Introduction
Australia’s mosque maktab and Islamic education landscape is richer, more varied, and more geographically distributed than any national overview can fully convey. Behind the headline figures — 813,000 Muslims, 40+ ISAA member schools, 100+ mosques — lies a network of specific institutions, each with its own history, tradition, teaching approach, and community. This directory documents named Islamic education centres and maktabs across Australia, drawing on direct research into each institution’s programmes, to give Muslim families a ground-level view of what actually exists.
New South Wales — Sydney
Masjid Qubaa — Mount Druitt (Western Sydney)
Qubaa Association of Western Sydney Incorporated
19 Sunblest Crescent, Mount Druitt NSW 2770
Contact: info@masjidqubaa.org.au | +61 2 9832 0287
Masjid Qubaa is one of the most educationally comprehensive mosque institutions in Australia, offering a full suite of Islamic education programmes across multiple levels. Under the guidance of Dr Shabbir Ahmed — who has dedicated more than 32 years to serving the Western Sydney Muslim community — the Qubaa madrasah offers:
Children’s Quran Programmes:
- Quran Recitation (Nazirah and Part-Time Hifdh) — structured Quran reading classes with a part-time memorisation pathway
- Full-Time Quran Memorisation — a dedicated full-time Hifdh programme for students committed to complete Quran memorisation
- Sunday Quran Class — weekend option for students unable to attend weekday sessions
- Saturday Quran Class — a second weekend option
Advanced Islamic Studies Courses:
- One-Year Tajwid Course — intensive focus on Quran recitation science
- One-Year Shari’ah Course — introductory Islamic jurisprudence
- Two-Year Arabic Course — structured Quranic Arabic grammar and reading
- Six-Year Shari’ah Course — a full Alimiyyah-track programme; one of only a handful of institutions in Australia offering such a programme to adults
Dr Shabbir Ahmed’s 32-year commitment represents the founding-generation Islamic leadership that built Western Sydney’s Muslim institutional infrastructure. The organisation is an ACNC-registered charity.
Notable: Masjid Qubaa runs moonsighting services for the Western Sydney community and broader Australia, and operates a community Quran library.
Daar Aisha College — Condell Park (Western Sydney)
Australian Islamic Educational Institute
131 Eldridge Road, Condell Park NSW 2200
Phone: 0420 902 928 | info@daaraisha.org
Daar Aisha College bills itself as “Australia’s Leading Islamic Educational Institute for Women” — and with 2026 registrations open citing 11,000+ registrations since founding in 2003 and students from 90+ nationalities, it has genuine claim to the title. Located in Condell Park and offering both onsite and online classes, Daar Aisha’s full 2026 programme includes:
Core Islamic Sciences:
- Shariah Course — the flagship multi-year curriculum in Islamic sciences
- Extended Course — a longer immersive Islamic studies programme
- Seerah: The Biography of the Beloved — dedicated Prophetic biography studies (multiple modules, currently covering both Makkah and Madinah periods)
- Islamic History: The Khilafah of Imam Ali and Imam al-Hasan
Quranic Studies:
- IQRA Quran College for Children (2026 open registration)
- IQRA Quran College for Women (2026 open registration)
- Part-Time Tahfiz Program — Quran memorisation pathway for women
- Introduction to Arabic (2026) and Arabic Language Level 2
Short Courses and Specialist Offerings:
- Islam for Beginners (for converts and newcomers to Islam)
- Junior Shariah Course (for Muslim youth)
- The Fiqh of Zakaat al-Maal and Zakaat al-Fitr (one-day intensive)
- The Lawful and Unlawful in Islam
- Journey to Allah / Journey of Self-Discovery (Islamic spirituality courses)
The institute relocated its premises in 2026 to 131 Eldridge Road, Condell Park. Recordings of all online classes are available for students unable to attend live.
Victoria — Melbourne
Darul Hikmah Australia — Fawkner, Melbourne
Address: 56 Tyson Street, Fawkner VIC 3060
Contact: info@darulhikmah.org.au
Darul Hikmah Australia is one of the most systematically organised maktab organisations in Melbourne, operating multiple makātib (the plural of maktab) across different Melbourne suburbs. Its institutional approach — publishing an explicit maktab curriculum, maintaining a formal withdrawal form, running structured makātib — makes it a model for maktab governance.
Maktab Locations:
- Fawkner Maktab (56 Tyson Street, Fawkner) — after-school maktab classes, with a major Fawkner expansion premises fundraising campaign active in 2026
- Craigieburn Maktab — after-school maktab classes serving Melbourne’s northern growth corridor
Maktab Curriculum: Two tracks are offered in each maktab:
Quran Recitation: Students begin with Qaidah Nooraniyah, progress to Tajweed and Juz Amma (30th Juz with optional memorisation), and complete with full Nazirah (complete Quran reading).
