During the Thanksgiving holiday, the Ahmadi-Muslims did not rest as the young students were learning the Arabic necessary to read the Holy Qur’an in its original language.

The youngest students learn first learn the 29 Arabic letters and their sounds. At the next level, the students learn the phonetics of combining two sounds together. After this stage is mastered, the students learn how to change the sound when there is a sign above the letter. Next comes the ability to know when to pause or elongate a sound.

As one Pakistani friend once told me, no one comes to Arabic as a native language as a Muslim. Since the Holy Prophet stated that we should pursue knowledge even if we have to walk to China, there is no hurdle high enough to prevent Muslims from learning the language the Quran is written in. Even the Arabs must learn how to read the Quran because it is not written the way Arabs speak. So the challenge remains a challenge.

Once the students complete the Qaida, the text that explains pronunciation, the student learns to recite the Quran in its original language. My admiration for my children soars for my own children, as they have excelled me in this area.

In America, the next step is difficult because anyone who wishes to hire a Qaree is probably not going to find one. A Qaree knows how to help students fine tune their pronunciation so that they speak Arabic like an Arab, and not like an American or a Pakistani. But, the advent of Skype has enabled many Muslims to hire Qarees online in order to improve their Arabic pronunciation.

This exercise has an additional benefit. Students who start learning Arabic before the age of 12 will have the ability to learn other languages for the rest of their lives.