THE NAJAF HAWZA AND POST-SISTANI SCENARIOS 35 AD. Education at the Hawza gradually began to recover. Official statistics are unavailable, leaving only conjecture, but what we observe now is that there are more than 15,000 students from different nationalities, with a majority of Iraqis. The educational approach preserves old academic traditions but is affected by the information revolution, the Internet, and modern teaching methods. Curriculum and disciplines There is no structured plan establishing specific objectives for studies at the Hawza that can be used to divide academic specializations and distribute subject matter. What does exist is a“custom,” agreed upon by everyone, that the ultimate purpose of studying is that the student will become fully and systematically qualified to understand Islamic law. He will be intellectually independent in extracting rules from the primary sources of Islamic law, namely the Quran, the Sunnah, and the teachings of the Shi‘ite imams. This ability is called ijtihad, and one who reaches this stage is considered a mujtahid, i.e., a jurist with the right to issue fatwas, the Shari‘a-based answers to questions posed by observant Muslims. In other words, academics at the Hawza are oriented toward specialization in Islamic law. This orientation drives the entire educational process and dedicates it to achieving this specialization. Other specializations are pursued through personal reading and study by special agreement between a student and a teacher. Studies at religious hawzas are divided into three main phases: Phase 1: Preliminaries This phase is the student’s initial preparation. He receives basic lessons in the rules of Arabic grammar, Arabic rhetoric, logic, tenets of belief, exegesis, jurisprudence, the principles of jurisprudence, comprehension of hadith, and biography of hadith transmitters. Finally, these lessons are augmented with philosophy, the history of Islamic legislation, and the history of Islamic sects. In this phase, students study the following books: Grammar: The Ājurrūmīyya by Ibn Ajurrum al-Sanhadji(d. 723 AH/ 1323 AD); Qaṭr al-Nadā by Ibn Hisham al-Ansari(d. 761 AH/ 1360 AD); Ibn Aqil al­Aqili’s(d. 769 AH/ 1367-8 AD) commentary on the Alfiyya of Ibn Malik(d. 672 AH/ 1274 AD); Ibn al-Nazim Badr al-Din ibn Muhammad ibn Malik’s(d. 686 AH/ 1287-8 AD) commentary on the Alfiyaa; Awḍaḥ al-Masālik‘ilā Alfīyyat Ibn Mālik by Ibn Hisham al-Ansari; and Mughnī al-Labīb‘an Kutub al- A‘arīb, also by Ibn Hisham al-Ansari.