Ibraheem Menk – IntaLIVE #42 Learning the Arabic language

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil
alameen, wa sallahu wa sallam Avantika, ala nabina Muhammad, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi adjumani, even
Illa. Today we'll be speaking about a topic that everybody can relate to. And that is the topic of
learning the Arabic language, you will find that
		

			every single one of us no matter who we may be, no matter how old we may be, everybody has either a
dream to learn the Arabic language, or they are those who want their children to learn the Arabic
language and so on and so forth. So inshallah we'll be speaking a little bit about this topic, a
very vast topic. And also at the same time, we'll be touching on maybe a bit of
		

			on the journeys of Shekar, Brahim and myself and a bit of the experience or some of our experiences
on this journey salamati komak, mental a robot okay.
		

			Alright, Lincoln was set out to live live cattle, how are you chef? hamdulillah? How are you?
		

			Alhamdulillah. I'm well and in good spirits. Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah, Shiva. Now today we are
speaking about a topic that's applicable to everybody. When it comes to the Arabic language, we find
that every Muslim either they all have dreams to learn the Arabic language, they are those who go on
to learn it. If they haven't, they want their children or their grandchildren to learn it. So she
kind of when it comes to this topic, I think there's a few ways of looking at it. Firstly, it's you
learning a new language. And it's to do with a method or a certain teaching way. And what we can say
is that people will ask what's the best way? What's the best way? I think when it comes to the
		

			method in and of itself, there's so many different ways of learning something. So we can't say that
this is the best way or this is the best way we can say that what's best for a person who learns in
a specific way. So you might find that there's somebody who is more person who listens, they learn
from listening. So for them, maybe it would be easier to start off with that path. And then there
are those who are more visual there are those who want to write etc. Generally, what would you have
to say as a brief introduction to the topic of Arabic language, maybe encouraging people to learn
it, etc.
		

			Now, Rahim So, you know, I think the reason why people want to learn the Arabic language is because
the Quran was revealed in this word, you know, Allah subhanho wa Taala says
		

			that, indeed, we are in the number and an RV. And so we sent it down with a the Arabic word. And
this is why people want to learn the Quran, understand it, this is the word of the maker, majority
of the Muslim men want to learn Arabic for this reason. So they go and they start to search and
learn how to find a way as to how to learn the Arabic language. Now.
		

			I think it requires a lot of dedication. And that is what is important to mention, even if it may be
a very small amount of time in a day, you've got to have dedication and consistency in learning,
because without these two, you're not going to go very far. You may learn for five hours a day, or
say, you know, one week, and you leave it for another, another three or four months. And what
happens is that whatever you've learned, you forgotten, and then now you've got to start again. So I
think that that's something that people need to pay attention to when they're starting to learn the
language is have dedication, and consistency.
		

			As you recall him mentioned that once you use somebody who's interested in learning the language,
you want to learn a bit more. You've got to dedicate you've got to realize your goal. Obviously as
every Muslim, your goal is to you want to understand what Allah subhanho wa Taala says you want to
understand His Word. You also want to understand what the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came
with the a Hadith, etc, his sayings, his his lifestyle, and you want to be able to read in the Quran
reading the Sunnah, read other beneficial books. So when it comes to this, it's important for us to
dedicate ourselves Firstly, ask Allah subhana wa Jalla to help you also have a good intention and
		

			intention of you know, wanting to benefit yourself and wanting to benefit others in general, when we
look at the people obviously, we are those who are at different levels. Let's start with somebody
who knows absolutely nothing zero. They interested they've heard Arabic, and they want to get onto
the train, so to say, what do you think that or where do you think they should start? Obviously with
you
		

			learnt in different environments and different settings, there are those who start off with the bare
minimum or the very basics when it comes to the children, they teach them some of the letters, and
then how to pronounce them so they can go on to reading the Quran. So there's the reading part of it
is the speaking part of it is the writing part of it. Is the communication part of it. So this a
lot, what would you say when it comes to somebody who's zero? Who knows? Absolutely nothing. And
they interested? Where should they start? I think of importance is the letters, you've got to start
with the letters, definitely. Because if you don't have that basis, then it becomes very difficult
		

			for you to do anything in any language to be honest with you. If you don't recognize the letters,
then how are you going to be able to read in the first place, and that should be the first goal of a
person is to be able to read and understand. So you recite and understand now, I think when this
language is being taught in the first place, there are certain countries where people there are most
of the countries where people learn, and they learn to recite, but they don't know what they're
reading. And this is where the problem starts in the first place in terms of understanding, because
if you don't learn to understand while still reciting, then you've left out a huge part of a
		

