Islamic Studies is an elective for school candidates and for private candidates. WAEC Ghana lists the subject as Islamic Religious Studies. Students often shorten that name to Islamic Studies. You sit it only if your school entered you for it. The syllabus says it may not be taken with Christian Religious Studies or with West African Traditional Religion. WAEC sets the paper. Glearn Technologies writes this guide. Glearn does not set the paper, and glearn does not publish a pass rate. Anna marks WASSCE Islamic Studies. Kevin marks BECE Religious and Moral Education.
How the papers are set
WAEC sets Islamic Religious Studies as two papers, taken at one sitting. The timetable for your series names every paper and gives the time. This page does not copy those times or the marks, because a later file can change them. If the question paper in your hall is arranged differently, follow the question paper.
Paper 1 is the objective paper. You answer all of it. The items are drawn from the four parts of the syllabus.
Paper 2 is the essay paper. One question is compulsory. You also answer further questions from the choice. This page does not copy how many essays are printed, or how many of the optional ones to take. Read the front of the paper. Leave neither the compulsory question nor the required choices blank.
The syllabus has four parts. Tarikh is the historical development of Islam. The Qur'an is the scripture. Hadith is the record of what the Prophet said and did, alongside the Sunnah. Tawhid and Fiqh are theology and the practice of the law. The paper is built from all four. An essay from only the part you prefer has not answered the paper.
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What to revise
These are the four parts the objective paper and the essay paper are built from. A part is not a promise that every story appears on your paper. If the file your school gives you names a different passage, follow the file.
1. Tarikh
Arabia before Islam: social life, worship of idols, how the clans were ruled, and how people earned a living. Then the reforms Islam brought. The life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): birth, marriage, the call, the Hijrah, the community at Madinah, the battles of Badr, Uhud and Khandaq, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the conquest of Makkah, and the Farewell Pilgrimage. Know the cause, the course and the lesson of each event. The four rightly guided caliphs are Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali: who each was, and what each contributed. Islam in West Africa: traders, teachers, reformers and the pilgrimage, and what changed in Ghana, Mali, Songhai and Kanem Borno.
2. The Qur'an
How the revelation began, including the first revelation, and how the book was recorded, compiled and given one standard form. Chapters revealed in Makkah and chapters revealed in Madinah are not the same set. The syllabus calls them Makki and Madani. For each set chapter, know the meaning and one lesson. Al Fatihah is the opening prayer. Al Ikhlas teaches that Allah is one, needs nothing, does not beget and was not begotten, and has no equal. Al Falaq and An Nas ask for protection. Also learn Ad Duha, At Tin, Al Alaq, Al Qadr, Al Kafirun and An Nasr the same way. Moral teaching includes duty to parents, honesty, and what is forbidden, such as gambling. A verse number you cannot defend should stay off the page.
3. Hadith
A hadith is a report of what the Prophet said or did. The Sunnah is his practice. They are close, and they are not the same word. Isnad is the chain of narrators, Matn is the text, and Rawi is a narrator. Sahih is sound, Hasan is good, and Daif is weak. The six sound collections are linked with Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasai and Ibn Majah. Learn the set hadith in your file well enough to give the meaning and the lesson. Glearn does not publish that list.
4. Tawhid and Fiqh
Tawhid is the oneness of Allah. Worship is directed to Allah alone. The articles of faith are Allah, the angels, the books, the messengers, the Last Day, and the decree. The pillars of Islam are the declaration of faith, prayer, zakat, fasting and the pilgrimage. Know what each pillar asks of a person. The syllabus also asks how this oneness differs from the Christian teaching of the Trinity. State the Islamic teaching clearly. Do not mock another faith. Christian Religious Studies is a different paper. Apply a ruling only when you can say which teaching it comes from.
WASSCE syllabusPast questions with answersBECE Religious and Moral Education past questionsThe nature of GodMoral valuesReligious festivalsWASSCE Christian Religious Studies past questionsWASSCE Islamic Studies past questionsThe life of the ProphetThe rightly guided caliphsThe Qur'anHadith and the SunnahTawhid and worshipBECE Religious and Moral Education tipsWASSCE Christian Religious Studies tips
How to answer
The command in the question decides the shape of the answer. A retelling of a whole life is not yet an answer.
