Darul Qasim Knowledge Conference & the Growing Presence of the Dallas Branch

On August 2, 2024, Darul Qasim’s Dallas Branch welcomed over 100 attendees for the institution’s first national Knowledge Conference. DFW branch coordinator, Umbreen Akram shared the great success of the event and the resounding message that “DQ has a presence in the Dallas vicinity itself and attendees were able to really understand the institution’s national presence whether it be DFW, Raleigh, Knoxville, or the Bay Area.” While Chicago remains the hub, the conference was an indication of the institution’s national expansion and growth making Darul Qasim’s approach to Islamic Studies more accessible to a national audience.

Darul Qasim is an academic institution of higher education that has established itself both nationally and internationally. Under the leadership of Shaykh Amin Kholwadia, the institution continues to exhibit a vibrancy and intellectual acumen that situates it at the forefront of the distribution and facilitation of Prophetic knowledge with a mission to ensure wahy-based education is accessible to every household on the planet. The Knowledge Conference afforded the DFW Muslim community an opportunity to not only better understand Darul Qasim’s mission and vision, but also engage with faculty, students and staff who came together to deliver 2 days of inspiring lectures, motivating discussions, and a taste of Darul Qasim’s structured and organized approach to Islamic academic learning. 

In understanding Darul Qasim’s approach, the question of how Prophetic Knowledge is distributed is essential. Mawlana Faraz Abdul Moid addressed this question by highlighting the structure and organization of knowledge through a Prophetic lens. “It took 124,000 of the greatest people to take the knowledge of our Nabi Karim ﷺ, which is why Nabi Karim ﷺ said he is the Qasim. Qasim also means that he didn’t freely give out knowledge but rather he distributed it according to the receptibility of each individual sahabi over the course of 23 years. This concept of structured pedagogy is also referred to in the Qur’an.” He called participants to action by urging them to seek out organized and structured programs of knowledge like those offered at Darul Qasim. 

Alongside calls for the acquisition and noble pursuit of Prophetic knowledge, Mawlana Bilal Ali Ansari [Department of Hadith Chair] illustrated how the institution’s curriculum and pedagogy is one that addresses the needs and issues of contemporary times. Darul Qasim’s faculty, students, and graduates are equipped with the tools to teach and learn in order to benefit society and proactively change things for the better. In referencing Shaykh Amin’s recent publication for al-Jazeera: A Muslim Approach to Liberation and Justice,  Mawlana Bilal emphasized, “one of the ideas at Darul Qasim is to use ʿilm to reframe. You reframe  discussions, one of the challenges is how do you reframe the discussion of… let’s say Gaza? For example, people understand justice in a certain way. Will we hold the Qur’an and hadith discourse of justice hostage to what other people understand justice to be? So, this is where we will need to reframe things.” This exercise in re-framing challenged participants to engage in an academic discourse that uses an Islamic ontological framework, going beyond western theories of justice and liberation.  

All conference presentations and discussions circled back to Darul Qasim’s motto:  In the Quest for More Knowledge! Participants were encouraged to begin their own quests and those that had already begun were told to remain steadfast and focused. As the Fall semester has begun, with over 175 classes being offered in the mornings, evenings, and weekends, we excitedly welcomed 400 new faces to both our on-campus and online programs and courses!

We encourage you to visit our website and explore both our on-site and online academic opportunities. Do not wait, begin your quest today!