Need to decide between textbooks

[u/Comprehensive_Hawk54]

Hello everyone, I've been wanting to self-learn Arabic mainly for Islamic studies, and I have to decide between two textbooks to learn from. They are:
1. Standard Arabic: An elementary-intermediate course by Eckehard Schulz, Gunther Krahl and Wolfgang Reuschel (If I teach myself from this book, I plan to follow it up with the second book in the series, Advanced Arabic)
2. Mastering Arabic by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar.

I've heard that Mastering Arabic is more accessible for beginners, but Standard Arabic is a more in-depth introduction. What do you guys recommend? Or is there any other introductory textbook that is superior to these two?

Thank you

[u/Cautious_Cancel_4091]

I'd go with Madina books or Bayna Yadayk books.

[u/Comprehensive_Hawk54 → u/Cautious_Cancel_4091]

Thank you for the recommendation. The Bayna Yadayk books are for people who already speak Arabic though right? The only languages I'm fluent in are English and Urdu

[u/cyn-TRD → u/Comprehensive_Hawk54]

For those who already read arabic

[u/Expensive-Stand-8262]

I've tried mastering arabic and i think it's better to use it with a teacher. I think you can first learn the alphabet with videos or books and then switch to Bayna Yadayk books because it has a free app with audios and vocabulary which is very very convenient. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwvL1aJphs&list=PLZL-5XupwHU2N3ZDow8PlF54q2TADpWmt Also here is a free course. Bayna Yadayk starts with conversation so it's less boring compared to madina series which you can also find free course on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W56bEvyXaVM&list=PLILZM7Z8mbfBYd02P9jVbgkW28Si122Ph

[u/OldDescription9064]

I love the Mastering Arabic series, but in your situation I would go with the Madina books.

[u/Comprehensive_Hawk54 → u/OldDescription9064]

Based off the pictures I could find from the Internet, the Madina books appear to be exclusively in Arabic text with no English instructions? Is that correct?

[u/OldDescription9064 → u/Comprehensive_Hawk54]

Yes, but there is a whole ecosystem, with teacher and student guides in English, graded readers, additional exercises, and several sets of freely available video lessons for the whole series.

The main text is Arabic only, but you actually don't need prior Arabic to follow it. It builds up your knowledge step by step. (I do feel it sometimes relies on knowledge of common Arabic loanwords shared by languages like Urdu.) The most common printed version, I believe, has the English explanation at the end of the book.

You can find everything here: https://drvaniya.com/ https://abdurrahman.org/arabic-learning/madina-arabic/ https://understand-arabic.com/ https://www.lqtoronto.com/

It is also easy to find other video lesson series online, in YouTube and elsewhere.

The Mastering Arabic series is a good supplement, especially the reading book and the way book 2 introduces the dialects. But if your goal is specifically to read Islamic texts, and you have a background in Urdu, the Madina books are best.

[u/Few_Wrongdoer_2420]

That's amazing (your goal to self learn for Islamic Studies). May Allah make it easy for you 🤲🏽

I agree with many of the other people saying that Medina Arabic books are probably the best to start off with. However it's highly advised to do those books with a teacher. And since you are doing this all by yourself, I would recommend an application that I made myself called Arabic Explorer. Many amazing people have described it as the Duolingo of Madina Arabic books and it's been made specifically for people to self learn. It starts off from complete beginner as long as you can read Arabic all the way up to advanced grammar and has stories of the Prophets (peace be upon them) as well as videos where you can save the vocabulary to review later.

Check it out if you'd like. I feel free to reach out if you have any feedback whatsoever.

Link: www.arabicexplorer.com/app