The Youth Mentoring Programme – Sep 21

Course Information

KEY FEATURES OF THE PROGRAMME
– A mentoring programme designed to give young people the intellectual and spiritual guidance they need in today’s age of confusion and doubt.
– Weekly talking sessions covering a wide range of topics.
– One to one mentoring and personal development planning.
– Free access to all our online courses to overcome gaps in essential knowledge.
– One academic year.
– 2 hours of contact time per week plus mentoring sessions.

Programme Introduction

Around 70% of Muslim children in the UK attend madrasah/maktab education, that is part time Islamic education of some kind in formally organised settings like masajid or private tuition. This education ends for most children between the ages of 14 and 16, for many girls it ends a lot earlier.

While their school and college education will go on for up to 5-7 more years, Muslim youth stop their Islamic education at a time when they need it the most. As they get to the latter stages of secondary education, or go through 6th form and college, it is certain that they will be exposed to ideas and lifestyle choices that will challenge everything we have taught them as children. Furthermore, they are also going through puberty and all the complexities and challenges of youth. At this time, they need constant guidance and mentoring.

Most young people stop madrasah education, because the traditional modes of it here in the UK and many other Western Muslim communities are not sustainable along with the pressures of GCSEs and A levels.

To address this problem, we have launched The Youth Mentoring Programme. A programme specifically for young people aged 14-18. The programme is designed with emphasis on mentoring young people so that they have direct access to a scholar who knows them well and guides them accordingly. Formal teaching and contact time is kept limited to a couple of hours a week, mainly in the form of talking sessions in which various aspects of life are discussed from an Islamic perspective. Furthermore, each student on the programme will receive one to one mentoring and personal development planning with 2-3 sessions in which development targets will be identified and monitored. These will also be an opportunity for young people to address matters they may not want to discuss in a group setting. Mentoring will be provided by male and female mentors who are graduates of shari’ah.

While it is expected that most students on the programme will have received their basic Islamic education, we will use the weekly sessions to cover areas of Islamic education that are not normally covered in madrasah/maktab education. Should it be the case that there are significant gaps in essential Islamic knowledge, we will give all students access to our on-demand courses to address this. Our courses cover all of the essential areas of Islamic education that a Muslim needs. You can see the range of courses on our courses page.

Purpose of the course
The purpose of the course is to build on the existing Islamic knowledge of young people and:

1. Help them develop a strong Islamic moral and spiritual outlook.
2. An appreciation for the intellectual foundations of Islam so they are resilient to doubts about Islam.
3. Guide them to make sound Islamic decisions in their lives as they transition from youth to adulthood.
4. Provide counselling to overcome any personal problems they may be having.
5. Help them excel in their education and make good decisions about their future.

Contact With The Teacher/Mentor

Students will always have access to their teachers and mentors.

We will use chat and live sessions for this and the students will be able to keep in touch by telephone.

Who is This Programme For?

1. Young men and women, 14-18 years of age who are willing to learn and develop.
2. There are no academic prerequisites. As long as a student can effectually participate in the programme, he/she is welcome to apply.
3. Young people who are keen to learn and be good Muslims or those whose parents will remain engaged and involved in their learning. We cannot meet our objectives with young teenagers whose parents are not going to take an active interest in this give their support when we need it.

Workload

The programme has been designed with the understanding that 14-18 year olds are busy with GCSEs and A levels. This is why the contact time per week is only 2 hours and other activities will not burden them too much.

The Learned Youth Programme

If you are looking for a more substantial Islamic studies programme for yourself or your child, take a look at The Learned Youth Programme. It is a two year programme that covers key Islamic subjects with Arabic language. Read about it here.

Teaching Strategies

1. Weekly talking sessions. These are somewhat relaxed discussion sessions in which different topics will be explored together with students.
2. Encouraging the students to read and process what they have read independently.
3. One to one mentoring and counselling.
4. Personal development planning. This is a process wherein a student evaluates their strengths and weaknesses, considers their aspirations, and then makes a plan for the future.
5. Targeted reading, voluntary work and various forms of activism, and daily spiritual activities as part of personal development.
6. Reflective journal writing.
7. Independent study of our on-demand courses (access will be free) to cover gaps in essential Islamic knowledge.
8. Chat and discussion via our Telegram community.

Course Content

Taught Content: Normally covered in the second hour of each weekly session.

