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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.
- GenresIslam
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
15 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
About the author
V. Abdur Rahim
60 books50 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 26, 2012
Great textbook for learning Qur'ānic Arabic, but:
1. A large chunk of the vocabulary used in the dialogues & exercises does not appear in the vocabulary lists in the English text. This necessitates the use of a dictionary. The third volume of this series recommends Hans Wehr's Arabic dictionary, but no instruction is given in volumes one or two for how to look terms up in Wehr. Like most good Arabic dictionaries, Wehr's functions quite differently from European language dictionaries, & students need to know how to identify words' roots.
2. The dialogues can get a bit boring. Almost all are conversations between a teacher & his students, or a father & his children. Every dialogue takes place in a classroom or a home. There's one pretty exciting scene where a scorpion gets killed, & then this other time the drains get clocked because someone throws trash in the toilet, & then also there's the child who urinates on various people's clothing. But other than this, things are pretty redundant & dull. That said, the monotony of the goings-on in the dialogues makes it easier to focus on the grammatical points.
3. There is no index of grammatical terms. Some terms are introduced once, disappear for a few lessons, & then reappear again. This can get confusing. My recommendation for other students of these textbooks is to make a list—either in a notebook, on a sheet of paper near where you study, or perhaps ideally digitally, so that it can be alphabetised—of all new grammatical terms as they are first introduced.
4. Grammatical terms used by Western Arabists are only given in Arabic. I think it's great that the student is being taught to think in terms of the Arabic grammar, but I think it's also useful to know how forms are described in other Western grammars. (Terms like 'noun', 'verb', & 'adjective' are used quite freely in the English translation, but we never learn that English-speaking Arabists refer to الفعل المثال as 'assimilated verbs'. It's probably better to think of the grammatical class by the Arabic term, but if one's using an English-language anyhow, it seems useful to have at least been introduced to the term by which this class will be identified in the primary English-language grammars.)
A few notes in favour of the textbook: The primary text is entirely in Arabic. This means that you're less inclined than you might otherwise be to glance at the English first. Good for making you actually reading Arabic. The grammar is *mostly* introduced just a little bit at a time, which makes it far easier to absorb. This is less true than in volume one &, in fact, the system falls apart in the final lessons of the book, where various kinds of verbs are taught all at once (this would have been easier if, for example, الفعل الأجوف—hollow verbs—had had its forms spread out over a few lessons, rather than having all forms introduced in one lesson). However, as I said, the book is mostly quite good about this.
The book also comes with various helpful ancillæ: Beyond the Arabic textbook there is, as mentioned, the English translation (as well as German & Urdu versions), several grammar handouts, an answer key, & a glossary to all three volumes available (as is the book itself) as free PDFs at http://www.lqtoronto.com/. There are videos for all three volumes of the course: A student who wishes to can watch lectures in English from an actual Qur'ānic Arabic teacher who uses the textbook.
This is not a great textbook for picking up فصحى (formal Arabic) communication skills. However, it's a great tool for learning formal grammar.
1. A large chunk of the vocabulary used in the dialogues & exercises does not appear in the vocabulary lists in the English text. This necessitates the use of a dictionary. The third volume of this series recommends Hans Wehr's Arabic dictionary, but no instruction is given in volumes one or two for how to look terms up in Wehr. Like most good Arabic dictionaries, Wehr's functions quite differently from European language dictionaries, & students need to know how to identify words' roots.
2. The dialogues can get a bit boring. Almost all are conversations between a teacher & his students, or a father & his children. Every dialogue takes place in a classroom or a home. There's one pretty exciting scene where a scorpion gets killed, & then this other time the drains get clocked because someone throws trash in the toilet, & then also there's the child who urinates on various people's clothing. But other than this, things are pretty redundant & dull. That said, the monotony of the goings-on in the dialogues makes it easier to focus on the grammatical points.
3. There is no index of grammatical terms. Some terms are introduced once, disappear for a few lessons, & then reappear again. This can get confusing. My recommendation for other students of these textbooks is to make a list—either in a notebook, on a sheet of paper near where you study, or perhaps ideally digitally, so that it can be alphabetised—of all new grammatical terms as they are first introduced.
