Assalamu Alaikum,

All the brothers who have been accepted from the US should send their mailing info and phone numbers to madinah.students@gmail.com

This is for these new students only, we will try to make any info pertinent to others available here on the blog.

May Allah grant all of you success in this world and the next.

Bismillahi ar-rahman ar-raheem

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu.

The following is the list of accepted students for the coming school year at the university. They were released approximately two days ago, we apologize for the delay in posting them. Please note that the names have been translated from Arabic to English so they may not be spelled correctly.

1) Ahmed Blue
2) Faris Latifi Al-Magthob
3) Yahya Abdul Latif Al-Babadi
4) Christopher John Pierce
5) Dawud Ibrahim Darmi
6) Ahmad Hasasana
7) Khalid Farooq
8 ) Sufyan Danson
9) Benjamin Saud Al-Ajasi

If you are one of these students we would like to first of ask Allah that he grants you sincerity in studying Islam and that he makes you from those who the path to Paradise is made easy for.

Secondly, we will be sending you informational packets containing useful info, insha Allah.

Thirdly, please contact us so we can assist you in any other things which may assist you in studying. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact us through our e-mail madinah.students@gmail.com.

And Allah is the granter of success

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

AssalamuAlaikum Wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuhu,

Here is a link to the application for the University. If anyone has questions regarding filling it out feel free to send them. Please be patient with us in answering as our time is limited, especially with exams coming up. May Allah bless you and yours.

madinahstudents.wordpress.com

http://www.iu.edu.sa/admissionform.doc

The official website is

http://www.iu.edu.sa

Ma Salaamah

     Assalamu Alaikum

     We would like to note that the purpose of this blog is primarily for people from America concerned about studying or currently studying here in the Islamic University.

     This is for several reasons:

1) We do not have specific knowledge of people in other countries or what they have to do in order to apply to the university.

   It is hoped that the information contained in our blog will help those from other countries to get a basic understanding of what applying to the University entails.

2) We are students and our time is extremely limited. We cannot,  therefore, put in the time needed to answer all the requests we recieve on a daily basis.

     For this reason we apologize in advance that we cannot answer requests pertaining to countries other than the U.S.

     We hope you understand, and encourage anyone interested to take from this site that which is beneficial to people who are interested in the Islamic Universtiy.

 May Allah bless you and yours,

Sincerely   

      madinahstudents.wordpress.com

Asalaamu alaikum

This is the blog / information site for the American students studying at the Islamic University in Madinah. This site is also for Americans who are interested in obtaining information about studying here in Madinah.

Herein, insha Allah, you will find important an/or useful information pertaining to students and those Americans who wish to apply to the Islamic University.

May Allah keep us firm upon His deen. Ameen

Financial Assistance
There are contributors who help out students, regardless of their legal status, in paying for a bulk of their child birth costs.

You must have these documents:
1) Copy of the tableegh wilada (Birth Certificate);

2) Originals of all of your receipts;

3) Copy of your Iqama
Note: They pay up to 2000 riyals of your costs or half of your costs

Free Monthly Food

The items that a student usually receives monthly are the following:

1) Rice

2) Sugar

3) Tomato  Paste

4) Cooking Oil

5) Spaghetti noodles

6) Tea

7) flour

Can goods

You have to apply for this at the start of every  month. The location is on Ouun Road going towards the Haraj. Make the first U-turn on your left hand side (i.e. like you are going back to the Prophet’s Masjid You go down a 1/2 mile and you should see a yellow sign called ibn Kaid (in arabic). Make a right and go down 1/4 mile and you should see it on your left hand side
You must have the following documents:

• Copy of your iqama

• Copy of your wife’s passport

• Marriage certificate

  How to get my child’s passport? (Family members who have legal residence)
1) You must get a receipt from the hospital that your wife gave birth.

2) After you receive this document you must go to Ahwal alWatani to obtain

     your child’s birth certificate.

You will need to bring the following documents:

• Copy of your passport

• Copy of your wife’s passport. (Note: showing her face) I argued for 3 hours asking “Why they must see my wife’s face?” yet they did nothing until I showed a copy showing her face.

• Copy of your marriage certificate (translated into Arabic)

• 75S.R penalty charge if you turn in this paper work a month after the child’s birth.

• Copy of your iqama

Note: It takes approximately 1 week to receive this document.

3) You must have your birth certificate translated (typed) either at the University (3^rd  

    floor in the “Qabool wa Tasjeel” Acceptance building) or any other certified translating agency.

