Summer Youth Courses
Readings that reach them. Conversations that cultivate them. Skills that stay with them.
The Ḥikmah Center’s approach to reading and discussion is ideally suited to ignite the minds of young people with the love of learning. Our youth seminars (all our seminars, in fact) are not lectures in which students drag themselves through the reading, memorize online summaries to pass a quiz, then passively listen to the monotonous drone of a teacher. Instead, student read a curated list of enriching, engaging, and enlivening texts; they engage in a guided discussion of the ideas in those texts; and (for some courses) write short reflections on the reading and discussion.
It starts with the reading. The Ḥikmah Center youth courses center on readings that are meant to engage the minds of young people: adventure stories, allegories, history (the exciting kind), and reflective writing. The number of pages per week differs from course to course, so students can sign up according to their preference. After reading at home, students attend seminar, which begin with the instructor asking the group an open-ended question inspired by the reading. From there, participants converse among themselves (with the instructor’s guidance), sharing their thoughts about the reading and the opening question. This combination of reading and discussion with peers teaches students to read carefully, speak clearly, and listen attentively. The instructor’s guidance ensures that the conversation stays within reasonable limits. And lastly, short, written reflections after each seminar give students an opportunity to evaluate themselves and the ideas they discussed.
The Ḥikmah Center’s summer semester is 10 weeks long and begins on Sunday, June 14, 2026
Courses are designed for young men ages 13 to 16. Qualified youth may join regular courses here.
Registration is now open!
Summer 2026 Youth Courses
The Ḥikmah Center is excited to announce the following courses in the summer of 2026 for male students ages 12 - 16.
Summer Reading Program
(10 weeks, once per week, in person)
Summer Reading Intensive
(10 weeks, twice per week, online)
Summer 2026
Youth Course Descriptions
Summer Reading Program
Course Reading Commitment: ~ 25-35 pages per week
Course Format: Online
Course Dates and Times: June 15 - August 17, 2026
Mondays, 6:00pm - 8:30pm Central (with a 20-minute break)
Seminar on the Bible
The Bible is a book that billions believe in, and that billions don’t read; a book that sparks violence, and that puts an end to it; a book that inspires faith, and that challenges it. The Bible is also many books, written by different authors, at different times, and in different places. But whether we see it as one book or many, it remains important, and those who read it carefully are likely to understand better than most the roots of today’s philosophical temperaments, whether those are based upon the adoption or the rejection of the Bible’s message(s).
This course brings students into contact with the Bible through a reading of key sections from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Unlike a lecture, this seminar invites students to explore the message of the Bible on its own terms through open discussion. As a seminar, each session begins with an opening question from the instructor, after which students freely discuss the text, question it, and are questioned by it. The instructor guides the discussion by asking open-ended questions, and the group collectively comes to a deeper appreciation of the text.
Course Reading Commitment: ~20-50 pages per week
Course Format: In Person
Course Dates and Times: June 14 - August 16, 2026
Sundays, 6:00pm - 8:30pm Central (with a 20-minute break)
Important Information
Tuition
The Ḥikmah Center has a no-questions-asked-pay-what-you-can-reasonably-afford option this semester. Simply select this option during registration. Otherwise, standard tuition costs are:
First course: $450
Second course: $350
Third course: $250
Tuition is due in three parts: one third before the first class, another third before the third class, and another third before the fifth class.
Refunds: Students can drop a course at any time for a prorated refund.
Arabic Prerequisite
There are no Arabic prerequisites for the 2026 summer semester.
Other Information
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The Ḥikmah Center has two, 14-week semesters in Fall and Spring, and a 10-week semester in Summer.
As a general rule, students are encouraged to bring physical copies of the course texts and take notes with pen and paper. Group orders of the physical texts is a possibility.
Online office hours for the summer of 2016 are offered by-appointment.
Students may enroll in as many or as few courses as they please.
In order to ensure that class discussions are private and candid, no class sessions are recorded by the instructor or students.
Ḥikmah Center offerings are for brothers only.
In-person classes are held near IANT in Richardson, TX. Details are provided for those who register.
