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Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students: Originally Devised and Taught at Madinah Islamic University
Learning classical Arabic effectively could not be easier than this course of Madinah Islamic University. A tried and tested course over 40 years with proven track record of success, it is ideal in terms of the topics covered and short time taken to learn. It is suitable for schools and colleges in the UK and other Western English speaking countries. This course is a comprehensive and popular course for the teaching of the Qur'anic and Traditional Arabic, originally devised and taught at the renowned Islamic University of Madinah, catering for the non-Arabic speaking students from all over the world.
Over the years, this course has enabled students to become competent in their use of the Arabic language and to participate and benefit from scholarly pursuits such as Qur'anic exegesis, Hadeeth, Fiqh, Seerah, History, and classical and modern Arabic literature.
Whilst there are now several courses available on the market for the teaching of the Arabic language, the unique features of this particular one are:
1. It is very concise, consisting of only three books, all of which are short but extensive in their coverage.
2. It combines modern Arabic vocabulary with Islamic terminology as used in the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
3. It covers all the essential Arabic grammatical rules in such a way that the student is spared the monotonous task of memorizing them
4. The author presents Arabic as a living and vibrant language and takes examples from Arabic in everyday use, as also from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, so that as the student learns the languages, he also acquires an understanding of hundreds of Qur'anic verses, ahaadeeth, Arabic parables and poetry. This allows the student to become directly involved in the study of the Qur'an and the Sunnah while also acquiring a sound understanding of the Arabic language.
Over the years, this course has enabled students to become competent in their use of the Arabic language and to participate and benefit from scholarly pursuits such as Qur'anic exegesis, Hadeeth, Fiqh, Seerah, History, and classical and modern Arabic literature.
Whilst there are now several courses available on the market for the teaching of the Arabic language, the unique features of this particular one are:
1. It is very concise, consisting of only three books, all of which are short but extensive in their coverage.
2. It combines modern Arabic vocabulary with Islamic terminology as used in the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
3. It covers all the essential Arabic grammatical rules in such a way that the student is spared the monotonous task of memorizing them
4. The author presents Arabic as a living and vibrant language and takes examples from Arabic in everyday use, as also from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, so that as the student learns the languages, he also acquires an understanding of hundreds of Qur'anic verses, ahaadeeth, Arabic parables and poetry. This allows the student to become directly involved in the study of the Qur'an and the Sunnah while also acquiring a sound understanding of the Arabic language.
- GenresIslamNonfictionSelf Help
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
52 people are currently reading
621 people want to read
About the author
V. Abdur Rahim
59 books48 followersV. Abdur Rahim was born in the small town of Vaniyambadi in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in 1933. After finishing his secondary school studies, he joined Presidency College, University of Madras where he majored in English Language and Literature. He graduated in 1957. In 1964, he joined al-Azhar University, Cairo, where he did his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Arabic Philology.
In 1969, he joined the Islamic University of Madinah to teach Arabic Philology. Here, he was also associated with the Programme of teaching Arabic as a foreign language. The course he designed for this purpose is now known as دروسُ اللغةِ العربيةِ لـغير الناطقين بـها Durûs al-Lughah al-‘Arabiyyah li-Ghair al-Nâtiqîna Bihâ. (Now these books are popularly known throughout the world as “MADINAH BOOKS”.)
In 1969, he joined the Islamic University of Madinah to teach Arabic Philology. Here, he was also associated with the Programme of teaching Arabic as a foreign language. The course he designed for this purpose is now known as دروسُ اللغةِ العربيةِ لـغير الناطقين بـها Durûs al-Lughah al-‘Arabiyyah li-Ghair al-Nâtiqîna Bihâ. (Now these books are popularly known throughout the world as “MADINAH BOOKS”.)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 6, 2024
I learnt nahw in a not-so-typical way, the Madinah Books are a more typical way to learn. Although I know all the concepts in this book well, I thought it would be good to go through it as a revision on 2x speed to do it quickly and acquire more vocabulary (around 600 words in this) in the process. Really recommend it with a teacher, or a YT playlist, you won't get it as well on your own.
I followed this playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc...
Oh, and almost a sombreness to it that as I was midway through this, the author passed away رحمه الله. We should contemplate on the idea of legacy always as Muslims, he left behind a tool that has been used for a couple of decades and will probably be used for many more. I was one of the last benefactors during his lifetime and of the firsts of those after he passed away as well.
May Allah grant us all beneficial knowledge and the ability to impart it and act upon it and be remembered in the ranks of the best of people.
I followed this playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc...
Oh, and almost a sombreness to it that as I was midway through this, the author passed away رحمه الله. We should contemplate on the idea of legacy always as Muslims, he left behind a tool that has been used for a couple of decades and will probably be used for many more. I was one of the last benefactors during his lifetime and of the firsts of those after he passed away as well.
May Allah grant us all beneficial knowledge and the ability to impart it and act upon it and be remembered in the ranks of the best of people.
September 8, 2012
I'd like to give this course more stars: I think it's well-thought-out, & I'm sure it helped me immensely in improving my classical Arabic reading. But there are too many flaws to give it the praise I would like.
The Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students is a three-volume series of textbooks that is designed to help Muslim students in a classroom environment to learn the Arabic of the Qur'ān and the aḥādīṯ. The original version is exclusively in Arabic, & was designed for the use of students at the Islamic University of Madīnah al-Munawwarah. The course has been adapted for students elsewhere by the addition of an English key at the end, which gives English-language explanations of the grammatical points introduced in the text, & vocabulary lists keyed to the text. (Similar versions exist for German & Urdu.)
Here's what you should know in advance: The course is geared toward practicing Muslim students. This manifests itself in three ways that might be of importance to non-Muslim students: 1) The book assumes that the reader can already read Arabic for pronunciation, but not meaning. If you don't know the Arabic writing system & the pronunciation of the letters, you'll need to start somewhere else first. 2) The book assumes some knowledge of particular Islamic vocabulary. For example, one of the grammatical explanations uses the phrase صلى الله عليه وسلام after the name of the Prophet Muhammad, but does not give the meaning of the word صلى. Most Muslim students will know this, already, as the benediction is a common utterance after Muhammad's name. It might be unfamiliar to non-Muslim English-speakers. 3) With the introduction of two non-Muslim characters in one dialogue, a footnote is added praying for their eventual conversion/reversion to Islam. I appreciate the sentiment, but I can imagine some learners for whom this would be offensive. They should probably find a different textbook.
Here's what works: Grammatical points are doled out in drips & drabs, & are presented in the course of the reading over & over. Not much grammatical memorisation is required. Vocabulary is also given out in small chunks, & most vocab is repeated, which also helps to reduce the necessity of memorisation. Vocabulary in volume one focuses mostly on items in the classroom (including discussion of possession & location), talking about family, & talking about where one's from & what one does for a living.
I read thru volume 1, did all the exercises verbally, & did no other study. (I usually combine textbooks with flashcards when learning a language.) I'm confident that I have all of the grammatical points presented, & the great majority of the vocabulary. The book makes a grammar very different from English quite accessible.
Here's what doesn't work: The English key to the book is good, but it needs to be edited. A few vocabulary items are not included, which requires the student to refer to a dictionary (a skill not taught by the book, & quite a bit different from using a dictionary for most European languages). There are also some problems with the text outside of the key: There's no overall glossary. This is a pretty serious difficulty. A number of vocab items occur only once, so the student is unlikely to really pick them up. In the final couple of lessons, constructions are used that aren't explained. They're not too hard to work out, but it's a failing, nonetheless. An index would also be helpful for referring back to points of grammar learned previously.
With a teacher, I think that this could be an amazing textbook as it stands. For self-study, this is a well-thought-out textbook that has too many flaws to make it recommendable. It wouldn't take much for it to become a great book for learning basic classical Arabic.
The book is available for free at http://www.lqtoronto.com/downloads.html. I bought my copy years ago for a class that I dropped out of. I'm happy that I'm using this series, but I would recommend that others check out the free version before buying it.
The Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students is a three-volume series of textbooks that is designed to help Muslim students in a classroom environment to learn the Arabic of the Qur'ān and the aḥādīṯ. The original version is exclusively in Arabic, & was designed for the use of students at the Islamic University of Madīnah al-Munawwarah. The course has been adapted for students elsewhere by the addition of an English key at the end, which gives English-language explanations of the grammatical points introduced in the text, & vocabulary lists keyed to the text. (Similar versions exist for German & Urdu.)
Here's what you should know in advance: The course is geared toward practicing Muslim students. This manifests itself in three ways that might be of importance to non-Muslim students: 1) The book assumes that the reader can already read Arabic for pronunciation, but not meaning. If you don't know the Arabic writing system & the pronunciation of the letters, you'll need to start somewhere else first. 2) The book assumes some knowledge of particular Islamic vocabulary. For example, one of the grammatical explanations uses the phrase صلى الله عليه وسلام after the name of the Prophet Muhammad, but does not give the meaning of the word صلى. Most Muslim students will know this, already, as the benediction is a common utterance after Muhammad's name. It might be unfamiliar to non-Muslim English-speakers. 3) With the introduction of two non-Muslim characters in one dialogue, a footnote is added praying for their eventual conversion/reversion to Islam. I appreciate the sentiment, but I can imagine some learners for whom this would be offensive. They should probably find a different textbook.
Here's what works: Grammatical points are doled out in drips & drabs, & are presented in the course of the reading over & over. Not much grammatical memorisation is required. Vocabulary is also given out in small chunks, & most vocab is repeated, which also helps to reduce the necessity of memorisation. Vocabulary in volume one focuses mostly on items in the classroom (including discussion of possession & location), talking about family, & talking about where one's from & what one does for a living.
