How To Learn Arabic W/out a Teacher...

[YousefAbusSafar]

As salaamu 'alaykum,
I would like to ask those who have experience in studying arabic, what should one do, in studying arabic, if they are unable to study with a teacher.

I've done most of my arabic studies without a teach and now I'm planning on moving on to classical texts in nahw and sarf, but unfortunately I don't have anyone to teach them to me.

Is this a major problem or is it achievable to study these texts w/out a teacher and if so, how should I go about that.

Any advices from experienced brothers (attn: Faqeehun Nafs) would be great.

Lastly, if anyone knows of any recorded duroos explaining "al Aajurroomiyyah", "Hidaayatun Nahw" and/or "Binaa'ul Af'aal" then please post them or links to them here.

[Abdul-Aziz]

As salaamu 'alaykum,
I would like to ask those who have experience in studying arabic, what should one do, in studying arabic, if they are unable to study with a teacher.

I've done most of my arabic studies without a teach and now I'm planning on moving on to classical texts in nahw and sarf, but unfortunately I don't have anyone to teach them to me.

Is this a major problem or is it achievable to study these texts w/out a teacher and if so, how should I go about that.

Any advices from experienced brothers (attn: Faqeehun Nafs) would be great.

Lastly, if anyone knows of any recorded duroos explaining "al Aajurroomiyyah", "Hidaayatun Nahw" and/or "Binaa'ul Af'aal" then please post them or links to them here.

Assalamualaikum,

I came on here to post this exact question - how to learn arabic without a teacher! Well firstly, I have been told by several people that Quranic Arabic by Dr Surty is very good for self learning.

http://www.theislamicestablishment.com/Product_Details.asp?depID=1&catID=31&pid=621

my mum and brother have both gone through this through self study and both have found it very useful. I'm currently half way through it and found it very useful.

But I am at a loss as to where to go after this as I'm in a similar position where I cant get access to a teacher, at uni half the year and home the other half.

Would appreciate any advice.

jz

[Faqeeh An-Nafs]

Salaam,

firstly, in worldly affairs we go and look for experts to master a science, for example people leave their homes to go to uni to study medicine ,law etc... in far distant lands.

is it that only when it comes to deen, we can self study everything?

if people live in remote areas and do not have easy acess to the Masters of Islamic Sciences, they should firstly travel.

Imam Kahteeb al-Bagdadi has got a small book called Ar-Rihla fi Talab al-hadeeth.

showing the need to travel for sacred knowledge.

however, in our times Allah ta'la has also given us online courses, with which we can have direct contact in ans our qs.

I would recommened Mufti Yusuf Mullan, who lives close to the US (in Canada), he has an online Arabic course.

I would sugesset you link up with him, as i have heard he has a six month Arabic Course which is very effective.


Does anyone know his contact details? (please post it for our dear brs)

JazahkumAllah

[abdullatif]

Bismillah
as sallamu alaikum

well put faqeeh an nafs. We really have to take our din from someone who tok it from someone all the way back to the prophet(salllAllahualaihiwa sallam) for Allah ta'ala says "ask those who know if you don't know" 16:43 everyone had a teacher even our beloved prophet(sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam) who taught him the qur'an?When to pray how to pray etc,etc jibril (alai hi sallam) Allah says "He was taught by someone strong and powerful" the scholars of tafsir tells us this stern and powerful is jibril(alahi sallam)
so would we go to a doctor who has been self-taught, and not certifed? No without question right. So why when our ruh is on the line would we be content
with self-learning. One should go to sunnipath if one is unable to travel. Go to the shariah program for 6 months get a grasp of the arabic language. I been taken various courses on sunnipath for over two years one will not be disappointed its second to none in on-line learning. Can't speak on the shariah program but have heard nothing but good. Inshaa Allaha i plan on going there in feburary.

[Live for Islam]

Contact details (including phone numbers) for the Shariah Program can be found here: http://www.shariahprogram.ca/weblogs/updates/2005/12/arabic-classes-2006.html

Mufti Yusuf's MSN address: info@shariahprogram.ca (please only add if you wish to discuss course-related issues.)

[Instructor]

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

Just thought I'd come in here to answer any course related things.

Yusuf

[abdullatif]

Bismillah
walaikum salam
is only hanafi fiqh taught?

[Abdul Razak]

Assalamu alaikum Mufti Yusuf,

Do you every plan on teaching any of the other Islamic sciences through the online Shariah program (such as fiqh, hadith, tafseer, etc.), or do you plan on sticking with Arabic only? Also, I noticed that last term you taught a sharh on the al-fiya in Arabic grammar as well as hidayat al nahw (if I'm not mistaken), but for this upcoming session you are only offering a beginner's course. Do you plan on offering the advanced and intermediate Arabic courses again in the future for the online program? If so, when?

