The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said: “Everything in existence prays for the forgiveness of the person who teaches the Qur’an – even the fish in the sea.” In order to access the Qur’an, you must first know how to read Arabic, the language of divine revelation. Knowledge of Arabic brings Muslims closer to their religion, so that they are able to pray with focus and understand what they are reciting. The first step of this journey is to learn how to read the Arabic script.
Traditionally, Muslim children were taught how to read the Qur’an even if they could not speak or understand Arabic. Many Muslims raised in non-Muslim lands—whether converts or otherwise—are no longer taught this vital religious skill, and only realize its importance later in life. But it’s never too late to learn.
In Basic Arabic Reading, you can set the foundations for learning Arabic through learning how to read the Qur’an and any other vowelled Arabic text through a method that is unique in the English-speaking world. Based on traditional, time-tested methods of learning how to read the Qur’an that are used in the Indian subcontinent, the technique used in the course is the best and most solid way to learn how to read. Enhancing the repetition and memorization needed to learn how to read are lessons that provide a theoretical background to the rules of reading drawing from advanced books of tajwid (Quranic recitation) and Arabic morphology.
The script taught in this course is the standard Arabic script used in copies of the Quran printed in the Arab world, specifically the standard King Fahd Saudi mushaf. Students who instead learn the Indo-Pak Quranic script are seriously hampered in their ability to learn the Arabic language further down the line.
This course is also unique because it also teaches a number of important tajwid rules that other reading courses don’t cover. These rules are necessarily for properly reciting the Quran, and many of these rules are needed even for reading standard Arabic texts correctly. Thus, this course serves as a gateway to both SunniPath’s Miftah Arabic curriculum and to future tajwid courses.
By the end of this course, you will be able to perfectly read any vowelled Arabic script, including copies of the Quran.