12 Excellent Books All Quranic Arabic Students Should Own

If you’re looking for books to learn Quranic Arabic, one thing is for sure: there is no shortage of great content and resources out there to help you.

Today, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite book recommendations to help you learn the language of the Quran.

Best books for learning Quranic/Classical Arabic

1. Arabic Courses

My first recommendation for learning Quranic Arabic is ‘'Drous al-lughaalalrabia' (دروس اللغة العربية). This particular book is for English-speaking students, and it's produced by Al-Medina University, which is a university that specializes specifically in teaching non-Arabs worldwide the Arabic language.

This book covers three forms of Arabic at the same time, which is uncommon in Arabic language books; it teaches you Modern Standard Arabic and, as you progress, begins to introduce classical Arabic and Quranic Arabic.

It comes in three separate volumes, all published in Arabic, and it was designed to teach people from all different backgrounds how to speak the Arabic language.

2. Introduction to Quranic and Classical Arabic

Second on my list is "Introduction to Quranic and Classical Arabic."  This book teaches classical Arabic, and it is an elementary-level grammar of standard classical Arabic. The language used in this book will allow learners to study the primary sources of Islamic civilization and is an essential resource for anyone interested in the Islamic religion, science, and literature.

One thing that is unique about this book is that it uses the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), which greatly helps with the correct pronunciation.

3. Arabic Verb Tenses

My third choice for learning Quranic Arabic is ‘Arabic Verb Tenses’.

This book teaches Arabic verb tenses with clear concept explanations and different kinds of verbs in a clear, broken-down way that anyone can understand in an easy manner. It covers a lot of different grammar resources as well as grammar points.

4. Arabic Between your Hands (العربية بين يديك)

'Al3rabia beina yadak' (العربية بين يديك) is a well-known series of comprehensive curricula for teaching Arabic to non-native speakers.

The book includes both reading and listening text that is clear, with a good vocabulary and dialogues that you can listen to, as well as a lot of comprehensive questions to test your understanding. The main focus of this series is to improve your reading, listening, and comprehension

However, it's not recommended to study this book on your own; it's best to have a teacher as it can be quite complex in parts.

5. Ultimate Arabic

The book "Ultimate Arabic" was developed by experts at Living Language. This excellent series is definitely a great investment, with eight CDs. It helps you learn Modern Standard Arabic and also dialects like Egyptian, Iraqi, Lebanese, and Saudi Arabic.

Studying this book with its conversational dialogues, rich vocabulary, and cultural highlights are guaranteed to help you become an excellent communicator in Arabic!

6. Access to Quranic Arabic

If you are Muslim and you want to learn Arabic to understand the Quran better, then ‘Access to Quranic Arabic’ a series by Abdul Wahid Hamid is a great choice. The text covers the fundamental grammar and structure of Arabic while incorporating Quranic words, phrases, and sentences throughout.

Many learners will be able to make great progress in terms of understanding the Holy Book, for it has all of the most common words that feature in the Quran.

7. النحو الواضح Alnah Alwadih

If you can read Arabic and understand some of the words, 'Alnah Alwadih' (النحو الواضح) is an excellent book to take you from zero to having great Arabic grammar.

The six books are written by two contemporary scholars, Ali Aljarim and Ibn Mustapha Alamein, and are published in two volumes.

8. Arabic language and grammar

In a two-volume set titled ‘Arabic language and grammar’, Jochanan Kapliwatzky has written a wonderful book to help Arabic learners.

This book's first volume goes over the Arabic script in-depth and helps you learn the script quickly using famous Arabic works. It is quite great for teaching the Arabic script and is highly recommended for those who want to better understand Arab history and civilization.

9. Arabic Through the Quran

The book ‘Arabic through the Quran aims to help English speakers learn enough Arabic vocabulary to understand the Arabic of the Quran without translation help.

It is written by Alan Jones and has 40 easy-to-follow lessons and homework. The book uses Quranic vocabulary rather than Modern Standard Arabic, so if you are completely new to studying Arabic, it is strongly recommended that you learn the vocabulary, even though there's a glossary at the back.

It can be a lot to take in, so it's really useful to have a teacher who can help and clarify things for you.

10. Muallim Ul Quran معلم القرءان

If you only want to learn Arabic to read the Quran, ‘Muallim Ul Quran’ (معلم القرءان) by Obid Alrahman Bashir is the book for you.

The goal of this book is to develop such abilities in the learner that he or she will be able to understand the Quran easily at the beginning stages/beginners level, such as in schools, colleges, universities, and Quran circles, by assimilation of first one word, then one phrase, then one sentence, and finally a complete verse. This book encourages the learner to memorize words every day as a way to help them better understand Quranic Arabic.

11. Mastering Arabic

The book ‘Mastering Arabic’ comes in two volumes and is written by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar.

Mastering Arabic is recommended for those who are learning Arabic on their own from scratch, as it's written in a way that is very easy to understand and has English translations and explanations as well. If you want to learn vocabulary that helps you talk about your day-to-day activities, this book is a great choice, since it covers that kind of content as well. It also teaches you advanced Arabic vocabulary and topics that are explained in a very simple and clear way.

12. Dictionary of the Holy Quran

The last book on my list is "The Dictionary of the Holy Quran’, and it is a great book for those interested in Quranic Arabic, as it provides readers with lots of the direct vocabulary used in the Quran.

This one is very useful because it not only gives you the Quranic words but also gives you the etymology and history of each word, telling you where the word originates and how it shows up in other forms.

What about conversational Arabic?

I've reached the end of my list.

I hope you will find these recommendations helpful as you learn the beautiful Arabic language.

If you’re interested in learning conversational Arabic as well, then here at TalkInArabic.com you'll find the highest quality resources to help you on your journey. Create an account to get started.