How to Improve Your Arabic from Intermediate to Advanced
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
2 years ago, I had virtually no problem understanding a lecture or class taught in classical Arabic. My comprehension was at 99%, given contextual clues. It, therefore, came as a surprise to learn that I was incapable of reading a single page of a book of Arabic literature without having to refer to the dictionary at least 10 times per page. Poetry was little more than sweet-sounding jibberish to me.
I have spent time in the past year or so trying to improve my Arabic. The following is the fruit of my labour made available for those who wish to follow suit. I ask Allah to increase myself and all who benefit from this guide in understanding the Quran and to give us to strength to follow what we learn.
Who This Is Not For
This is not a guide for starting Arabic from scratch. It assumes that you can listen to a lecture in Arabic and at least understand the gist of what’s going on.
If you are not at this stage, you need to study a basic book of Arabic grammar and watch a lot of Arabic cartoons while using Google Translate to translate words you don’t know as you’re watching in a flowing manner. (If you pause at every word you don’t know, it’s going to be torture and you will not get the listening hours required).
Here is a cartoon you can start with: مسلسل القناص كامل وبجودة عالية HUNTER X HUNTER HD . I’ve included more shows at the bottom of this page, but most of them are not appropriate for beginner level.
Note: I do not know of any websites whereby entire series of dubbed cartoons can be found in Arabic. If anyone knows of anything like this, please leave a comment for others to benefit inshaAllah.
The Curriculum
The following teacher, Ahmad Rida Hashim, is part of an institute that teaches non-Arab students Islamic sciences in Egypt from a Salafi perspective. He teaches Arabic specifically. The benefits of his lectures are as follows:
- He speaks near-perfect classical Arabic throughout his classes, with almost full i3raab. This is exceedingly rare amongst Arabs, even those who are grammar teachers. This means that his lectures present a rare opportunity to hear classical Arabic spoken in a natural context, which reinforces correct speaking patterns unconsciously while simply following the class.
- He explains a lot of vocabulary because he is teaching non-Arabs. Unlike most Arab Arabic grammar teachers, he will not start dropping poetry and expect you to get it. Rather, he will walk you through things in baby steps, which is excellent for improving vocabulary.
Note that by the time students are taking his classes they already have the ability to follow a lecture in Arabic, hence my earlier warning. They are not starting from scratch, but you can see their competence in the language improve as you go from the more basic books to the more advanced books with them. It’s kind of cute.
Here is the order in which to watch his lectures. You can usually find accompanying PDFs in the description of the first video in the series or through a quick Google search.
- محاضرات في علم الصرف
- التحفة السنية بشرح المقدمة الآجرومية – أستاذ أحمد رضا هاشم
- (Note, these two must be studied together in tandem. Once you finish a section in Qatrul Nada, you should look up that section in Al-Nahw al-Wadheefi and follow the class to practice and solidify your skill in grammatical parsing.) قطر الندى – أستاذ أحمد رضا هاشم [2015] + النحو الوظيفي – تمرنات في النحو
How to Study Stage 3
In Qatr al-Nada there are about 150 lines of poetry that are used as shawaahid in the text. The ustaadh will go over all 150 lines. He will begin by giving a basic definition of the words as well as the overall meaning of the text. He will then use the whiteboard to do the grammatical parsing and explanation. Lastly, he will read the commentary of Muhyiddeen Abdul Hameed which will go over the same thing once again.
If you want to learn Nahw, it is essential that you pause the video and attempt to do the grammatical parsing yourself after the ustaadh has explained the vocabulary and general meaning of the verse. I repeat: this is absolutely essential. You MUST attempt, even if you have no idea what you’re doing. Guess. But be thorough and give your best shot at doing the entire verse. The first few times you will fall flat on your face. But by the time you get to verse 100, you’ll be doing it mostly right. If you follow this simple formula, you will have pretty much mastered most of nahw by the time you’re done Qatr, and you’ll be way ahead of most students of Arabic.