			language that is, you know, that is the main focus will reason for you to be able to read in the
first place. Of course, with the Quran, we want to be able to recite it, it's important to recite
it, but at the same time if you really want to inculcate and this comes to teaching children, etc.
If you really want them to learn the Arabic language, start with even basics from a young age.
Because if you don't teach them these basics, then they're going to learn to read without
understanding. And I find that this is how this is the way that I learned the language. And what
happened is, essentially, I learned how to recite, and I couldn't actually understand what I was
		

			reading. So when I learned the Arabic language and the understanding of it, then what happened is I
would recite, but there was a disconnect between my recitation and understanding. And I had to know
build that bridge to bring it together. So this, this is the problem that I'm trying to address when
when teaching only the recitation of the Quran. Of course, it's not, you know, possible in some
places where the teacher himself doesn't understand the Arabic language, but he's just teaching the
recitation. And I think that people can actually try and put the children with people who do know
the Arabic language and can teach them some basics, at least.
		

			You know, you mentioned a very interesting point, a very important point, especially when it comes
to children, children as they growing their minds afresh, are they able to pick up more the
development that goes on in the mind, you know, how it expands and how they are able to pick up much
more people should use that opportunity. And that time, give them some vocabulary, give them some
words. So as they learning to read the latest, join the latest, recite the words eventually recite
the Quran, if you tell them you know, vocabulary, I remember when we were young, my father used to
give us just a few words, numbers, etc. Until To this day, I remember those few words just because
		

			they were thrown like that, and we just used to speak. So if you've got children, especially few
vocabulary words, a few words and let them pick up, you'll find that they'll remember, the more you
get, you carry on giving them you find that they eventually have this bank of vocab so to say,
		

			is absolutely, absolutely. And like you mentioned, you know, just learning a few words, few letters,
it helps from from the start. And the importance of speaking these few steps, these small steps is
not necessarily noticed in the beginning. But later on in life, it comes to the fall where you
realize that I know this from some way somehow, or I have a connection to it in some way. And it's
amazing, you know, also possibly just teaching them like the words of the Quran, the ones that
they're learning to read, and that would be of help as well.
		

			Okay, I was just reading one of the comments. It's a bit long, but as you mentioned that when it
comes to this, you know, you give the children you give the people, let's say you've got somebody
who's a bit older, right? So they're not really into the vocab, or you've taught people who are much
older, I'm quite sure. And you've taught them how to recite the Quran from the very beginning people
who couldn't recite in the first place, how would you address them or how would you teach them
		

			So sorry, I wasn't with you for a moment. When you've got people who are much older, let's say we've
spoken about children, people who are younger people who can pick up, let's say, people who are much
older, I'm sure you've taught people to recite the Quran, people who knew absolutely nothing. And
they were much older in age, would you have a different approach? Yes, absolutely. I did try to
teach them the normal with the normal way, which is, you have a lesson every night and they come in,
and they learn. And while that's what I was doing, and honestly speaking, ice, I succeeded for about
four weeks, where they were all attending, they were coming, they were regular. And then one by one,
		

			you know, someone had some job, and he couldn't attend. And I realized that they weren't attending
regularly. So when you miss a lesson in Arabic, one lesson, it becomes very difficult for you to
connect the next lesson with the previous one, because you've missed something in between. So I
realized that, you know, this is not the best way to teach them. And I think that when it comes to
adults, and people that are a bit older, an easier approach might be to tell them to either learn
online, because they can do it at their pace, or to possibly teach them just the words in the Quran
initially, just the words what they mean. And when they have a general gist of the words that are in
		

			the Quran, then they will begin to form sentences within themselves. So they will understand that
this is what is meant in this ayah. And they can always go back to the Quranic search, what is the
meaning of this passage that was recited in tonight's Salah what was the meaning, this is what I
understood from it. And this is how, and if you notice in all of this, you've got this other desire
to learn the Arabic language. Now, people all say that we want to learn we want to learn, but who is
willing to put that time in and dedicate,
		

			you know, a portion of time to be able to really study. And those are the ones that succeed. And
those are the ones that you know, do well they find a way to to study. You know, we've touched on
people who are generally going to go to a madrasa to learn the Quran to learn how to read a little
bit, recite a little bit, then even people getting to the next level, now they are more serious.
Some of them they have the good opportunity, Allah subhanho wa Taala grants and opportunity to grow,
go abroad and learn in an institute. Others we can start with those who may not have that
opportunity at home, we did speak about online, and you spoke about how they are horses, they what
		

			can a person do for himself, besides the courses, obviously, you would find the course but for
yourself, let's say you want to get a step further because the Arabic language is not only just
knowing a bit of vocab here know, you then need to learn some sentence structure, etc, etc, etc. So
what would you say here,
		

			um, to be honest with you, you know, if you want to learn how to speak, etc, then you've got to get
into the environment, that's the best way to do it. You've got to be in an environment where people
are speaking there interacting in Arabic, they can't speak any other language or you can't speak to
them. In any other language. Besides Arabic. I remember when I first went to university in Medina,
they insisted on putting you in a room where people could not speak your native language. Because if
you spoke to them in your native language, then you would never get a chance to practice the Arabic
language. And I remember going as as I went there, and I can't tell you a few friends, they were
		

			people that told me that look, speak to whoever you can, in the Arabic language. And I'd speak to
the taxi drivers and speak to the guards and anyone I could speak to. And Alhamdulillah that really
benefited me in terms of speech. I was at a, you know, a great advantage in terms of reading and
understanding. Because we had already learned I had already learned with my grandfather, our
grandfather, so to speak. So we we knew, I knew how to read I knew how to understand I knew what I
was reading I understood. But there was this problem of speaking, I just couldn't speak, you know,
formulating words. And sometimes you'd understand what the man says, but you can't respond. So the
		

			only way to get over that is to listen and to speak to have conversation. So it took me some time
but Alhamdulillah within about six, seven months, I could Converse quite well because I was
outgoing. I didn't mind making mistakes, people laughing at me. Whereas I saw some people who
started with me, and they finished seven years later, not being able to converse properly in Arabic
		

			language because simply because they didn't interact, they had, you know, an introverted type of,
you know, character and they couldn't interact with others. So it became difficult for them. As you
find the students, we usually stayed in their own cliques with people from their own country or
their own language, they didn't really progress. And if there's anything that we can take from what
you mentioned, is that for those who want to get serious in starting to learn the Arabic language,
speaking, reading, writing, listening, communicating, you need to start by changing your
environment, if when you go to an institute, it's going to be mixing with other people. If you don't
		

			have that, you know, that opportunity right now. Look at the things you listening to whether it's a
good lecture, or whether it's something else, something permissible, even try and give some time for
it in Arabic, if not try and give all your time in it at the beginning, you won't understand
anything, you slowly start picking up a word or two here and there, you pick up a word, you pick up
two, because you carry on hearing certain words constantly. That's how that's what I found, you hear
certain words constantly. And all of a sudden, because this speaker says it in a certain way, then
in a different context. And he's got a hand action. And then you find, okay, that word means this,
		

			that word means this at the same time, subconsciously, you taking in a lot. So from knowing
absolutely nothing, you're now starting to pick up a few words, you're now starting to hear words
that you may not know their meanings, but it's slowly starting to stick. So that change of
environment that you mentioned, is very important. Whether you go and learn in a place or an
institute, you need to come out of your comfort zone, it's okay. In fact, it's very good to be
making mistakes. I think that's one of the main pieces of advice you gave me when I came to Medina,
is that speak with everybody, anybody and everybody just starts speaking make as many mistakes as
		

			you can. And you find that you progress.
		

			What I found amazing with the way you were learning Also, if you don't mind me saying this was to
watch videos that were speaking speaking in Arabic, even though you don't understand fully, and so
powerful, I think that benefited you a lot, maybe you can shed some light on that. So what I noticed
is that, even in the English languages, because for those who know English, you won't really notice
it. But when you're learning a different language, you will notice it. The certain speakers, when
they speak, they won't really speak in deep language, it's clear cut. And when they speak, they
express themselves in a specific way. So for example, the guy is speaking and then or the chef is
		

			speaking, and he raises his voice here and he knows how to use his hand. Slowly, I found that was
for me, I found that I started picking up whereas people who are much more advanced, let's say, at
the very beginning, somebody who's you know, explaining to Siri in depth, I just found that I didn't
really get it. But at the same time I mentioned that there was some doodles in Harlem at the time.
And some of work you know, I'm looking at them some chapters in fit, for example, schufa, etc, etc.
These words I heard them 10 years ago, I heard the word once, twice, thrice the word stuck with me.
So when I then went into it one or two or three years later, I had already I had some confidence
		

			because I had heard the word before I had a gist of it maybe half a percent. But that helped me
Manila handsome listening a lot I found was of benefit Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah that's something
that a lot of people don't do. Like they don't start with that type of
		

			manner of studying. So I just found it amazing that you actually learn from this and I remember a
teacher in my local when we were studying the Arabic language still. And the shift was like, you
know, the best way to learn would be to,
		

			to listen to others listen intently to others when they speak. And I found this amazing because he
says that this is your first port of call this is where the words into into your your brain so to
speak from your ears. So you listening, if you listen carefully, then you see the context. You see
how they behaving with each other and you realize that this is what this means generally. And of
late You know, I've been studying although it's a different language. I haven't been studying it but
I've been trying to speak it our native language here in Zimbabwe. And I found the best way to do it
is to, to listen, watch what they say in between each other. And for a few years now, I realized
		

			that I get the gist of a conversation when they speaking. And sometimes someone will be speaking
about you and they think you don't understand that you do understand so you'll be sitting and saying
hey, but well what did you say you said this, this this about me but you don't
		

			speech on ice and yes, but I, I get the gist of what you're saying, you know. So that is one of the
most amazing ways to learn actually is which is to just listen and listen to people when they speak,
listen intently to what they saying and how they say it between each other. Yeah. So we've touched
on people who would start from the very beginning roughly, where they would be able to read the
letters, read the Quran, which is extremely important. Thereafter, you want to understand a bit
more, try and mix with the people before even going to an institute or whatever, try and change your
environment, if you have somebody. And you'll find in a lot of countries, even if everybody speaks
		

