In this post I will list some of the popular and widely used book series for learning Arabic language. I tried to cover only the well know books and the ones that I am personally familiar with. So if I missed something, please write in the comment, I will try to review the book myself and update here.
Please note that I will continue to update this post as more information comes along. So make sure to bookmark!
Updates (additional books added)
| Book series | Date added |
|---|---|
| Arabic Tutor series | Dec 08 2019 |
Madinah Arabic دروس اللغلة العربية لغير الناطقين بها
Books
Links
No doubt this is the most popular book series for teaching Arabic Language among Muslims and in Islamic institutes. These books are part of Islamic University of Madinah for teaching Arabic Language and has been used for decades in the university as well as many other institutes around the world.
However it is very important to note that these books are part of many other books that are used for teaching Arabic Language in the Madinah University. Therefore only relying on these books is not enough to master the language. It will help you understand the language structure and the grammar very well, but will not help you with readings and vocabularies to make use of the language in practical way. There are separate reading and expression books that are taught in the University along side of these books.
The series has three books – Book 1, 2 and 3.
Book 1 focuses on simple language structures. It almost exclusively deals with nominative sentences without using verbs too much. It teaches fundamental components and structures of the language.
Book 2 is all about verbs. The book goes real deep into verb conjugation. It also covers advance verb related issues such as weak verbs. If you don’t know anything about weak verbs… Well let’s just say they are not so weak, they will haunt you down through out entire years of your Arabic studies.
Book 3 is completely different beast. This is the best part about this series. The book starts like a boss – it gives you entire concepts and theories of Arabic Language in the first chapter, things that you learned in Book 1, 2 and the things that you will learn in Book 3. So it sets the stage. Then lessons starts by going back and forth between Grammar (Nahw) and Morphology (Sarf).
Even if you don’t study book 1 and 2, I recommend every Arabic Students to go through Book 3 and make sure you understand everything in it.
Due to popularity of the series, specially in the Indian sub-continent, there has been numerous different publications. One of the popular series called Arabic Reader series which basically takes these three books and break them in to eight different books in order to target children. To be honest, I think this is not a very good book series for kids. Children need to focus on vocabularies and conversation, not grammar rules.
| Pro | Con |
|---|---|
| Slowly introduces grammar concepts. | Not enough readings or vocabularies |
| Covers many subtle and often ignored aspect of the grammar rules | Not comprehensive for using Arabic for communication |
| Book 3 is a gem for learning Grammar and Morphology | |
| Tons of Qur’an and hadeeth references (specially in book 3) | |
| There are plenty of resources available for this series. |
Bayna Yadayk العربية بين يديك
Books in the series
- Bayna Yadayk Book 1 Part A, Part B
- Bayna Yadayk Book 2 Part A, Part B
- Bayna Yadayk Book 3 Part A, Part B
- Bayna Yadayk Book 4 Part A, Part B
Links
Bayna Yadyak is probably one of the most popular and highly recommended series for learning Arabic Language. This is a comprehensive textbooks that focuses on conversation, reading, as well as grammar. This series is used by most institutes in Egypt and Jordan and other countries.
The series is divided into 4 books and each books into two parts.
Book 1 (Part A + B) focuses on conversation and basic vocabularies for communications – mainly speaking and listening. It doesn’t focus too much on providing grammar rules and their explanations. There are numerous repeated exercise that makes this book excellent for breaking speaking barrier. Do NOT skip any of these exercises regardless how repetitive it may seem. The authors did them purposely.
Book 2 (Part A + B) focuses on reading. Lots of reading. This book also builds many vocabularies related to many different contexts. At the end of this book you will have very good foundation on the language and enough vocabularies to understand any average reading or conversation.
Book 3 (Part A + B) is where intensive grammar study begins. Every chapter introduces grammar topic and provide detail explanations and exercises. Each chapter also has a single long reading. If you complete book 3 properly, you will be at near native speaker. You will probably understand Qur’an and classical books at least 70-90% of it.
Book 4 is little bit interesting. Most institute actually never teach the Book 4. Initially (older edition) the series only had 3 books. However book 2 and 3 had additional difficult readings after end of each chapters that were too advance for the level of the books. Those texts used to frustrate the students. Therefore with newer edition, they simply took those texts and put them into this new book 4. The book also cover lots of advance grammar and morphology. In my opinion studying the book 4 isn’t needed. At this stage you can study any other advance reading or grammar book instead.
This series has been created by Arabic professional scholars and has been tested by thousands of institutes and hundreds of thousands students. In my opinion this is one of the best series for comprehensive Arabic studies.
| Pro | Con |
|---|---|
| Very comprehensive series | Transition from one book to the second book in the series isn’t very smooth. |
| Professionally structured and planned | |
| Plenty of exercises for each chapters | |
| Excellent readings with vast context covered | |
| Many Qur’an and Hadith references |
Al Kitaab الكتاب في تعلم اللغة العربية
Books in the series
- Alif Baa
- Al-Kitaab Part 1
- Al-Kitaab Part 2
- Al-Kitaab Part 3 (old Ed.)
