Weekend Learning: Publisher of Islamic textbooks

Learning Arabic the Easy way

Majority of Muslims, about 80% worldwide, do not speak Arabic. In many countries, teaching of Arabic is mostly limited to reciting the Koran. Many people learned to read Arabic, but do not know the meaning.

Learning Arabic has never been easier. Several websites and online courses offer self-paced education that can comfortably be done in the privacy of your home.

Qur'an recitation: Transliteration.org is aimed primarily to the recitation of the Qur'an. This excellent site has sound files for each verse. You have the option to enroll in a course, where a teacher will guide you to correct pronunciation. The cost to learn from the teacher is not reported in the site. Other features are free.

Online language learning: There are several online courses. Some are free, while others charge you a fee. ShariahProgram is a Toronto-based organization that offers both onsite as well as online course. This formal online course is offered in the mornings of weekends, where you learn both the grammar and the language. The long-term part-time course is for two years, while the full–time course takes 6 months. The faculty expects you to participate fully as a serious student. The tuition for a month is $100, and the fee is lower in the first semester . Course materials in hardcopy format are provided. Few sample lessons are available on the website. The teacher for this course is Mufti Yusuf Mullan.

Madinah Arabic is another notable site. It has both Arabic reading as well as Arabic language courses. The course is free.

Start with a few books: Do not limit your learning choices to online courses only. Books, although the traditional method of learning, still retain their full teaching value. If you are trying to learn grammar, you might want to start with "Qur’anic Language Made Easy" by Sister Hafiza Iffath Hasan (IQRA’ International, ISBN 1-56316-026-9). Several books by Sister Jamal-un-Nisa Bint Rafai (published by Ta-Ha Publishers) are also excellent resources for learning word-to-word meaning of the Qur'an.

Local resources: You should not ignore local resources for learning Arabic. Almost all masjids have some Arabic courses for adults. Remember that the course will be good only if the students (i.e. you) are good. A teacher will be motivated only if the students are motivated. If you do not have a teacher, you can identify a person who speaks Arabic to be your teacher. Many brothers or sisters would be more than willing to teach you Arabic.

Like any other learning process, learning Arabic requires some time commitment and an effort on your part. It is not intimidating, and you will see some results within a few weeks or months. Once you learn Arabic, there may be some material rewards, but the spiritual reward would be immense.

Mansur Ahmad.
Sunday, February 04, 2007

WeekendLearning@gmail.com