Most people never apply. Not because they lack the will. They assume there is a hidden bar somewhere, a level of Arabic they don’t have, an age they have passed, a background they were supposed to arrive with.
So, here is the plain version of the Alimiyyah course Manchester requirements for the 2026 intake. Age thirteen and above. No previous Arabic. Three evenings a week for four years. That’s genuinely the whole entry list and the rest of this article explains what each of those means in practice before you fill in a form.
Quick Answer at a Glance
| Requirement | What is asked | Flexible? |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 13 years and above | No |
| Arabic | None required. Taught from Year 1 | No prior study needed |
| Qur’an reading | Asked on the application form | Helpful, not a barrier |
| Attendance | Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, one hour each | Expected weekly |
| Duration | 4 years | Fixed |
| Format | In-person in Manchester or live online | Your choice |
| Prior Islamic study | Asked, not required | Optional |
| Code of conduct | Agreed at application | Required |
The four-year Madinah-based syllabus sets the pace. Everything below follows from it.
The Entry Requirements, One by One
Six things are asked. Three of them are not what applicants expect.
Age: Thirteen and Above
Thirteen is the floor. There is no ceiling. That surprises people. A fifteen-year-old sitting GCSEs and a fifty-year-old grandfather can be in the same cohort and both are in the right room. Classical Islamic study has never been age-segregated the way a school timetable is. The text doesn’t change based on who is reading it.
For parents of teenagers: the evening schedule was built with school in mind. One hour, three nights, homework still gets done.
Arabic: You Start From Nothing
This one stops more applicants than anything else and it should not. Many institutes expect you to read unvowelled classical prose by the end of term one. The reading list assumes Arabic, then teaches around it. Applicants who arrive without the language spend a year lost.
Year 1 here runs Quranic Arabic and Arabic Grammar as taught subjects, alongside Aqeedah, Arbaeen Nawawiyyah, Usool Thalathah, Qawaid Arbah, Nawaqid al-Islam, Seerah, Introduction to Hadith and Islamic Manners and Etiquette. The language is built into the timetable. You are not expected to bring it.
By Year 2, you meet Kitab at-Tawheed, Lum’atul I’tiqad, Muqaddimah Usool al-Tafseer and Al-Waraqat fil Usul al-Fiqh. By Year 3, the whole Qur’an, translation and Tafseer. Year 4 opens with Sahih Bukhari. Four years from no Arabic to Bukhari. That progression only works because the language starts on day one rather than being assumed.
Reading the Qur’an
The application form asks whether you can read the Qur’an. It asks. It doesn’t gate. If you read fluently, Year 1 Arabic will feel like naming things you already half know. If you read slowly or you are still working through the letters, say so honestly on the form. The teaching adjusts around real students; it doesn’t reward a tidy answer.
Three Evenings, One Hour Each
Monday, Wednesday and Friday. One hour per evening. Three hours a week is the smallest weekly commitment of any serious Alimiyyah in the country. That is deliberate. Most programmes of this depth ask for a full day each week or weekday evenings running past ten o’clock and they lose people in year two when life gets complicated.
The commitment section of the 2026-2027 application asks you to confirm four things: that classes run three evenings a week, that regular attendance is expected, that you accept the code of conduct and that you intend to finish with sincerity. Four sentences. Read them slowly, because they describe four years of Wednesdays.
Three hours in class does not mean three hours of study. Revision sits on top. Plan for double.
Brothers and Sisters
Separate learning arrangements are in place. Same syllabus, same teacher, same four-year path. Sisters ask this before anything else and rarely find a clear answer on an institute’s website. It is stated openly on the curriculum page.
In Person or Online
The same requirements cover both routes. In-person classes run at the British Muslim Heritage Centre on College Road in Whalley Range. From Chorlton or Old Trafford, it is minutes. From Rusholme, Levenshulme, Fallowfield or Longsight it is a short drive across the city and Didsbury families are on a straight run up the A5145. Parking is on site, which matters more than people admit when the class starts at seven.
The online route runs live. Not recorded lectures released on a Friday. You join the same session, ask questions in real time and recordings stay available for revision. Students on the online route also receive a certificate on completing the course.
Choose in-person if you know you need the room and the accountability. Choose the live online Alimiyyah programme if travel would be the thing that eventually stops you.
