About Us - DAF

Dar Al Fikr's Origin

In 1985, a group of businessmen in Jeddah came together to establish a non-profit private school that would give the children of Jeddah an education on par with the most distinguished schools in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The founding conviction was straightforward: a child’s personal and emotional development belongs within the family and within their Arab and Islamic environment, not outside it. The school was conceived to balance that cultural foundation with the best of contemporary academic curricula — not to choose between them.

The founders made a collective endowment of approximately SAR 70 million, and the schools were built on a 10,000-square-metre site in an elevated district of the city.

The schools were designed to embody a single idea: that the architecture of a school should reflect the human values of learning that take place inside it.

The campus is laid out around a fixed centre and moving outer dimensions — a planetary metaphor. Faith and belonging form the rooted axis at the heart of the campus; knowledge and the sciences orbit around it. The wings of the school extend outward like planets in space, each in motion around the same fixed sun.

It is also a multi-purpose space, supporting physical growth and sports education as well as spiritual life through dedicated prayer and gathering areas. Classrooms overlook these spaces by design, so that hearing, sight, and reflection are continuously shaping — and being shaped by — the whole student.

The boys’ school opened in 1985 and the girls’ school in 1986. A dedicated kindergarten building was added in 1998.

Vision

Dar Al Fikr (DAF) empowers students through the Quranic mission of “Iqra”—the divine call to read, learn, and discover. We nurture individuals who are true believers at heart, righteous in action, and wise in thought. Through this foundation, they are prepared to confidently embrace their responsibility as stewards of the world.

Mission

The school prepares each student to become a self-directed learner who can balance worldly and spiritual concerns. Grounded in deep-rooted Islamic values, our students are equipped to engage confidently across cultures in an increasingly global world.

The school encourages students to model excellence for those around them and to practise creative skills with enthusiasm. They go on to study at top universities and to enter working life well prepared.

They are philanthropic in their deeds, creative in thought, and carry themselves with taqwa — a quiet, daily piety.

Dar Al Fikr's Objectives

Cultivating righteous, wise, and virtuous believers.

Developing balanced personalities through knowledge, values, and skills.

Prioritizing lifelong learning over traditional education.

Refining future-ready skills through personal and social competencies.

Harnessing technology for the greater human good.

Educating well-rounded individuals—physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Strengthening the bond between humanity, our environment, and our culture.

Inspiring future generations with a deep appreciation for beauty, excellence, and perfection.

Dar Al Fikr History

Since its establishment in 1985, Dar Al Fikr schools have been a carefully considered translation of ambitious dreams into reality.
It was founded as a non-profit school whose purpose was to serve the community by providing high-quality education.
From the outset, the secondary school combined the national curriculum with a distinctive Dar Al Fikr programme, marrying Saudi educational standards with openness to world languages, cultures, and technology.
Ten years later, the school formalised this pairing in an integrated curriculum, taught alongside the Arabic language and Islamic values, that has since served thousands of students.

In 2000, the Ministry licensed schools, only in the Kingdom,to apply the experience of the integrated curriculum. Where schools – as a good opening in the Kingdom – to build an integrated curriculum in the Arabic language, beyond the multiplicity of materials and intersection, as well as in Islamic education. Making the number of curriculum materials 9 articles, after it was 17 articles. This curriculum was subsequently circulated at the Ministry’s recommendation to select schools in Riyadh and Tabuk in the northern region.
In 2008, the High Commissioner issued an order to select private schools capable of teaching international curricula, a collection of identity materials. It was natural that Dar Al Fikr schools would be selected as the first school in this new course. The Advance Ed Foundation evaluated them and granted them a certificate of accreditation for this scientific and educational leadership.

Since 2005, schools have established a scholarship fund for gifted students who have been recruited through newspaper advertisements and special tests. In 2010, the King Abdul Aziz Foundation and His Men (Mawhiba) initiated the selection of schools; Talented people from 2010 to date.
In 2016 – 2017, schools began to apply AP courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and ICT as advanced post-secondary academic courses and are calculated for students in foreign universities.
Over the years, more than 3,000 students have graduated from school. They have recorded unique achievements for their homeland and for themselves in the areas of excellence, innovation and world-wide. Today, many alumni occupy important positions in the country’s economic and scientific life.