Miscellaneous Benefits from Antwerp, Belgium

🇧🇪 Benefit 5: The best way to learn Arabic During the Q&A session with Sheikh ’Abdullah Lamḥ Al-Khawlāni, he was asked about the best way to learn Arabic. The Sheikh explained that the most effective method is to memorise the Qur'ān and the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. By doing so, a student: 1. Learns new vocabulary 2. Is directly connected to the Qur'ān and Sunnah 3. Gains a deeper understanding of the religion. 4. Is engaged in an ongoing act of worship. This approach, he noted, contrasts with many Arabic institutes today that teach the language in ways detached from the Qur'ān and Sunnah. In support of this: During our Fajr class with Abu Atiyyah, he narrated the hadith of Abu Hurairah (may Allāh be pleased with him), in which the Prophet ﷺ recounted the story of two women disputing over an infant taken by a wolf. They first sought judgment from Prophet Dawud (peace be upon him), who ruled that the surviving infant belonged to the elder woman. Unsatisfied, they then turned to Prophet Sulayman (peace be upon him), who proposed that the child be cut in half so each woman could have a share. The younger woman immediately objected, saying that the child should be given to the elder woman instead. Realising that no true mother would allow her child to be harmed, Sulayman ruled that the infant belonged to the younger woman. In this hadith, the Prophet ﷺ used the word “sikkīn,” which means “knife.” Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned that he did not know the meaning of this word until he heard it directly from the Prophet ﷺ.