			English, you might find that one person from an Arabic speaking country or those two people, mixed
with them, speak with them, learn from them, you know, they may want to learn English exchange
words, etc. and you try your best, going a bit more in depth. So the Arabic language is different
parts to it. So you've got a whole grammar side, which is different to the English language, you've
got your vocabulary side, you've got your how to put your sentences together, usually, you'll find
when you start going a bit more in depth, especially in the institute's and every Institute differs.
I know in Medina, for example, they would give you the very first books even though we didn't learn
		

			in the first mastaba. But the first books when you look at them, it's like pictures with words, just
vocab. So you've got the word and the picture, you can obviously substitute it now, online on
YouTube, look at somebody who's doing it, and you start getting it. Eventually they start giving you
small, small sentences. So one or two words, then you learn how to say for example, this is a book
and this is the masjid and this is a man and this so they're trying to get drew that one word into
you.
		

			Yes, well, not yet. Yes, God, God. And then after that you find as you progress, so the next muster
word, or the next level up, they start giving you a few more words, a bit more vocabulary introduce
you to a sentence structure that's a bit wider, because remember, when you go into a foreign land,
or you live in a place where they only speak Arabic, now, you can't choose that, okay, I only want
to learn how to speak or I only want to learn how to write, you have to go into taxis, you have to
go into the restaurant, so you have to start speaking so there's a speaking part, there's the
reading part, there's the writing part, there's all that and you find that the beginning you might
		

			find it as an overwhelm, but all that it it, you know refines you and helps you in all these areas.
So that's what I found. And as you progress through it, you will find the then give you the grammar
slowly but surely. And even though it's extremely good syllabus, and we both went through it. When
it comes to the grammar side, I found that there are other books for example, that you it's a bit
more in order, so to say. So, for me, that is other people learn differently, people learn
differently. So you will find that if you want to learn the Arabic grammar, for example, small book
like agile Romania, where he speaks to you from the very beginning about the grammar and when it
		

			will be Islam and Ferrell and health and now noun and a verb, etc. And why sound one would be a fad
how why one would be Adama, etc. So you will find yourself progressing now slowly after your vocab,
you know how to build the sentence, you know, when a factor comes when a customer comes, etc? And
that is in your grammar?
		

			Yes, absolutely. You know, the grammar is so important that if you don't have it, you can't
understand sentences and make them up, it becomes difficult for you to construct proper and correct
grammatically correct sentences. And the beauty of it is if you learn one principle, and then apply
it again and again and keep applying it until you've got it completely, you can actually do that
until you get to the next so you don't have to jump from one to the next to get something all
together. And these these two different very different methodologies where one is you learn all of
the rules, and you learn simple examples with them. And that all comes together at once, which is a
		

			very difficult method according to me because you know, you you're learning all of the common at
once. It's not easy. It's like mathematics where you've got one equation, you've learnt it, you've
understood it. Now use different examples to bring that into practice. That would be the better way
to do it. Imagine someone was to come to you and introduce 20 different principles or equations in
mathematics and tell you right, this is how each one works. Now remember, then, it becomes very
difficult for you to remember. So it would be better to pick up one principle simple
		

			For those who have been studying or are studying, for example, what they call Turkey, Buffy, and you
know that it has Madonna and Mullah fillet, it's got these two, you know, parts to it. And you now
take that and look at different examples and think of different examples, put them into practice.
And do that over and over and over again, until you've got the concept the basics of it, then you
move to the next, you know, principle or rule, which may be looked at and how about we, you know,
the beginning and the end of a sentence or the use of a sentence is very interesting. So, I think
that this way is much more effective, to be honest with you, then having someone come and gather all
		

			of the, the principles at once that can be done later on, once you've understood all these
principles, and also for those teaching, you must remember when you teaching these books that your
students are different, the people learning are different. And I found I was trying to look at a few
things. inshallah, you know, these things, you have to plan and they don't come up perfectly, you
have to try over time over time. And I found going through a lot of books that teach Arabic that
sometimes people just want to take that book the way they lent it in an institute and slap, slap,
bang, put it in another place or another country and teach it as it is. And sometimes you will find
		

			that you have to change a lot, or you have to use different methods. So, for example, try and get
you your people, I remember what the students you're teaching, before teaching them, give them a
brief idea of you know, what they going to learn so many times, you'll be learning in some books,
you don't know what principle they tried to tell you. So tell me at the very beginning of your
student, did you know what In this lesson we want to learn this, so this is the part we're going to
concentrate on mainly, and you have that structure, it will come with time. And obviously there has
to be trial and and error
		