I read thru volume 1, did all the exercises verbally, & did no other study. (I usually combine textbooks with flashcards when learning a language.) I'm confident that I have all of the grammatical points presented, & the great majority of the vocabulary. The book makes a grammar very different from English quite accessible.
Here's what doesn't work: The English key to the book is good, but it needs to be edited. A few vocabulary items are not included, which requires the student to refer to a dictionary (a skill not taught by the book, & quite a bit different from using a dictionary for most European languages). There are also some problems with the text outside of the key: There's no overall glossary. This is a pretty serious difficulty. A number of vocab items occur only once, so the student is unlikely to really pick them up. In the final couple of lessons, constructions are used that aren't explained. They're not too hard to work out, but it's a failing, nonetheless. An index would also be helpful for referring back to points of grammar learned previously.
With a teacher, I think that this could be an amazing textbook as it stands. For self-study, this is a well-thought-out textbook that has too many flaws to make it recommendable. It wouldn't take much for it to become a great book for learning basic classical Arabic.
The book is available for free at http://www.lqtoronto.com/downloads.html. I bought my copy years ago for a class that I dropped out of. I'm happy that I'm using this series, but I would recommend that others check out the free version before buying it.
April 6, 2017
Better to study with madina arabic learning course,
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmc2..."
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmc2..."
December 4, 2024
This is the suggested curriculum I'm following and it's working wonders in my language journey:
1. Ten Lessons of Arabic: do all ten lessons, memorize all vocab, and conjugation charts
2. Madinah Arabic Books (i.e. this series)
3. Tasheel Al-Nahw (full fledged grammar focused book that one should do along with the Madinah Arabic books)
Honestly, I've picked up this book and tried to work through its lessons many times before, but I always stopped because I never had a teacher, and the English version of this book with English explanations is not really that helpful, and because I didn't have a good foundation before starting this book. For some people, there Arabic learning journey starts with these books, but really for me having a foundation from Ten Lessons helped a lot while studying this book. I had a much better experience having that foundation already set and having a nice teacher from India going through all of this with me.
It took me a couple months to get through the first book in the series, but I guess that's expected if you're trying to get a deeper understanding of the language.
May God bless this knowledge and increase us in it.
Now... on to the next one!
1. Ten Lessons of Arabic: do all ten lessons, memorize all vocab, and conjugation charts
2. Madinah Arabic Books (i.e. this series)
3. Tasheel Al-Nahw (full fledged grammar focused book that one should do along with the Madinah Arabic books)
Honestly, I've picked up this book and tried to work through its lessons many times before, but I always stopped because I never had a teacher, and the English version of this book with English explanations is not really that helpful, and because I didn't have a good foundation before starting this book. For some people, there Arabic learning journey starts with these books, but really for me having a foundation from Ten Lessons helped a lot while studying this book. I had a much better experience having that foundation already set and having a nice teacher from India going through all of this with me.
It took me a couple months to get through the first book in the series, but I guess that's expected if you're trying to get a deeper understanding of the language.
May God bless this knowledge and increase us in it.
Now... on to the next one!
December 28, 2021
One of the leading works of teaching the English speaker essential Arabic grammar.
At times I feel it doesn’t do a great job explaining itself, which is why it is important to go through the book with a teacher. But it feels as it’s been written by someone who is not a native English speaker.
At times I feel it doesn’t do a great job explaining itself, which is why it is important to go through the book with a teacher. But it feels as it’s been written by someone who is not a native English speaker.
April 24, 2025
Alhamdulillah!!!
May Allah bless my Ustadh abundantly for thier patience and kindness.
May Allah bless my Ustadh abundantly for thier patience and kindness.
July 27, 2021
Amazing book to start learning! In my version there were some printing mistakes, which is annoying when learning, as you don't want to learn it wrong. Other than that I loved it. With all the exercises, you keep seeing words and grammar from previous chapters, so you don't forget those. Really practical!
August 16, 2022
best book if u wanna learn arabic grammer. perfect for beginners. I enjoyed studying this along with using YouTube courses as a supplement. highly reccomend. remember it's mostly grammar based to help you understand Qur'an and ahadith . I miss it :(
January 19, 2021
I have finished book 1 recently and it has been very beneficial. If you're an English speaker you will need an teacher to go through this book as it is all in Arabic and the grammer needs to be taught. There are many videos on youtube if you're keeping it low budget. If money isn't an issue I would reccomend attending a course or having a private tutor.
I had over exaggerated excpectians before starting this book and felt my Arabic would significantly improve after finishing. This is a very basic start and teaches basic Arabic grammer whilst learning vocab along the way.
I had over exaggerated excpectians before starting this book and felt my Arabic would significantly improve after finishing. This is a very basic start and teaches basic Arabic grammer whilst learning vocab along the way.
April 7, 2017
BLESSING in its entirety. <3
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews