What are the prerequisites? Is the program suitable for beginners who are still unfamiliar with the alphabet?

There are no prerequisites, so anyone is welcome to join. For beginners, there’s a 21 lesson Premium Alphabet Course provided to you as a bonus which presumes no prior knowledge of the language whatsoever.

Is the content device constrained?

The resources are accessible on any type of device, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the world. Since the content is downloadable, you can view it offline. We’ve kept the files lean but packed with content so you can watch them again and again

On average how many hours would a student be studying?

We typically recommend about 5-7 hours but its really up to you. Even 2-3 hours a week consistently will have you reaching very high levels of proficiency inshallah. Remember that your membership is for life, so you can spend as much (or as little) time on your studies as you have.

Will l be able to speak conversational Arabic after completing this program?

We do not focus on developing conversational fluency as a goal. The primary goal of this program is teach you enough classical Arabic that you can understand what Allah Most High has intended for you in the Qur’an. So we channel all the effort that would have been devoted to building conversational fluency towards building VERY strong reading and comprehension skills.

Where did you graduate from? Which madrassas?

I’m traditionally trained, Alhamdulillah. I started studying in 1989 when I was only 13, completing my Hifz and basic subjects in the U.K. I then pursued higher education in Pakistan and graduated from Darul Uloom Karchi under the tutelage of Mufti Taqi Usmani.

How does the program work? Are we studying on our own, or do we interact with the teacher? What are the weekly class timings?

90% of the learning happens through the grounding materials (videos and transcripts) at the membership portal. Your first layer of support is directly under the videos in the comments section. We also provide live Review Classes for new students and weekly Office Hours with one-on-one support through Skype. There are also premium live classes that I conduct personally, that involve separate registration. Those only start up twice a year, in March and October.

What level would one be at after having completed this course?

You’d be at the level of a full time madrasa student who has been studying Arabic for 3 full years. Imam Taftazani’s book in Balagha is incredibly complex and most madrasas don’t even teach it any more. Ibn Aqeel is a third year madrasa book.

I’ve tried studying Arabic before, but I’m not a languages person. If I enroll but find that I’m not able to do it, what are my options?

The whole point of the 4 lesson workshop was to completely crush this concern that your inability to learn the language has anything to do with being a “languages person” and everything to do with the method. Please don’t register unless you got at least that much from the free training.

If all you’ve done is watched 3 minutes of one video, it would be better NOT to register at this time and instead focus on the free materials. Having said that, there is a 90 day unconditional guarantee which is there for your protection.

I want to learn how to teach. Can you help me meet this goal?

Absolutely.

Once the concepts are clear in your mind and you know them well, you can model my method and it will make you an infinitely better teacher.

The key is knowing how to organize topics; emphasizing the CORE of the language and intentionally suppressing details and also presenting key discussions as solutions to problems. If you pay attention, it’s not particularly difficult to model.

Is there a way for me to gift a subscription to a student unable to pay the fees?

Thank you for considering the purchase of a gift subscription!

Your thoughtfulness and generosity will help another Muslim gain more knowledge of the Quran and perhaps change their life in unimaginable ways.

We receive many sponsorship applications from all over the world and your kind contributions are invaluable to those whose circumstances do not allow them to cover the subscription fee.

Please email us at info@shariahprogram.ca with the number of registrations you’d like to sponsor and someone will get back to you with further details, inshallah.

Do you have exams or assignments? How do students keep track of progress?

The biggest testament to progress in your studies would be your ability to read and translate the text. We focus on giving you all the tools and practice to be able to do this accurately. That said, we also have self-assessment quizzes at the end of each weekly module which will take about 20 minutes and ensure you’re ready to move forward.

Is it possible to just purchase the books and study on our own through them?

This question presupposes that the method we’ve developed to teach the language can be found in the books. And that can’t be further from the truth. There is no value in the books if you don’t have someone to guide your learning through the big-picture first approach.