What Is Not Required
Worth stating plainly, because the assumptions run deep:
- No madrasah background
- No hifz
- No degree and no A-levels
- No Arabic
- No membership of any organisation
- No requirement to be born Muslim and no requirement to have been Muslim for any length of time
A convert of eight months and a hafidh of twenty years both start in Year 1.
The Application, Step by Step
- Read the curriculum page and check the four-year subject list against what you actually want to study.
- Watch part of the free tafseer series. Forty minutes tells you more about a teacher than any prospectus.
- Open the application form on the admission page.
- Fill in personal details, then educational background. Answer the Arabic and Qur’an questions honestly.
- Write why you want to study. A few sentences in your own words is enough.
- Confirm the four commitment statements.
- Submit. Your application is reviewed, with a short conversation or interview if one is needed.
- Accept the offer of admission and secure your place by paying either the first term or the full year.
The 2026-2027 academic year begins on Wednesday 30 September 2026 and applications are being accepted now.
Fees, Since Everyone Asks Next
Requirements and cost are different questions and they get tangled constantly. The Manchester route is £400 per term across three instalments, which comes to £1,200 for the academic year. Paying the full year at once costs £1,150 so you keep £50 and your course materials are covered. Payment runs through Stripe.
Online study costs £200 per term, £600 across the year or £575 paid annually. Nobody is asked to pay anything at application stage. The current fees and payment options sit on the enrolment page, which is where they belong.
Two Students, Two Starting Points
Yusuf is nineteen and works shifts at a warehouse in Trafford Park. He can read the Qur’an but has never studied Arabic grammar. Monday and Wednesday are fine. Friday depends on the rota so he watches the recording on Saturday morning and brings his questions to Monday’s class. He is now in Year 2 and reading Lum’atul I’tiqad.
Fatima is forty-four with three children at secondary school. She had convinced herself the door closed at twenty-five. It did not. Her eldest daughter enrolled the following year and they revise together at the kitchen table, which was not the plan and has turned out to be the best part of it.
Both scenarios are typical of the intake. Neither arrived with Arabic.
About the Teacher
Shaykh Suhaib Sirajudin graduated from the Faculty of the Qur’an and Hadith and completed his Fazeelat in Islamic Sciences, then specialised in Hadith and Islamic Law under scholars in the UK and abroad. He has taught for more than fifteen years to over a thousand students across more than twenty countries and has written nineteen published works, including Akhsaru Tafseer, the concise explanation of the Qur’an in English used in Year 3. You can read more about Shaykh Suhaib Sirajudin before you apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The stated requirement is thirteen and above with no maximum. Students in their forties and fifties sit in the same cohort as teenagers. The one honest consideration is stamina across four years rather than age itself. Older students often do better, because they arrive knowing exactly why they came and they miss fewer classes than a nineteen-year-old juggling a first job.
No. Quranic Arabic and Arabic Grammar are taught subjects in Year 1 so the language is built into the programme rather than assumed. This is the main difference between this course and several other UK Alimiyyah programmes, where classical Arabic proficiency is expected from the opening weeks and students without it lose most of the first year.
Three hours of class time, spread across Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at one hour each. Revision sits on top of that. Most students find five to six hours a week total is realistic once reading and memorisation are included.
Yes and the three-evening structure exists for exactly that reason. Shift workers use the recordings for the evening they miss and bring questions to the next class.
A certificate is awarded on successful completion of the course. This is a traditional scholarly programme rather than a university degree, so it is not validated by a UK awarding body.
Yes. Separate learning arrangements are in place for brothers and sisters, with the same syllabus and the same teacher for both.
Before You Apply
Alimiyyah course Manchester requirements come down to three things: you are thirteen or older, you can give three evenings a week and you are willing to commit for four years. Arabic is taught. A background is not needed. The rest is logistics.
Come to a session and ask directly. The Manchester Alimiyyah Programme holds free information evenings at the British Muslim Heritage Centre where you can meet Shaykh Suhaib, hear the curriculum explained and ask anything you like before committing a single pound. If you cannot attend in person, contact the institute and ask your questions directly.
Have Questions Before You Begin?
If you have any questions or need further clarification before enrolling, feel free to reach out to us directly: