Quranic Arabic Not Popular among Gulf Students....

Submitted by Franklin S (United States), Apr 16, 2015 at 13:10

In this snippet on learning Arabic, I agree with previous poster in that it would be taught for the purpose of proselytizing students. The primary curiclum--in my experience--is the Quran. Unfortunately, this may not help you communicate socially. However, I feel that conversational Arabic would be benificial to know especially if your interacting in Arab communities. But even Arabic can be parsed into regional dialects. My wife is Egyptian, and so I have been learning Egyptian Arabic, which is pronounced differently than Lebanese, Gulf, or Jordanian Arabic. While teaching in Kuwait, I attempted to speak to my 6th grade class using Egyptian Arabic, and was laughed at (In a kind way, but they demanded to help me learn proper conversational Gulf Arabic)--they use different vocabulary and expressions than the Egyptians do. So off I went learning Gulf Arabic. These same students had to attend Islamic religion classes and Quranic Arabic classes--these were not their favorite classes.

But in response to Prof. Edwards suggestion that learning Arabic will bring peace, it is wishful thinking on his part. Learning a language will not change the heart of a person, or the ideology they espouse.

Will learning Arabic change the course of the Muslim Brotherhood's quest to Islamize the globe--who is kidding who? Prof. Edwards means well, but is naive.

Franklin S.

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