Islamic Studies: Currently using the An-Nasihah Islamic Studies Syllabus (UK-developed), combined with the Ta’limi Board KZN South Africa for Dua and Hadith memorisation. (Previously used the Tasheel Series from South Africa for Akhlaaq, Fiqh, Aqeedah, and History — a switch between South African and UK curriculum frameworks that illustrates the genuine diversity of Islamic studies curriculum options available to Australian maktabs.)
Additional Children’s Programmes:
- Hifdh Course for Girls (onsite, full-time girls’ Hifdh programme)
- Part-Time Hifdh (for students unable to commit to full-time Hifdh)
- Saturday Islamic Classes (onsite and online)
- Holiday Maktab Classes (during school holiday periods)
- Weekly Youth Program (from 2 February 2026)
Adult and Family Programmes:
- Complete Tafsir of the Holy Quran for Sisters in Urdu (onsite and online)
- Weekly Hadith Classes for Sisters (Urdu)
- Weekly Dars of Tafsir (Urdu, for brothers)
- Weekly Tafsir in English (from 2025)
- Fundamentals of Din (brothers and sisters, taught separately)
Madrasa Fatima Azzahra (MFA Institute) — Fawkner, Melbourne
Address: 43 Elizabeth Street, Fawkner VIC 3060
Contact: info@mfa-institute.org
Madrasa Fatima Azzahra occupies a unique and historically significant position in Australian Islamic education. It is a women’s-only Deobandi Alimah programme in Melbourne — Australia’s only institution of this type — and its founding lineage traces directly to Pakistan’s Madrasa Ayesha Siddiqua (Karachi) through the late Ustadha Sajida Abid Faruqi.
Founding significance: Ustadha Sajida, the granddaughter of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, was the first person in Pakistan during the late 1980s to build a streamlined system for females mastering Arabic language alongside the main Islamic sciences. She completed her Islamic studies under Shaykh Abdur-Rashid Nu’mani and Shaykh Muhammad Anwar Badakhshani, and specialised in Islamic jurisprudence and ifta’ under Mufti Taqi Usmani. MFA was her final project, initiated a few weeks before her passing in early 2021.
The institute notes that a total of 96 female Alimahs have graduated locally in Australia through the Deobandi methodology as of 2025, all trained either directly by Ustadha Sajida’s students or by their students in turn — a lineage that is explicitly tracked and maintained.
Current Programmes:
Alimah Programme — Six-year full-time intensive programme authorising in the Sacred Sciences. Location: 43 Elizabeth St, Fawkner. Monday–Friday, 8:00am–12:45pm. Led by three Alimahs, each formally trained in Islamic jurisprudence and ifta’. This is Australia’s most formally structured women’s higher Islamic education programme.
Fadila Programme — Two-year full-time Islamic Studies programme. Monday–Friday, 9:00am–12:00pm.
Weekly Tafsir Halaqa — Free weekly Quranic study circle in Urdu, Thursdays 1:00–2:50pm.
Noble Park Islamic Cultural Centre (NPICC) — Noble Park, Melbourne
NPICC — Osmaniye Madrasah
53 Vanderlin Dr, Noble Park VIC (Vanderlin Drive appears from NT but this is the Victoria listing)
Contact: +61422374200
The Noble Park Islamic Cultural Centre, established in 1995, operates the Osmaniye Madrasah offering children’s Quran and Islamic studies classes structured around the school calendar. Classes cover: Quran reading (Iqra), Makharijul Huroof (Arabic letter articulation), Quran and Fiqh combined. Classes operate in school terms (Term 2 and Term 3 published schedule). This is a community-run centre combining religious services (marriage, Shahada, Hajj and Umrah support, Qurban) with Islamic education.
Queensland — Brisbane
Darul Uloom Islamic Academy — Brisbane
Australian Islamic Educational Trust (AIET)
Contact: via darululoom.com.au
Founded in 1994, Darul Uloom Islamic Academy of Brisbane was established by Imam Quddoos, who observed the need to provide Islamic education for the influx of children arriving in Australia from different parts of the world. It was one of the first madrasahs to teach Quran and Islamic studies in Brisbane and has educated generations of students who are now in university, employed, and in some cases returning to teach the next generation.
Programme:
- The madrasah operates on Saturdays throughout the year (except Ramadan)
- Three quarters per year, each 3–4 months duration
- Saturday sessions from 10am to 1pm
- Session structure: Quran recitation, Islamic Studies, Du’a and Surah memorisation, 15-minute tea break
- All teachers are volunteers from the Darul Uloom family
Key events: An annual Quran Competition, at which all students receive certificates of appreciation (trophies for winners), and an Open Day to promote student achievements and welcome new families.
