When I first converted to Islam, of course, the first step was to learn the prayer - in Arabic. I memorized what needed to be memorized and it took me about 6 weeks to get most of the prayer down in a good way. But I still did not really understand it's meaning. The problem in the beginning, for me, was trying to concentrate in the prayer without really understanding the words. I really struggled in memorizing, as the words were difficult, and then, in retaining and using the information.
After learning prayer I also tried to learn small duaas. Again, I had the same difficulty. I feel the duaas are lost on me if I am just reciting words without knowing the meanings.
So what I did after having the "basics" down was learn about Islam in English. The reason for this, of course, was in order to fully understand and appreciate the information. After reading books for a while, I became somewhat bored, and thus I started learning through interactions on the net. What did other people say about Islam, how did they find that out, where did they take the information - and subhanAllah, I was guided to the way of the salaf. I remember asking my husband the meaning of the word a year or so ago, and he said, well, we follow the way of the salaf. It means, to try to find the way that the Prophet sallahu alayhi wa sallam did things, and his companions - and stick as closely as possible to it. And when in doubt, my conscience always referred me to the hadith on the doubtful matters.
What I noticed after this, was how at a loss I was in understanding anything - khutbas at the mosque, lectures by the scholars, the actual words of Allah (and not the translation), the tafseers - everything was in Arabic. And I started to understand that most of the problems that appeared in Islam - appeared because of problems of translation. My biggest obstacle then was to overcome this barrier.
So I have been studying Arabic for about a year now, in a few different centres and with a tutor. I can understand and speak what I need to in order to get my point across. I can even use the ameya if needed and understand some of what is happening around me because of some similarities - and the rest by learning. I am still no where near what I need to know in order to listen to lectures, khutbas or Quran, but I feel some satisfaction in the journey.
My problem - as usual - is getting bored of the path. Not the language, or anything like that - but I need to change it up again. Before I studied Arabic I memorized about a quarter of the last part of the Quran. Unfortunately during prayer I have stuck to reciting the surahs I knew well, and forgot a lot of the rest.
The reason I did not stay with memorization was because of how difficult it was to memorize and of course, understand. I had thought that if I picked up some Arabic the Quran would somehow be easier. I even tried to go to a center for memorization but the teachers were like "Oh she doesn't even know hamzatul-wasl" and I was discouraged and embarrassed. So I did try to focus once again on Arabic.
It is such a long journey subhanAllah. And I think many Muslimahs do not even put much effort into the Arabic part of Islam. I, for one, have, alhumdullah, come to realize that Islam is completely and totally incomplete without understanding the language in which it was revealed.
The past few weeks, the sisters here in Rehab have all been asking me (separately and unintentionally) if I will attend this weekly halaqa. At first I replied, I am busy with the Arabic class and teaching English on that day. But, after being asked multiple times, I decided, perhaps it would be to my benefit to attend.
This morning then I changed my schedule and attended the halaqa. Picking up an Islamic book, for a long time has felt very heavy and difficult. But, subhanAllah, when I was reading with the other sisters I felt a wave of inspiration. I felt moved inside to learn more about Quran, and Arabic, and Islam.
I think I am ready to pick it up on my own once again. I have cut my Arabic back to two times per week, and asked my husband to read Quran and Islamic history with me (in Arabic). Reading Arabic by myself is pointless because I need someone to translate about 50 per cent of the words. But I have found I am finally comfortable to study with my husband and it gives us something beneficial to do together. My husband is busy though ma shaa Allah, so I cannot rely on him alone. Today then, I picked up the Quran, the tafseer, and listened to the recitation, tried to repeat it many times (as an effort to memorize or remind myself) then read some tafseer. It felt so easy! I struggled for so long to pick it up again, I don't know why, but finally it feels easy and rewarding once again. I do know that having some Arabic has made it less frustrating.
I think then what I will do is try to learn more Arabic through the Islamic texts, and thus, start combining all my efforts. I want to live and breathe it. I am tired of having just a class, I want to make some kind of a disciplined schedule for myself. Not a heavy one - just a daily one. I think I am finally ready.
I also picked up the book of duaa once again. It was also so hard in the beginning and meaningless - and I am not one to just memorize when I can't understand it. But finally the barriers are slowly coming down. After being a Muslim for three years, studying Arabic for 1 - I know I have only begun to scrape the surface.
Everything I have done until now is like a precursor to actually learning and understanding the deep and beautiful meanings within Islam.
Now I can really begin.
7 other thoughts:
I learn aobut Islam in English. I do not speak Arabic. Maybe inshaallah in the future I will have more time to dedicate to it. I find it to be a difficult language, and it requires diligence, patience and regular study. My husband has done so much to try to help me, but it gets lost on me. He seems to have an endless supply of patience. I found that attempting to study brought on so much stress!
My question is, since arabic has words that we do not have translations for in english, how would a non-arabic speaker come to understand some of them, when we only have english to assimilate/translate with? Its not as if some of the words were learned since birth like a native speaker.
I have memorized some surahs, and I know what they mean sentence for sentence, but while I am actually reciting for prayer, I find it difficult to understand it word for word as Im doing it, hence afterwards, I do it in english too. My reasoning is this: the point of 5 daily prayers is to keep us on the straight path, to give us 5 daily reminders of Allahs word, and to receive the benefit of the revelation..... that is what Im after. Just reciting alone in arabic (silently) in arabic doesnt give me that full benefit, and I feel like Im merely going throught the motions.
Essentially it takes me twice as long to pray as my husband LOL. He knows if we are praying together, he has to slow down and wait for me.
Oh no! I'd written my whole comment and accidentally deleted it!!
Was saying, in brief, that I think learning Qur'an is extremely important, but that learning Arabic is not necessary to understanding the Qur'an. I think a person reading books will learn about Qur'anic terms (which are Arabic) and so will learn some Arabic, but that learning the actual language in full isn't as important as some other things.
I see importance in learning that English translations are interpretations of the original Arabic. And I think it's important to get a couple different translations to work with and see the difference. I think that any non-Arabic speaker will have the same difficulties after learning Arabic and reading the Qur'an in Arabic than he would reading it in English since it's virtually impossible to get so fluent that you catch every small bit of the text to really understand it.
I think focusing on things like how much deeper the meaning of a phrase like "bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim" is in Arabic is what is important... Things that even if we learn what the words mean "in the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful", would still not make it complete understanding.
Salam alaikum,
I never learned arabic language, but other languages(not english,i don't understand it perfectly), and what I found out is that the best way to learn a foreign language is by reading loooots and lots of books,written in that language. I would go to a library and look for books that are interesting,like science fiction or comic books,or whatever,something that is not boring. Then I would read them,and write down every word i didn't know on a piece of paper,look it up in dictionary,and write translation on that paper. Also,try to speak arabic with everyone,and minimise speaking english. When I started not only speaking, but thinking in foreign language, thats when i realised that i understand it.
So sorry if this comment is too long,and wish you best!
Salam!
I agree imuslimah, it is certaiinly difficult, but it becomes easier in shaa Allah
that is exactly what i was referring to, not having a good grasp of Arabic means I am losing out a whole lot, just as u mentioned regarding prayers. There is one program online that helps to teach arabic based on the prayer and duaa a muslim must recite everyday.
I have even read that it is obligatory on the Muslim to understand the language the Quran was revealed.
SOme words in Arabic do not transfer to English... like for example in English they say "God" but in Islam, if you understand that "al" is the definite article or THE and Ilah is God, then ALLAH actually translates (somehow) to the one and only true God. So I say ALLAH and in my mind it has a whole a lot more meaning than God.
Similarly with AR rahman AR Raheem. Both words are derived from "r" "h" "m" or mercy. But one refers to the mercy Allah has for his slaves and one refers to the blessing/mercy he bestows on them (thus we think of it as the Compassionate, the Merciful) but when it is explained, we think of a phrase, or feeling rather than just "the compassionate"
For these reasons I do agree that Arabic is an amazing and PRECISE language and a muslim would really be doing a disservice to himself and his religion by thinking he can always accept a translation.
I honestly feel learning Arabic makes the Islam easier, opens the heart to the Quran, and helps u understand and benefit that much more.
And Candice, as well, nevermind just the Quran, but all the tafseer, scholars lectures etc are in Arabic... and it has been discussed that Allah chose Arabic for the final book and messenger becuz of the nature of the language. Honestly, by understanding certain meanings is a start but once the barriers begin to melt away, understanding the language is so much more amazing than you would expect.
Here is anice article to read in shaa Allah:
http://www.troid.org/ibaadah/important-material-concerning-knowledge/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=527&Itemid=358
And that site for understanding Quran is
http://www.understandquran.com/
Assalamualaikum
I was born muslim, was lucky to have very religious parents who taught me how to read the quran fluently and with tajweed...but without understanding the meanings of the words....tried studying Arabic but like all languages, you need to immerse yourself in the language to make some credible development in your acquirement of the language. 7 years ago, I married an arab man, but we unfortunately communicated in english only..but thankfully there was an arab community here in nz so I learnt from sisters at first but slowly but surely started to feel discontent when they could not answer my technical questions and was asked to just accept it as it is (as they themselves do not know the workings of the language from automatically being born into an arabic environment). Bought myself Tell Me More arabic cds...that helped alot in improving my arabic but not much impact....until I discovered Arab Academy online (centred in Cairo). I have been so pleased ever since as my knowledge and thirst for the language has been answered. I speak to a teacher twice a week through skype and I get to do the exercises online at my own pace. The best thing I discovered was (analysis) إعراب. All my earlier queries about sentence structure answered by my teachers in two minutes!! There are online tests and exams. Yes, it was a little expensive but there are times when I read the quran, the whole sentence suddenly makes sense to me completely. The effect was mind blowing and for me, the costs of it all worth it.
It also helps that since my child was born five years ago, we decided to speak arabic fusha with him only...of course now, he speaks english too...but arabic, too.
umyousef (nz)
Assalamu alaykum sisters,
I've read all the comments above and here's what I think (for what it's worth).
Yes, arabic has words that cannot be translated into english but that goes for every single language in the world. English is my third language (and least favourite actually) and I can assure you than there a lots of words that cannot be translated from &/or into English. But somehow that's never a major problem.
Having said that, I always think it's a good idea to study arabic if you want to understand the Quran the way arabic speaker do.
I've read translated documents/books from my mother tongue into english and at times, I either disagree with the translation &/or think the whole "idea" or concept had been lost / missed due to the translation.
Finally, I have to admit that I do not speak arabic at all (I only know enough to perform the daily prayers).
I think however, that as muslimah, we should really make the effort to learn and speak the language of the Quran.
(I'm learning online at the moment as my weekly classes had to be stopped and won't start again before the end of August / I find the arabic language extremely difficult but I persevere as I've got a lot of competition... my daughter's starting school in September and she'll be learning arabic. I think she'll be a much better student, she'll speak the language before I do).
Umm, daily prayers still are a bit of a struggle for me I have to admit but I know that one day, insh'allah, everything will just click and the language barrier won't be there.
Nice to read your daily thoughts.
wa alaykum salam!
welcome Um yusef and maz! nice to have u here sisters :)
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