			is absolutely
		

			I think this the so a lot of these rules can also be applied to other languages when people are
learning them how they can, you know, get into a language and how they can start to learn it, etc.
I've also seen some people who just sit and watch you know, videos over and over and over again,
they'll be watching YouTube videos on the documentary, for example, or something, the person
speaking and addressing them, and they'll just be watching these videos until they get it right. So
that's good that that that method can work for speaking etc. Understanding and speaking, conversing,
that method can work. But at the same time, we need to highlight something here you've got Arabic
		

			language, which is which is the you know, proper language, and then you've got the colloquial slang.
So, you know, that's those two, you've got to differentiate between the two and learn the proper
correct henrick. First of all, before you move on to anything else,
		

			you know, you mentioned such an important point that sometimes Yes, speaking wise you will get by,
but if you want to go in depth a bit more, no the Quran, no, the sooner fit, etc, you would have to
know the grammatical rules, you'd have to know
		

			different rules when it comes to the Arabic language. going a bit deeper, you would find after that
you've got a basic idea, you know how to use a dictionary, you know how to look up words, you know,
where the fact however, Bama where the customer goes, eventually Now, what happens is you've got
this tool, this tool, now you try to use, it's not going to be perfect, it's going to be a tool that
you're going to carry on perfecting as you move. So you start reading in faith and you start reading
to see if maybe and you'll start hearing things you'll find at the very beginning you may not be
able to read a lot but you'll start understanding a lot you start listening a lot. And slowly you go
		

			more in depth there's obviously a whole side when it comes to the poetry and when it comes to
language and going in depth that has its side also do it. So I think there's no we tried to give you
		

			a short idea or brief idea of this short path where you can get to the Quran and Sunnah quickly more
than that, then you would straight out. Yes, absolutely is a very brief introduction as to how to
learn and the methodology how to go about learning. Someone was asking, Are there any specific books
I know you mentioned
		

			jumia. But is the for English speakers? would you suggest any specific book?
		

			You see? I don't know. As we mentioned, everybody learns differently. The book we mentioned was to
do with novels, specifically grammar.
		

			After that somebody can go a bit more deeper into alfia, even Malik. But that's to do with the
grammar side this all different sides to the Arabic language. And at the beginning, you would find
if you're unable to change your environment completely, sometimes you can use the Google translate
to see some words, or you can look up some things in English, but don't if you're able to start
without doing it, you know, just getting into Arabic and asking and making your mistakes, that would
be better. Because the minute you've got something that you can lean back on, you become a bit more
complacent and a bit more lazy. But at the same time, sometimes if you try to just throw yourself in
		

			the deep end too deep, you might say after 345 words, this is too tiring, I'm leaving, I'm going. So
it depends on you, the person. And then you obviously want to know a few things in Arabic, you want
to get to know your vocab. And you want to know the tool. So let's say you don't understand
something later on, where can you find the meaning of this word? You want to know your sentence
structure in your grammar? And then you want to get into you whatever you learn Arabic for
		

			Yes, you know, someone saying what about listening to Quran with translation. And I don't think that
this can help teach you the Quran, you know, the meaning of the Quran. But if you are learning it in
conjunction with studying the meanings of the words of the Pope,
		

			and you're using this as a tool to enhance that impossibly because I listened to the Quran with its
meaning for a long time before I could speak Arabic And listen, and I've listened to the translation
and it never really helped me to be on to be honest with you in terms of understanding the verses
when they were excited on their own without the translation. So I don't think that that will, you
know, necessarily lead you to understanding the book of Allah subhanho wa Taala. But it may be used
as an assistant in addition to to the rest of your, your techniques. Yes, I think what are we
talking mainly more about people who want to understand and go deeper into the Quran deeper into the
		

			Sunnah. So that the translation is good, we're not saying it's bad, it's good for you to just know
that instead of knowing absolutely nothing, you know that Allah subhanho wa Taala mentioned this in
the Quran. And this, this is mentioned that that is mentioned, for example, this story is mentioned
and Musa alayhis salam went with huddle, etc, etc. If you didn't read the translation, you wouldn't
even know that much. But if you want to go deeper, then you would obviously need to get to your
Arabic sources. Your Arabic language. Yeah. Yes.
		