After this you must write a request to the assistant dean of student affairs (3^rd floor last room on the left) to allow you to get your passport. He will then direct you on the same floor to get your request signed and typed out. After this you must go to the next building to the Dean of Travel and get it signed. Once you do this you must go to your (mandoob: representative of your college) with another student to be responsible in getting your passport. The student that comes with you must turn in his iqama.
Then you will go with your family to the American Consulate in Jeddah (located on Palestine Road by the beach) with the following documents:

• Your passport and your wife’s passport

• (2) 2×2  pictures  of the child with a white background

• Typed translation of the birth Certificate/with the Arabic birth certificate

• Original marriage license

• 560 S.R

Note: The more documents you have proving that you are an American the better. Your wife and child must be present with you at the Consulate.

However, the process is much lengthier for those who do not have their family here on legal status and differs from person to person.

As-salaamu alaikum

We would like to inform the brothers the rules for the mailbox so there isn’t any confusion or misunderstanding about these rules in the future.

1) The box is only for student from the United States. This was the advice that the workers at the Post office gave us because of security reasons. In recent times 3 students had been kicked out of the University because mail was sent to their mail boxes that were from students outside of their nationality. We will give those who use our mailbox until the 1st of Rabi Awal/ March 19th, 2007 to change their P.O. Box numbers

2) The students who do not pay or who are not from America will have their mail taken out of the mail box starting the same date mentioned above

3) Everyone who uses the mail box is asked to pay 10 riyals a year and 5 riyals for a key.We hope all of the students will respect these rules.

In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

Islamic University of Madinah Student Guide
(always a work in progress!)

All Praises are due to Allah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil or our own souls and from the consequences of our evil actions. Whomever Allah guides no one can misguide him, and whomever Allah allows to go astray no one can guide him. We testify that there is no god who has the right to be worshipped other than Allah and He has no partners, and we testify that Muhammad (May Allah’s Peace and Blessing Be Upon Him) is His slave and His messenger.

“O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared and die not except as Muslims” [Aal-`Imraan 102].

“O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord who created you from a single person, and from him he created his mate, and from them both he created many men and women and fear Allah through whom you demand your mutual rights, and do not cut the relations of kinship. Surely Allah is ever an All-Watcher over you.” [An-Nisaa’:1]

“O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allah and fear him, and speak the truth so he will direct you to righteous good deeds and will forgive you of your sins and whoever obeys Allah and his Messenger has indeed achieved a great achievement.” [Al-Ahzaab 70-71].

To proceed: The best speech is the book of Allah and the best guidance is that of our Prophet Muhammad (May Allah’s Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) and the worst affair is that which is newly introduced into this Deen. And every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is leading astray and every leading astray is in the fire.

Allah, through His enormous bounties, has granted you the great blessing of being one of the few Muslims from America with the opportunity to study here at the Islamic University of Madinah. You should reflect upon many of the ahaadeeth about the path of seeking knowledge, its rewards, and its trials. The first area upon which you should reflect is your intention for seeking knowledge, and being certain that it is only to seek Allah’s Face. As stated in a Prophet tradition narrated by `Umar (May Allah Be Pleased With Him) that he heard the Messenger of Allah (May Allah’s Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) saying:

“Surely, all actions are but driven by intentions and, verily, every man shall have but that which he intended…” (Narrated by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim).

We ask Allah not to make us of those who receive the punishment of the one who seeks knowledge for other than Allah, as the mentioned in the following Prophetic tradition:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, he heard the Messenger of Allah (May Allah’s Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) saying, “… And the person who sought knowledge and taught it and recited the Qur’an. He will be brought (before Allah) and his bounties will be made known to him and he will recognize his bounties. (Allah) will say, “What have you done with these (bounties)?” He will say, “I have sought knowledge and I have taught it and recited the Qur’an for you (seeking your reward)”. (Allah) will say, “You have lied. You only sought knowledge so it would be said, ‘He is a scholar,’ and you recited the Qur’an so it would be said, ‘He is a skilled reader.’ Then, it will be ordered that he be dragged on his face until he is thrown to the fire… – (Narrated by Muslim).

Ask Allah to make your intentions solely for His sake and for nothing else. Abu Hurayrah narrated that he heard the Prophet (May Allah’s Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) saying, “The worldly life is cursed and everything in it except for the remembrance of Allah and what is connected to it (i.e. working for halal means, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil…), and the scholar and the student of knowledge .” (Narrated by At-Tirmithi and Sahih Jaami` of Shaykh Al-Albaani.

May Allah reward you with paradise for taking this path as the Prophet (May Allah’s Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) said, “If a person follows a path for acquiring knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the passage to paradise” (Narrated by Muslim).

