Ibn Abbas Institute

Ibn Abbas Institute (IAI) was formed as a voluntary organisation in 1995. The organisation grew out of less formal Muslim youth activity in the Toxteth area of Liverpool. The name Ibn Abbas was chosen in reverence to a particularly gifted and scholastic cousin of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The young men and women who eventually established IAI where particularly driven by a desire to have access to the broad and authoritative traditional sources of Islamic education. These were viewed as a counterpoint o the apparent proliferation of "zealous self appointed educationalists" who were often found to be at the very least under-qualified and unauthorised to teach Islamic sciences and spiritually. An additional, arguably related, and equally important driver for the formation of IAI, was the perceived need to address some of the social and public mental health problems endemic to the community in which IAI was conceived.

The traditional Islamic educational paradigm has relied for centuries on a closer teacher-student relationship with an emphasis on orality and teacher-student proximity (similar in many ways to the tutorial system employed in Oxford). The Islamic system involves what is known as Isnad and Ijaza this is essentially permission from the scholar (examiner) to teach a particular component of Islamic Knowledge, isnad is the ability to trace back the train of transmission (teacher to student) all the way back an undisputable authoritative source, for example the author of the text. IAI endeavoured to identify teachers who met these criteria but who also met the additional criteria, of having an excellent command of the English language and an even deeper understanding of contemporary western cultures.

IAI's social/public health focus has been integral to its "educational" activities. With IAI the educational has always striven to integrate recreational, artistic, and cultural dimensions including initiatives promoting health eating, regular exercise, as well as the promotion of Islamic philosophical principles conducive to the promotion of mental health and emotional excellence.

In all IAI have pioneering factor in the innovative return to a traditional model of Islamic education in the West. IAI as a small arguably virtual organisation has had a massive impact on the lives of many Muslims living in the West seeking purpose and identity. IAI are committed to the idea that within a balanced and well-qualified teaching of Islam there is a great power for societal and individual improvement including psycho-socio-economic benefits.