1. Name the point first
The first sentence should meet the question. If it asks for the lesson of Hudaybiyyah, say the lesson, then the event. A story that starts at the birth has not yet answered.
2. One event, then what it shows
Give the cause and what happened, then the lesson. Two events that do different work are stronger than a long retelling of one year. Name the person so the marker can see which story you mean.
3. Meaning, then lesson
For a chapter or a hadith, give the meaning in your own words, then one lesson. Arabic you cannot translate, or a number you are not sure of, should stay out. A right meaning in clear English can score.
4. Do the compulsory essay first
Paper 2 has a compulsory question. Answer it before the choices. A blank compulsory question is a missing score, even when the other essays are strong.
5. Keep the four parts in view
The paper draws on history, the Qur'an, Hadith, and worship. Revise the part you find hardest early enough that it is not the one you leave blank. Label the question you are answering.
6. Keep the English clear
A true idea in unclear sentences is hard to reward. Short sentences, one point each, let the marker see the work. Do not answer an Islamic Studies question with a Christian story.
How to revise
Read the passages, then write. A week of notes about themes, with no essay, leaves the written paper cold.
1. Rotate the four parts
One session for an event in the life of the Prophet or a caliph, one for a chapter and its lesson, one for a hadith, one for a pillar of worship. Inside each session, write the point before you look at a note.
2. Close the book and write the point again
After you know an answer, close it and produce the points from memory. Recognition is not the same as writing the point under a clock.
3. Write one full essay a week
Use a different part each time, include the compulsory style of question, and have it marked. Anna marks WASSCE Islamic Studies on glearn. Kevin marks BECE Religious and Moral Education. Practise with Kevin and Anna on glearn.now. The first questions need no account.
4. Keep a card for each event
For Badr, Uhud, Khandaq and Hudaybiyyah, write the cause, what happened, and the lesson. Hudaybiyyah is a treaty, not a battle. If you cannot say which is which, you are not ready for that question.
5. Keep Islamic Studies inside the wider plan
The revision plan orders the weeks across every subject you sit. Religious and Moral Education at BECE is a different paper, and so is Christian Religious Studies. This page does not copy a date.
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Mistakes chief examiners keep returning to
WAEC chief examiners write a report after a sitting. This page describes the habits in general. It does not quote a report, and it does not give a figure.
1. A whole life where one event was asked
The biography told from the birth does not answer a question about the Hijrah, one battle, or the Farewell Pilgrimage. Meet the question in the first sentence.
2. Swapped events and people
Badr is not Uhud. Hudaybiyyah is a treaty, not a battle. Abu Bakr is not Uthman. A lesson hung on the wrong person or the wrong event loses the point.
3. A verse or a hadith number you cannot defend
A meaning in your own words can score. A chapter, a verse or a hadith number you are not sure of can make a right point look wrong. Leave the number out.
4. Hadith and Sunnah treated as one word
Say what each word means, and how they relate. The chain, the text and the narrator are different parts of a report. Sound, good and weak are different judgements.
5. Makki and Madani swapped
Chapters revealed in Makkah and chapters revealed in Madinah are not interchangeable. If you are not sure which set a chapter belongs to, do not guess the label.
6. Leaving the compulsory essay blank
The instruction names a compulsory question and further choices. Essays from only the part you like, with the compulsory question empty, have not answered the paper.
Keep these open while you revise
WASSCE practiceWASSCE syllabusPast questions with answersBECE Religious and Moral Education past questionsThe nature of GodMoral valuesReligious festivalsWASSCE Christian Religious Studies past questionsWASSCE Islamic Studies past questionsThe life of the ProphetThe rightly guided caliphsThe Qur'anHadith and the SunnahTawhid and worshipBECE Religious and Moral Education tipsWASSCE Christian Religious Studies tipsWASSCE revision planHow to pass the WASSCEWASSCE exam tipsWASSCE ICT tipsWASSCE timetableWASSCE grade calculatorWASSCE for private candidatesCreate a free accountWAEC Ghana WASSCE for schoolsWAEC Ghana timetableWAEC GhanaWAEC Ghana chief examiners report
Start practising on glearn.now with Kevin and Anna