Why and How to Learn Arabic for Comprehension of the Qur’an

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by Abu AbdAllah

Would you spend your whole life in a country where you never learned the local language?  Some people do, and manage to do quite well for themselves, thank you very much.  If they do not understand something, it usually turns out not to be very important.  And if it is important, someone eventually explains what they need to know in the language of their preference.

Well, a billion-odd people on this planet, among whom I do not want to be one, are those who say “la ilaha illAllah” but whose eyes remain dry when the Qur’an is recited.  These (and too often me, too) recite the Qur’an and seek to memorize it, but they cannot grasp much of it at all on their own.

SubhanAllah.  Is it that the Message is so unimportant to us?  Or is that we are just as well-off if we rely on translations?  Or on the translations of tafsirs of the Qur’an?  Or have you tried studying Arabic and failed to get closer to the Qur’an?

Only Allah Guides.  So I pray He will Guide you, me, and everyone we know.

Nouman Ali Khan of the Bayyinah Arabic Institute (www.bayyinah.com) gave this speech in Houston, Texas. He explains the importance of studying Arabic for comprehension of the Qur’an. And he discusses the pitfalls of many techniques used by students. Finally, he describes the advantages of the methods used by Bayyinah. A must-see for any student studying Arabic to better understand the Qur’an and Islam.

 

Complementing courses that teach Arabic comprehension of the Qur’an are courses on Ulum-ul-Qur’an (Sciences of Qur’an) like the one taught by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi.

Man is ever in need from His Lord, and so I am praying that He will give me the benefit of both classes, and for one thing more: a waqf dedicated to teaching every interested person (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) how to read the Qur’an with basic comprehension of the Arabic.

Every single person who wants to experience the Qur’an in Arabic with at least a basic grasp of what he or she is reading or hearing.

The time for this trust is now.

What could such a waqf do?

Here are just two ideas:

1. Pay for the training of more teachers in the methods tested and proven by Bayyinah in over 50 cities nationwide.  The course is great, alhamdolillah, but it needs to be available all the time, all over the country and the world.Imagine if the waqf hosted an annual (or biannual, or even triannual) training conference.  And to this conference came one or two delegates from every large university/college Muslim students’ group — like the MSAs of the University of Texas and the University of Toronto.  And each of these delegates had one job — learn how to teach the course in basic comprehension of the Qur’an in Arabic.Imagine what would happen when these delegates returned to their campuses?  How many people — Muslim and non-Muslim alike — could be taught!?!?  And even if there were only enough money for the waqf to do the training conference once every four years, then at most participating campuses there could still be a new teacher after the last teacher graduates.Now imagine, too, that among those who are trained, some become so proficient that they can train others.
    
2. The waqf could pay for the development of software that teaches comprehension of the Arabic used in the Qur’an through immersion.  Limit the software as much as feasible to reading and hearing skills.  Limit the vocabulary and grammar skills to those needed for basic comprehension of the Qur’an.Then make the software available for free.  Through an on-line site, and via downloads/DVD for the web challenged.  But again, available to each and every man, woman, and child in the world.

Some of you may already be thinking — not every person in the world speaks English.  And you’re right.

Courses like Bayyinah’s should be developed for every language spoken in the world today, and the highest priority should be population size.  So I would vote for Chinese and Hindi next, since the course already exists in English, alhamdolillah.

And a model for the software already exists, Rosetta Stone.  Rosetta Stone Arabic software exists, but the goals and parameters are completely different from what is needed.  What is smart about the RS model, though, is that the course uses no language but Arabic.  So if the waqf funded the development of Qur’anic Arabic software (or simply paid RS to do it), then the software would be ready for the world, all of it.

 

From: MuslimMatters