The standard the Quran deserves.
Tahfiz Education Board of North America
TEBNA sets and upholds the professional standard for Tahfiz education across North America — certifying instructors, recognizing institutions, and ensuring that those who carry the Quran are taught by those who are truly qualified to teach it.
Certify Instructors
Professional certification for Tahfiz educators who meet rigorous standards of qualification, pedagogy, and practice.
Recognize Institutions
Recognition for Tahfiz programs and schools that deliver education worthy of the Book they teach.
Set the Standard
A shared professional framework for what excellent Tahfiz instruction looks like — across all of North America.
Across North America, thousands of students are enrolled in Tahfiz programs — yet there is no shared standard for what qualifies an instructor to teach Tahfiz, no independent benchmark for what a rigorous program must deliver, and no portable credential that families and institutions can rely upon. TEBNA was founded to fill that void.
Established under the umbrella of IDEAL Foundation — the Islamic Dialogue, Education, Advocacy & Leadership Foundation — TEBNA is the first professional standards body in North America dedicated exclusively to Tahfiz education.
TEBNA does not compete with Tahfiz programs or instructors. It exists to serve them — by giving them the professional recognition their sacred work deserves, and by giving families the confidence they need when choosing where to learn the Book of Allah.
TEBNA's certification framework is not borrowed from secular models — it emerges from within the Islamic scholarly tradition itself.
TEBNA's credential framework is built upon the Kholwadian Paradigm — a scholarly framework rooted in Islamic epistemology developed by Shaykh Amin Kholwadia at Darul Qasim. The paradigm's application to the levels of Quranic recitation was developed in collaboration with Hafiz Noman Zaheer.
TEBNA has adopted and adapted this framework as the intellectual and epistemological foundation for its three-tier instructor certification and institutional recognition system — ensuring its standards emerge from within the Islamic scholarly tradition.
Shaykh Amin Kholwadia
Developer of the Kholwadian Paradigm
A scholarly framework rooted in Islamic epistemology establishing levels of learning obligation in Islamic education.
Darul Qasim · ChicagoHafiz Noman Zaheer
Collaborator — Quranic recitation application
Collaborated with Shaykh Amin in developing the application of the paradigm to levels of Quranic recitation — forming the pedagogical backbone of the TEBNA certification tiers.
Darul Qasim · ChicagoAdopted & Adapted
Applied to North American Tahfiz education
TEBNA honors the scholarly origin of this framework and extends its application across the full North American Tahfiz education context.
TEBNA · North Americaal-Ḍarūriyāt
The Necessities
CCTI–F · Foundational
al-Wājibāt
The Obligations
CCTI–A · Advanced
al-Taḥsiniyyāt
The Excellences
CCTI–M · Master
Built on the Kholwadian Paradigm — as applied to Quranic recitation by Shaykh Amin Kholwadia and Hafiz Noman Zaheer at Darul Qasim.
TEBNA Certified Tahfiz Instructor — Foundational
al-Ḍarūriyāt · The Necessities Level
TEBNA Certified Tahfiz Instructor — Advanced
al-Wājibāt · The Obligations Level
TEBNA Certified Tahfiz Instructor — Master
al-Taḥsiniyyāt · The Excellence Level
TEBNA recognition signals to families and communities that a program has been independently reviewed against a rigorous professional standard.
TEBNA Recognized Program — Standard
STANDARD RECOGNITION
TEBNA Recognized Program — Distinguished
DISTINGUISHED RECOGNITION
TEBNA is being built by educators, scholars, and community leaders dedicated to elevating Tahfiz education across North America.
Haroon Ahmed
Founder & President
Founder of TEBNA under the umbrella of IDEAL Foundation — the Islamic Dialogue, Education, Advocacy & Leadership Foundation. Committed to building the institutional infrastructure that North American Tahfiz education has long needed.
Mujtaba Mohiuddin
Founding Board Member
Founding board member bringing deep expertise and commitment to the mission of professionalizing Tahfiz education across North America.
Ubaid Shaikh
Founding Board Member
Founding board member whose judgment and experience will help shape the direction and standards of the organization.
TEBNA serves three groups. Tahfiz instructors who want a portable, recognized professional credential. Tahfiz programs and institutions that want independent recognition of their standards. And families and communities who need a trusted way to identify qualified instructors and rigorous programs.
An ijazah certifies personal mastery and spiritual transmission — that a person has memorized and recited the Quran to a qualified teacher with a connected chain to the Prophet ﷺ. TEBNA certification is a professional credential certifying someone is qualified to teach Tahfiz to others — covering pedagogy, methodology, student management, and instructional standards. They are complementary. Holding an ijazah is a prerequisite for the highest TEBNA tier (CCTI–M).
TEBNA is currently in its founding stage — building its governing structure, Academic Council, and certification framework. Founding community members will be the first to know when the certification process officially opens and will receive priority access. Sign up below to stay informed.
TEBNA is grounded in mainstream Sunni Islam — Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamā'ah — and its standards are built upon the classical Islamic scholarly tradition via the Kholwadian Paradigm developed at Darul Qasim. TEBNA welcomes instructors and institutions from across the diverse landscape of North American Muslim communities and does not favor any particular madhab or regional tradition.
No. TEBNA is a professional credentialing body — not a government regulator. TEBNA certification and program recognition operate alongside any applicable state, provincial, or local requirements. They signal professional excellence within the field of Islamic education, the way board certification in medicine signals expertise beyond a basic license.
TEBNA operates under the fiscal sponsorship of IDEAL Foundation. It is governed by a Board of Directors and an Academic Council of qualified scholars and master instructors who set and review its standards through a shura-based process — ensuring they reflect the breadth of expertise in the North American Tahfiz community.
Join the Founding Community
TEBNA is in its founding stage. If you are a Tahfiz educator, program director, or institution leader — we want to hear from you.
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