Courses	Description
1. Iman in an age of doubt	Mawarid Lifestyle already has a course covering the foundations of iman with the purpose of demonstrating the proofs and logical foundations of Islam. This course has been immensely beneficial for many of our students (including students of the 14-18 age group) who have told us the course has given them a great deal of confidence in their iman after they had experienced moments of doubt and confusion previously. We will cover most of the contents of this course in the second hour of our weekly sessions.
2. The Fiqh and spirituality of salah, and other areas of fiqh.	The fiqh of salah will not be taught live as a course. In the second hour, we will discuss it to establish how well the students know their salah, identify knowledge gaps, then guide them through the on-demand course. We will do the same thing with other areas of essential fiqh like fasting and zakah. Please note that the time spent studying the on-demand courses counts as independent study and it is up to the student to put in the work. We can oversee and check on progress inshaAllah.
3. Personal Development	This is the most important part of the programme, and will remain a continuous feature throughout the year. There is no magic wand in personal development, the objective is to try to encourage students to take responsibility for their own development by thinking about it and planning for it. Along with encouraging them and guiding them, we will help them understand what personal development objectives to pursue throughout their lives. The most important ones are spirituality and worship, and character development (akhlaq). This will naturally overlap with other aspects such as leadership development, life skills, philosophical orientation, and planning one’s future in terms of career, family, etc. This is where the programme will also benefit the students in their school and college education, inshaAllah. To do this in an organised fashion, we have developed a point based scheme that will require students to pursue certain objectives and build practical habits. To keep them progressing, they will be required to attain a minimum threshold of points. More details will be shown during the early part of the programme.
Our Range of On-Demand Courses	Please see our courses pages for our list of on-demand courses. Our Youth Mentoring Programme students will have free access to all of our short courses. Although it will not be a requirement to study these, we will urge students to study them in their own time to ensure they know all of the essentials of their deen. Where we notice that a particular student has a gap in knowledge in something essential like salah, they will be required to complete the salah course and provide evidence that they have completed it.

Weekly Talking Sessions

In our weekly talking sessions, we will discuss a range of topics for an hour. These will vary but you can expect some of the areas and topics below to be covered in a dialectic (discussion based) format.

Courses	Description
Beliefs	The course on the foundations of iman will bring up lots of questions and issues that we will not be able to discuss fully as part of the course. There will also be questions that will arise in the minds of the students during the year. The talking session will specifically raise some issues like theodicy (problem of evil), qadar, end of times, evolution, boundaries of rationality, moral relativism, LGBT, justice and equality, etc. Students will also be able to trigger discussions with their own questions throughout the year.
Worship & Spirituality	In addition to the course element of this in the second hour, we will continuously discuss matters of worship throughout the year. We will particularly use the talking sessions to address the difficulties that people, young and old alike, have with discharging their devotional worship as well as constant reminders about the importance of worship, maintaining habits of worship. This will be done in conjunction with the personal development aspect of the programme where worship will be a targeted objective.
Character	We will discuss and ponder the meaning of good character, identify the most important positive character traits, and the most dangerous negative character traits, we will discuss them in detail, and use that knowledge to evaluate ourselves in terms of said characteristics. We will talk about character traits in conjunction with actions that are consistent with them so they do not remain theoretical. Here we will talk about things like, respect, honour, love, generosity, compassion, mercy, humility, courage, confidence, patience, forgiveness, discipline, etc., along with their opposites and other negative traits like cruelty, selfishness, anger, jealousy, arrogance, miserliness, suspicion, greed, etc.
Social Life	This is essential for young people transitioning to adulthood. We will discuss relationships (along with gender interactions, sexual attraction, and so on), marriage, family, joining family ties, etc., with significant time given to Q&A and discussions.
Money and Dealings	We will discuss materialism, the Islamic attitude to money, careers, wealth, charity, and some aspects of shari’ah rules regarding money and dealings and some practical contemporary guidance based on the financial and transactional circumstances that young people will face today.
The Prophet (saw)	Although the Prophet (saw) will feature throughout the course in almost everything that we cover, more specifically, we will discuss proofs of prophethood in the foundations of iman part of the course, and the character of the Prophet (saw) when we talk about good character. In the talking sessions, we will discuss some aspects of the seerah (life of the Prophet (saw)) in conjunction with an expectation to read about the seerah as an objective within personal development. This will also include, love of the Prophet (saw), following his sunnah, and upholding him as the ultimate role model.
Education	Throughout the year in the talking sessions we will talk about education and the importance of balancing Islamic education with education at college and university, the importance of doing well in both. We will also talk about choices at university, and how to study effectively, as well as future educational opportunities in Islamic and secular studies.
Lifestyle	In this section we will talk about, health, fitness, physical and mental wellbeing, discipline and management of time, decisions about family, entertainment and leisure, and what it means to have quality of life.

