Basics of Qur’anic Arabic

A Two-weekend Course for Beginners

As the Word of God, the Qur’an is the most powerful means to connect with the Divine. To receive the full impact of the divine Word demands that it is read in its original language. However, it is most unfortunate that the majority of Muslims today do not know the language of the Qur’an. Consequently, we deprive ourselves of the most powerful and profound blessings of the Holy Book: the direct psycho-spiritual impact of the divine speech on the heart. The Basics of Qur’anic Arabic course is the first step in that direction. This course introduces students to the fundamental building blocks of Qur’anic language. It thus enables the students to comprehend the underlying structure of the Qur’anic language, paving the way toward understanding the divine Word directly.

The goals of the Basics of Qur'anic Arabic include:

• Building the grammatical foundation of Qur’anic Arabic in order to lay bare its underlying structure and logic.
• Preparing the students for a basic ability in translating the Qur’an into English, and for an intermediate level of instruction in grammar.
Disclaimer: This course does not instruct in Arabic conversation or the modern dialect.

Methodology

The course is designed to teach the structure of the Arabic language to an English-speaking audience. For this reason, we do not insist that students learn the Arabic terminology. For the most part, our focus remains on the English terminology. In addition, we have reduced the flood of jargon that accompanies the learning of a new language. As our main focus will be to read and understand the Qur’an, we neither teach nor expect students to write in Arabic. Finally, as opposed to long hours of rote memorization, our method emphasizes concepts and analysis.

Pre-requisite

The only prerequisite for this course is that the student should be able to read the Qur’an in Arabic, even if with difficulty.

Materials

There are no books required for this course. All course materials are in the form of notes and homework assignments. These are distributed to the students via email.

Syllabus

Click Here
 

Intermediate Qur’anic Arabic

The Intermediate Qura’nic Arabic course builds on the foundation of the Basics of Qur’anic Arabic course. In the Basics, we first covered the four dimensions of a noun, namely, range, gender, number, and ending form. We then learned how to recognize and translate noun combinations, such as adjectives, jarr compounds (prepositional phrase), possessions (idafah), pointer compound (isharah), and nounal sentences. We ended the Basics course with an introduction to verbs. The Intermediate course begins basically focuses on verbs and their various forms. Our goal will be to gain competency in recognizing different verb patterns, their inherent meanings, and different changes that verbs undergo in different contexts.

Pre-requisite

The pre-requisite for Intermediate course requires that the student to be versed in the material covered in the Basics course.

Materials

No books are required for this course. All course materials are distributed to the students via email.

Syllabus

Click here

Instructor, Adnan Rehman:

Adnan Rehman is a graduate of the Qur’an Academy Lahore, where he learned Arabic, and earned a diploma in Islamic Studies. In addition, he has a Master’s degree in Islamic Thought from the Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He has also attended the Intensive Arabic Program at the prestigious Al-Azhar University. Adnan is currently pursuing a second Master’s degree in Theology and Philosophy from Drew University, New Jersey. He intends to continue with doctoral studies in the area of Philosophy and Religion.

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Sample Homework

Sample Classnotes

Sample Homework Solutions

Sample Slides

Asif Rashid
Warren, MI

I am glad I took your course even though I'm still in the process of learning how to read Arabic. I was able to follow most of the material in the classes although it will take some time for me to memorize the various charts and all. I liked how you broke everything down and gave it to us little by little and also did a bit of review in each class. I really do appreciate you taking the time to teach us. The class improved my appreciation of the Arabic language and the necessity behind learning the actual language rather than relying on translations. May Allah reward you and grant you good in this life and good in the hereafter.

Azeeza Mohamed
Warren, MI

MI Excellent presentation, slides, ability to demonstrate/explain using the latest technology, masha'Allah (not stuck to a white board anymore). Good command of the material, Masha'Allah Able to say, "I don't know." This and accepting feedback about small typing errors on your slides sets an excellent example of Islamic adab, Masha'Allah. Able to insert interesting tafsir, hadith, Islamic history, etc., into presentations.