SULWĀN SCHOOL
(مدرسةُ السلوان)

Advanced Arabic

Instructor: Ahmad ‘Alī al-‘Adanī
Course Format: 12 downloadable sessions; 3 live sessions
Starts On: 4 March 2013
Length: 12 weeks (= 1 term)
Term: First term
Course ID: AA1-1/2013
Faculty: Arabic
Division: Syntax & Morphology; Rhetoric
Department: Advanced Studies

Summary

“An advanced course for students with a pre-existing working knowledge of the basics of Arabic”

In this course, participants have some pre-existing knowledge of the basics of Arabic and require a further advancement of their linguistic ability.
As a result, the course content will largely depend on participants’ priorities and requests.
They might choose to cover a full text, such as Ibn Hishām’s Sharh Shudhūr adh-Dhahab; or to present a list of areas in respect of which they would like to gain clarification or betterment, such as the source meanings of the augmented verbal forms in Arabic (fa``ala; af`ala; infa`ala; ifta`ala; istaf`ala etc).
Alternative suggestion: Teaching the whole of Al-Ājurrūmiyyah both in terms of the outward language (in conjunction with texts & exercises) and the inward spiritual signification as per the Shādhilī way.

Aspiring participants are thus free to show an interest and help “design” the basic contours of the course by mailing us at sulwaanah@gmail.com

In any event:
a)    The course will invariably link theory (rules) to practice (immersion in actual texts);
b)    It will be accompanied by a study of rhetoric, using as a basis ‘Alī al-Jārim’s excellent and excellently arranged text Al-Balāghah al-Wādihah, and combining principles and application thereof to Arabic poetry and prose.  
c)    From the next term, we will be conjoining outward assimilation of Arabic and inward (= Sufi) tasting thereof.

Details (of the sub-course on rhetoric)

Lesson 1

•    Introduction to Arabic eloquence and balāghah
•    ‘Ilm al-bayān
•    ‘Ilm al-bayān
•    Simile: Its pillars

Lesson 2

•    Classification of similes; purposes of similes; illustrating gems

Lesson 3

•    The literal and the metaphorical
•    Linguistic metaphor

Lesson 4

•    Isti`ārah

Lesson 5

•    Different types of isti`ārah

Lesson 6

•    Majāz mursal & ‘aqlī

Lesson 7

•    ‘Ilm al-ma`ānī
•    General introduction
•    Khabar: Definition, purposes, varieties

Lesson 8

•    ‘Ilm al-ma`ānī
•    Inshā’
•    Amr & nahy; istifhām, tamannī and nidā’  
•    
Lesson 9

•    ‘Ilm al-ma`ānī
•    Qasr; fasl & wasl; ījāz, itnāb & musāwāt

Lesson 10

•    ‘Ilm al-badī`
•    General introduction
•    Verbalized embellishments

Lesson 11

•    ‘Ilm al-badī`
•    Conceptual embellishments

Lesson 12

•    ‘Ilm al-badī`
•    Remainder (inc. husn at-ta`līl and uslūb al-hakīm)

Requirements & Prerequisites

Access to the book jointly authored by ‘Alī al-Jārim and Mustafā Amīn, Al-Balāghah al-Wādihah.

NB:

The 3 live sessions are held after the 4th, 8th and 12th lessons respectively.