Training requirements for Shari’ah Bar bets revised

The Supreme Court (SC) made revisions to the requirements for those who will be taking the Shari’ah Bar Exams beginning 2025.

In a statement yesterday, the SC said candidates for the Shari’ah Bar are required to undergo training or meet academic requirements.

For the next exams, the SC has revised the qualifications that will allow candidates to take the test.

To be able to take the Shari’ah Bar Exams, the candidates must have any of the following qualifications:

•Completion of the 2024 National Commission on Muslim Filipinos-Philippine Judicial Academy’s 60-day Shari’ah Training Seminar (STS).

•Completion of the STS with a validity period of three years.

•A bachelor’s degree or postgraduate degree in Islamic Studies or Islamic Law from an accredited local or a recognized foreign academic institution.

•Completion of academic credits in the four core subjects of the STS, which are Jurisprudence and Customary Laws; Person, Family Relations, and Property; Successions, Wills/Adjudication, and Settlement of Estates; and Procedure in Shari’ah Courts.

•A bachelor or professional degree in law from an accredited local or a recognized foreign academic institution with academic credits in the four core subjects of the STS

•Membership in the Philippine Bar with completion of the required Mandatory Continuing Legal Education units in the four core subjects.

The SC said candidates who meet the third to fifth requirements no longer need to undergo the NCMF-PHILJA’s 60-day STS.

For the 2026 Shari’ah Bar Examinations, Philippine Judicial Academy will no longer offer the 60-day STS, it said.

“Instead, candidates must complete the core courses from an academic institution,” it said.