Also note that he will do the i3raab for Quranic ayaat that occur in the text as well, but without writing them on the board. You should pause the video and always attempt to do the i3raab yourself, even if you fail miserably. Practice makes perfect. Also note that for nearly every Quranic verse that he does the i3raab of, there are usually alternative opinions and i3raabaat that could be given; do not take his word as the final, but as a beginning student you should take it as usually the most apparent meaning of the verse. Furthermore, you’ll know when you definitely got it wrong.
Note that you should follow the same formula when it comes to Al-Nahw al-Wadheefi. The ustaadh will not write on the board, but nevertheless, he will almost always explain the vocabulary before the grammar. Always pause before the grammar reveal. You should think of the ustaadh’s explanation of the grammar as an answer key, not as an example for you to then practice elsewhere. You can always do more practice later if needed, but following this method, you won’t need to.
However, it will make your progress in each lesson a lot slower. Instead of the lesson taking one hour and a half, it can take 2 or even 3 times that if you need to pause to keep up with the ustaadh’s writing speed if you’re slow at writing Arabic (as most intermediate Arabic students tend to be).
Once you are done Qatr al-Nadaa, review all of your notes in detail. Anything you didn’t already know, write in a separate notebook with plenty of examples of the grammatical rules using new sentences that *you* produce. Production of new sentences forces your brain to work way harder and ends up helping your memory retain the rule better. Study this separate notebook again, and hammer out any remaining loose ends that you didn’t absorb well.
Once you are done that, write out the entire book of Qatr al-Nadaa (not Sharh Qatr al-Nadaa, which is a 300-page book. I mean just the asl, which is only a few pages long). You should understand every sentence of the book based on your extensive notes. Everything should be perfectly clear and you should be able to give at least a basic explanation of any part of the asl off the top of your head.
If it is too difficult to write the entire matn of Qatrul Nadaa, then at least read it carefully, making sure you understand every word.
The stand-alone text of the asl can be found at the following links:
40-page version: https://archive.org/details/WAQ40733/page/n9/mode/2up
Alternative 100-page text: https://archive.org/details/a546n/page/n3/mode/2up
The next step is to apply your knowledge of nahw to everything you read in Arabic. I strongly recommend doing some i3raab of the Quran and then checking your answers against one of the famous i3raabul Quran books. You can also find them in apps. This will help further cement your abilities in nahw. However, don’t let this prevent you from continuing onward.
One thing missing in Qatr al-Nada is a detailed exposition of the huroof al-jarr. You can supplement this with a quick study of: شرح كتاب العوامل المئة (مكتمل)
The Penultimate Stage
You’ll still want to advance your vocabulary.
The next step therefore is:
1-البلاغة الواضحة🍭أحمد رضا هاشم
This book will help you learn the science of balagha, but also massively improve your vocabulary.
Finally, there is:
درس الأدب – النظرات للمنفلوطي .
Unfortunately, he does not teach the full book, but I think 30 hours of guided reading is bound to drill everything in as well as improve your vocabulary substantially.
Note, it really doesn’t matter if you do the adab first or the book of balagha first. It’s probably better to do balagha first, but if you feel that the adab dars will help you solidify your nahw better and give you some much-needed vocabulary quicker, feel free to change the order. I consider them both to be one stage.
Once you’re done this stage, congratulations, your vocabulary is still not sufficient to read Arabic literature and poetry. You’ll still be struggling. Is it hopeless?
No.
Rather, you must push on. You are in a war of attrition. You will not give up. You will not falter. You are so close…You will ascend the peaks as soon as you finish…
A basic study of a wide range of poetry with basic commentary.
The Final Stage
Here are a bunch of playlists I’ve collected. I have not ordered them in any particular order. I pray they will be of use to you inshaAllah. Also note that many of the channels that made these videos have even more commentaries on various poems, so feel free to browse other playlists on their channels.