			If
		

			some advice you would give to yourself, let's say obviously you've learnt the Arabic language
Mashallah, I think 10 years ago or more. And since you came to Medina, and before that, back then
when you think of some of the difficulties you went through, or some of the I wouldn't say mistakes,
but some of the things you would say that I wish I did quicker, Oh, I wish I implemented this
instead of this when it came to learning Arabic.
		

			think I'd like to learn more with regards to the reading side of increase my vocab a lot more. So I
think I reached a point where I had enough vocab to understand what was being said in the books in
the text. And I didn't go beyond that. So I was Alhamdulillah. I was at a point where I can't say
and I understood every single word in the Quran. But I understood a lot of the words in the Quran.
And I understood a lot of the words in the Hadith that were mentioned, even if it wasn't a
specifically that word, the context would explain it to me. So it may be you know, became easy to
understand, but I didn't go beyond that. And that's something that I felt that I could have
		

			benefited from later on. After I had graduated, etc. where, you know, look at you start hearing
words in conversation or,
		

			you know, on the reading side of things, were you reading something, and it's a word that's not
usually used in the Quran and the Sunnah.
		

			It's something that you it's a vocab part of the vocab of the Arabic Lang language that I didn't
develop. Enough I feel so Alhamdulillah of late I've been just trying to focus on those words as
they come up in conversation in groups that I'm in I'll just look at it and see and understand try
to understand what's being said there.
		

			So in that way, it helps me you know, gain that vocabulary. And from what I can get, obviously you
back home, you trying every day at least to get you a daily dose of Arabic because a lot of times no
matter how long you've learned, if you use
		

			Even if you've learned for six 710 years, you don't have the daily dose where you listening or
reading, and especially trying to speak to you will forget.
		

			Yes, absolutely. So, you know, not only do you forget, but the, the spoken part of it becomes very
difficult, because you haven't spoken for years on end. So, all of a sudden, you're searching for
words when you speak, whereas previously, you would just speak fluently. So that's something and
it's hard to keep up with because, you know, in an English environment where everybody's speaking
English hamdulillah I got some friends that I speak to in Arabic, so from time to time, I'll speak
to them and that way, you know, it maintains things for me so to speak, but I feel that it's
something that you definitely lose out on, in terms of understanding words, the four and the sooner
		

			Alhamdulillah. In that way, I haven't lost so much focus, you do forget but not as much. Because
you're in touch with it all the time. You You know, you're reading something, you're listening to
something you're watching a chef on YouTube or on any any app, you know, that's the so I think in
that way of handling life, it's it hasn't been so bad.
		

			Masha, Allah, Allah grant your goodness, Chef, and I think when it comes to this same point, I think
for me, it was a bit different. If I could go back, you know, 10 years ago and see what I would have
done a bit differently. I think when I first started, and I'm the type way, when I want to learn
something, I just jumped in like this. And I just want to know, every single thing. So then when you
start reading a book, for example, as you I'll read four or five, six lines, but then in those six
lines, there's maybe 50 words I don't want, I want to know what this word means. And that word means
and that, and that perfection, especially at the beginning, it's it's, you know, it harms your
		

			progress for me, especially. And eventually I got to a stage where I said that this is not possible,
you can't carry on like this. So then I just used to read. And I used to get the gist of the
sentence, what I didn't really understand, I used to leave it, I used to leave it, I used to leave
it. Because remember, you cannot start at the very beginning and be perfect, you cannot go into the
muscle deeper and deeper. Even the Arabic language has seemed like fit, they have their own muscle
and they have their own debates between the different schools. And sometimes going too in depth in
these things, especially when there's no real fruit for you who wants to eventually go read the
		

			Quran and Sunnah.
		

			You waste a lot of time. So I think that that perfection, don't look for perfection, obviously
dedicate yourself, you won't understand everything. Thank Allah, if you're learning, you know, two,
three things every day new in 10 days, that's 30 new things by the end of the month, roughly 100 100
new things and you practice you must practice upon it. I found that as you mentioned, you speak to
people learn with people write down there are people who carry vocabulary notebooks. I also did that
at one stage. For me, I found that that was of almost no benefit. Because I would write the word I
was just collecting a list of words. But then when is the time you go and read those words, and
		

			Okay, you memorize the word. But if you haven't used the word in five or six different ways, and
different contexts in that word will go. But if you use it without trying to memorize it, you will
eventually remember, because a lot of times at the very beginning, everything's new. But then things
start repeating. So you go to the same restaurant everyday use right in roughly the same taxi
everyday going to a similar place. And you talk so you've got to those words set for that
conversation.
		

			Yes, absolutely, absolutely. 100%. When you go too deep into it, in the beginning, it becomes
difficult for you it becomes literally impossible. In fact, in fact, it can even discourage some
people from studying all together, because you feel like this is just too cumbersome. And I can't do
it any longer. Whereas what you've mentioned is, you know, exactly what people should be doing is
just have a general set what they call it a general understanding, very above board where you've got
a general understanding what I've missed, don't worry, I'll catch up with it later into it will
come. And eventually you find on the third or fourth time you've seen the thing you've understood
		

			more and more. And then eventually you learn the whole thing. You know, it's
		

			it may not be the best of examples, but we can give it for the for in order to understand. I had a
biology teacher at school who told us he said Look, don't memorize don't memorize at all. But you
know how the lyrics of a song when you listen to the song once you listen to it twice. The first
time you get a certain number of words, you listen to it the third time, fourth time. By the 10th
time It's already in your mind. So I'm not advocating the listening to
		

			To music off, but it stuck with me that, you know, if I want to memorize.
		