The Shariah program seems to be great and I'd like to benefit from it as much as possible, but since I'm not in Toronto, I'm dependent on the online program. So I pray that you are able to continue to enhance it over time. Jazaka Allah Khair for your time.

Wassalam

[YousefAbusSafar]

Ikhwaan, jazaakumullaahu khairan.

I want to say, on my own behalf, that my problem is not that I won't travel for knowledge.

I live in 'Ammaan, Jordan and made hijrah from America.

My problem is financial. You may be surprised but studying arabic, even in muslim countries, in a lot of cases comes down to whether or not you can afford it.

They have only a couple arabic institute's in Jordan and they are both way outside of my price range.

The best one, Qasid Institute, is not designed for anyone except well to do westerners.

It seems that they have no desire to help people like myself as they charge more money than any institute I've ever seen to the point that the prices are astronomical (I don't remember exactly but it may have been in the $1500 dollar range for a couple month session).

As for the Shari'ah program, wallaahi yaa ikhwah, I truly would love to study with it online from Jordan if I could, but my problem there is that I don't have a computer and have to rely on the internet cafes there and in addition the mail system is very poor there.

There is also a lot of fitan in the internet cafes making it very difficult to study in them besides the fact that they close at 2 in the morning Jordanian time which is 5 o'clock Eastern time so there is no way I could catch the classes at Shari'ah program at 11:30 pm eastern time.

With that said, I would like to mention to Ustaadh Yusuf, jazaakallaahu khairan, have you thought of the idea of facilitating people like myself by making a program wherein I could study from pre recorded lectures and download the books online etc., thus enabling me to study regardless of what time it is, by studying pre recorded duroos and also making tests available online?

I perfectly understand the importance of studying with a teacher and class participation, but there are some of us who, unfortunately, don't have that advantage and having a course with pre recorded duroos and tests etc., wherein we could study at any given time of the day as it suits our abilities would truly be great as in my case it's a necessity.

In Jordan, learning arabic, literally comes down to whether or not you can afford it and I truly believe, from what I've seen on the site, that Shari'ah program's curriculum is better than any other I've seen, but I need the freedom to study on my own hours and in accordance with my day to day circumstances as, things are generally pretty hectic in my life, wallaahul musta'aan.

I assume the reason you may not want to do this is due to a person choosing this missing out on the benefits of class participation which is unfortunate, but in my case, it's the best I could do because without pre recorded lessons to study and be quizzed on, I have nothing else to do but study the texts solely by myself, such as going to al Aajurroomiyyah or Binaa'ul Af'aal by myself with the dictionary and I know a pre recorded course would be a million times better than that. Maybe you could work things out where you could make a pre recorded course availabe only for those students who don't have any way to study in the live course and interview applicants to make sure it truly is necassary for them and if not they should study in the live course.

I'm sure everyone here knows that the rulings can change in cases of necessity so I assume that would likely apply in a case like this, wallaahu a'alam.

I'm actually visiting the states right now for a couple weeks inshaa'allaah, so if you (Ustaadh Yoosuf) have any materials available that I could order from you online (not to be sent in the mail because delivery from Canada takes way too long) that I could then print out and record to cd and/or cassette that may help me in getting grounded in nahw and sarf, I would really appreciate it. Just let me know how much and no problem inshaa'allaah.

Unfortunately I'm unable to use the pm function here for some reason so I don't have any way to discuss things with you except here in public.

Baarakallaahu feekum.

[Abdul-Aziz]

Salaam,

firstly, in worldly affairs we go and look for experts to master a science, for example people leave their homes to go to uni to study medicine ,law etc... in far distant lands.

is it that only when it comes to deen, we can self study everything?

if people live in remote areas and do not have easy acess to the Masters of Islamic Sciences, they should firstly travel.

Imam Kahteeb al-Bagdadi has got a small book called Ar-Rihla fi Talab al-hadeeth.

showing the need to travel for sacred knowledge.

however, in our times Allah ta'la has also given us online courses, with which we can have direct contact in ans our qs.

I would recommened Mufti Yusuf Mullan, who lives close to the US (in Canada), he has an online Arabic course.

I would sugesset you link up with him, as i have heard he has a six month Arabic Course which is very effective.


Does anyone know his contact details? (please post it for our dear brs)

JazahkumAllah

Easier said than done. Some of our parents have migrated to western countries and sacrificed almost everything so that we can obtain an education here. Whether thats right or wrong is beyond our control. I'm now at a university where there is no-one at all who can teach arabic, just one tiny mosque in the entire town where a few kids are taught. Add to that a punishing timetable of medschool and self-study is pretty much the only possibility.