التعليق على ديوان حماسة أبي تمام (متجدد)
شرح معلقة الأعشى الكبير (مكتمل)
شرح معلقة لبيد بن ربيعة العامري (مكتمل)
شرح معلقة طرفة بن العبد (مكتمل)
شرح معلقة زهير بن أبي سُلمى (مكتمل)
شرح معلقة طرفة بن العبد (مكتمل)
شرح معلقة عنترة بن شداد العبسي (مكتمل)
شرح معلقة الحارث بن حلزة (مكتمل)
شرح معلقة عمرو بن كلثوم (مكتمل)
شرح لامية أبي طالب في نصرة النبي -صلى الله عليه وسلم-/ الشيخ عبدالرحمن كوني
كرسي المتنبي (شرح ديوان المتنبي)
مجنون ليلى – تذكرت ليلى و السنين الخواليا
قصة البردة لكعب بن زهير – بانت سعاد فقلبي اليوم متبول
12- شرح البردة للإمام البوصيري في مديح النبي أ.د – فتحي عبدالرحمن حجازى
شرح نهج البردة لأمير الشعراء أحمد شوقي
لامية العربي للشنفرى – مع الشرح و معاني الكلمات (longer commentary here: سلسة دروس شرح لامية العرب – لفضيلة الشيخ سالم القحطاني ), another alternative: شرح لامية العرب للشنفرى
عجبت عبيلة من فترى متبذل – عنترة بن شداد
Basically, after you’re done going through a sufficient number of these playlists, you should be able to read anything in Arabic, refer to dictionaries, etc. all without problems in comprehension. This means you can engage in self-study of deeper grammatical texts (I didn’t even mention al-Alfiyyah on this list), study cutting-edge grammar works like Dr. Fadil al-Samaaraa’i, or take a turn completely and study some other science you’re passionate about like Islamic history. The point is that your vocabulary will be sufficient to handle anything that comes your way.
There is one thing you should probably do though, once you’re done going through many of these poems.
Solidifying Your Gainz
You will forget all of the vocabulary you have learned unless you read literature. For this reason, to solidify and continue to increase your gains, you need to pick up some works of Arabic literature. You should be doing this while studying the poetry works or immediately after.
What are your options for literature?
My recommendation is to start out with this program by Al-Jazeera, which has beginner, intermediate and advanced options: https://learning.aljazeera.net/en
Much of the vocabulary is shared on the side to help you gain proficiency. Furthermore, there are options to hide i3raab and to show the i3raab, which will help you to check your reading against an answer key. Lastly, the questions at the bottom help solidify vocabulary because you are forced to recognize the same word multiple times.
You can also see حِكَايَاتُ إِيسُوب which has full i3raab to help you out: https://www.hindawi.org/books/96318248/ .
I also recommend ألوان من قصص الأطفال في الأدب العالمي : https://www.hindawi.org/books/28291353/
Another, more advanced recommendation is ألف ليلة وليلة. You can find an excellent version in 4 volumes here: https://www.hindawi.org/books/61961973/ .
You can also check out different sections of the same website, including their literature section: https://www.hindawi.org/books/categories/literature/ and the kids section https://www.hindawi.org/books/categories/children.stories/ .
Titles of more advanced literature can be found below. These are of varying skill levels, so you’ll probably need to build up to some of them. One way to do that is to read through some commentaries on the entire diwaan of various poets. You can easily find online sharh diwaan al-mutannabi, sharh diwan al-buhturi, and the various shurooh of al-tabrizi on different dawaaween including diwan al-hamasah.
Also, there are these titles, which are popular renditions of famous stories, sometimes compiled centuries ago based on folk retellings of the tails. These works typically are written in high literature and include much poetry.
