Learning The Language of God

Hi, Ali again, and in this blog I’m going to talk about how the Arabic Course is going for me.

So, I started the course in around September and it’s pretty unbelievable that I am now at the ability where I’ll be able to translate the Quran, given the vocabulary. I started by learning the basics, the types of sentences and what they are made from. I was also learning basic vocabulary from a series of books called Madina Islamic University, which I really recommend when learning Arabic. By the way,  as a tip when learning, even if you don’t have any homework, constantly revise what you have learnt and try and stay at least a chapter ahead of where you are at the moment, it really helps so you already have a rough idea of what’s going on when you go into your lesson.

As well as learning Arabic, I was and am learning about Sharia Laws, more specifically, the rules and laws of Fasting, and Zakat. These rules can be found in the book, Ta’leemul Haq, which can be bought from many Islamic bookshops. It is pretty much a necessity when going onto advanced studies in Islam. It covers a range of topics which are worth knowing about just in life generally.

So this is what I’ve done until now and in my next blog, I will talk about what I’m doing currently and my exams which are coming up.

Thanks and come back again to see my journey to my scholarship

How My Journey Started…

Hello, my name’s Ali, and I’m a student studying to be an Islamic Scholar or Alim.

So a bit more about me, so I’m a fourteen year old and I’m at the crucial point in my life where I have to decide which way I want to go. Through the academic route or the religious route.
Although I have no choice over my GCSE’s, (this is when he realised it wasn’t that crucial) it’s after that when it really kicks in because I’m expected to learn at the mosque and study for my A-Levels at the same time.

A bit closer to home I’ve lived in a pretty religious household all my life, I began to actually get educated at around five or six when I studied the basics of Islam. From then, thoughout the next 7 years of my life I memorised Hadeeth, Surahs, and basic Shari’a law. Considering I was very young, I didn’t know what any of it meant. That lead me to the question which began my journey…

What the hell does this mean?!?

That lead me to leaving my old Madrasa (Islamic School) and waiting six months to join an Institution where I would eventually at some point in my life become an Islamic Scholar – an Alim, and to do that I must go through and Alim Course.

Now about my Alim course, so my Alim course consists of two parts, the first is when I study the Arabic Language and learn how to read, write and speak it, and the second is when I study Islamic Books or Kitaabs. Then after that, if I decide to carry on, I have to travel to Egypt and study special books there under special teachers.

And what am I doing now? So, now I’m in the first phase of my Arabic course and I am learning how to read, write, and speak Arabic correctly. By doing this I learn all the rules I need to know to translate words and sentences correctly. Also, by doing this, I learn how to read two different types of Arabic: Classical Arabic, which is found in the Quran, and Modern Standard Arabic, which is spoken by people Arab lawyers, professors etc.

In my next blog I’m going to talk more about what I do, what books I’m studying, and more about which route I want to go down.

Thanks for reading! I’m going to post on every Sunday, so feel free to come back and read my journey.