Hawza Foundations: 12 weeks

The Hawza ʿIlmiyya (حوزة علمية, "circle of knowledge") is the traditional Shia seminary where scholars are trained. Its roots go back to the classes of the Imams themselves: Imam al-Baqir (a) and Imam al-Sadiq (a) taught thousands of students in Madinah and Kufa.

Najaf: the mother Hawza

In 448 AH, after his house and library in Baghdad were burned, Shaykh al-Tusi moved to Najaf, beside the shrine of Imam Ali (a), and taught there. For almost a thousand years Najaf has been a great centre of Shia learning.

Qom: the revived Hawza

Qom had scholars since early Islam, but its modern Hawza was re-established in 1340 AH (about 1922) by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Karim Haʾiri Yazdi. Today Qom is home to tens of thousands of students from all over the world, near the shrine of Sayyida Fatima al-Maʿsuma (a).

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Study habits of the Hawza

Muṭālaʿa: read the lesson before class. Dars: attend the lesson. Mubāḥatha: discuss it afterwards with a study partner, explaining it to each other. Tadrīs: later, teach what you learned to younger students. Teaching is the best way to master a book.

The goal of the highest level is ijtihad: the ability to derive rulings from the Qur'an, the Sunnah, reason and consensus. A mujtahid whom people follow is called a marjaʿ al-taqlid.

Ṣarf (صرف, morphology) studies how words change their shape. Almost every Arabic word comes from a root of three letters. Different patterns (awzān) are placed on the root to make related words.

The scale: فَعَلَ

Scholars use the letters ف ع ل as a measuring scale. Any three-letter verb is measured against فَعَلَ. For example كَتَبَ (he wrote) is on the pattern فَعَلَ, and كَاتِب (writer) is on the pattern فَاعِل.

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An Arabic verb has three main forms. The māḍī (past) such as نَصَرَ "he helped". The muḍāriʿ (present/future) such as يَنْصُرُ "he helps". The amr (command) such as اُنْصُرْ "help!".

Each form changes for who is doing it: he, they two, they, she, you, I, we. These changes are called taṣrīf, and Hawza students practise them aloud until they flow, the way Qur'an students practise tajwid.

In Iran and India, beginners often study small Persian or Urdu books such as Amthila and Ṣarf-e-Mīr for this.

Naḥw (نحو, syntax) studies how words work together. Every Arabic word is one of three kinds: ism (noun), fiʿl (verb), or ḥarf (particle, like مِنْ, فِي, عَلَى).

Iʿrāb: the moving endings

The last vowel of many words changes to show their job. Rafʿ (ـُ) for the subject, naṣb (ـَ) for the object, and jarr (ـِ) after a preposition. In verbs, jazm (ـْ) appears in some cases.

A sentence that starts with a noun has two parts: the mubtadaʾ (topic) and the khabar (comment). Both are marfūʿ. For example ٱللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ: ٱللَّهُ is the mubtadaʾ and أَكْبَرُ is the khabar.

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Manṭiq (منطق, logic) teaches how to think without mistakes. All knowledge is either a taṣawwur (a concept, like "water") or a taṣdīq (a judgement, like "water is wet").

The five universals

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A perfect definition (ḥadd tāmm) uses genus and differentia: "a human is a rational animal".

A qiyās (syllogism) joins two premises to reach a conclusion: "Every human is mortal. Ahmad is a human. So Ahmad is mortal." If the premises are true and the form is correct, the conclusion must be true.

Logic also teaches us to spot mughālaṭa (fallacies), such as attacking the person instead of the argument, or assuming something because many people say it.

In the Hawza, logic is studied in books like the Ḥāshiya of Mullā ʿAbd Allāh and al-Manṭiq of Shaykh Muḥammad Riḍā al-Muẓaffar.

In Shia thought the roots of religion (uṣūl al-dīn) must be accepted with understanding, not just copied from others. Kalām is the science that explains and defends them with reason.

The proof of contingency (imkān wa wujūb)

Everything we see is mumkin (contingent): it could exist or not, and it needs a cause. A chain of causes that all need causes cannot go on forever without a beginning. So there must be a being that exists by itself, needing nothing: the wājib al-wujūd, Allah.

أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ ٱلْخَالِقُونَ“Or were they created from nothing, or are they the creators?”Surah al-Tur, 52:35

Shia kalam stresses ʿadl: Allah does only what is good and wise, and He does not force people to sin. From His wisdom and kindness (luṭf) it follows that He sends prophets, and after the last Prophet ﷺ, protected Imams to guide people.

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ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān are the sciences that help us understand the Qur'an: how it was revealed, where, and how verses relate to each other.

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هُوَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِنْهُ ءَايَٰتٌ مُّحْكَمَٰتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَٰبِهَٰتٌ“It is He who sent down to you the Book. In it are clear verses, which are the foundation of the Book, and others are ambiguous.”Surah Al ʿImran, 3:7

Tafsīr means explaining the Qur'an. The Ahlulbayt (a) are the best interpreters, as the Prophet ﷺ said in Hadith al-Thaqalayn that the Qur'an and his family will not separate.

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Every hadith has two parts. The sanad is the chain of narrators ("A heard from B, who heard from Imam al-Sadiq (a)…"). The matn is the text itself.

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Later great collections include Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa by al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī and Biḥār al-Anwār by ʿAllāma Majlisī.

Shia scholars, following Aḥmad ibn Ṭāwūs and ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, grade hadith into four types by the narrators in the chain:

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ʿIlm al-Rijāl studies the narrators: who they were and whether they were trustworthy. The famous early books are Rijāl al-Najāshī and the Rijāl and Fihrist of Shaykh al-Tusi.

Uṣūl al-fiqh is the science of the principles used to derive rulings. In Shia jurisprudence there are four sources of law:

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Usul also studies language: what a command (amr) means (usually obligation), what a prohibition (nahy) means, general and specific words, and when the apparent meaning (ẓuhūr) is a proof.

Sometimes a mujtahid cannot find a clear proof. Then he uses the uṣūl ʿamaliyya (practical principles):

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Hawza usul books in order: Uṣūl al-Fiqh by al-Muẓaffar, Durūs fī ʿIlm al-Uṣūl (al-Ḥalaqāt) by Shahid al-Ṣadr, al-Rasāʾil by Shaykh al-Anṣārī, and Kifāyat al-Uṣūl by Ākhund Khurāsānī.

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Fiqh books are divided into ʿibādāt (acts of worship: taharat, salat, sawm, zakat, khums, hajj) and muʿāmalāt (dealings: trade, marriage, inheritance, judgement).

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Today every marjaʿ publishes a risāla ʿamaliyya (a practical book of rulings) for the public, such as Minhāj al-Ṣāliḥīn or "Islamic Laws" by Ayatollah Sistani.

هُوَ ٱلَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي ٱلْأُمِّيِّـۧنَ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُوا عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ“It is He who sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves, reciting His verses to them, purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom.”Surah al-Jumuʿa, 62:2

Notice: purifying (tazkiya) is mentioned before teaching. In the Hawza, students attend weekly akhlaq classes, because a scholar without good character can harm people with his knowledge.

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Scholars of akhlaq teach simple daily practices: muḥāsaba (checking yourself each night), murāqaba (being aware that Allah sees you), keeping the night prayer, serving parents, and staying away from arguments to show off.

During the lives of the Imams (a), Shia knowledge spread through their students. Imam al-Sadiq (a) alone is said to have had thousands of narrators. After the Minor Occultation began in 260 AH, the Imam (aj) was represented by four special deputies. With the Major Occultation in 329 AH, the believers were guided to refer to the scholars who narrate the hadith of the Ahlulbayt (a).

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A simple study plan

Year 1: Arabic (sarf, nahw), logic, basic beliefs, the rulings of your marjaʿ, and Qur'an recitation. Year 2: balagha, the first usul and fiqh books. Keep a study partner (mubahatha), a teacher you can ask, and a daily akhlaq habit.

A student of the Hawza becomes a teacher of people. Share only what you know, quote sources, speak gently, never insult other sects, and say "I don't know" when you don't. This is how the Imams (a) taught.