Wednesday 27 February 2013

Learning Quranic Arabic (and Struggling)


One of the things I wanted to do for a long time was learn Arabic so that I could understand the Quran in the language it was revealed and insh’Allah also benefit my children in this way.  I started my maternity leave in October, a few weeks before a new Islamic Studies course started locally, so I planned to join the class once the baby was born.  Yeah right!  Once bubba was here, I could not imagine sitting through a three hour class without being able to breastfeed her, nor could I imagine the teacher allowing me to bring her along.  So I asked Allah to help me find a way and Alhamdulillah, he blessed me with something better.  Sister Sumaiyah, who is editor of Aailamagazine and a good friend of mine (her blog is here) directed me to a course being led by a local sister called “Arabic Through the Quran”.

I did istikharah, read through the blog a little and then took the step of applying for a place.  Alhamdulillah I was accepted and have joined the classes.  The classes are online and require a couple of platforms to run smoothly (Wiziq for classes, Moodle for the sister’s forum and Memrise for vocabulary practise).  I was a little bit daunted by this, but the teacher gave clear instructions and it was pretty easy to set them all up.

Alhamdulillah, the classes have been great.  The first few were brilliant, until class three when I started to feel a little out of my depth.  I soon realised that it wasn’t a case of turning up for classes and doing the compulsory homework and weekly tests, but that I would have to dedicate significant time and effort if I really wanted to learn.

I had to go back and review the sincerity of my intentions and make a commitment to set aside time daily and prioritise this over the numerous other things that catch my attention online and off through the day.  This week is the second week of the Red PillLeadership Course run by Sheikh Muhammad Alshareef  I have joined so I have had a full-on two weeks with  so many decisions and plans going through my head.  Once this is completed (last session today – more on this soon insh’Allah) I will be dedicating more time to the Arabic studies insh’Allah and try to bring some discipline to my studies.

One of the sisters on the forum recommended the following lecture by Ustadh Nauman Ali Khan for anyone looking for inspiration or wondering why someone would want to study Quranic Arabic.






Alhamdulillah, I feel so lucky to have found this course and just hope Allah (SWT) gives me the discipline and opportunity to rise to the occasion adequately.  I would love to hear from sisters who have learnt Arabic or are learning what has helped them or if there are books, apps, websites, programmes they can recommend for adults or children to learn.

16 comments:

  1. InshaAllah you will be able to pull it off if you have the right intentions, give in the right effort, and yes of course, prioritize this over other stuff.

    I also have been wanting to set an Arabic class in my daily schedule and started with LQ Toronto classes (online) recently, but :(, PhD studies come in the way. IA I have hope that I will resume it! Jazakillah for the inspiration!

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    1. Assalam-alaikam,
      Thank you for the tip, someone else mentioned LQ Toronto classes to me too, I am going to check out their website,

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  2. thanks for such an enlightening piece. it has great many reminders. really my kind of thoughts on the thriftiness. Arabic language is an integral part of Islamic religion, in fact an inseparable part. Arabic is the language of the Holy Qur’an, the mother tongue of the Noble Prophet(PBUH). Through learning Arabic language we will be able to understand Islam in a true manner.

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    1. Assalam-alaikam OQL,
      Thank you for stopping by and commenting and for your useful words.

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  3. As salamu alaikum!

    I'm a native Arabic speaker and a young girl - but when I want to improve my Arabic (I recently started Tajweed lessons), I try really hard to apply what I'm learning to the Quran that I read - it really helps to 'see' the lessons rather than 'learn' them. Also, try speaking Arabic with friends - I have non Muslim friends who learn Arabic, and they pick it up much faster by engaging in conversation.

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  4. Assalam-alaikam Sis,
    I really appreciate your advice, just the kind of ideas I need insh'Allah.

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  5. Assalaamu alaikum,
    We started to learn Quran arabic through our local sisters group and believe me though our resources are limited we have made marvellous amazing improvement in our understanding of
    quran only by the grace of Allah(swt) and our recitation also has improved much, much better.May Allah make it easy upon you too. Eager to know how you progress too.....
    -Anisa

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    1. Assalam-alaikam Anisa.
      Jazakh'Allah-khairun for the encouragement, it is very welcome. Insh'Allah, I will keep you up to date on how it goes and which resources are really helping me.

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  6. Mashallah, I proud of her too!

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  7. Subhanallah I am finding it hard learning Arabic but the talk was really inspiring by Nouman Ali. Arabic is a part of a Muslim's life and I never really understand the importance of studying it until I saw this talk .
    How are you getting on? I would love to know!
    Amina

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  8. Mashallah what a thorough and eye opening talk by Nouman Ali, JazakAllah Kheir for sharing. As a revert who understands very little Arabic, I've always been told that reading an english translated quran is not the same as the Arabic quran, but it is only after watching this that I really understand why. So much is lost through translation. May Allah (swt) guide you and reward you in your arabic studies :)

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  9. Jazak Allah khair,,Thank you for the tip,

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  10. If you're careworn in interpretation, Arabic there are many trouble-free and effortless ways to decipher your problem I advise you to use learn Arabic application easy ways to Learn Quran

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  11. Thats Really Great Post about Learning Quran its very helpfull for me thanks for share this.

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