Bismillah, alhamdulillah : In the name of God, with gratitude and praise for Him
There are opportunities to listen to study Islam in Jeddah, but these are not as abundant as in other cities in the country and few well advertised opportunities exist in English. I have tried to list what I am aware of sources and places to learn in English and Arabic primarily. I have briefly touched upon Urdu. Where possible I have tried to clarify the location of places.
English
The Jeddah Dawah Centre runs various basic courses on Islam geared towards beginners or people who have recently entered Islam. Courses are offered in a variety of languages. Contact the centre for further details, but don't be surprised if you need to make a personal visit to speak to someone. Public events are also organised by the JDC and they invite speakers from around the world. An example of one such lecture was by Yusuf Estes in Jeddah.
There is one regularly held English language Islamic lesson in a mosque that sits within the Saudi Airlines compound. The imam of the mosque is known an Imam Maliki. Access to the mosque requires a good knowledge of where it lies and will require you to submit your id at the entrance to the compound which is very large. The lesson involves the translation of the Friday khutbah (sermon) and then lunch is provided. A number of English speaking Muslims from all over Jeddah tend to gather for this weekly event. There are facilities for ladies at the mosque.
There is a radio programme that comes on in the afternoon and offers an easy paced commentary on various Islamic issues. It happens at around early afternoon on the FM dial.
Study circles behind closed doors are held in English, but it is likely that they do not have strictly official permission hence are not publicly advertised and you will need the word of mouth or a contact to find out what is being held where. It would be reasonable to conclude it to say the authorities are very well aware of most of these activities and tolerate them as long as they do not cross any political lines and do not attract Saudi nationals.
Islamic books in English are stocked in Jareer and Tihama bookstores. Different stores have a different collection of books some better than others. In general the overall number of books available in Jeddah compared to the West is much lower, a fairly strict censorship limits the number of books available here. Though there is plenty of reading material to keep someone busy for quite a long time. Usually most books published by Dar us-Salaam publishers are available. One other place where you can get books is Aziziyyah, they also have videos and CDs of various lectures. Books in Urdu may be found here as well.
Other languages such as Urdu are catered for in mosques which lie in the South of Jeddah, they offer translations of khutbahs from Arabic into Urdu after Friday prayers. I have managed to locate on such mosque in the Bani Malik area, I think it's name was Masjid Bilal.
Arabic
If you know Arabic then there is a much greater access to Islamic study opportunities. Lectures are usually held in major mosques on a regular weekly basis. This is more likely to be the case in lower socio-economic southern parts of Jeddah than the more plush northern suburbs but opportunities do occur everywhere.
All large mosque will have a tahfeez (Quran memorisation) programme for students, it usually runs from Asr to Maghrib and children and adults are welcome. Usually they require enrollment at the beginning of the semester or year. Some mosques have got a very good reputation, one such is Masjid Shuaybee.
Facilities for ladies are better, and morning schools to learn various Islamic sciences are available. These are run by charitable colleges which run fee paying courses and have a regime of tests to work out whether or not you are promoted to the next level. They tend to have a beginners level but do not offer to teach any Arabic. If you have not learned Arabic you may attend the lessons to try and soak up the atmosphere and the language using an immersion technique. This is known as مستمع mustami' or listener status.
One such ladies institute is المعهد العلمي العالي لإعداد معلمات القرآن والسنة The Higher Knowledge Preparatory College lady teachers of the Quran and Sunnah. It holds a charitable endowment status for the late mother of Ameer Namir ibn Abdul Aziz. It lies on Aisha Umm Al Muminin Street, this is off Hamad Al Jaser Street which in turn is off Sari Street. The co-co-ordinates are Latitude: N 21.576652° and Longitude: E 39.156498°. If you enter via Hamad Al Jaser Street, it is a right turn when coming from Sari Street. On the corner is a mosque called Ikhlaas. The college is on the right and not very well marked. Opening times are from early morning and classes start at 8 am till 12.30 pm. Lessons cost 3000 SAR per year. You can register for distance lessons as well at their website. Another link is here. Lessons taught here cover all the basic Islamic sciences: tafseer, hadith, usool al-fiqh and others. The entry requirement is payment of the fee, permission from the ladies guardian (father or husband), valid legal status in the country (i.e. iqamah) and secondary certificate of education.
Similar institutes exist for men but usually have times that are not convenient to working men. I have not come across any night classes that are conveniently located within main town Jeddah. I have heard of a men's institute on the way to Makkah.
The radio offers a very useful station called إذاعة القرآن Radio Quran, here is a link on the top right for this station. Here is another link. The station has an almost daily Q&A Fatwa programme via telephone. People phone from all around the country and questions are not censored but are probably pre-filtered and are live. There are also discussion programmes on current affairs and commentaries on classical books and programmes charting the current modern day history of Muslims is various parts of the world. It can be caught easily on FM and AM.
Books in Arabic are widely available in Jareer and Tihama, the more specialist books will have to be hunted for at more specialist outlets. There is a lecture circuit by the more famous scholars in the kingdom and they attend various mosques, but tend not to frequent Jeddah as much as they do other cities. These are advertised on notice boards in most mosques. Some of them have websites and transmit the lectures live and store them for later retrieval on their websites. Following are some commonly found websites on posters:
- www.thnyanmsq.com: website of the Thanyaan Masjid in Jeddah, Google map location of mosque.
- www.jkb-1.com (for the Khadijah Baghlaf Mosque in Jeddah near here)
- www.almoslim.net carries live lectures from around the country
- www.liveislam.net carries live lectures from many cities.
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