			If I want to learn something, then I've got to do it again, repeat it, you know, I've got my notes,
I've got my notes, I look through them once, and then I go through it again. And I go through it
again. And I'll hamdulillah I got an excellent grading that in that subject that he was, you know,
in Parliament in biology, because I did this, and I kept reading it, I should like reading this the
subject anyway. So when I went back again, and again, I found that eventually It was as though I had
memorized it, even though I didn't really memorize as you, as you mentioned, and there's also your
short term memory, long term memory. So you can sit and memorize the word for 50 times in the day,
		

			ask yourself, one week later, two weeks later, after you've memorized another 300 words, ask
yourself about that word, you probably forget another similar example, when we follow in the chat
here. There's a lot of names that we've been seeing now. This must be our, our 41st I think live
session or 42nd. Mashallah, and these names? You roughly, you've seen them before, and you know, who
they are roughly. So yeah, and maybe with the songs the same also, when it comes to the Quran, you
find a lot of people not i'm not saying this, I'm saying the example is that a lot of people who
just listen to the Quran driving, coming, going, commuting, eventually they find themselves
		

			memorizing, memorizing the plan without them knowing that they they actually memorizing it. So yeah,
I think Yeah, interesting. Absolutely. You know, you had mentioned something interesting last week,
where you spoke about learning the language in a week or month or a short period of time. Well, what
do you what do you think about that? And, like, Can Can you enlighten us further. So basically, the,
you know, people have, when something hasn't been done, anything you think of, if it hasn't been
done, in a lot of people, or everybody is very, very go into this project, not believing that it's
possible or believing that it's very difficult. And that's if you look at the athletics the same
		

			thing before the person broke 10 seconds, it was very hard and before one mile, wherever it was, and
then people they put the time low and low and nine seconds, roughly. So after you one person does
it, the rest of the people, that's your, that's that mental barrier broken. So I thought of it I
thought of it. I said, Is it possible to learn a language in 24 hours, 24 hours, I'm not talking
about one day where you learn for one hour and sleep no 24 hours, whether you stay up the whole day
and all night and learn it or whether you take it over 24 days in one hour? well over a week. So
what I found a lot of people who had spoken about it and who have tried this and to understand the
		

			context, when you learn a language when you learn anything, if you put your whole life in it, you'll
never encompass the language no matter who you are. And if you want to learn a specific part of it,
so let's say you're into business, and you want to learn a specific part of that language, even when
it comes to Islamic knowledge, you would find that a lot of people who know Arabic have learnt in an
institute because they mainly into the Quran and Sunnah. You would find that in normal
conversations, if they listening to the news, they can't really pick up if they reading a novel,
they can't really pick up a free, they'll understand bits and pieces, but it's a completely
		

			different ballgame. They that part has its own language and its own words and its own way of doing
things compared to the Quran and Sunnah side. So same when it comes to language. I'm not saying you
can learn and encompass the whole language, but a part of it, you can get a good idea. So come to
business and learning learning in Chinese. You need to know a few numbers, you need to know your
questions to ask, we need to know how to ask the question that what does this mean elaborate? So
they say roughly 1000 words, you know, I'm not saying memorize I'm saying you educate yourself with
1000 words, vocab that includes words it includes questions. Remember, if you've taken
		

			two or three words and combine them together, you can get about 30 words what number one and what
number three and what etc, etc. So you carry on. So with that I found people who tried to do that, a
lot of them were decently successful, where they wanted to learn about business, they know these are
the questions I need to ask. This is how I asked them to re explain it or return me something and
yeah, so it's something I really want to try and inshallah maybe one of the days. I will try that.
inshallah. No, absolutely, absolutely. I think it's a brilliant way of learning as well.
		

			You know, the fact that you talking about 1000 words, I read somewhere that this is what you use
most of the time in a language anyways, these are the, you know, around about 5000 words is what you
use and is some that you will very rarely use. So, if that person's understood these, then they have
a good grasp on, on what they need to achieve. So, that's why we have books teaching you about them
for that the, you know, words of the Arabic language in the Quran, etc, I think it's something that
people can really look into, especially someone who doesn't have the time to look so much into the
grammar initially, or it's a bit too cumbersome, they can understand the meaning of these words, and
		

			eventually they will get a gist of what's being recited what they are reciting. You know, it's, it's
fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, I think if you look at anybody, any experts who go and live in a different
country for work, etc, especially if the language is a bit different, I mean, look at the people,
some of them were selling, buying and selling here, you'll find they didn't go to an institute, but
within the first 30 days, because every day they buying and selling and asking, I don't understand
this, and this and this, they eventually start speaking. Also, another important thing, if I could
add when it comes to the Arabic language is that if you see, remember, there you go, you're going to
		

			put in effort anyway, put in, I've read some way that the same effort you put in to be mediocre is
the same effort you put in to be even better. Don't be lazy, even if it means putting a bit more
effort. Find somebody who's got a good accent, if you want to learn from them. You want to, you
know, pick it up and learn it the right way. Don't look at people who are just average and compare
yourself they know you should aim to be the best. Why not?
		

