The other classroom: Returning to sacred knowledge

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Darul Qasim, an Islamic college in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, is drawing doctors, lawyers and other professionals who want deeper grounding in classical Islamic scholarship alongside their secular careers. The feature centers on Dr Tariq Lateef, a hospice and palliative care physician who says difficult experiences with end-of-life care pushed him to question the ethical foundations of modern medicine and seek an Islamically rooted framework for bioethics and daily practice.

Lateef, who moved to Chicago with his family, enrolled in Darul Qasim’s Saturday programme while also pursuing a master’s degree in bioethics at Northwestern University. According to the article, he found that the two educational paths began to complement each other rather than compete, allowing him to connect his professional training with religious study. The piece presents his journey as part of a wider trend among highly educated Muslims looking for answers in Islamic law, theology and ethics.

The report also profiles Darul Qasim’s founder, Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia, who says the school was built to preserve and renew a scholarly tradition he believes has been narrowed in modern times. Founded in 2000, the institution combines traditional seminary instruction with graduate-level study, including a master’s in Islamic law and theology. The article suggests the school is important because it offers a way for Muslims in contemporary America to reconnect professional life with religious learning and a broader understanding of what Islamic scholarship can do in public life.