Who is it for?
Young people aged 16 to 18. No prior study of the tradition is assumed or required — what is required is a willingness to think seriously and to turn up.
We welcome students from all backgrounds, schools of thought, and levels of faith and religious practice.
Limited spaces are available in cohort one.
Is this hawza study, or a replacement for it?
No. The Madrasa Project is not a replacement for formal religious education or hawza study, and it does not lead to a qualification. It is an introduction to the intellectual and spiritual depth of the tradition, and a framework for personal development alongside it.
Will it tell students what to believe?
No. It will equip them to think better. The programme takes seriously both the Islamic tradition and the student's own intelligence, and it makes space for honest questions rather than closing them down.
As Dr Esmail puts it in the student handbook: doubt that is brought into the light is far less dangerous than doubt that is buried and left to grow in the dark.
When and where does it run?
Eighteen Saturday sessions at Al-Mahdi Institute, 60 Weoley Park Road, Birmingham B29 6RB, from 17 October 2026 to 1 May 2027, plus a welcome day at the start and an end-of-year lunch at the close. Each teaching session is two hours including breaks.
What does it cost, and what does that cover?
£350 for the year, payable in full at enrolment. That covers the welcome day and all eighteen teaching sessions, every course material including the Student Handbook and Portfolio, and the end-of-year lunch. There are no further costs.
What if my child has to miss a session?
Tell us in advance. Every topic has a summary in the Student Handbook, so a missed session can be picked up from there. The programme builds week on week, so missing a session creates gaps that are hard to recover — attendance at every session is one of the five things we ask of students.
No refund or reduction is made for sessions not attended.
Is there homework?
Not in the school sense. After most sessions there is a portfolio artefact to complete — a reflection, a map, a one-page vision. They are not assessed and not graded, and no one reads them without the student's permission. They exist so the student can see how their own thinking moves across the year.
Is the group mixed?
Yes. Students of all backgrounds within the cohort learn together, under the seven community agreements set out in the handbook.
What happens if something difficult comes up in a session?
Some of the material touches on things students care about a great deal, and occasionally a session will land close to home. Facilitators are experienced in handling that, students can step outside at any point, and there is always more than one member of staff present.
The Institute has the usual safeguarding arrangements in place, set out here.
What information do you ask for, and who sees it?
The application can be completed by the student, by a parent or guardian, or by the two together. We ask only what we need to consider it. Nothing medical is asked at that stage — deliberately, so that we are not holding health information about families who may be declined.
Medical and emergency details are taken on paper at the welcome day, kept at the Institute and held separately with restricted access.
Do you use photographs of students?
Only with consent, and consent is genuinely optional. The consent pack offers three choices: no images at all, internal use only, or internal use plus AMI social media. A family that declines photography still enrols, and nothing else changes.
When do students graduate?
Not at the end of Year One. Year One closes with an end-of-year lunch after the last session on 1 May 2027.
Students graduate on completing Year Two, at the Al-Mahdi Institute annual graduation ceremony alongside the Institute's other graduands. It is a more significant occasion that way, and it marks the end of the full two-year programme rather than the halfway point.
How do we apply?
Through the online application form. If a place is offered, you accept, pay the fee, and complete the enrolment pack before the welcome day on 17 October.
Something not answered here? Email madrasa@almahdi.edu or call 0121 446 5047.
Cohort one
launches 17 October 2026
Limited spaces available. Applications close when they are filled.
Apply for a place