Islamic Education 1 Teacher License Test Content: 5 Domains, 8 Standards and Weights
Content of the Islamic Education 1 teacher license test: the five domains and weights (fiqh and conduct 28%, creed 23%, Qur'an 21%), all 8 standards, and ETEC's question style.
- Questions and time
- 88 questions · 120 minutes
- Pass mark
- 50%
- Exam fee
- SAR 100 for the subject test
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Teacher License – Islamic Education 1
Start with 10 free questions to find what needs more work. No sign-up, with answer explanations.
Try 10 free questions and see your levelLast verified: 1 November 2026. The sources are the candidate guide for the Islamic Education 1 teacher license test and the Islamic Education 1 teacher standards, both published by the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) (1441 AH / 2020 edition; the guide is a trial edition and is the latest one). This guide is independent: it is not affiliated with ETEC, Qiyas (the National Center for Assessment), the Ministry of Education or any government body.
In short: the Islamic Education 1 test measures 8 standards in five domains. Fiqh and conduct is the largest at 28%, then creed 23%, the Qur'an and its sciences 21%, the Sunnah and its sciences 18%, and teaching the Islamic sciences 10%. It requires memorising the last tenth of the Qur'an, and its teaching questions are about primary-school pupils.
Islamic Education 1 and Islamic Education 2
ETEC offers two separate Islamic Education tests, each with its own guide and standards. Islamic Education 1 is for primary-stage teachers, and Islamic Education 2 is for intermediate and secondary teachers. This guide covers Islamic Education 1 only, so check before you register that the subject matches the stage you teach.
The content differs a lot: test 1 has no usul al-fiqh or legal maxims, no fiqh of transactions, family, inheritance or criminal law, no sects or currents of thought, and no Islamic culture. In exchange it requires memorising the last tenth and gives a whole standard to etiquette of eating and dress, adhkar and rights.
Test format
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 88 questions |
| Question type | Multiple choice with four options; each question measures one indicator of a standard |
| Duration | 120 minutes (two hours) |
| Format | Paper or computer depending on the subject, shown in your profile |
| Language | Arabic |
| Calculator | Not allowed |
| Scoring | Criterion-referenced; wrong answers carry no penalty |
| Score levels | 50 Practitioner Teacher, 70 Advanced Teacher, 80 and above Expert Teacher (Professional License Regulations, Article 4) |
The five domains and their weights
The weights come from the figure and the table on pages 6 and 7 of the guide.
| Domain | Official weight | Standards | Questions out of 88 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Qur'an and Its Sciences | 21% | 2 | 18 |
| The Sunnah and Its Sciences | 18% | 1 | 16 |
| Creed | 23% | 1 | 20 |
| Fiqh and Conduct | 28% | 2 | 25 |
| Teaching the Islamic Sciences | 10% | 2 | 9 |
| Total | 100% | 8 | 88 |
Each question measures one indicator, and the test does not have to cover every indicator. ETEC publishes the weight of each domain but not of each standard, so the weight of a single standard inside its domain is not known.
The 8 standards one by one
The standard names come from the standards document, and the "What it measures" column is our summary of their indicators. Standard numbers in the document are printed like this: 6-35-1 to 6-35-8.
The Qur'an and Its Sciences (21%)
| Standard | Name (summary) | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 6.35.1 | Reverence for the Qur'an, correct recitation, memorising the last tenth and applying tajwid | Memorising the last tenth (parts 28 to 30), reciting without clear or hidden errors with the etiquette of recitation, rules of noon sakinah, tanween, meem sakinah, doubled meem and noon and the silent laam, kinds of madd with their causes and lengths, articulation points and attributes of letters, isti'adhah and basmalah, Qur'anic orthography, vowel marks and stop signs, training pupils in tajwid and correcting recitation, and raising them on the rules of handling the mushaf |
| 6.35.2 | Word meanings, overall meaning of verses, surah themes, rulings and lessons, linked to pupils' lives | Explaining word meanings and drawing out rulings and lessons, the theme of a surah and its link to the surah's name, the overall meaning and the evidence for tawhid and the testimony of faith, Qur'anic stories linked to pupils' lives, training pupils to derive lessons, and using tafsir books, Qur'anic-sciences sources, and the related programs and apps |
The Sunnah and Its Sciences (18%)
| Standard | Name (summary) | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 6.35.3 | Authentic hadith on the Prophet's guidance in worship, character and dealings; meanings, rulings, lessons and narrators | The Prophet's lineage, upbringing, appearance and character and the main events of his life, the authority and status of the Sunnah, the Six Books and their compilers, the Companions who narrated the most hadith, hadith on worship with their rulings and lessons, explaining the wording of a hadith, following the Prophet's example in forbearance, mercy and tolerance, training pupils to grasp unfamiliar words and meanings, and using hadith and Sira sources |
Creed ('Aqidah) (23%)
| Standard | Name (summary) | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 6.35.4 | Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah, their sources and method; tawhid and its categories; the levels of the religion and their pillars | The concept and importance of creed, defining Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah and their sources of reception, proving knowledge of Allah by scriptural and cosmic evidence, Islam, iman and ihsan (with the four levels of qadar: knowledge, writing, will and creation), the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him), his distinctions and rights, the merit of the Prophet's wives, family and Companions, the categories of tawhid and how they relate, worship with its conditions and pillars, telling shirk, kufr and hypocrisy apart, answering atheism, presenting creed to pupils in a way that suits them, and raising them on the deeds of the heart, pride in their religion and avoiding what contradicts creed |
