Miftah: An Introductory Arabic Curriculum for English-Speakers

The Miftah Curriculum takes students with no knowledge of Arabic and gives them a solid grounding in the language in preparation for the Sibawayh and Treasures Curricula. Students are gently yet systematically introduced to the basic rules of Arabic, until they reach the point of being able to read actual hadiths, from simple, brief, yet eloquent statements to longer passages requiring more complex linguistic analysis.

The Miftah Curriculum tiers are summarized in the following chart. Details on the tiers and philosophy behind the curriculum follow.

Miftah...the key to unlocking Treasures.

	Goal	Course Name	Course Code
100-Level Courses: Introductory Theory	An introduction to reading and the basic rules of Arabic	Basic Arabic Reading	ARB101
		Introductory Arabic, Part 1	ARB111
		Introductory Arabic, Part 2	ARB112
200-Level Courses: Intensive Application	Fully understand theory and rules through application to 350 hadiths	Intermediate Arabic, Part I	ARB201
		Intermediate Arabic, Part 2	ARB202
		Intermediate Arabic, Part 3	ARB203

An Old Yet Innovative Approach to Learning Arabic

Arabic is sacred: it is the language of the Quran, the language of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), and the language of authoritative scholarly works in every religious discipline. Traveling far along the path of sacred knowledge requires taking a short detour to learn Arabic.

Muslims have been learning Arabic for centuries with this sacred goal in mind. Non-Arab Muslims—such as the Turks, the Persians, and the Indians—have formulated rigorous methods of teaching their children Arabic so that they can directly access sacred religious texts. These methods have stood the test of time and produced thousands of top-notch scholars.

The Miftah and Sibawayh Curricula take you forward by going back to the classical methods of teaching Arabic that are prevalent to this day in many centers of religious learning in the non-Arab world. It is innovative because it is—to our knowledge—the first of its kind in the English-speaking world.

A four-year series of rigorous courses, the Miftah and Sibawayh Curricula are a bridge to the Treasures Curriculum that prepares students with no knowledge of Arabic to read and understand classical religious texts in their original Arabic. Unlike other Arabic learning programs, these courses have a purely religious focus: to learn Arabic to understand the Qur’an, the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), and the works of classical scholars.

100-Level Courses: Introductory Theory

The first tier of Miftah courses gently yet systematically introduces students to the basic rules of Arabic.

Reading and Writing in Arabic (ARB101) is an optional course that teaches you how to read and write Arabic script and introduces some very basic language rules and vocabulary.

Introductory Arabic, Part 1 (ARB111) introduces the types of Arabic words, the most common sub-sentence Arabic constructions, and basic Arabic sentence structure. You will also memorize carefully chosen vocabulary and learn how to conjugate simple verbs.

Introductory Arabic, Part 2 (ARB112) builds on the previous course and focuses on making you semi-independent by teaching you how to identify word roots and use a classically arranged dictionary, such as the famous Hans-Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Twenty-five short hadiths are used as models for learning more complex language rules.

200-Level Courses: Intensive Application

Rules are only fully understood through repeated application. This second tier of Miftah courses applies the theory learned in the first tier to 350 hadiths over three courses. You are expected to memorize or at least become thoroughly familiar with the rules and vocabulary illustrated in each hadith.

The textbook for these courses is Zad al-Talibin, an abridgment of the famous Mishkat al-Masabih hadith compendium. This abridgement has been carefully chosen and arranged by the author to facilitate systematic language learning. Each hadith is subjected to a rigorous linguistic analysis. This analysis is then followed by a brief explanation of the prophetic wisdom and guidance that it contains.

Intermediate Arabic, Part I: Grammatical Analysis of Noun-Sentence Hadiths (ARB201) examines the first 120 hadiths, which are brief and eloquent statements that illustrate the common forms of the noun-sentence in classical religious Arabic usage.

Grammatical Analysis of Verb-Sentence Hadiths (ARB202) examines the next 150 hadiths, which are brief and eloquent statements that illustrate the common forms of the verb-sentence in classical religious Arabic usage.

Grammatical Analyis of Long Hadiths (ARB203) examines the final 70 hadiths, which are longer passages that require more complex linguistic analysis. The first 30 hadiths are hadiths where the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) foretold the future. The final 40 hadiths are long hadith narrations of various events and stories.

Note: The 100-level and 200-level tier courses build upon each other—each course is a prerequisite for the course that follows.

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