The above lessons and topics may go through amendments before the course starts and throughout the course of the programme, and the manner in which the topics will be covered in the talking sessions will be fluid.

Dates and Schedule

Start: Thursday 23rd September 2021

Scheduled live sessions will take place every Thursday evening from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.
One to one sessions will be scheduled with individual students throughout the year.

Classes and one to one meetings will be conducted over zoom. Zoom details can be found under ‘course content’ below (visible after enrolment) closer to the start date. We will also email you.

Admissions Procedure (read this fully)

1. Submit the application form below asap.
2. We will close applications on 22nd September. Places will fill up fast and we will process applications and make decisions on a batch by batch basis (first come first served) with the final decisions taking place after 23rd August. If places are filled before then, you will miss out.
3. We will not process incomplete forms. Please double check everything before submitting forms. If you think you’ve submitted a form incorrectly or incomplete, please let us know by email at info@mawaridlifestyle.com.
4. We do not normally interview candidates for this programme. However, we may choose to interview some candidates. We will contact you by email about this and set up a Zoom meeting.
5. Places will be offered to successful candidates on a batch by batch basis throughout August and September.
6. Fees must be settled upon confirmation of place. If you miss the fee deadline given to you, we will move your application to the next batch which will delay your confirmation. If seats are filled by then, you will miss out.
7. Once enrolled, you will set up a username and password to access our learning management system. This is where resources and recordings will be posted. You will need to be logged in to the website to access these. Instructions will be emailed to you.
8. Zoom details will be published on the website.
9. First sessions will take place on Thursday 23rd September 2021.

Fees

£600 per annum payable in 3 instalments as follows:

First instalment:
£300 before start date. £50 pounds early bird discount is applicable if first instalment is paid by 11th July. As a rule, places cannot be confirmed without payment of fees.

Second instalment:
£150 by 1st of January 2022

Third instalment:
£150 by 1st of April 2022

Notes and terms:

1. We do not have the resources to chase up fees. You must ensure that fees are paid on time.
2. The first instalment is completely non-refundable after enrolment is closed. At that stage, we cannot replace students who drop out. Subsequent instalments may be compassionately refunded if a student drops out due to exceptional and extenuating circumstances

Refunds: we cannot refund fees after the registration deadline. At this stage your place cannot be given to someone else.

Other expenses:

Books and resources must be paid for by students/guardians.
If circumstances permit some activities such as special events, trips or retreats to be organised, parents would have to pay for them additionally. We will keep everyone updated on plans.

Discounts

Sibling discount: £100 per sibling.

Holidays

Holidays will be scheduled around school breaks with some adjustments made for Islamic holidays. Students should expect to study through Ramadhan. Once dates are fixed, they will be posted on the course page.

Brief Teacher Bio

There will be a different mentor for each cohort of the youth mentoring programme. This first cohort of 2021-22 will be taught by Shaykh Shams Adduha Muhammad

Shaykh Shams Adduha Muhammad

Shaykh Shams Adduha Muhammad is co-founder and director of Ebrahim College, an Islamic seminary in East London that trains Muslim faith leaders of the future.

Shaykh Shams has led EC to become a leading contemporary Muslim seminary and one of the largest adult Islamic education providers in the UK with its own research centre, The Centre for Islamic Research and Education (CIRE) which was set up in 2017.

Shaykh Shams is himself an Islamic seminary graduate and has an MA in Islamic studies from the University of London. He has also worked as an Imam, a teacher and deputy head of an independent Islamic school, and a translator of classical Islamic works.

Shaykh Shams is particularly interested in contextualising traditional Islamic studies for British Muslims and faith leaders. He also lectures in Islamic theology, hadith studies, and Islamic jurisprudence at Ebrahim College, and is an active faith leader in the Muslim community.

Application Form