Links
This is the golden standard for teaching Arabic in Western universities. I myself studied this book in New York University for 1-year intensive program (2-year equivalence). It is written in English targeting the Western students.
The book is very polarized, either you love it or hate it. After studying this series and many other alternate books, I understand both side of the arguments. I my humble opinion, it is good for whom the authors are targeting – western non-Muslims who wants to study Arabic for their undergraduate degree. Who wants to major in Middle East studies, or become Diplomat in those regions.
However for learning Arabic properly, the series is not properly structured, does not provide enough vocabularies, readings or grammar. I would not recommend self-learning students to use this book as primary source. Instead they can use the book as reference, since the book is written in English and provides lots of good explanation in some of the grammar rules – especially in the morphology.
This book is also being thought in many Arabic speaking countries to attract westerners, such as Morocco and Jordan. During my short stay in Morocco I also end up studying this book. However, I found teaching method in Morocco being much better than in the western countries. This may be due to the fact that the teacher does not completely rely on the book. They provide additional materials. Also teachers speaks only Arabic in the classroom so immersion helps with the learning process.
Another aspect of this book series is that it provides listening exercises in Modern standard (fusha) as well as colloquial dialects. Therefore it might be useful for some students who are targeting specific country for their career.
| Pro | Con |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive with all 4 language development skills | Very unorganized |
| Has both Modern Standard and colloquial listening exercises | Not recommended for self-learners |
| Can be used as reference for English speakers |
Gateway to Arabic مفتاح العربية
Books in the series
- Gateway to Arabic 1
- Gateway to Arabic 2
- Gateway to Arabic 3
- Gateway to Arabic 4
- Gateway to Arabic 5
- Gateway to Arabic 6
- Gateway to Arabic 7
Links
This is another popular series for teaching Modern Standard Arabic which is written in English. I find this book to be very gentle and has a good pace for the beginner and self learner.
This book starts from absolute beginning – teaching the alphabets – and slowly progress to give you a good command of the language. It also gradually moves from one book to the next. Therefore, although the series has 7 books, technically content wise it is more like 2-3 books. It doesn’t cover lots of advance aspect of the language but enough to make you independent learner.
For complete beginner and self learning English speakers I would highly recommend this series over others.
| Pro | Con |
|---|---|
| Starts from absolute beginners | Does not cover advance topics |
| Perfect for self learner |
Al Kitab al-Asasi الكتاب الأساسي
Books in the series
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- Volume 3
The book is written entirely in Arabic and may require some help in studying in the beginning. However, if you have some background in Arabic you should be able to pickup and study your own. The book also provides CD-ROM to help with reading and exercises.
There are three books in the series. Each book covers extensive materials. By the end of the Book 1, you are already comfortable reading large texts and communicating in wide range of topic.
Book 2 and Book 3 is gets very advance and covers poems and classical Arabic texts.
I would prefer this book to be studied with a teacher or with an institute since it is a very comprehensive and extensive. Otherwise it may become overwhelming for independent students.
The book also provides CDs as well as extensive dictionary for each book. Dictionary is translated into many different languages
| Pro | Con |
|---|---|
| Very extensive and comprehensive | Can be difficult for self studies |
| Covers both modern standard and Classical Arabic |
Additional books
Arabic Tutor عربي كامعلم
ِA popular series for teaching Arabic Language in various madrasahs, and Darul Ulums. This is the translation of well known curriculum written in Arabic titled تسهل الأدب في لسان العرب.
The book focuses on grammar and covers both Nahw (Grammar) and Sarf (Morphology). It follows some what traditional structure – where it gives all grammar rules of the topics upfront and requires memorizing various verb charts and rules. It also introduces grammar concept based on topic, not complexity. Therefore it might be little frustrating for the beginners.
The problem is that it often would use few lines to introduce complicated rule without any further explanation. In another books they would use entire chapter to elaborate those concept. It happens too often specially in Book 2.
The Book also provides lots of vocabularies and translation practices in the exercise sections. However, these words are completely random and since not part of any provided texts or a dialog, it is very hard to memorize. Sort of like like memorizing random words from the dictionary.
I think the Book 1 of this series can be very beneficial as it introduces both nouns and verbs. However book 2 and onward is very confusing and not well structured which can make learners very frustrated.
| Pro | Con |
|---|---|
| Covers most aspect of the Arabic Language grammars and morphology | Not very well structured |
| Covers advance grammars | English translation isn’t the best |
| Book 1 is very good at introducing Arabic grammar |
No doubt there are many more book series for learning Arabic. If you have something you would me to review, please include in the comment section.
It is very hard to recommend one single book series because each series has many advantages as well as some shortcoming. Therefore I strongly recommend everyone to study at least two series side by side.
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