4. Grammatical terms used by Western Arabists are only given in Arabic. I think it's great that the student is being taught to think in terms of the Arabic grammar, but I think it's also useful to know how forms are described in other Western grammars. (Terms like 'noun', 'verb', & 'adjective' are used quite freely in the English translation, but we never learn that English-speaking Arabists refer to الفعل المثال as 'assimilated verbs'. It's probably better to think of the grammatical class by the Arabic term, but if one's using an English-language anyhow, it seems useful to have at least been introduced to the term by which this class will be identified in the primary English-language grammars.)
A few notes in favour of the textbook: The primary text is entirely in Arabic. This means that you're less inclined than you might otherwise be to glance at the English first. Good for making you actually reading Arabic. The grammar is *mostly* introduced just a little bit at a time, which makes it far easier to absorb. This is less true than in volume one &, in fact, the system falls apart in the final lessons of the book, where various kinds of verbs are taught all at once (this would have been easier if, for example, الفعل الأجوف—hollow verbs—had had its forms spread out over a few lessons, rather than having all forms introduced in one lesson). However, as I said, the book is mostly quite good about this.
The book also comes with various helpful ancillæ: Beyond the Arabic textbook there is, as mentioned, the English translation (as well as German & Urdu versions), several grammar handouts, an answer key, & a glossary to all three volumes available (as is the book itself) as free PDFs at http://www.lqtoronto.com/. There are videos for all three volumes of the course: A student who wishes to can watch lectures in English from an actual Qur'ānic Arabic teacher who uses the textbook.
This is not a great textbook for picking up فصحى (formal Arabic) communication skills. However, it's a great tool for learning formal grammar.
January 18, 2024
getting better and better with my vocabulary baggage! الحمد لله 💕
June 13, 2025
A well-written book, consisting of 31 chapters, and perfectly aligned as a continuation of the first book in the series. While the first book focused primarily on nouns and their grammar rules (what we refer to as nahw in Arabic), the second book transitions from additional grammar concepts into the realm of verbs and verb conjugations (sarf).
The author introduces verbs gradually, without overwhelming the learner with too many conjugations or tenses at once. However, I personally had two issues. As someone who had already studied verb scales through Ten Lessons of Arabic, the pacing of this book felt too slow. For example, 2–3 lengthy chapters were dedicated solely to the past tense, and another 4–5 chapters focused on the present tense. I found this approach overly drawn-out and repetitive, which made the learning process feel tedious. I slowed down significantly during these sections and ended up taking months to finish them. In hindsight, I probably should have skipped ahead, but I was committed to completing the book thoroughly.
That said, one read-through of this book is definitely not enough. The vocabulary lists are longer than those in the first book and demand a thorough second reading. Mastering the vocabulary is essential before moving on to Book 3.
I plan to take a break before starting the third book to focus on solidifying my grammar, sarf charts, and vocabulary from both the first and second books.
The author introduces verbs gradually, without overwhelming the learner with too many conjugations or tenses at once. However, I personally had two issues. As someone who had already studied verb scales through Ten Lessons of Arabic, the pacing of this book felt too slow. For example, 2–3 lengthy chapters were dedicated solely to the past tense, and another 4–5 chapters focused on the present tense. I found this approach overly drawn-out and repetitive, which made the learning process feel tedious. I slowed down significantly during these sections and ended up taking months to finish them. In hindsight, I probably should have skipped ahead, but I was committed to completing the book thoroughly.
That said, one read-through of this book is definitely not enough. The vocabulary lists are longer than those in the first book and demand a thorough second reading. Mastering the vocabulary is essential before moving on to Book 3.
I plan to take a break before starting the third book to focus on solidifying my grammar, sarf charts, and vocabulary from both the first and second books.
August 16, 2022
great book just like the first but a bit more complicated . I need lots of revision for this one to be honest. phew. also this one doesn't have much art like the first one did. I don't think it even has any hmmm I forgot.
October 28, 2017
Ma sha Allah, Alhamdulillah-e-Rabbil Alameeen <3
May 6, 2021
Better to study with madina arabic learning course,
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmc2..."
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmc2..."
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews