Islamic Studies Level 1

Dr. Mansur Ahmad is an American Muslim author, radiologist, and professor at the University of Minnesota, and one of the co-founders of Weekend Learning Publishers — the Minnesota-based publisher of the widely adopted Weekend Learning Islamic Studies series for North American weekend Islamic schools. He has been recognized for his contributions to academic medicine with the University of Minnesota's Professor of the Year award, alongside his sustained work in Islamic educational publishing.

In partnership with co-author Husain A. Nuri, Ahmad has developed the Weekend Learning Islamic Studies curriculum from kindergarten through advanced levels, building one of the most structured and complete graded Islamic Studies programs available in English. The series is distinguished by its grade-appropriate lesson design, clear grounding in the Qur'an and authentic Sunna, and careful attention to the developmental needs of children growing up Muslim in North America. Beyond the core curriculum, he has co-authored Juz' 'Amma for School Students, Life of Rasulullah, and a substantial series of workbooks and teacher guides that have become standard companions in mosques and Islamic schools.

Ahmad's distinctive contribution combines the rigor of his academic medical training with the practical concerns of a Muslim parent and teacher building durable educational resources for the next generation. Weekend Learning materials are now stocked across North American Islamic bookstores and used by weekend schools, homeschool families, and Sunday-school programs from coast to coast.

Husain A. Nuri is an Indian-American Muslim author and one of the co-founders of Weekend Learning Publishers, the Minnesota-based Islamic education publishing house responsible for the Weekend Learning Islamic Studies series — one of the most widely adopted graded Islamic Studies curricula in North American weekend Islamic schools. Raised in a devout Sunni family in India, he settled in the United States and partnered with Mansur Ahmad to develop a structured Islamic Studies program designed specifically for the weekly two- or three-hour weekend-school setting that defines Islamic education for the majority of American Muslim children.

Nuri's published output, primarily co-authored with Mansur Ahmad, spans the full Weekend Learning Islamic Studies series from kindergarten through level eleven, alongside companion volumes including Juz' 'Amma for School Students, Life of Rasulullah (in two volumes covering the Meccan and Madinan periods), and a growing series of supplementary readers, workbooks, and teacher resources. His writing is characterized by careful grade-level calibration, structured lesson sequencing, accessible Sunni presentation grounded in the Qur'an and authentic hadith, and thoughtful integration of historical, ethical, and creedal content suited to the lived contexts of American Muslim families.

The Weekend Learning series has become a default curriculum choice for a substantial portion of weekend Islamic schools across the United States and Canada, and continues to expand with new editions and supplementary materials. Nuri's contribution to the infrastructure of American Muslim children's religious education — now stretching across multiple grades and over a decade and a half of continuous publishing — has been one of the quietly important achievements of contemporary North American Islamic publishing.