To aid you in your travel and stay here in Madinah we decided to write down for you some planning and travel tips for your benefit and for making the process go smoother.

What do I do to prepare before I come

A) Processing your Visa – Contact the embassy and cultural attaché by finding out the deadlines for turning in your paperwork. It is an extremely important point to bring notarized copies. It is a condition now that your paperwork is translated into Arabic before you arrive. Make at least 3 copies of all your documents including your passport and marriage certificate if you are married. Deal with them directly if you live near the embassy in Washington, D.C so the process can go smoother. Allah knows best.

It cannot be stressed enough: Please be patient! The workers at the embassy or cultural attaché may give you a hard time. This is just something that you have to deal with.

Note: New students have three months from the time the visa is issued until it expires to enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is important, especially for the married brothers who may want to stay home longer to save more money.

B) Scheduling Your Flight – By this time you should have your ticket and visa. Make sure you pay attention to the itinerary of your flight. The university will sometimes schedule your flight from your city to LaGuardia or Newark, and you have to catch a bus to JFK International Airport (The bus fee is about $12). This is because there might not be any flights going to JFK from your city that will give you enough time to catch the flight to Saudi Arabia. You need to be in JFK about 5 hours before departure. Also, make sure that you have an ample amount of time (about 4 hours) to catch your flight from Jeddah and then to Madinah. You may have to wait in line and go through immigration for about two hours. This will depend on the number of people being processed through immigration and customs. It may be better to catch the 9PM flight from Jeddah to Madinah (Note: Actual flight time may vary).

Even if the airlines agent tells you that you will catch the earlier flight don’t take the chance because it is a big hassle to change the ticket.

There will be bag carriers asking if you need help. If you decide to use them for help then expect to give them a tip in Saudi Riyals (about 5-10 riyals). If you need help go to the information desk, speak English (only) and they should try to help you.

You will look like a foreigner, so don’t be naïve and trust everyone. There may be people who may want to rip you off or trick you so pay attention. It is better to exchange your money when you arrive to Jeddah immediately at the banks or money exchangers in the airport. Keep a watchful eye upon your personal belongings.

C) Health Information – Bring any medications that you may require as they may not be accessible here. You can contact one of the brothers to check if your medication is available here (Contact information will be available at the end of this guide).

Bring plenty of Vitamins especially Vitamin E.

What do I bring to Madinah?

Bring at least $500-700 because you may not see your first monthly stipend for at least 2-3 months. (You receive 840 SR a month = $224.50US).

Bring an abundant amount of clothes [Ex. Plenty of underwear, lots of socks (although it is better not to bring white socks as they may get real dirty), undershirts, etc.]

Also, bring a sturdy pair of sandals to wear because you may not find suitable sandals if you wear a size 9 or above. Additionally, be sure to bring durable sneakers if you like to play basketball or workout (Recreational facilities are available in and outside the University; like a swimming pool, basketball court, soccer fields etc…)

Be advised that it gets quite cold and dry here in Madinah during the winter, so bring a medium size jacket, hoodies, skullies ,thermals, gloves, thick socks, lotions, chap stick or anything else that you feel that you might require in the winter. It gets extremely hot and dry so bring deodorant (Degree works the best here) or anything else you may require.

We advise you to go to the 99-cent stores and stack up on these items and items like batteries because they are expensive here in the Kingdom.

Bring about 15-20 passport size pictures with the negatives! You need to have pictures for most of your paperwork here in the kingdom. Towards the end of every year there is a big book fair so we advise you to save your money for this and for buying books in general throughout the year.

If you are coming alone (without your wife) it is best to buy a washer after a few days because the University does not have any washers for the students. A small washer can be bought for about 300SR ($80).

What do I do when I arrive to Madinah?

D) Your arrival- You should have a ride to the University because you would have already contacted one of the brothers (contact numbers on the last page) with your itinerary. In case you were not able to contact the brothers there are two other options: free transportation provided by the University or taxis (which should not cost more than 20 riyals i.e. 4 riders x 5 riyals). It is best to avoid the taxi if you do not have the money to pay them. Additionally, the Saudi Arabian Public Transportation Company (SAPTCO) provides 5SR rides from the airport to The Prophet’s Mosque. A taxi ride from the Prophet’s Mosque to the University (including the luggage) should be no more than 10SR.

Make sure that you have your acceptance form and passport handy with you because you will most likely be dropped off at the Committee for Welcoming Students (Inside Student Resident Building #1 and close to The Faculty of Islamic Jurisprudence). Note: The earlier you come, the better you room will be (in most cases). More detailed information of dorm rooms and University housing will be provided in the next section.

