy as core content. The politics of Quraysh cannot be understood without the economy of Arabia.
Global context. Byzantium, Sasanian Persia and Abyssinia are studied, because the position of Arabia is unintelligible without them.

Teaching approach

Methodology. Each lecture has a defined set of sub-topics, key figures, key places, and specified primary references. Students read an assigned passage from a primary work each week. Every lecture carries a map, genealogy or timeline prepared for that specific material, with its purpose and its source recorded in the curriculum.

Philosophy. A student who can recite the events of the Seerah has memorised a narrative. A student who can explain why the Quraysh reacted as they did, or why a particular route mattered, has understood history. The programme is built for the second outcome, and the visual material exists to serve it.

Who this programme is for

Students of Islamic studies seeking historical rather than devotional treatment
Teachers who wish to teach Seerah with documented references
Researchers in Islamic history and the digital humanities
Graduates of any discipline with an interest in late antique Arabia
Serious independent students, including those beginning without Arabic

Learning outcomes

Describe the geographical, tribal and civilisational structure of sixth-century Arabia
Analyse the offices of Quraysh, the political order of Makkah, and the centrality of the Kaʿbah
Relate the economy of Arabia and its trade routes to events in the Seerah
Distinguish the religious currents of pre-Islamic Arabia
Narrate events in documented chronological sequence with sources
Present competing scholarly positions on a disputed question with their respective sources

References

Primary and classical sources

Secondary and modern studies

السيرة النبوية — ابن إسحاق · Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, Ibn Isḥāq

السيرة النبوية — ابن هشام · Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, Ibn Hishām

الطبقات الكبرى — ابن سعد · Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā, Ibn Saʿd

تاريخ الرسل والملوك — الطبري · Tārīkh al-Rusul wa’l-Mulūk, al-Ṭabarī

أخبار مكة — الأزرقي · Akhbār Makkah, al-Azraqī

دلائل النبوة — البيهقي · Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah, al-Bayhaqī

البداية والنهاية — ابن كثير · Al-Bidāyah wa’l-Nihāyah, Ibn Kathīr

السيرة النبوية الصحيحة — أكرم ضياء العمري · Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah al-Ṣaḥīḥah, Akram Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿUmarī

الرحيق المختوم — صفي الرحمن المباركفوري · Al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm, Ṣafī al-Raḥmān al-Mubārakpūrī

السيرة النبوية: عرض وقائع وتحليل أحداث — علي الصلابي · Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, ʿAlī al-Ṣallābī

سیرت النبی ﷺ — شبلی نعمانی و سید سلیمان ندوی · Sīrat al-Nabī ﷺ, Shiblī Nuʿmānī and Sayyid Sulaymān Nadwī (Urdu)

المفصل في تاريخ العرب قبل الإسلام — جواد علي · Al-Mufaṣṣal fī Tārīkh al-ʿArab qabla al-Islām, Jawād ʿAlī

Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time — Karen Armstrong

Responsible use of AI

Artificial intelligence produces the maps, genealogies, timelines and comparative charts on which this programme depends. Every one is built for a specific lecture and a specific question — the extent of a trade route, the branches of a lineage, the sequence of an embassy. It renders content; it does not supply it.

A stated limit. No visual reconstruction is made of the Prophet ﷺ, of the Prophets, of the Companions, or of the household of the Prophet ﷺ. Reconstruction is confined to architecture, landscape, objects, routes and diagrams. Every generated image carries the caption illustrative reconstruction — not historical evidence, and students are told in the first lecture that only textual sources carry authority in assessment.

This is the distinction the programme is built on. The visual material makes the setting legible; the sources establish what happened. The two are never confused, and no map, chart or reconstruction is ever cited as evidence.

Frequently asked questions

Arabic is not required. The programme is taught in English and Urdu, and primary sources are used in translation where necessary. Students who read Arabic will be able to go to the sources directly, and are welcome to do so.

An ordinary course narrates events. This one situates them — in geography, economy, tribal politics and the wider sixth-century world — teaches students to identify the source of any claim, and makes the setting visible through maps and diagrams prepared for each lecture.

No. They are either omitted or explicitly marked as weak. Where scholars differ, the positions are presented with their sources rather than one being asserted.

The two are entirely separate. Every historical claim comes from the recognised sources and is referenced in the curriculum. AI renders maps, genealogies and timelines from that material — it never supplies it, no image is cited as evidence, and no depiction is ever made of the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophets, the Companions or the household.

One assigned passage from a primary work each week. It is specified precisely, not open-ended.

The semesters are sequential. Semester One is self-contained enough to be taken alone, but the diploma requires all four.

After this programme

Advanced Seerah and the Maghāzī literature — sustained study of the campaigns
Diploma in Hadith Studies — the reports that underlie the historical record
Research supervision — for academic work in early Islamic history

Programme Status

This academic programme has been officially announced as part of the Dr. Seema Tahir Institute’s educational vision.

The curriculum is currently in its final stage of academic development.

Student enrolment will open following the Institute’s official launch and the completion of all necessary legal and administrative requirements.

Detailed schedules, admission procedures and the academic calendar will be announced through the Institute’s official website.

Register your interest

If you would like to be informed when this programme opens, leave your details below. We will write to you once the academic calendar is published. No other correspondence will be sent.

Coming soon

Course Outline

A detailed academic outline of this programme will be available to download following the official launch.
Available after launch.

Student Portal

Enrolled students will access course materials, schedules and assessments through the Institute’s student portal.
Opening with the first cohort.