Hijaz College is a British Muslim school located in Nuneaton,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, England. Hijaz College combines traditional Islamic education with the British

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or other ...

. The philosophy of Hijaz was formulated by its patron and founder Abdul Wahab Siddiqi (1942–94) in 1994. its principal was his eldest son Shaykh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi. The Jamia Islamia in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, founded in 1979, produced dozens of graduates who became fully qualified

Ulema In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

(scholars of Islam) and doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. As of 2008, Hijaz College is run by the Chief Executive Shaikh Tauqir Ishaq, a chartered civil engineer by profession and Islamic scholar. The LLB law degree is also taught combined with religious sciences. Graduates of Hijaz College are awarded a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

Islamic Law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

and

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and are qualified in Islamic jurisprudence,

Qur'anic The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

and

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

sciences and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

etymology. In 1994 the vision of Hijaz College started to take a different shape in the form of Hijaz College Islamic University. The college takes its name from the region in modern-day

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

which comprises

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

and

Taif Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...

. Hijaz College has grown in many aspects, one of them being its expansion project covering a total extended area of , costing over £5 million and intended to increase the student accommodation capacity from 125 to 500 (as of 2008)Les Reid
First UK Sharia court up and running in Warwickshire
'' Coventry Telegraph'', 9 September 2008 Its plans include extended teaching facilities and resources including a library which will display over 700,000 books. Hijaz College is independent from any governmental organisation. In December 2007, the UK's first official sharia court was set up at Hijaz college. By September 2008, it had settled more than 100 civil disputes between Muslims. Once parties have agreed to bring their case before the sharia tribunal, they are bound to its decision by English law.

References

External links

Hijaz College Website
{{authority control Islamic schools in England Education in Warwickshire Nuneaton