Arabic language & textual reading
Grammar, vocabulary, rhetoric and guided reading, giving students increasing access to the language and texture of primary Islamic texts.
01Two-year programme
September 2026 · Birmingham
Diploma in
Islamic Studies
A two-year Muslim liberal arts education: Arabic and the Islamic sciences at its centre, with the classical arts of language, thought and number forming the student’s habits of mind.
DurationTwo years
LocationBirmingham
StudyPart-time
IntakeSeptember 2026
The course of study
Islamic learning,
liberally ordered.
The Diploma is not a sequence of isolated subjects. Its modules are joined by a common practice: close reading of primary texts, careful attention to language, rigorous argument and the study of a living commentary tradition.
Qur’an, Tafsir & Hadith
Recitation and study of the Qur’an, together with selected Prophetic traditions, their transmission, interpretation and place within the scholarly inheritance.
Fiqh, Aqeedah & the Islamic sciences
An ordered study of worship, conduct and foundational beliefs, with attention to the methods by which scholars reasoned from their sources.
The trivium
Grammar, logic and rhetoric in the Arabic and classical traditions: the arts by which meaning is understood, arguments are tested and truth is expressed with clarity.
The quadrivium
Arithmetic, geometry, harmonics and astronomy as disciplines of number, proportion and cosmic order—recovered as part of a complete education.
Great books & commentary
Major texts from the Islamic and European traditions, read alongside selected commentaries and placed within the long conversations they shaped.
History, adab & lived learning
Islamic intellectual history, the responsibilities of the student and the relation of knowledge to worship, character, vocation and service.
A proposed degree pathway
Begin with the Diploma.
Progress to a BA.
CAIS is developing a proposed BA (Hons) Islamic Studies and Liberal Arts, subject to validation by a UK degree-awarding body. Eligible Diploma students may be able to apply to progress into the final stage of that degree, with recognition of relevant completed study.
The precise progression route, academic requirements, credit recognition and fees will be confirmed only after validation has been secured and the arrangement approved by the validating partner.
Explore the proposed BA pathway →Fees & payment
Plan your study.
View tuition fees, instalment arrangements and the founding-cohort pay-in-full offer.
View fees and payment options →Diploma in Islamic Studies
Enter the tradition.
Learn its arts.
Begin your application for the September 2026 intake.
Apply now ↗Hybrid delivery. Teaching takes place in person in Birmingham and is streamed online, so students may attend on campus, remotely or through a combination of both.