Top 5 Ramadan 2020 Resources that will connect you with the Quran all year round
This is a weird Ramadan with us not being able to go to the mosque. However, not all is lost. The plus side is that, although we can’t pray in congregation and listen to the talks of our local imam… we do get instant online access to the best Islamic scholars & teachers in the world – and they are on their A-Game this year!
Below is a short-list of the best 2020 Ramadan resources that you can access immediately.
There is an abundance of material here, so my advice is to pick one or two of your favourite scholars, speakers, or approaches used and stick with them for the rest of Ramadan.
Realistically, if you have 1 good video dars (lesson) per day during Ramadan, you’re in good shape – especially to fill in that ‘zombie’ time between Asr and Maghrib.
The top 5 resources in no particular order are…
5. Omar Sulaiman – “In the Presence of Angels” Series and “30 for 30”
The angels series is a short daily video being released during Ramadan, giving us some insight into the world of the angels. Check it out here.
And the 30 for 30 is an excellent idea for a program. Omer Sulaiman and 2 other shcolars each talk for 10 minutes on insights or teachings they took from 1 juz of the Quran. This is perfect if you’re reading 1 juz of the Quran on your own each day, and then tune in to listen to the shcolars’ insights. You can watch this series here.
4. Rumis Cave – Daily 7pm (UK time) Facebook Lives
The beloved Sudanese Sheikh Babikir teaches about the Quran each Friday at 7pm and other excellent, well-spoken, insightful scholars teach on each of the other weekdays during Ramadan. One of my personal favourites is Dr. Samer Dejani whose session on the tafsir of Surah Taha is uplifting and enlightening. He teaches on Wednesdays – and the Facebook Live recordings are available on demand.
Check out the Rumis Cave Facebook Page here to watch the live sessions, or catch up from previous weeks here.
3. Cambridge Muslim College – Daily Ramadan sessions
This college, founded by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (Professor TJ Winters) is hosting daily lessons this Ramadan, each day with a different scholar on a different topic, ranging from a study of al-Ghazali’s “Book of Fasting” to “Quran Concepts”.
They have good ’trailers’ for each of the classes to make it easier to decide which ones to watch properly. I would definitely recommend watching Sh Abdal Hakim Murad’s videos on this Youtube channel. So far, they’ve been very insightful and spiritually uplifting.
Click here to watch their YouTube Channel.
2. Dr. Yasir Qadhi – The Message of the Quran
Dr Yasir Qadhi took on a bold mission this Ramadan – to create a series of 1 hour videos, each covering roughly 1 juz (para) of the Quran, aiming to explain the message contained in that section.
It’s a great addition to your personal Quran reading. You can check it out here.
1. Quran For Busy People – Ramadan Transformation & The Ocean
Okay, we’re biassed, but the truth is so many people have contacted us to rave about the Ramadan Transformation series I recorded a few years ago, and how it’s completely transformed their life, that it’s worth adding to the list (even if it’s not live). You can check out 1 session per day of Ramadan or binge-watch them in a weekend.
Click here to see the ‘archives’ section of this website and scroll down to the 30 “Ramadan Transformation” posts. (And please, excuse the dodgy facial hair, questionable dress sense and random video backgrounds…)
And, if you want my most up to date stuff, then you can get live group coaching with me each month, focused on transforming your mind, body, soul, time, money and love life from the Inside-Out… by joining The Ocean here – it’s like the Netflix of personal growth.
Runners Up…
Finally, here are some ‘runners up’ that are worth noting for future Islamic knowledge exploration – although I don’t think they’re running any special online courses during Ramadan (that I’m aware of).
- Imam Zaid Shakir
Imam Zaid is one of my personal favourite Imams because of the simple but profound distinctions he often makes and his down-to-earth, loving energy. He was the spiritual advisor to Muhammad Ali & his family & lead his funeral prayers.
On his website, New Islamic Directions, there is a wealth of video, audio and carefully written articles that can fill you up with goodness. And, he has an excellent lecture series on Deen Stream called “The Ocean of The Opening”, which is a very detailed & deep tafsir (exegesis) of Surah al-Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran.
Check out Imam Zaid Shakir’s website here.
- Imam Suhaib Webb – SWISS
This is a brilliant project and I wish more awesome Imams would set themselves up this way. It’s a small monthly investment to access a growing library of Islamic courses. It’s a similar model to The Ocean, except that our main focus is sharing the life-changing Inside-Out Paradigm with a Muslim audience, and Imam Suhaib focuses on a cool, contemporary take on classical Islamic knowledge.
I think it stands for the “Suhaib Webb Institute of Sacred Sciences”
- Deen Stream
This is one of the richest, most valuable resources on the planet for online Islamic education. It contains high-quality recordings of content taught at the “Rihla” intensive courses held by the Zaytuna Institute, based in California, lead by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.
I consider the courses on Aqida (theology), Fiqh (law) & Tasawwuf (spirituality) to be essential for every English speaking Muslim (it is literally a personal obligation on every Muslim to learn this knowledge). A lot of the gems of my book, “Inside the Soul of Islam” were nuggets I picked up from the Rihla in Samsun, Turkey 2016.
The theology class by Sh Faraz Khan contains at least 3 brilliant arguments for the existence of God that I never came across in A-level philosophy.
- IIDR – Journey Through the Quran & other Quran Tafsir Courses
This year has been a great one for IIDR – they’ve had over 12,000 people register for their flagship Ramadan course “Journey Through the Quran”. Some of the content for main Quran For Busy People course actually came from conversations I had with the teacher of this course, Shaykh Sharif Banna.
The idea is that in a couple of intensive weekends, this course gives you an overview of every surah of the Quran, with insightful comments from the instructor along the way.
Enjoy our Ramadan Recommendations – and keep in mind that there’s enough content here to fill you up all year round if you watch one video a day… so don’t try and eat the whole buffet in one sitting!