The Darul Uloom Islamic Academy is under the Australian Islamic Educational Trust (AIET), ACNC-registered charity.
Iqra Academy Australia — Slacks Creek (Southeast Brisbane)
Venue: Slacks Creek Masjid, 16 Queens Road, Slacks Creek QLD
Contact: 0431 201 164 (Sheikh Akram Buksh)
Iqra Academy Australia, led by Sheikh Akram Buksh — who brings over 20 years of experience teaching Quran — offers after-school madrasah from Monday to Thursday, 4:30pm to 6:30pm, for students from Prep to Grade 12. Subjects taught include Akhlaq wal Adaab, Islamic History, Fiqh, Tajweed, and Du’as.
The academy also offers a Hafidh of Quran Program under Sheikh Akram’s direct supervision, Adult Quran Classes (males taught by Sheikh Akram, females by a qualified female teacher), and a student sponsorship programme (Sadaqatul Jariyah to sponsor a student’s Hifdh or madrasah education). Youth programmes cover workshops on domestic violence, mental health, and parenting.
Western Australia — Perth
Al-Hidayah Islamic School — Bentley, Perth
Cnr Hedley St and Nyamup Way, Bentley WA 6102
P: 08 9351 8593 | info@islamicschool.com.au
Al-Hidayah Islamic School (website: islamicschool.com.au) is a state-registered independent Islamic school in Western Australia, operating from Kindergarten through Year 6 at its Bentley campus. The school operates Monday–Thursday 8:25am–3:30pm, with Friday finishing at 2:00pm.
Al-Hidayah’s vision statement: providing students with the “best possible foundation by way of exemplary example and relevant Islamically oriented education to the highest possible standards, so that they can make their way in the world as confident, contributing Muslims.” The Islamic nature of the school explicitly takes precedence over all other considerations under its charter.
Curriculum approach: Al-Hidayah offers play-based learning (Kindergarten to Year 2) and inquiry-based personalised learning (Years 3–6) within an Islamic ethos. The school has a Governance Hub published on its website — a transparency mechanism allowing parents and community to access governance documents. School fees are payable online, and parents use the Compass parent portal for day-to-day communication and progress tracking — Compass is a major Australian school management platform, confirming that al-Hidayah uses professional digital school management infrastructure.
Ar-Rukun Mosque — Rockingham, WA
4 Attwood Way, Rockingham WA 6168
Imam Iqbal: 0432 594 092 | imam@ar-rukunmosque.org.au
Ar-Rukun Mosque in Rockingham (Perth’s southern coastal suburb) runs an Ar-Rukun Madrasah (ARM) Quran and Tahfiz programme:
- Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, 5:30pm–7:00pm
- Following the Western Australia school term calendar
- Students aged 7–17, must be able to read Quran, committed and eager to learn
- Entry subject to assessment
- Imam Iqbal is the contact for enrolments
The Rockingham mosque serves a Muslim community in a Perth suburb with a smaller Muslim concentration than northern and eastern Perth — representing the provision of maktab/Tahfiz education even in geographically distributed communities.
Islamic Centre of Western Australia (ICWA) — Maylands and Queens Park
Head Branch: 238 Guildford Road, Maylands WA 6051
Perth Ummah Centre: 36 Whitlock Road, Queens Park WA 6107
Imam: Sh Saleh Ibrahim | imam@icentrewa.com.au
Established in 1994, the Islamic Centre of WA is building Perth’s first multi-purpose Islamic centre. Current educational offerings include weekly Islamic and Quran classes for adults and children, a Saturday Quran Class, and a Dar al-Huda programme — serving Perth’s Muslim community from two locations. A major fundraising campaign, “Build Your Centre,” including a 2026 “Ramadan on the Road” national tour, seeks to establish a permanent multi-purpose centre for Perth’s Muslim community.
Northern Territory — Darwin
Islamic Society of Darwin (ISOD) — Darwin
53 Vanderlin Drive, Darwin NT 0810
Contact: info@isod.com.au | +61422374200
The Islamic Society of Darwin operates a madrasah serving Darwin’s Muslim community — one of the most geographically isolated Islamic education provisions in Australia. The madrasah started in February 2019 and operates every Saturday from 9:45am to 1pm, catering for Pre-school to Year 12 students.
ISOD’s madrasah places explicit emphasis on intercultural integration: its stated aim is that “teachers and students belonging to different cultures and traditions come together in a developed intercultural communication pattern.” This framing reflects Darwin’s uniquely diverse Muslim community — drawing from Southeast Asian, South Asian, and African backgrounds in a remote tropical city far from the major eastern seaboard Muslim population centres.
Subjects: Quran with Tajweed, Du’as, Salah, Islamic Studies. Enrolments always open; enrolment via QR code form on site.
