JazakAllah Khayren a great reminder indeed!
Really felt it was speaking to me directly.

To remind myself and others:
We should try to make Du`a to Allah, to increase our ilm. For example:

SUBH’AANA MAN LAA YAA’-TADEE A’LAA AHLI MAMLAKATIHEE SUBHA’AANA MAN LAA YAAKHUD’U AHLAL ARZ”I BI-ALWAANIL A’D’AAB SUBH’AANAR RA-OOFIR RAH’EEM ALLAAHUMMAJ-A’L LEE FEE QALBEE NOORAN WA BAS’ARAN WA FAHMAN WA I’LMMA INNAKA A’LAA KULLI SHAY-IN QADEER

Glory be to Him Who does not treat the citizens of His Kingdom unjustly and harshly. Glory be to Him who does not let torment and pain come suddenly upon mankind. Glory be to the Compassionate, the Merciful. O Allah fill my heart and mind with true enlightenment, discerning intelligence, quick understanding and knowledge. Verily Thou are able to do all things

About 2 years back i made the intention to study arabic abroad thinking that this would be my “soul searching journey” about a month ago the time finally came where i was able to travel to Syria to study. As a sister from the UK I had some reservations about staying out in Damascus without a Mahram but i enquired about the permissability, made istikharaa and put my trust in Allah.

I arrived in Syria and started my lessons the 2nd day, my brother and his wife had come out for the first week to settle me in. The 5th day in my brother asked me to reconsider my decision and to make istikharaah as he did not feel comfy with leaving me out there on my own for the remainder of my time

SubhanAllah what a test; this was one of the hardest decisions I had to make in life, I was out in Syria, my 2 years wait had finally arrived and I had made the intentions to study….but I made istikharaah and decided to come back to the UK just 7 days into my trip. At that time i really had to question my intentions and weigh up my duties to my mother and family and i realised that if I really want to and I am committed I can study arabic and get closer to Allah in the UK inshaAllah. Yes it would be harder and may take longer than the 6 week intensive i had planned out for my life, but Allah is the best of planners.

From start to finish the process was a test for me and Alhamdulillah a purification for intentions, it may be that i needed to go to Syria for myself to understand some of the hikmah behind the decision but I have put my trust in Allah and I am trying to spend the next few weeks at home studying arabic inshaAllah.

I thought i would share this with any sister thinking of going abroad to study etc inshaAllah and also to highlight what a much needed reminder the article was

May Allah (swt) give us the tawfique to be steadfast and seek knowledge in the fi sabilillah inshaAllah and not let a day go by that we have not increased in our understanding of thise beautiful deen inshaAllah

1. newpapers and books. Newspapers in any lanuage it written for average person. They tend to use not dumb it down for readers but not include highly barely used words either. It’s a good mix to see how lanuguage is used.

As for books arabic translations of ENGLISH books. there a couple english islamic books translated into arabic. By having both you can see how to use the language.

2.As I always say consistency breeds proficiency. Studies have shone early morning before noon is the best time for the brain to used at its full potential. it’s remarkable how Allah has created the world the brain works similar to the sun. It gradually gains power(sunlight) and then it starts to wane as the sun sets. However time set aside everyday at whatever time of day for study will cancel out any advantage you would receive by studying everyday before noon. So study everyday even if its a two minute review of what you studied the previous day. It’s all about consistency.

Time wise it should but too long nor to short. About 20minutes a day is good an hour would be better.

As far as memorization. I can’t really say i pick up things pretty quickly but I hear mnemonics are good.

http://www.web-us.com/memory/mnemonic_techniques.htm
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/guide/index.html

Jazakullahu Khairan bro.

Couple of Q’s for you all.
1. What are some examples of good basic readers to increase our vocabulary?
2. What is a good method of Memorization for one who is going to school or working? How much per day? When in the day should we memorize and/or review?
3. This is one is mainly for Shaykh Suhaib: Is it appropriate to memorize material of different books if we have not memorized Quran? If we are in the process of memorizing Quran, is it appropriate to memorize hadith? There are hadith that state clear rewards for memorizing Quran (elevation in paradise etc.). Is there any specific reward for memorizing other sources of knowledge…or is reading and understanding sufficient for reward (ofcourse with implementation)?
4. After Quran, Hadith, and Arabic what is next in priority for the student at home?

Jazakum Allahu Khairan
Arif

@ Nomad78
Here’s are some good sites for arabic learning online.

http://www.sacredlearning.org/classrooms/arabic/index.htm

http://www.madinaharabic.com/Where_Do_I_Start.htm

A great place to learn Arabic: http://www.lqtoronto.com

I live in a small town and we only have one Masjid, but for us to have a Masjid in this
little town is Alhamdullilah a blessing. Resources are somewhat limited but the brothers and sisters
of the commuity have been mashallah very active.
The issue with resources is that people seek information online but their authenticity
can not be validated by the lay/average person. Is there a list or can we create a list of
Islamically sound websites?

Jazakum Allah khair

Studying overseas has its advantages… why do people go to college far from their homes. Focus, Focus, Focus… I do agree that we must obtain as much as we can close, to gain Literacy NOT scholarship. But again scholarship, I believe will come by removing yourself from your comfee home.. and traveling..

Wa Allaho Alim

As-salaamu alaykum