Nouman Ali Khan
studying the Arabic for the purpose of understanding the Quran and just so everybody again has a heads up.
I’ll try to keep these sessions shorter than 20 minutes between 10 and 20 minutes at the most okay because I do want you to remember some of these things that I’m sharing with you this is not relevant maybe for everybody but those of you that are interested learning Arabic to help you understand the Quran.
I think you’ll find this discussion beneficial so when it comes to learning any language you want to be able to acquire four skills,
there any language that you’re good at you want to be able to say I have four skills in that language those skills are reading writing listening and speaking.
I’ll say that again reading writing listening and speaking and the way to organize those skills like when you go to like I know I used to study Spanish in high school and I’m trying to learn some Turkish down and you know at one point or another.
I’ve tried to learn, several other different languages when you go to a language class your professor your teacher will get you to say something speaking I’ll get you the same my name is this or here’s how you say hello or here’s how you say welcome here’s how you say good evening etc etc right that’s speaking they’ll try to introduce you to the alphabet of that language.
that’s writing obviously they’ll say something and expect that you understand what they said that’s listening right and then of course they’ll put words on the board or in your textbook and they’ll expect you to read it in that language the way it’s supposed to be pronounced that’s reading I want you to take those four skills reading writing speaking and listening and restructure them reorganize them in your mind again we’re learning not Spanish or German or French actually we’re not even learning Arabic for a general purpose.
we’re learning Arabic to understand the Quran it’s a very specific purpose our entire study of the language is focused primarily first on a book and then everything else in that language that’s secondary to us right if that’s the case then of those four skills two skills become less important in the beginning at least.
anyway they become less important so speaking becomes less important and writing becomes less important because for the average Muslim who just wants to understand the Quran they’re not going to sit there and write so little Bakura they’re gonna read it they’re not gonna write it and even if they never learned.
how to write it properly? it wouldn’t make a difference they’re not interested in writing first they’re interested in understanding first, so writing is not a top priority if you’re studying Arabic for the purpose of the Quran especially those of you that are trying to study this part-time, you have limited time to study anyway and you want to make the most of every minute of effort you’re gonna put in to learn.
why would you spend time learning and prioritizing something? that won’t take you to your immediate goal right so writing is basically you put an X on it in the beginning there’s we’re not gonna focus on writing the same thing about speaking I mean okay you know now how to say that it’s the weather is nice today or it’s sunny today so what like how’s that going to help you understand when the imam is reciting the prayer or when you’re reciting the Quran so your speaking skills are about you producing language you producing words and you expressing yourself, it’s not about understanding the Quran.
so as an early skill set even though in a normal Arabic classroom these are or any foreign language classroom these are like top priority skills you start with things like if you don’t have this what do you have that kind of thing you know and even if your friends say hey you’re learning Arabic yeah say something in Arabic and you’re like smile Rahim it’s not impressive if you’re not learning to speak, then you can’t impress somebody else that you’ve learned a new language but we’re not learning this to impress anybody we’re learning this so that we understand the hold on so we come back to that.
I mentioned four skills at the top of this session I’ve reduced it now to two skills it’s two skills are gone writing is gone for now and speaking is gone for now so what’s left what’s left is reading and listening once again what’s left is reading and listening now even within reading and listening will prioritize by the way focusing on two skills is way easier than focusing on four skills isn’t it like your works already cut by half that’s already the case, and now so you’re already in a much easier position to be able to get to your goal.