I hear what you're saying that deen should come first and foremost and you're absolutely right, but for some of us the practicality just doesnt permit it - we've been in a system of secular education for 20 odd years before really coming to think and analyse for ourselves what our priorities should be. And often just pulling out at this late and final stage isnt an option

ws

[abdullatif]

Bismillah

as far as nahw,sarf etc goes.This is fard kafiyah. So not everyone needs to know these according to the ulama. But if one wants to dive into the classical texts one needs to know nahw, sarf, balgha, etc. Or one will be lost and not undertsand the text. In my earlier response the point was that we need to have a teacher to fully understand the text. As its been said the teachers are a key to the books. A side note most of the teachers from sunnipath currently live in amman not sure if they teach arabic there. But other than qasid on should be able to at least take private lessons, the point to make sure one knows the material well. AS we all know learning a language takes time and patience

[muhammadnur]

Yoosuf send me a private meesage please.

Muhaamad-Nur

[YousefAbusSafar]

Jazaakumullaahu khairan.

Yaa akhil kareem, Muhammad, I'm unable to use the private message function unfortunately so I'm only able to communicate with board members here publicly.

Akh 'Abdul Lateef, please let me know some of the people you know in 'Ammaan who would teach me arabic for an affordable price.

Please try and find me someone who lives in the eastern part of 'Ammaan.

I live in the area of "al Wehdat" so the closer to that area the better.

[Faqeeh An-Nafs]

Easier said than done. Some of our parents have migrated to western countries and sacrificed almost everything so that we can obtain an education here. Whether thats right or wrong is beyond our control. I'm now at a university where there is no-one at all who can teach arabic, just one tiny mosque in the entire town where a few kids are taught. Add to that a punishing timetable of medschool and self-study is pretty much the only possibility.

I hear what you're saying that deen should come first and foremost and you're absolutely right, but for some of us the practicality just doesnt permit it - we've been in a system of secular education for 20 odd years before really coming to think and analyse for ourselves what our priorities should be. And often just pulling out at this late and final stage isnt an option

ws

Salam,

Brother, just like to let you know that i also live in the West and i know what you mean, its tough.

Just like to add the fact that i studied arabic in the west and have never visited the arab lands except for Umrah in Saudi for a few weeks when i was young. and i can read,write and speak Fusha (classical) arabic.
Done A level arabic and got an A. Alhamdulilah.

and i have also been through the ed system and i'm still stuck inside!!!

alhamdulilah, i have has the opertunity to study at the feet of the great local Ulama. (there are a few scholars in the masaajid)

further, my classmate has also studied arabic (with me) and is also doing medicine at uni. he is even more knowledgeable than me and i refer to him, when i get stuck.

however, its true what you say, as our parents had a great hand to play when they encouraged us to study the islamic sciences at (fairly) early age and we did not work, while our friends were enjoying their time with the money they made and the free time they would have.


futher, Med school is demanding, but i have heared of a few syrian shyook who became ulama after studying medicine (like one of Ibn Abadeens great grandsons).

so don't give up.

may Allah reward all your sacrifices.

Wasalam,


'whoever does not have a sacrificial begining, he will not have a glowing future'.

قال ابن عطاء الله الإسكندري

من لم تكن له بداية محرقة لم تكن له نهاية مشرقة

Ibn 'AtaAllah al-Iskandari.

[Faqeeh An-Nafs]

Jazaakumullaahu khairan.

Yaa akhil kareem, Muhammad, I'm unable to use the private message function unfortunately so I'm only able to communicate with board members here publicly.

Akh 'Abdul Lateef, please let me know some of the people you know in 'Ammaan who would teach me arabic for an affordable price.

Please try and find me someone who lives in the eastern part of 'Ammaan.

I live in the area of "al Wehdat" so the closer to that area the better.

Salam,

is it possible for you (Br Yusuf) to go Syria?

as i have heared that Islamic ed is genereally better there. and shyuook teach people in the masaajids and houses for free.

Jordan seems to me more of a money making scheme. (correct me if i am mistaken).

[YousefAbusSafar]

As salaamu 'alaykum,
Yaa akhee, Jordan is a very westernized arab country. For that reason, the people aren't very religious except for a small minority.

There actually are classes held in the masaajid for free, but the problem is there aren't any classes I know of teaching arabic for non arab and that's my problem.

My main problem with Syria is the amount of difficulty that Westerners face in Syria with regard to being able to settle there and not having to worry about being expelled.

The regulations in Syria regarding giving residency permits are kind of strict in some aspects whereas in Jordan, it's not even a big deal to overstay the iqaamah (I did for three months this time, but I had to pay fines in order to leave the country).

I think your right though that there may be a lot more benefit in Syria. There are classes in the mosques in Jordan, but those classes are really for people who already know arabic rather than non arab who want to learn deen so that's why it's really hard to get my foot in the door in learning the deen in Jordan, wallaahu a'alam.

[godilali]

ajrumiyyah lessons online:
http://www.salafiduroos.net/audio/audioe.php?s_LecturerNo=&s_TopicA=&s_TopicE=aajroomiyyah&s_jadwalno=&Formaudio_Page=1&PHPSESSID=4d23c1fb7d1a88683a347ed44ed3688f#audio

note: I don't agree with most of the other contents of that site.