In 2011 the Bahu Trust took on one of its largest projects, the Birmingham Qur’an Academy (BQA).
This was an academy formed to offer the highest standard of Qur’anic teaching to students of the United Kingdom.
It was felt that far too many students were travelling abroad to study Qur’anic recitation at great expense and in the face of the growing risks, impracticalities and dangers of travelling to the Middle East or the sub-continent. There is a shortage of quality Qur’an teachers and a definite scarcity of standards in the field of Qiraa’ah (recitation) throughout the UK so the BQA was set up to make a difference here in Birmingham from where we now serve students from all the UK and internationally too with our online classes.
The Academy was set up to help British Muslim students develop a deep and lasting bond and love with the Qur’an to primarily help them with their spiritual development. We are passionate in recruiting only the best and competent teachers in the field of Qiraa’ah for our students. We believe a mind that is connected with the Qur’an and enjoys the beautiful recitation of the Qur’an with knowledge of its meaning becomes a mind spiritually uplifted. The heart then opens to all that the Qur’an promulgates; love, compassion, humanity, tolerance, justice, kindness, forgiveness and so much more. The journey for all our students starts with the recitation, the beautiful melody of the Qur’an. Our recruitment procedures require the highest standard of experience, professionalism and the ability to teach specialist Qur’an recitation modules (e.g. Kayda, Nazra, Hifz etc)
The Academy specialises in the art of recitation from the basic level of phonetics and pronunciation to memorisation, vocal training and Ijaza level in Tajweed. Students work progressively to attain Ijaazaats as the main objective. An Ijaaza is the grant of recognition awarded by a teacher who has a chain of authority which goes back to the Prophet (pbuh) and is the traditional benchmark for all students in this field.
Alhamdulillaah the BQA has now grown tremendously, all from a class set up at the HSBT (Bahu Trust) by a single teacher with a single student in 2009 whose inspirational ideas and techniques of teaching the Qur’an lead to the establishing of the Academy officially in 2011. We now have over 600 students attending physically with us and 45 teachers all under one roof. From this expertise we have branched out to support students with an online branch called the ‘British Qur’an Academy’. As it is not possible for all students to study in countries like Egypt, Syria, Saudi etc the BQA has worked in collaboration with the Bahu Trust in Birmingham to help create a Qur’anic system based here in the UK to offer the very best possible standards for British students by recruiting both able British Qur’an teachers as well as recruiting foreign teachers from countries like Egypt (usually graduates of Al-Azhar University). BQA has now expanded to over 650 students and by the grace of the almighty the BQA is still growing and one of the most reputable Qur’an institutes in the UK.
Since the establishment of the Academy in 2011 the BQA has produced over 60 huffaaz. On average we have a hifz graduate every month (see our hifz section). After hifz some of our students go on to work on their Ijaaza level (accreditation to teach and recite) and the recruitment of British staff from within our own student network has cultivated home grown students who have become teachers and now teach with passion and conviction that is rare to find. We have also witnessed the completion and grant of Ijazaats to students who have recited the Qur’an by looking (non-hifz). The BQA has successfully taught hundreds of students to recite competently and beautifully making their experience of attending a madrassah rewarding and fulfilling.
We at the BQA are always innovating in our teaching methods particularly focused on introducing as much technology as possible to assist its students and is now at a stage where we use computer software to supplement Qur’an recitation whilst at the same time holding strong onto traditional methods of teaching and of assessment. Other areas such as Qur’anic Arabic and Islamic studies that is taught in class and via supplementary E-learning has been introduced which is vital to help create a deeper bond between students and the Qur’an. Our whole curriculum is therefore Qur’an focused in its entirety. The challenges of the recent Covid-19 pandemic have helped us develop an online format of teaching that we are now able to offer to any student in the world (if you have an internet connection). Get in touch!
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