What is Cordova Academy?
Cordova, also known as Cordoba, was once the capital of Islamic Spain; a symbol of knowledge, advancement, religious tolerance and civilization. From it emerged some of the greatest scholars of Classical Arabic and Islamic civilization.
At Cordova Academy, our mission is to honour and emulate the example of Cordova's scholars by providing the highest quality of Classical Arabic and Qur`anic education to an English speaking audience. Since 1994, Cordova Academy has been providing classes, seminars, and workshops on Classical Arabic, Tajwid, Tafsir and other Classical sciences in the Canadian Capital region; Ottawa.
New classes are starting all the time… Join Cordova Academy and allow it to lead you through the path of academic success!
How Does The Credit System At Cordova Academy Work?
All Cordova Academy courses have been developed by the Academy's founder and are carefully structured based on the advanced academic systems first developed by Classical Arabic Grammarians and scholars between the eighth and tenth centuries CE. As such, Cordova Academy maintains the highest standards of curricular material and teaching methods.
In order for a student to be awarded a credit from Cordova Academy, they must attain at least an "A" average in a course. This varies from one course to another; it ranges anywhere from 85 to 95 percent. We are pleased to say that the passing rate among Cordova Academy students is nine out of every ten students.
The most prominent of Cordova Academy's programs is the Classical Arabic program, which is the equivalent of a BA (honours) in Classical Arabic. The program consists of twenty four compulsory courses, each equivalent to three credits, as well as eighteen elective credits, which may be a combination of courses from any program offered by the Academy.
The Qur`an, Islam's most sacred literary work is believed by Muslims worldwide to be the absolute Word of God, unchanged and unaltered for over 1,442 years. This consistency of Qur`anic authenticity has been maintained through paramountly strict recital rules and precise pronunciation passed down through hundreds of verified chains of transmission, which are all traced up to the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace.
Cordova Academy's Tajwid program offers successful students with the chance of becoming part of one of the shortest chains of transmission of the Islamic sacred scripture. The Classical Arabic word for being admitted to a chain of transmission is Ijazah, which means 'permission', 'legitimization' or 'licensing'. Thus, upon receiving an Ijazah students shall be permitted to transmit the traditional knowledge they acquired to others.
Did you know?
- Cordova Academy's course codes are all based on Classical Arabic root words. ARB is the root word for Arabic, JWD is the root word for Tajwid, FSR is the root word for Tafsir, ARK is the root word for History, KTT is the root word for Calligraphy etc.
- Cordova Academy teaches its courses to such a high Academic level with the intent of creating quality teachers out of its students.
- 12 of Cordova Academy's instructors and teachers are previous and ongoing students of the Academy.
- Cordova Academy has accepted students as young as two and as old as eighty five.
- Cordova Academy's Tajwid and Scriptural memorization program is special designed for students from North America, with a busy life style, to complete their memorization of the Qur`an in less than two years.
- One of Cordova Academy's female students, and a current instructor at the Academy, completed her memorization of the Qur`an in less than nine months, though she was attending University and participating in many community activities.
- The Classical Arabic language has a vocabulary of over six hundred million words, making it the most comprehensive language in the world.
- The oldest university in the world is Al-Qarawiyyin university in Fez, Morocco? It was built in the Eighth Century CE. That is over six hundred years before the formation of Old English.
- Over ninety percent of Islamic and Classical Arabic scholars were of non-Arab decent. And from among these scholars, over forty percent were women.
- Over the past thirty years, the scholar with the highest chain of transmission in the sacred scriptural science of Islam, in Alexandria, Egypt was a woman; she was known as Shaikhah Mariam, may God bless her soul. Most Imams of Qur`anic recitation in Alexandria traced their chains of transmission through her.
- By the end of the ninth century CE, the Islamic world had build over ten thousand institutions of learning, all free to the public, stretching from Islamic Spain, called Al-Andalus or land of the Vandals by the Muslims, to the western frontiers of T'ang dynasty China. Students were even provided with free paper, ink and writing utensils. As well, education was open to all subjects of the empire regardless of their race, social status or religion. As a result, Muslim and non-Muslim scholars were seen working side by side to build one of the greatest civilizations humanity has ever seen.