In 2005, Mawlana Arif Kamal began his journey of acquiring sacred knowledge by enrolling in the Institute of Islamic Education (IIE) located in Elgin, IL where he successfully completed his memorization of the Holy Qurʾān. Immediately after the completion of his ḥifẓ, he began teaching the memorization of the Qurʾān at the request of his teacher.

After teaching for over one year, his thirst for higher studies drove him to enroll in the Shariah program at IIE where he successfully completed the ʿĀlim program. He thus had blessed opportunity to study under erudite and recognized scholars such as Mawlana Ubaidullah Saleem, Mawlana Sulaiman Saleem, Mufti Yasir Nadeem, Mawlana Bilal Ali Ansari and the well renowned scholar of Qurʾān and Qari, Mawlana Abdullah Saleem (may Allah bless them all). Mawlana Arif s passion for Qur’an lead him further specialize in the field of Qur’an recitation and was able to obtain multiple ijāzāt in the riwayah of Ḥafs by way of Āṣim, the Qirā’at al-Sughrā, and Qirā’āt al-Kubrā. His teachers include Shaykh al-Qurra of America Shaykh Waleed al-Maneese, Shaykh al-Qurra of Lebanon Shaykh Maḥmūd al-Akkāwī, the renowned teacher of Qur’an in Madinah al-Munawwarah Shaykh Abdullah al-Jarullah, Shaykh al-Qurra of Syria Shaykh Kurayyim Rājih, Shaykh al-Qurra of Egypt Shaykh Aḥmad Īsa al-Ma’sarāwī Shaykh Mustafa Muftah, Shaykh Mustafa Tolba, Shaykh Uthman Khan, Shaykh Ahmad Hazim.

He has also received a shahadah of ḥusn al-tilāwah (testimony of good recitation) from Shaykh Ayman Rushdi Swayd.