			Yes, absolutely. You know, the thing is that the other thing I wanted to mention was that
		

			there's someone who once said that he met a person who was learning Arabic, and he had someone with
him. And that guy was literally employed full time to be with him and teach him words and teach him
how to say things and how to do things. So of course, this person must have had a lot of money to be
able to do that and pay someone to be with him. 24 seven, you know, well, most of the time teaching
him Arabic language. But his goal was to learn it, I think it was in six weeks to learn the entire
language like as much as he could offer it. And he was moving. He was the I think it was the CEO of
one of these big cola companies, so to speak these these big companies that make these fizzy drinks,
		

			carbonated drinks, etc. And he was going to this area in the Middle East. And he said, I need to
learn within six weeks, I must master this language and get it completely. So he had someone
teaching him the whole time telling him words, telling how to say things and he was only interacting
in Arabic as much as possible. So that is a bit of an extreme, like a way to do it. It's it might
have worked for him, which is good. But if you want to do it that way. Also, you could also get very
serious about it to the point where everything that you're doing for such a short period of time is
only in Arabic And then that way you gather a lot more in a short space of time. And as mentioned,
		

			the sahab is eight of my favorite hobby Allahu anhu, he learnt the language of the people of the
Jewish people at the time, in under 20 days, if I can remember it, 16 days I stand to be corrected,
but definitely 120 days he learned it in that period of time. Also, another interesting thing to
mention is that when it comes to your commitment, depending on the type of person you are, if you're
somebody who's disciplined in that something good. Otherwise, I found a lot of times I've tried
everything to achieve certain things. And sometimes, I found that one of my goals I wanted to
achieve that I put off for a very long time. I put some money down not to say I made a bit but I say
		

			I said that I would pay this if I didn't achieve this. So how long within I think two weeks, I got
what I needed to because it was it was money that I wasn't willing to lose.
		

			So
		

			it's good if you can stick to those conditions that you set up for yourself as well because some of
us would end up extending the time limit. It's okay. Give yourself another week to week. So to
handle it, I'd say it's a lovely way of doing things as well. I think a lot of people can can try to
implement that
		

			idea if there's something dear to you or something that you really can't lose. Generally, if you put
that on the line, when you would achieve that's why I was thinking that why is it that when you've
got school or you've got a university assignment to the certain things in your day today, you know
that you have
		

			Do them and you do them and there's certain things that are more your dreams type of thing where are
your goals and those things always get put to the side. So I think there's ways to go about it and
you have to look what's most suitable for yourself
		

			is to kind of lie that's something that is
		

			I've been thinking about as well in terms of what what are the dreams that I have and what am i
achieving every day? From what I do you know, in a day, how how does that bring me closer to what I
want to achieve in 10 years or in 20 years? Or by the end of my life? So I think something is
something like that is excellent.
		

			someone saying betting is a little lazy to allow this isn't a bit it's not it's not a bit so when
you've got
		

			betting is where two people are putting money and you saying that okay on this result of that here
you're not putting money it's more like you're paying a fine for not achieving something or for not
doing something so you punishing yourself you're not taking money from anybody else
		

			yes some kind of money what a good response and hamdulillah I think it's good that a person asks as
well that is is betting allowed Is it something that is
		

			as Jesse mentioned in a way where you can play for money we're a country play for money and we're
certain things for example, if you running a competition, people are coming to play soccer. How does
it work and where does it come? So inshallah we will mentioned that another time inshallah speaking,
		

			but perhaps we should talk about that about gaming next week.
		

			Shall we can do gaming competitions sport, maybe, inshallah we look into it. Yeah, something. shall
have a good session. I think we do this one of our longest sessions on handleless. Anything else
you'd like to add?
		

			Though, Zack and Zack a lot, a much appreciated bar. Hello. And Nice, nice chatting. hamdulillah
shall we meet next week, might be speaking about gaming and betting and that type of thing? Maybe,
maybe not. We'll see how it goes in Sharla. Maybe we'll touch on some of the
		

			betting along with some other things to do with finance, maybe three or four things maybe insha
Allah, we ask Allah subhana wa Taala to grant us all goodness, Sharon. I shall see you next week.
Bye.
		

			Bye. We can Salam Alaikum alaikum