Question

After reading your question and answer about teaching children, I thought you might also have a word of advice for someone who has trouble understanding the Holy Qur'an and would like to improve - of course learning Arabic is the key - but is there something you could suggest if a teacher is not accessible?  May Allah reward you for all your help. 

Answer

The main thing if a teacher is not available for learning Arabic, is to increase one’s Arabic vocabulary.  This can be done without a teacher and a good translation of the meaning of the Qur’an.  The English translation of the meaning put out by Saheeh International is particularly good at matching the English meaning of the Arabic in the same sequence as in the aayah.  A good Arabic/English dictionary is needed as well.  Vocabulary lists can be made, but need to be checked by someone who is fluent in Arabic, and then memorized.  A goal of at least 10 words a week would be a moderate pace and the student would soon find great benefit.  The starting point for the vocabulary words should be surahs already memorized.  Finding the meaning and memorizing it for each word in the Faatihah would be step number one.  After memorizing all the meanings of the words in surah Al-Faatihah, the student should proceed to the other surahs they have memorized.  

There are some Arabic lessons offered online, but we were unable to find one that we would recommend.  That doesn’t mean there are no good online courses, just that we could not find them.