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About
Jonah Rudolph is a philosopher and lifelong learner whose intellectual interests center on philosophy, logic, theology, and classical literature. His passion is helping people think well by asking them questions that challenge them to better understand their own thoughts. He has experience tutoring Arabic grammar, translation, and textual analysis through works like the Mawqif al-ʿAql of Musṭafā Ṣabrī and the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn, as well as tutoring students reading Plato’s dialogues. He began the Ḥikmah Center in August, 2025, and he is currently its only instructor.
Education
Jonah graduated from the Bayyinah Dream program, a one-year Classical Arabic intensive, in 2016. He then received his ijāzah in the Islamic Sciences from the Qalam Seminary, completing the ʿĀlimīyah program in 2020. He earned a BA degree in liberal arts and Islamic studies from Zaytuna College in 2024. During and after the completion of his formal education, he has placed himself under the tutelage of ʿAlāʿ al-Dīn al-Kāsānī (d. 587/1191), Plato (d. 347 BCE), Aristotle (d. 322 BCE), Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111), and many others.
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In many ways, the Ḥikmah Center is an experiment in purposeful cultural craftsmanship. Each sphere of life has its own culture—the home, the school, the workplace, the coffeeshop. The Ḥikmah Center likewise has a unique culture. Discussants at the Ḥikmah center greet each other with, “What have you been reading recently?” rather than “Did you watch the game last night?” They speak about ideas rather than people or current events. And they seek to understand each other’s interior lives through reflection and compassion.
The Ḥikmah Center uses the title “brother” for all participants, including the instructor. This is because dialectic requires all ideas to be subject to the same level of examination. Ideas receive no special treatment because they happen to be the instructor’s. In order to represent this equality, titles like ustādh, shaykh, muftī, and doctor are not used, and all simply refer to each other as “brother.” This also serves to highlight the view that intellectual and moral excellence are not handed down from teacher to student but developed through the hard work of the student.
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Attending courses at the Ḥikmah Center is more like attending a martial arts class than a movie. The movie-goer reclines and relaxes as the stimulus of the cinema washes over his senses. When courses are like movies, they become performances that students passively enjoy. In contrast, no student of martial arts expects to learn simply by watching the instructor perform the maneuvers. After a demonstration, students must get up, move, grapple, and eventually compete. The Ḥikmah Center’s pedagogy invariably focuses on student participation. Students spend as much time (preferably more time) speaking, conversing, and answering questions as they do listening to the instructor.
The martial arts analogy also applies to the Ḥikmah Center’s view on credentials and certification. The skill of a martial artist comes not from his belt but from his long years of training, for which the belt is only an approximate sign. In addition, no martial artist believes that he has completed his training, that he can relax, and that he will never lose his skill through lack of practice. Martial arts require consistent training. Likewise, the Ḥikmah Center offers no final certification; there is no “end” to the intellectual journey. Ḥikmah Center discussants continue to come and converse, sharpen their dialectical and philosophical fluency, and enjoy the company of the Ḥikmah Center’s intellectual community.
Lastly, the pedagogy of the Ḥikmah Center also resembles that of martial arts insofar as the martial artist’s worth is determined by his own skill. A pedigree of masters back to the founder of the art proves nothing if someone is a punching bag in the ring. Similarly, the Ḥikmah Center does not assign importance to scholastic pedigrees or religious chains of transmission in the absence of intellectual expertise and moral excellence as shown through dialectic and philosophical living.
The martial arts analogy does not apply, very importantly, when it comes to the spirit of competition. Only one fighter comes out of the ring a winner. Dialectic, on the other hand, is not about proving oneself better than anyone else. And philosophy, the third pillar, demands humility and eschews arrogance. The Ḥikmah Center is an inherently cooperative intellectual community.
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In order to avoid untethered institutional growth, protect the small and intimate spirit of the Ḥikmah Center, and preserve the quality of education, the Ḥikmah Center observes the following limitations.
Class sizes are limited to no more than 10 students.
The Ḥikmah Center is to have no fundraising dinners, widespread advertising, or social media presence.
The Ḥikmah Center is to provide no certification, diploma, or other qualification which may threaten students’ sincere intention to better themselves or which may, by its public recognition, undermine the instructor’s duty to educate his students.
The Ḥikmah Center is to bestow no titles, such as ustādh, shaykh, or muftī, which serve to communicate one’s learning to others but which may become ends in themselves and undermine dialectic by creating authority.