بسم الله الرَّحْمَنِ
الرَّحِيمِ
Asalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu
A common question I get asked by students is "How can I read and
understand Arabic fluently without the harakat (Vowel marks)?". It will
probably come as little surprise to most students that this process will take
years and years of dedicated study. I have included advice for students who want to achieve this goal biithnillah ( with the permission of Allah).
Intention and aim
We all need to ask Allah to help us in any task we undertake. There is nothing difficult if
Allah makes it easy for one. One of the ways he makes something easy is to create a desire for it. The majority of people learning Arabic today are Muslims who want to understand the Quran. Students with lofty aims and aspiration reach their
desired goal more than often. I remember once hearing a university professor
speaking about how to learn a language in a short space of time and one of the
key ingredients he mentioned was to make the language relevant to oneself. If
wanting to know what the Creator of the Universe is telling us is not enough of a motivation,
then I don’t know what is!
"Ya Allah, Make us of those who learn the Quran and teach it to others for your sake, Ameen!"
Increase you vocabulary
Like with any language, increasing ones vocabulary is essential in
order to understand what one reads. If you read a text and come across a word
or two that you don’t understand then make it a habit to check the meaning of
the word(s) in a dictionary. If the word is derived from a triliteral root then
memorize this 3 letter root and the meaning that it holds. Use the newly
acquired word in a sentence and write it down for future reference.
Arabic Grammar and Morphology
Understanding meaning of words and phrases alone is insufficient and one needs to have a firm
grasp of Arabic grammar and Morphology. I will illustrate this point with a few
examples:
There are words which change meanings with a change of a vowel mark
. An example of this is the active and passive participle of a number of verb
forms e.g. مُفْعِل and مُفْعَل (The former is
used for one performing the act of أفْعَلَ and the later is the the recipient of this action.
We also can look at certain aspects of words like definiteness and
indefiniteness. If we have two consecutive nouns which match in definiteness,
number and gender then chances are we are dealing with a صفة / موصوف relationship. If you have an indefinite noun followed by a definite
noun then chances are there is an إضافة ( possessive case) relationship and so on....
In Arabic we have a triliteral base system for the overwhelming
majority of words. An important skill that will come with time is identifying base letters and extraneous letters ( ا,ء, ن, م, و, ي, ت etc.).
Don’t jump in the deep end immediately
A common mistake made by students is to believe they should be able
to read Arabic texts without harakat after completing a 6 or 12 month course of
Arabic grammar and Morphology. Knowing grammar and morphological rules can only
take you so far. I had a student ask me once that if he learns more advanced grammar and
balagha texts, whether this would make him more proficient in reading. I
explained to him that this is not the case, because reading is a completely
different skill than learning grammatical rules, especially if these rules are
only used in ancient poetry and the Quran.
What is crucial is understanding what one reads. If you are not
understanding Arabic texts with harakat then here are few steps you need
to take before stepping up to read without
harakat.
When you initially start reading texts with no vowels then it can
be quite difficult at first. The most important aspect to reading anything is
understanding what one reads. Start off with simple children books that have harakat on them
and that are translated into English or a language you are proficient with:
As an exercise go through the Arabic and try to understand what is
being said. Check how your understanding compares to the translation. Identify
any weakness you might have, whether its limited vocabulary, inability to
identify the main parts of the sentence, problems with weak letters etc.
This is a children book that one can use to try this. It can be downloaded HERE
After a while, try this again with more advanced books such as الرحيق المختوم (Al raheeq Al
makhtoom) a book of Seerah of the Prophet ( peace be upon him) or any other translated book. There are many translations out there
so you have a wide range to choose from.
NOTE: reading without harakat is a process that will occur gradually and
will not come overnight.
I have provided a sample section of a children's story book
entitled: طالوت و جالوت
Try translating the text yourself and compare it with the
translation I have provided ( in some cases a word for word translation was not
possible) .
ذهب بنو إسرائيل لنبيهم يوما.. سألوه: ألسنا مظلومين
قال: بلى
قالوا: ألسنا مشردين
قال: بلى
قالوا: ابعث لنا ملكا يجمعنا تحت رايته كي نقاتل في سبيل
الله ونستعيد أرضنا ومجدنا
قال نبيهم وكان أعلم بهم: هل أنتم واثقون من
القتال لو كتب عليكم القتال
قالوا: ولماذا لا نقاتل في سبيل الله، وقد طردنا من
ديارنا، وتشرد أبناؤنا، وساء حالنا
قال نبيهم: إن الله اختار لكم طالوت ملكا عليكم
Translation:
Banu Israeel went to their Prophet one day and asked him: "Are
we not oppressed?"
He answered " Most certainly you are"
They said "Are we not Musharadeen (those who have fled out of
fear)?"
He answered " Most certainly you are"
They said "Assign for us a king who will unite us under his
flag so that we can fight in the path of Allah and reclaim our land and honor:
Their Prophet said, and he was more aware regarding them " Are
you capable of (i.e. do you know what you are getting yourself into) fighting
if fighting is prescribed upon you?"
They said "And why should we not fight in the path of Allah
when we have certainly been removed from out of our homes, and our sons have
fled for their lives, and our state is calamitous"
Their Prophet said " Certainly, Allah has chosen for you
Taloot as a king (to rule) over you"
Practice Often
Like with all things, practice makes perfect! You can't expect to
read well if you don’t do it often. Try different types of texts from a
wide variety of topics and authors.
A teacher
Having a teacher to guide you along is important and in many cases
can save you plenty of time. The Sibaway Institute aims to
provide students with all the prerequisites so that they are able to read and
understand Arabic texts proficiently.
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| An educational institute dedicated to the propagation of the Arabic language. |
والحمد لله رب
العالمين
Article written by Nabeel Alkhalidy
