Learn the Qur'an,
properly corrected.

Certified to teach it
— not just to know it.

That distinction runs through everything here. Plenty of people have memorised the Qur'an, know the rules of tajweed, or speak Arabic fluently. Far fewer have been formally examined and certified to actually teach each one — which is the difference between someone who's good at something and someone trained to hand it to you.

Hafidh isn't a title Faris gave himself. It's a certified qualification — examined and scored 90% (Excellent) by an accredited body, the same way a diploma is marked. That matters when you're trusting someone with your own recitation: an examiner has already checked the standard he teaches to, before you ever start your first lesson.

It's the same story with Arabic. Faris's diploma from Umm Al-Qura is specifically in teaching Arabic to non-native speakers — a different discipline from simply knowing the language. Plenty of people speak Arabic fluently. Far fewer have been trained in how to hand it to someone who doesn't.

It shows in the choices. The Madinah Arabic Reader isn't used here out of habit — it's chosen because its illustrated, incremental design is what actually works for a beginner. Explanations are kept in plain, simple English by default — no idioms, no assumed fluency — so a student in Europe, wherever English is their second or third language, follows just as easily as a native speaker would. Urdu or Hindi where that helps further, so nobody is left guessing at an explanation on top of guessing at the Arabic.

You can see this in practice, not just take it on trust. In his own 140+ video series, Faris takes Sheikh Salem At-Taweel's dawah stories — drawn from five decades of preaching — and distills each one: summarising the key points, cutting what isn't essential, and contextualising it so the message lands clearly. That same skill — knowing what to keep, what to cut, and how to make it land — is what makes a lesson actually work. Watch the series →

Led by

Ustādh Faris Sharif

Fluent in Arabic, English, Urdu and Hindi, Faris works with students from their very first letter through to full memorisation. Teaching follows the Qur'an and Sunnah, upon the understanding of the Salaf.

“I'd rather you truly own one page than rush through ten. The Qur'an isn't a race.”

When a student stumbles, the question isn't just what they got wrong — it's why. A shaky word is often a vocabulary gap, a lost place, or last week's page not fully settled. Find the real cause, and the mistake usually doesn't come back.

• Completed Intermediate studies — Dar Al-Hadith Al-Khairiyah, Makkah
• Hafidh of the Qur'an — certified, 90% (Excellent)
• Certified to teach Qaida An-Nooraniyah — Furqan Group for Education & IT
• Diploma in Arabic Language Teaching for Non-Native Speakers — Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah
• Bachelor's student, Faculty of Sharī'ah, distance learning — Islamic University of Madinah

A teacher's chain matters as much as certificates. Before any of the credentials above, there were years of it — memorisation sessions at Masjid Al-Aziziyah, under more than one teacher, more than can be named individually and given fair credit each. That is where this actually began.

2016

Began at Dar Al-Hadith

Years of memorisation, under more than one teacher, in Makkah.

2018

Began teaching

As-Sharif Institute formalised what had already begun.

2020

Certified to teach

Qaida An-Nooraniyah, Furqan Group for Education & IT.

The certificates

Dar Al-Hadith Al-Khairiyah — Intermediate studies

Complete Qur'an memorisation — 90%, Excellent

Qaida An-Nooraniyah — certified to teach

Qaida An-Nooraniyah — scoresheet

Umm Al-Qura University diploma

Islamic University of Madinah

ID and passport numbers redacted. Tap any certificate to view it in full.