Note: You can make the decision on performing `Umrah before you come to Madinah (if you know someone in Jeddah or Mecca the trip to Mecca will be easier for you) or starting your school registration, which takes about a week or so to complete.

E) Conditions of the building– The dorm buildings are being renovated so you may get a nice building with 4 people to a room or you can get an older building with 6 to a room. In some instances, a considerable amount of patience is required in respect to the students’ interactions and dealing with their roommates. They, as well as you, may have different study habits and may be accustomed to different lifestyles at home, having never been required to care of themselves, or be responsible for their own livelihood. As well, keep in mind some people are coming from third world countries and may have different cultural habits from what you might be used to.

Do not let these differences, however extreme they may be, affect you because you have to remember everybody is human and makes mistakes.

Note: There are students of over 100 different nationalities studying at the University.

F) How do I register for school? We will try our best to arrange for the brothers to register for school with a student who is familiar with registration and/ or has a good command of the Arabic language as this will ease the registration process for all parties involved.

Keep in mind, you have thousands of students (from all walks of life) registering for school at one time so be patient, put your trust in Allah, and don’t let the Shaytaan corrupt your view of what you can really be a valuable learning experience. As well, keep in mind that registration can take up to two weeks to complete, so don’t feel a need to rush.

Note: If you desire to do this process on your own we can only say that we advised you to do otherwise and we are speaking from past experience!

_______________

Married Students

This section is focused upon brothers who want to have information on how to prepare to bring their families to Madinah (i.e. – Cost of an apartment, appliances, plane tickets/ what to bring from home, etc.).

1) What will be my annual cost of living?

Expenses – Depending on the size of the apartment and the location rent can cost between $2,500-3,500 a year. Most payments plans are in six month intervals but some owners may demand the year’s rent upfront.

It is important for you to know that you will be signing a contract for your apartment, so arrange to have someone with you who understands `Arabic and the fiqh of contracts so that you are not stuck in an unfair contract with invalid conditions. The following costs are mentioned in US dollars.

Note: The exchange rate from the US dollar to Saudi Riyals is $1= 3.75SR.

Estimated Costs of Appliances

Washing Machine: $150-200

Refrigerator: $270

Carpets: $200

Stove: $120 (Electric Stove – $250)
Note: LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool may be the best products in Saudi Arabia.
Note: These prices are for new appliances.

King size mattress: $125

Gas tank: $30 (If you decide to buy a gas stove)

Closets: $100-200 (depending on the size)

The electricity bill is fairly cheap, averaging between $25-30 a month. The phone bill can vary from $80-150 every two months depending on how often you use the internet (DSL is now available in most areas).

You have to pay $80 to activate the phone line.

Food bills vary from $100-200 a month depending on the size of the family.

There are times where you can find decent used appliance from students or at the flea market.

As well start thinking in Saudi Riyals and not US dollars because doing otherwise can lead to poor management of money, as you will receive your stipend in Saudi Riyals and not dollars.

The reason that the above information is in US dollars is to give you a rough idea how much you have to spend and save.

Plane tickets for Saudi Arabian Airlines can range from $800-1000 for adults and 75% of the same fare for children between the ages 2-12. Children 2 and under are 10% of the adult fare.

Note: Allah is Ar-Razzaaq (The Provider). He is the one who provides for all of us so please don’t let Shaytaan lead you to think that because you don’t have “enough money” it is better to leave your family in America than bringing them here to this blessed city.

Please inform the brothers if you are coming with your families so that prior arrangements can be made to house you and your family.

2) How do I find an apartment?

You have two main ways of finding and apartment here in Madinah. You can go to an apartment agent and he will direct you to apartments suiting your price range. If they find any apartment for you and you choose to take it, you have to pay them 500SR.

Another option is to have brothers look in their areas for vacant apartments or spreading the word around that you need an apartment.

3) Transportation in Madinah – Taxis are the main source of transportation in Madinah and most of the Kingdom. The average taxi ride is 5 riyals one-way. If you are interested in purchasing a vehicle you can buy a decent used car for about $3,000.

4) What do I do if my family gets sick?

A clinic is located on the University if you or a family member becomes ill. There are hospitals in Madinah where you can take them. You can get more information when you arrive. The average doctor visit is about 50 riyals. You can pay as much as 1200SR ($300) for your wife to deliver a baby.

Bring plenty of medications, especially medicine for children because they may be hard to find. Your wives should know what to bring because they know what is best for the children.

Allah knows best.

Contact: madinah.students AT gmail.com