Suffah Learning Institute

Who we are:
Suffah Learning Institute is a ‘boys only’ Muslim school located in Crosby, Johannesburg. The school is registered with the Department of Education and has been in existence for over 10 years now.
The current state of our Muslim children is deteriorating; therefore the Sunnah of our Beloved Nabi (SAW) needs to be implemented. In order to facilitate this we have opened a boys learning institute in Crosby, which offers both Islamic & Secular Education. This will enable our sons to achieve the highest standards in both fields and at the same time nurture them into an Islamic environment.
Suffah Learning Institute was established in October 2007 with the aim of fulfilling this envisaged need. We at Suffah are committed to the promotion of the Islamic, academic, spiritual, moral, physical and social development of all its learners through a broad and balanced curriculum founded relentlessly on the Quraan and Sunnah. We are determined to develop our learner’s talents and capabilities and to prepare them to meet the challenges of a changing world, with a sound Islamic background.

Significance of our school name:
Symbolism:
Suffah Learning Institute is named after the ‘Ashaabus Suffah’.
Suffah means ‘platform’ in Arabic. Attached to and immediately outside the masjid Nabawi, there was a sheltered platform where those sahaba(RA) who had migrated from Makka and had no means of earning a livelihood nor any home or family, used to stay.
These Sahaba who lived on the Suffah where called the Ashaabus Suffah.
Today this platform still exists inside Masjid Nabawi.

About the Ashaabus Suffah:
Nabi(SAW) and Allah Ta’ala had great love for these sahaba. Nabi (SAW) would spend a great amount of time in their company and Nabi (SAW) would not leave their company until they got up and left. Nabi (SAW) use to treat them with great respect. He would spend a lot of time teaching them the deen and instilling in them the love for the aakirah.
Nabi (SAW) told them that they would enter jannat 500 years before the wealthy people.
Allah Ta’ala has revealed many ayaat of the Quraan, referring to these pious sahaba.
The Ashaabus Suffah were extremely poor, at times while standing behind Nabi (SAW) they would collapse, due to extreme hunger. They use to survive by trying to make ends meet in various ways. Whenever sadaqa used to come to Rasullullah (SAW), he would send it all to the Ashaabus Suffah without taking any of it. The sahaba living in Medina used to also take special care of them.
Just as the Ashaabus Suffah did not have sufficient food, they also did not have enough clothing to wear. Hadrat Abu Hurairah (RA) says: ‘I saw seventy Ashaabus Suffah and none of them had a sheet or blanket (large enough to cover his whole body). They use to wear cloth made from wool which is called ‘Suf’ in Arabic. They are therefore referred to as Sufis.