New MAPI Course: "Islam's 5 Practices and 6 Beliefs", Aug.31-Oct.19 with Al Fadi

We are happy to introduce the 2nd of our Ten MAPI courses beginning in a few days! This course is entitled IS502[26] "The Deen (5 Practices) and Iman (6 Beliefs)", which will be taught by our Saudi Arabian professor, Al Fadi, every Monday evening, from 8:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. (EST) beginning on Monday, August 31 and continuing until October 19, 2026. This is our second course Al Fadi will unpack each of the 5 Practices in Islam and the 6 Beliefs, helping us understand these two areas of theology and doctrine from a Muslim perspective (Al Fadi used to be a Muslim himself), and then show us how to respond to each of them as Christians. Note: this course is for Christians only. Why? Because it is being taught at the Veritas International University (VIU), which is an academic seminary belonging to the Calvary Chapel Denomination. If you would like to take this course, just e-mail our registrar "Eliott Davis" at: edavis@ves.edu Beginning on Monday the 31st of August (starting at 8:00 p.m. - EST) Al Fadi will lecture for 8 weeks, with each lecture followed by a 'live' Q&A between students and Al Fadi (with help from Dr Smith and Dr Janosik) on the material introduced that week. Al Fadi has promised that he will be "live" so that you as the students can have "live" and personal access to him. Often the Q&A time following the lectures can go for another hour or two, but only those who are 'live' will be able to participate in those Q&A sessions. Since all of our teaching is by Zoom Webinar, those of you who have registered can watch the lectures from the comfort of your own home, anywhere in the world, or at any time, as every lecture will be recorded and the URL of the lecture, along with the accompanying PowerPoints, and the PDFs will be sent to you by Dr Smith the next day (usually Tuesdays) by a Mailchimp email. As we have in the past, we are offering this course for 3 categories of students: 1) FULL-TIME MASTER'S OR DOCTORAL DEGREE STUDENTS: The first category are those students who want to take this course for a Master's or a Doctorate academic credit. This is a 3-credit course, so the fee for each credit is $330, coupled with administration costs makes the total for the whole course around $1,500 (depending on whether you are a returning or a new student). For these full-time students, the full course itself continues for 15 weeks, stretching from August 31, 2026 until December 11, 2026 (though there are only 8 weeks of lecture). This will give you ample time to read and then write logs on the books required for the course, participate in the discussions, write your Research papers, and write your final 'open book' exam. 2) AUDIT STUDENTS: The second category are those students who want to simply audit the course. The fee for the entire 8-week course is $340. An Audit student will not have any assignments, but will have access to the Populi site where the discussions and assignments are found (like the Full-time academic students), and will be able to listen to the lectures and will be sent the Power-points and PDFs to download. 3) PERSONAL ENRICHMENT STUDENTS: The third category are those students who simply want to take this course for their 'Personal Enrichment'. Their fee for the 8-week course is only $240. Unlike the Full-time students or the Audit students, they will not have access to the Populi Internet platform, but they will still have "live access" to all of the lectures, and they will be sent the Power-points and PDFs to download and use in their own ministries. To underline the distinctions, while all of the students in all 3 categories will have access to all of the lectures, the Power-points and the PDFs for the entire 8-week course, the full-time Academic (as well as the Audit students) will also have admission to the Populi Internet Platform to participate in the ongoing weekly discussions, and will have access to the reading lists and assignments, though the full-time students will be the only ones required to fulfill them. If you are interested in any of these 3 levels, simply e-mail the registrar 'Eliott Davis' at: edavis@ves.edu But hurry, as the first lecture begins on Monday, August 31, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (US). LECTURE TOPICS: Week 1: An Overview of the whole course Week 2: The 'Shahada' (Statement of Faith), and the 'Salaat' (Prayers) Week 3: The 'Sawm' (Fast), and the 'Zakaat' (Tithe) Week 4: The 'Hajj' (Pilgrimage), and the doctrine of 'Allah' Week 5: The The doctrines of 'Nabi/Rasul' (Prophethood), and Revelation ('Qur'an') Week 6: The Islamic View of Angels ('Malayka') Week 7: The doctrine of Predestination ('Asim Alaqkar'), and final judgement ('Qiyama') Week 8: A Final overview of the 5 practices and 6 beliefs © Pfander Centre for Apologetics & Polemics - US, August 19, 2026 (136,500)