I’ve completed around one year of the course, and the entire learning experience has been eye-opening and it has substantially expanded my understanding and appreciation for the our scholars and the tradition behind it. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I’ve learned more about traditional Hadith sciences in this one year than I had over several years accessing books without dedicated mentorship within this niche.

Some things I’ve managed to come away with:

- appreciating nuance and the diversity of approaches with respect to the tradition, particularly differences between the muhadithoon and the fuqaha, and the usoolioon. Likewise the different approaches of figures like Malik/Abu Hanifah and their respective schools.
- different perspectives amongst the muhadithoon themselves on various technical issues.
- A much better understanding on the natural development of transmission, and how it’s grounded historically (beyond just theologically).
- The interplay of this science and it’s fruits with other branches of knowledge (Usool Al-fiqh, fiqh, Aqeedah, Tarikh, etc)
- A more subtle understanding of even the books I had thought I was already familiar with. Though to date we’ve only diverged from the syllabus on a few days to go over some examples of Bukhari’s Sahih, reading with fresh eyes has made it as if I were reading for the first time.

There was also a focus on application that gave us the opportunity to research a variety of topics, and the hands on guided element was especially conducive to my personal growth.

As the course gave us an introduction to various different branches within the science of Hadith, we also gained a high level appreciation for all the different cogs that make up the whole. Many topics that I went into without a genuine interest in advance that I’ve also grown to appreciate.

All to say, I would strongly recommend the course for anyone interested in their growth and development in the field.