Character and Ethics
Adab (Etiquette)
Adab is the graceful art of living with awareness, intention, and beauty in every action. While akhlaq speaks to the internal compass of character, adab expresses that character through manners, habits, and interactions that reflect respect: toward Allah, people, places, time, and even the self.
Adab is the graceful art of living with awareness, intention, and beauty in every action. While akhlaq speaks to the internal compass of character, adab expresses that character through manners, habits, and interactions that reflect respect: toward Allah, people, places, time, and even the self.
In this course, students will explore how adab shapes everything: how we eat and speak, how we enter homes and leave rooms, how we interact with elders and children, how we approach learning, prayer, the Qur’an, technology, disagreement, and more. Each lesson revives forgotten gems from the Sunnah and Islamic tradition that elevate not only the believer’s behavior, but their soul.
This course doesn’t teach etiquette for formality: it teaches adab as a form of humility, refinement, and worship. It’s not just about “how to act”: it’s about “how to be.”
Outline: the course plan comes from our founder's curriculum, and lessons are being written and reviewed. Module, unit, and lesson titles appear here once scholars have reviewed a level.
Levels
Level 1: The Essence of Adab in Islam
Outline only
Before we learn how to behave with others, we must first understand what adab truly means. In Islam, adab is more than “manners”: it is the way we express faith through our presence, our actions, and our interactions.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned.
Level 2: Adab With Allah and His Messenger ﷺ
Outline only
At the heart of adab is reverence, and the highest form of reverence is reserved for Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. Before we learn how to behave with people, we must first learn how to orient our entire being toward our Creator: with awe, humility, love, and submission.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned. 1 unit is held for review.
Level 3: Adab With the Qur’an, Worship, and Sacred Spaces
Outline only
The heart of a believer connects to the Qur’an, prayer, and the sacred spaces where worship happens. But these acts are not just rituals: they are meetings with the Divine, and adab is what prepares us for those meetings.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned.
Level 4: Adab in Speech, Behavior, and Personal Habits
Outline only
Our daily behavior reveals what’s in our hearts. The way we speak, walk, sit, eat, and dress tells the world what kind of person we are, and whether we carry ourselves with adab.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned.
Level 5: Adab in the Home and With Family
Outline only
Home is the first place where our adab is truly tested, and where it matters most. It’s easy to be polite in public, but our real character is reflected in how we treat our parents, siblings, children, spouses, and relatives behind closed doors.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned.
Level 6: Adab in Social and Community Life
Outline only
Our manners don’t stop at the front door: adab extends into society. Whether interacting with neighbors, classmates, coworkers, strangers, or guests, Islam teaches that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, kindness, and consideration.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned.
Level 7: Adab in Seeking Knowledge and Learning
Outline only
In Islam, knowledge is not just information: it is light. And to receive this light, the heart must be prepared with adab.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned.
Level 8: Adab in Conflict, Disagreement, and Emotions
Outline only Offered as an elective in the upper grades
One of the greatest tests of character is not how we behave when things are easy, but how we respond when we’re angry, hurt, or challenged.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned. 1 unit is held for review.
Level 9: Adab in the Modern World and Online Spaces
Outline only Offered as an elective in the upper grades
The digital world has transformed how we communicate, learn, and express ourselves, but it has also introduced new challenges to etiquette.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned.
Level 10: Adab as a Way of Life: Walking With Grace
Outline only Offered as an elective in the upper grades
True adab is not about isolated manners: it’s a state of being. By now, students have explored etiquette in worship, speech, relationships, digital spaces, learning, leadership, and emotional life.
6 modules, 30 units, 90 lesson titles planned. 1 unit is held for review.