Sirat Antara Ibn Shaddad سيرة عنترة بن شداد
Sirat al-Zahir Baibars سيرة الظاهر بيبرس
Sirat Bani Hilal تغريبة بني هلال
Sirat Sayf Ibn Dhi Yazan سيرة سيف بن ذي يزن
Sirat Dhat al-Himma, Arabic queen tale سيرة ذات الهمة
Sirat prince Hamza al-Bahlawn سيرة الأمير حمزة البهلوان
Sirat Ali al-Zaibak سيرة علي الزيبق
Sirat Sayf al-Tijan سيرة سيف التيجان
al-Sirah al-Hussainyya. السيرة الحسينية
Mal’abat Al Kafif ez-Zarhouni ملعبة الكفيف الزرهوني
The Tale of Al-Shater Hassan قصة الشاطر حسن
The Tale of Zir Salim قصة الزير سالم
The Tale of King Luqman bin Aad قصة الملك لقمان بن عاد, According to the Tale He is the brother of Shaddad bin Aad
Layla and Majnun in Arabic Majnun layla (مجنون ليلى) romantic epic (also known as Qays wa Laila, “Qays & Laila”).
Qissat Bayad wa Riyad قصة بياض و رياض, Arab-Andalusian love story about Bayad, a merchant’s son and a foreigner from Damascus, for Riyad, a well-educated slave girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib (vizier or minister) and his daughter.
Tarikhul Hind wal Sind تاريخ الهند والسند
Futuh al-Sham (Conquests of Syria) ascribed to al-Waqidi (disputed)
Early Persian history (Sīrat Fīrūz Shāh)
Alexander the Great (Sīrat Iskandar)
The Sassanid dynasty (Story of Bahrām Gūr)
Pre-Islamic South Arabian history (Sīrat al-Malik Sayf Ben Dhī Yazan)
Pre-Islamic North Arabian history (Sīrat ‘Antar and the Story of al-Zīr Sālim)
Early Islamic history (Sīrat Amīr Ḥamza)
Tribal feuds and holy wars of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates (Sīrat al-Amīra Dhāt al-Himma, Ghazwat al-Arqaṭ, Al-Badr-Nār, Sīrat ‘Alī al-Zaybaq, Sīrat Sayf al-Tījān)
Conquests of North Africa (Sīrat Banī Hilāl) (this is my own addition to the list)
Fatimid and Mamluk history (Sīrat al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allah and Sīrat al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Baybars)
Protip – Don’t be afraid to harass
Throughout your learning process, make sure to have a teacher or more advanced friend that is highly competent and who you can freely text to get help. Anytime you encounter a grammatical structure in which you’re not sure what the correct i3raab is or why, or a phrase where you have looked up all the words but still don’t quite get it – ASK. Ask every time. That’s the only way to attain mastery.
Understand that the person you are harassing was likely in your position once upon a time and that your questions keep them on their toes and help them to recover obscure concepts or solve difficult nahw problems. Anyone who is good at nahw enjoys this to some extent or feels that it is a duty to help others. Don’t overdo it, but always make the effort to ask. If need be, find more people that you can ask so that you’re not bothering any one person too much.
Bonus: Playlists of Some Arabic Shows
Note, I have not seen all of these shows nor am I endorsing them. I have collected them, and so I thought I’d share. If you feel strongly about one or the other, or have anything to add, then please feel free to leave a comment in the comment section below.
مسلسل بهلول اعقل المجانين الجزء 1 الاول كامل | Bahloul Season 1 HD
مسلسل المهلب بن أبي صفرة | رمضان 2018
مسلسل الحسن والحسين ـ كامل HD | Al Hassan Wal Hussein
حلقات مسلسل الإمام احمد بن حنبل HD | Ahmad Bin Hanbal
Note: I am absolutely endorsing this series, which is epic and gives you a real feel for jahiliyyah: مسلسل الزير سالم كامل | | Alzeer Salem Full Pack HD
If you know of any other shows in Classical Arabic, feel free to share them below in the comments.
Bonus #2: Audiobooks
Here is a useful playlist: كتب أدبية مسموعة
Conclusion
I hope you have found this guide useful inshaAllah. If you have any suggestions for improvement. please share below. If you have found any of it useful, feel free to also let me know below!
