Literature
The Arabic language and its literature: poetry and prose, grammar and eloquence. The language the scholars wrote in, and the register a student must grow into if the classical texts are to open fully.
Why the language is a science الثقافة
The revealed sources came in Arabic, and so did the entire scholarly tradition built upon them. To read that tradition closely is to read Arabic closely, which is a discipline of its own.
This field gathers the language sciences and the literary culture that surrounds them: the grammar (naḥw) that governs how a sentence carries meaning, the morphology (ṣarf) that shapes its words, and the eloquence (balāghah) that lets a scholar say precisely what he means and recognise it when others do. Around these sit the poetry and prose in which the tradition expressed itself, including the didactic poems by which students have memorised whole sciences for centuries.
· · ·
None of this is ornament. A student who reaches for a classical text without the language behind it is reading a translation of it in his own head, and translations lose the very precision the science depends on. Growing into the language is part of growing into the tradition; it is the register a scholar writes and alludes in, and the student is formed toward it gradually.
What this field covers
The tools of the language, and the literary forms the tradition wrote in.
Naḥw & Ṣarf
Grammar and morphology: how words are formed and how a sentence carries its meaning. The indispensable base for reading any classical text with precision.
Balāghah
Eloquence: the science of saying precisely what is meant, and of perceiving how the Qurʾān, the Sunnah and the scholars achieve their effect. It sharpens both writing and reading.
Poetry & prose
The poems and prose in which the tradition expressed itself, including the didactic verse, such as the creedal Qaṣīdah al-Dāliyyah, by which students have long committed whole sciences to memory.
Courses in Literature
2 courses, taught here under supervision.
Shaykh Yūsuf b. Ṣādiq al-Ḥanbalī
Alongside the Islamic sciences, Shaykh Yūsuf studied the worldly sciences at Misr International University in the faculty of Humanities and al-Alsun, combining linguistics, translation and English literature, and teaches university courses in linguistics and English literature. That double formation, in the classical Arabic sciences and in the study of language itself, informs how the literary field is taught here.
Full scholarly profile →
Common questions
No. Being able to speak Arabic is not a prerequisite for following lessons; by default courses are taught in English unless stated otherwise. Knowing Arabic maximises the learning outcome and enriches one’s study, but for the main content of a course, English is sufficient. This field is where a student who wishes to grows into the language over time.
Because the precision of the classical texts lives in their language. Naḥw, ṣarf and balāghah are what let a student read a sentence the way its author wrote it, rather than an approximation of it. Picking up vocabulary helps, but the structure of the language is a discipline, and it is studied as one.
No. The language sciences are begun early and returned to throughout, because they serve every other discipline. A student grows into the register of the tradition gradually, and the earlier that growth begins, the more the classical texts open to him.
Where this science leads
The language serves every text a student will read.
Uṣūl al-Tafsīr
The method and principles behind reading and interpreting the Qurʾān.
Explore →Uṣūl al-Fiqh
The principles behind how rulings are derived from the sources.
Explore →ʿAqīdah
Islamic theology and creed, according to the Ḥanbalī-Atharī understanding.
Explore →Grow into the language.
Terms open through the year. Sit one and see whether the poetry holds you before you commit to more of it.
