Arabic

If you can recall, for Aqidah studies this semester we are studying 3 books:

Qawaidul Arba'ah
Usul ath-Thalaathah; both by Sheikh Muhammad Sulayman At-Tamimi
and Mujmal Usool Ahl Sunnah wal Jamaah fil Aqeedah by Dr Nasir Abdul Kareem Al-'Aql

These are spread over 10 lessons..only 1 of which I have listened to because, may Allah forgive me, I find the teacher boring. So I decided to read the books first and then listen to the shaykh's explanation so that I have a rough idea about what he's going on about. It took me 3 nights to copy the Arabic text of the first book and another 3 nights to copy the entire text of the second book! Penat! And now my hubby and friends say the shaykh is already well into the 3rd book!!

I am so behind. I regret procrastinating now. What a lot to read and to memorise too. It's recommended to memorise the first two books word for word in Arabic because it will lay the foundation for any form of removing doubt, handling arguments and refutations in the future. There are also lots of Quran dalil in the books that we have to memorise.

My friends and I have a study group for this. Last week we tasmi' the English translation of the FIRST paragraph of Qawaidul Arba'ah.. itu pun terkedek2 aku. Tak cukup sinaps!

Anyhow, some point of benefits that I want to share from my study is that:

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE ARABIC LANGUAGE.

When I read the Arabic text, there were many differences and mistakes and omissions in the English translation. It means, some information has been lost in translation or worse, what if the translator was deceitful and an enemy of Islam. Also, some Arabic words just can't be translated word for word. There is a treasure trove of knowledge in the Quran and classical Islamic texts that just can't be replicated through translation. And the key to that treasure is Arabic language.

So I urge you all, to find time and the opportunity to learn and study the Arabic language..and those, who like me, had studied it once upon a time to revise it and further your learning. If you can study extra things like other languages, dancing, playing an instrument; then you can study Arabic. Find a teacher, join a class, read books.

Like my husband who is fluent in Arabic; he has probably read hundreds more books and listened to a hundred more lectures in Arabic than me. Just comes to show the value of the KEY.