The Word of God
As a busy mom of 3 beautiful and rambunctious little girls, learning a new language wasn't at the top of Sr. Ashley's to-do list.
Especially not Arabic, which had always been quite intimidating for her despite having learned Arabic vocabulary over the years.
One evening, Sr. Ashley was talking to her husband, looking for some “me time” ideas. What began with ideas like a spa day or a girls night out, instead turned into an idea to sign up for Arabic 100 at Tarbiya Institute.
Sr. Ashley had no idea where this initiative would take her but it ended up being exactly what she needed - a chance to invest in her Deen and rediscover her love for learning.
Sr. Ashley's experience taking the first trimester of Arabic 100 with Sr. Amal as her teacher has been more than worthwhile. While the first day was intimidating, Sr. Amal made learning the material easier by breaking down each lesson in an understandable way. After weeks of little hope, and little available study time, Sr. Ashley start piecing the materials together and built confidence in her abilities.
One day towards the end of the semester, Sr Ashley picked up the Quran to measure her progress, not knowing what to expect. When she looked at the pages filled with this foreign language, she was shocked to find letters, words that she was familiar with and could read. In that moment, her eyes filled with tears of true gratitude. Over a decade ago, when she took her shahada, she never knew if or when this day would come, the day on which she could read the words of Allah (swt)!
In Sr. Ashley's words, "I cannot thank teacher Amal enough for meeting me where I was, her amazing ability to teach and encourage and for making it fun for me. May Allah reward her and Tarbiya for this opportunity."
The Tarbiya Seminary is dedicated to preparing students for Islamic scholarship. The Seminary provides students with the tools to access traditional religious knowledge while equipping students with the rhetorical skills to be spiritual and relevant leaders for our times.
We believe that knowledge derived from authentic Islamic sources provides vital solutions to modern day challenges. Graduates of the Tarbiya Seminary will undergo rigorous and comprehensive traditional Islamic studies to become the dynamic spiritual leaders our community needs.