The Center for Islamic Education
The Center for Islamic Education (CIE) is a volunteer-run non-profit organization that provides educational services for children
and adults, holds prayers, seminars and religious celebrations, and promotes interfaith dialog and food-drive charitable functions.
Services are offered to students and families of diverse backgrounds (regardless of race, religion or ethnic origin),
thereby fostering growth and development within the community at large.
Islamic Weekend School (IWS) Mission
The mission of the CIE is to provide Islamic education and awareness in the Washington, DC
metropolitan area through its Islamic Weekend School (“IWS”) division.
IWS has a long standing history in the area, having served the Washington, DC community for over 30 years.
IWS is presently operated by a multicultural body of volunteer parents, who perform the
faculty and administration functions. General instruction is given in English (and Arabic, where pertinent) by a highly
motivated team of professional instructors and volunteers, some of whom are graduates of this same program several
years earlier. The School operates on two semesters and a summer break, following the same schedule as the
Montgomery County Public School System. Classes are held on Sundays from 9:30 AM to 1:15 PM. Zuhr Prayers
are then held in a group setting that includes children and parents, from 1:15 PM to 1:30 PM or 12:15 PM to 12:30 PM)
The mission of IWS is to educate American Muslims so that they develop into strong individuals who are
proud of, and confident in, their religion. We hope to achieve this goal by providing our students with a strong
background in the Seera and the Sunnah that they can draw from as adults when situations arise in their lives. IWS
students learn to read and write Arabic, memorize portions of the Quran and attend religious studies classes. In
addition, the older students (high school age) attend seminar type classes, where current issues are raised and
discussed in the context of the Seera and Sunnah.
