Classical Arabic: Learn the Language of the Quran and Islamic Texts

Classical Arabic — the language of the Qur'an and the heritage

Classical Arabic (al-fusha al-turathiyyah) is the language of the Qur'an, the hadith, and a thousand years of Islamic scholarship. It is not the same as Modern Standard Arabic used in newspapers today — the vocabulary skews older, the grammar uses constructions that modern Arabic has dropped, and the rhetorical devices (balaghah) are central to meaning. The classical Arabic course at Waraqa teaches the language in its original form, so the student can open Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Riyad as-Salihin, or al-Ajurrumiyyah and read them as the scholars intended. The Prophet ﷺ said, "I am the most eloquent of the Arabs" (al-Mu'jam al-Kabir of at-Tabarani) — classical Arabic is how that eloquence reaches us today.

What the classical Arabic course covers

1. Advanced nahw: the full case system applied to complex sentences, conditional structures, and the rhetorical exceptions characteristic of classical prose.
2. Advanced sarf: the irregular verbs, derived nouns (ism al-fa'il, ism al-maf'ul, ism al-aalah), and the ten verb forms with their meaning shifts.
3. Balaghah: the three sciences of meaning, eloquence, and embellishment ('ilm al-ma'ani, 'ilm al-bayan, 'ilm al-badi'), with examples from the Qur'an at every step.
4. Direct reading: structured reading of Tafsir al-Jalalayn, selected hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari, and short heritage texts such as al-Adab al-Mufrad and al-Ajurrumiyyah.
5. Vocabulary: 1,500+ classical words encountered in real texts, learned in context rather than from a list.
6. Translation practice: one short passage translated each week from Arabic into English and corrected by the teacher.

How the lessons run

Two or three 60-minute lessons per week, one-to-one with an Al-Azhar trained teacher. Each lesson reads a portion of a real text, unpacks the grammar and rhetoric, and discusses the meaning. The student keeps a "reading journal" of the words and constructions encountered each week. Most students complete the classical Arabic pathway in 18–24 months, depending on their starting point.

Who classical Arabic is for

• Students who have completed our intermediate Arabic or have equivalent grammar.
• Islamic studies students who want to read the classical sources themselves.
• Quran students who want to understand every verse they recite or memorise.
• Translators, da'wah workers, and anyone whose work depends on accurate reading of heritage Arabic.

Frequently asked questions

How is classical Arabic different from Modern Standard Arabic?

Same script and most of the same grammar, but the vocabulary, sentence rhythms, and rhetorical devices are older. A reader trained in classical Arabic can read modern Arabic with little extra effort; the reverse is not always true.

Do I need to know modern Arabic first?

No. We recommend starting from our intermediate Arabic course and continuing directly into classical Arabic if your goal is the Qur'an and heritage texts.

Will this help me understand the Qur'an better?

Yes — that is the explicit goal of the course. By the end, most students read Surah al-Baqarah with the Tafsir al-Jalalayn alongside and understand the verses in their classical idiom.

How many hours per week is realistic?

Three lessons plus 30–45 minutes of daily practice is the standard load. Less than that and the texts move too slowly to be enjoyable. Book a free classical Arabic trial to start.