The series
Three bands, one road.
Each band is written for the age it is for, and each opens with a first term of twelve weeks. Every week is listed here, so nothing about the road ahead is a surprise.
Band A, ages four to six
الخالق
Al Khaliq, the Maker
The World Is Speaking
Term one: knowing Allah through creation
In preparation
The term is written and with its reviewing scholar. When it is ready it will simply appear here, at the same price, and there is nothing to sign up for in the meantime.
- 01
Someone made this
Made things have makers
- 02
The one with no beginning
Allah was not made
- 03
Al Khaliq
The first name. The Maker
- 04
The seed that splits
What is inside a seed, and who told it to open
- 05
Water that comes back
Rain, and that it is the same water going round
- 06
The ceiling that does not fall
The sky as a roof that is held
- 07
He hears and he sees
Including in the dark, and when you are alone
- 08
The bee who was taught
Instinct, honey, knowing without being shown
- 09
Your own hands
The body, and the heart that beats unasked
- 10
Night and day take turns
Order, measure, things arriving when they should
- 11
Ar Rahman
Mercy, through the mother and her child
- 12
Saying thank you
Shukr, and the close of the term
Band B, ages seven to nine
الصلاة
As Salah, the prayer
Standing
Term one: the prayer
- 01
The gift that came from above
Isra and Miraj. Why this one command was received rather than sent
- 02
Clean before you come
Tahara. The two kinds of clean
- 03
Water, and what it carries away
Wudu step by step, and what leaves with the water
- 04
The call
The adhan, its words, and the first man to call it
- 05
Which way, and when
Qibla, the five times, and why they sit where they do
- 06
Allahu akbar
The takbir, and what it shuts out
- 07
What you are actually saying, one
Al Fatiha, the opening lines, and the answer to each
- 08
What you are actually saying, two
Guidance and the straight path
- 09
Down
Ruku and sujud. Why the body does this
- 10
Sitting
Tashahhud, the testimony, and sending peace
- 11
When it is hard
Distraction, laziness, a missed prayer, and returning
- 12
Standing together
Jamaah, the rows, Jumuah
Band C, ages ten to twelve
الإيمان
Al Iman, faith
Why We Believe
Term one: iman, with reasons
In preparation
The term is written and with its reviewing scholar. When it is ready it will simply appear here, at the same price, and there is nothing to sign up for in the meantime.
- 01
What counts as a reason
How we know anything. Evidence, testimony, trust
- 02
The question behind everything
Why is there something rather than nothing
- 03
Order you can check
Design, and what chance does and does not explain
- 04
Who Allah is, and who He is not
Tawhid, and the errors it corrects
- 05
Why send a message at all
The case for prophethood
- 06
A book no man wrote
The challenge, the preservation, the memorisation
- 07
How we know what he said
Isnad and hadith criticism, simply
- 08
What you cannot see
Angels, the unseen, the limits of the senses
- 09
Why is there suffering
The hardest question, answered without a bow on it
- 10
The day it gets weighed
Akhirah, justice, and why it changes this afternoon
- 11
Decree and choice
Qadr, at the level a twelve year old can hold
- 12
When someone asks you
Answering a friend, and what to say when you do not know
The bands are written to be walked in order, but they do not have to be. A ten year old who has never been taught the prayer can begin with Standing, and nothing is lost by it.