Finally, with tawfeeq from Allah swt, I’ve started recording Arabic lesson videos. This is the first one (and the only one I’ve recorded so far, while delaying studying for my anatomy final—I hope to batch record during the winter break iA), so it’s probably iffy, but done is better than chasing perfect.
All the core resources I used when learning Arabic myself over a decade ago with my sheikh can be found for free here. These textbooks were developed by the late Shaykh Dr. V. ‘Abdur-Raheem, may God have mercy on him. He’s originally from India, but was a professor at the Madinah University, where he developed this beginner’s curriculum for all the non-Arab students.
I remember meeting him when I was 9 or 10, soon after my sheikh started teaching me Arabic. He visited Canada and gave a talk at some masjid in the West End of GTA.
The funny thing is that I had pointed out some errors to my sheikh in the children’s version of the books that I was using, and he conveyed them to sh. Abdur-Raheem when we met. He was quite glad to receive the feedback, and asked to be sent a whole list of all typos and errors so they can be corrected in reprints. That never happened, me being barely a decade old and all, and my sheikh being the busy man he was. Still, it’s a warm memory.
I even recall the thin green book of “20 easy hadiths” I had memorized then, which I carried with me and practiced in the car as we pulled up to that masjid. And if my memory serves me correct, it was snowing that night. Or maybe I’ve made up that part, given last night’s snowfall.
There’s also this website (https://understand-arabic.com/) that has the same resources and maybe some more. Again, I’ve never really explored all the other resources and writings by Dr. V. ‘Abdur-Raheem, so explore away, but as a beginner, you only need the three tools I show in the vid. And if you can, find a study buddy to learn and practice with. It makes a world of a difference. The end goal is not to just understand Arabic, but to speak it too.
Please drop any questions you have after watching, and I’ll try to address them in following vids iA, and/or directly in the comments. I also hope to start pay-what-you-can live lessons, but that will have to figured out. If you’d be interested, do let me know. The more interest I see, the more motivated I’ll be (I’m totally not in it for the money 🌚).
May Allah swt open His doors of beneficial knowledge for us all, and use us in ways that please Him. Ameen.
Lovingly,
Walyullah