Fiqh and Conduct (28%)
| Standard | Name (summary) | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 6.35.5 | Key rulings of purification, prayer, zakat, fasting and hajj, and training pupils to perform them | Purification, wudu and what breaks it, the practices of fitrah, hadath and its types, impurities and removing them, the status and wisdom of prayer, zakat, fasting and Hajj, training pupils in wudu and prayer, tayammum and wiping over footwear, telling the conditions, pillars, obligatory acts, sunnahs, invalidators and disliked acts of prayer apart, Friday, Eid, rain, eclipse and funeral prayers, rulings on zakat, zakat al-fitr and voluntary charity, Ramadan and voluntary fasting, and the Prophet's Hajj and Umra and their rulings |
| 6.35.6 | Character, Islamic etiquette, daily adhkar and fulfilling rights, and raising pupils on them | Etiquette of eating and drinking and what is lawful or forbidden in them, the awra and its limits, hijab and its rulings, the criteria for lawful clothing and imitation, the Shari'a etiquette a Muslim needs with its evidence, conduct towards parents, relatives and Muslims at large and what undermines dignity, the rights of leaders, scholars and the Muslim public, memorising the daily morning and evening adhkar and their merit, and raising pupils on good etiquette and habits, modesty and decency |
Teaching the Islamic Sciences (10%)
| Standard | Name (summary) | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 6.35.7 | Applying modern approaches in teaching the Islamic sciences | Setting the main content and issues for each stage and writing them as objectives, modern teaching strategies (such as diagnostic teaching for the Qur'an and concept maps for fiqh) and varying them, predictable learning difficulties and how to treat them (such as dyslexia and teaching abstract concepts in tawhid), organising how pillars, obligatory acts and methods of worship are presented, training pupils in wudu, prayer and the Hajj rites, technology for teaching and correcting recitation, modern learning theories, and suitable assessment methods |
| 6.35.8 | Respecting the nature and particularities of teaching the Islamic sciences | Principles and methods of teaching the Qur'an, using the Prophet's teaching methods, planning the teaching steps of each branch (such as a tajwid lesson and a tawhid lesson), comparing how the branches are taught (recitation and tafsir, hadith and fiqh), and developing habits and skills of thinking |
The question style in ETEC's guide
The guide gives ten sample questions with the reasoning for each answer, then practice questions with an answer key linking each question to its standard and indicator. From these we can see the style of the test:
- Qur'an and tajwid: the length of the heavy letter-based obligatory madd (six counts), telling who made a clear recitation error in several recitation scenes, completing the next verses of a memorised surah, and types of stopping and of madd.
- Tafsir: which Qur'anic stories show that a prophet does not know the unseen (Solomon and the hoopoe, Abraham and the angel guests), and the difference between tafsir by transmission and tafsir by opinion in the works of exegetes.
- Hadith: which reference helps you grasp an unfamiliar word in a hadith (a hadith commentary such as Fath al-Bari, not language dictionaries or books of hadith indexes), the meaning of "al-bawa'iq", the Six Books and which of them are the Sunan, and what the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah shows about the Prophet's foresight.
- Creed: the four levels of qadar and choosing the one meant, the conditions of "La ilaha illa Allah", correcting a wrong statement about the Companions, and placing "fighting him is kufr" under practical kufr.
- Fiqh: a description of wudu followed by counting the obligatory acts and sunnahs in it, counting the pillars, obligatory acts and sunnahs in a description of prayer, who owes zakat, who must make up a Ramadan fast, someone who catches the imam in the last sitting of Friday prayer, and someone who passed the miqat without entering ihram.
- Etiquette and conduct: the most precise description of the place of morals in religion, the strongest evidence for it, and which foods are agreed forbidden (carrion and pork) and which are disputed.
- Teaching the Islamic sciences: which of four hadith passages shows active learning (the Prophet asking the Bedouin about the colour of the camels), a teacher who asks pupils to sort words with a connecting hamzah and a cutting hamzah and then infer the definition, which is discovery learning, and motivating and encouraging learners as the Prophet did with Abu Hurayrah.
ETEC itself notes that the guide's examples do not cover every aspect of the test and do not reflect how hard the real questions are.
How to use this table when you study
- Start with the free questions to see which domain is weakest for you.
- Order your time by weight: fiqh and conduct first (28%), then creed (23%), then the Qur'an and its sciences (21%), then the Sunnah (18%). The eight-week plan is built on these weights.
- Start memorising the last tenth on day one and spread it across the weeks, since the first indicator of standard 6.35.1 asks for it by name.
- Do not neglect teaching the Islamic sciences (10%, about 9 questions). Its questions measure how to teach children, which is a different kind of reading from memorising rulings.
- For every fiqh issue give the ruling and then the evidence, because ETEC's indicators ask for rulings together with their evidence.
Your score on our questions is an estimate of readiness, not an official result. Every unit in unit practice is one of these five domains, so if the free questions show a weakness in creed, say, practise that domain on its own.
Finished reading? Try a set of questions
Start with 10 free questions to find your weakest units. Keep practising with the full question bank and mock exams from SAR 26.
Sources and references
- ETEC – Professional License Test for Educational Professions (dates, scoring, FAQ and e-services) etec.gov.sa
- ETEC – Candidate guide for Islamic Education 1 teachers (2020 trial edition): domains, weights and sample questions media.etec.gov.sa
- ETEC – Subject standards for Islamic Education 1 teachers (1441 AH / 2020) media.etec.gov.sa
- ETEC – Professional License Regulations for Educational Jobs (1445 AH revision) media.etec.gov.sa