Arabic Studies at UNL

Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures Author

03/09/2023 Added

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An overview and compilation of information about Arabic Studies major in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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[00:00:13.633]("NAO Takht Ensemble - Tahmila Hijaz, Michael Ibrahim")
[00:00:19.290]Did you know that around 480 million people
[00:00:21.600]speak Arabic worldwide.
[00:00:22.890]And more than a million speaker Arabic in The United States.
[00:00:25.620]Hi, I'm Nour Alomari.
[00:00:27.090]I'm a junior at West Side High School
[00:00:28.380]standing here at UNL campus encouraging youth to check
[00:00:31.050]out their Arabic Language and Culture Program.
[00:00:33.247]"Why Arabic?", you might ask.
[00:00:34.507]"And why UNL?"
[00:00:35.670]Well, I'm here to give you answers.
[00:00:37.404](music continues)
[00:00:49.110]Well, for starters
[00:00:50.040]Arabic is the fourth most spoken language of the world.
[00:00:52.350]Therefore, it would be beneficial to learn.
[00:00:54.450]When studying Arabic, you're not just studying the language.
[00:00:56.820]You're also studying the culture.
[00:00:59.100]Learning the Arabic language
[00:01:00.240]opens up many employment avenues and possibilities
[00:01:02.700]in several different industries such as
[00:01:04.410]oil, travel, finance, and many other interesting fields.
[00:01:07.260]Arabic has also influenced many other languages
[00:01:09.630]such as English.
[00:01:10.740]English has many Arabic loanwords such as alcohol, algebra,
[00:01:14.190]cotton, guitar, and many other interesting words.
[00:01:17.346](music continues)
[00:01:30.420]The Arabic language is fundamentally different from English.
[00:01:34.050]For example, the Arabic alphabet.
[00:01:36.360]It consists of 28 letters with
[00:01:38.640]no distinct upper or lowercase letter forms,
[00:01:41.931]written from right to left.
[00:01:44.520]But don't let these minor differences fool you.
[00:01:47.414](music continues)
[00:02:00.683]Here at UNL, the full linguistic skills of
[00:02:02.910]writing, reading, and listening, and speaking
[00:02:04.800]are equally stressed.
[00:02:06.060]Ensuring that the student enrolled
[00:02:07.440]in this Program is able to master the Arabic language
[00:02:09.840]by the end of the courses.
[00:02:11.487]The Arabic Language and Culture Program at UNL
[00:02:13.620]is designed to turn the experience
[00:02:15.060]of learning a new language, from boring and pressuring,
[00:02:17.700]into an exciting new journey in which students engage
[00:02:20.430]in different fun learning activities, group work,
[00:02:22.800]and extensive use of electronic media.
[00:02:25.821](music continues)
[00:02:38.100]There are 10 different available courses provided
[00:02:40.230]by UNL regarding the Arabic language.
[00:02:42.240]Each course is different and more interesting than the other
[00:02:44.700]because you are not only studying the language,
[00:02:47.220]you're also studying the culture.
[00:02:49.110]Courses can range from beginning Arabic 101,
[00:02:51.780]Women in the Quran, to Exploring Love,
[00:02:53.700]Sexuality and Femininity in the History of Arabic Culture.
[00:02:58.797](music continues)
[00:03:08.309]And with that,
[00:03:09.142]I encourage everyone out there to check out UNL's website
[00:03:11.700]regarding the Arabic Language and Culture Program.
[00:03:14.010]Thank you very much.
[00:03:15.661](music continues)
[00:03:39.570]Welcome to the big Arabic day,
[00:03:41.190]the annual day of the Arabic Studies Program.
[00:03:44.610]Hello and welcome everyone to the annual Big Arabic Day.
[00:03:49.080]Or in Arabic, (speaking in Arabic).
[00:03:53.370]Every year we meet with the students, faculty,
[00:03:56.160]and community friends of the Arabic Studies Program
[00:03:59.070]to celebrate our student journey of learning Arabic.
[00:04:03.060]And we're here happy to be the host
[00:04:05.190]for this Big Arabic Day of 2022.
[00:04:08.550]So the Big Arabic Day is an event
[00:04:10.769]that the Arabic Program hosts every year to
[00:04:13.039]highlight important topics regarding the Arabic language,
[00:04:16.273]the Middle Eastern culture, and other Arabic matters.
[00:04:19.500]UNL has an amazing UNL Arabic Program
[00:04:22.800]an intensive summer program,
[00:04:24.180]and courses on the Middle Eastern culture.
[00:04:28.140]Everyone, please get your hummus and popcorn,
[00:04:31.380]and a monkey named Abu ready
[00:04:33.630]as me and Omar would like to take everyone here today
[00:04:36.750]on a magic carpet ride to discuss all the important things
[00:04:40.620]that UNL offers when it comes to the Arabic language.
[00:04:45.030]As we begin the magic carpet ride,
[00:04:47.190]Omar, I would like to ask you, as an Arab student
[00:04:50.850]why did you decide to study Arabic
[00:04:52.868]if it's a language that you already speak?
[00:04:55.230]That's a great question Furqan.
[00:04:56.970]So I speak Arabic, as she said
[00:04:58.800]and I come from the Middle East exactly from Oman.
[00:05:01.740]So I'm a Muslim, I pray five times a day and all of that.
[00:05:05.010]And when I first arrived here in the US,
[00:05:07.020]I didn't feel confident about my English skills.
[00:05:09.690]So I like started listening to music, like rap.
[00:05:12.570]I started like dressing differently
[00:05:14.520]and I started like mingling with English speakers
[00:05:17.220]and like I invested a lot of my time and effort
[00:05:20.100]into like the Western culture.
[00:05:22.080]And one day, I was walking with my friend on campus
[00:05:25.620]and I saw a woman wearing hijab.
[00:05:27.750]And I told my friend, I was like, "Bro, like what
[00:05:30.120]is she wearing that veil, that looks so like fashionable."
[00:05:33.380]And he was like, "Bro, that's the hijab.
[00:05:36.000]Did you forget that you're Muslim?"
[00:05:37.500]And I was like, "Yeah, I need to take some Arabic classes."
[00:05:40.710]So that's why I'm here.
[00:05:43.050]So speaking of the Arabic language
[00:05:45.120]how has the Arabic Program at UNL
[00:05:47.183]helped you stay more connected to your culture?
[00:05:50.760]I decided to minor in Arabic for the same reasons as you.
[00:05:53.850]However, I did not forget about the hijab
[00:05:55.830]because that'll be bad since I'm a hijabi myself.
[00:05:59.130]But I left the Middle East when I was 12 years old
[00:06:01.470]and did middle and high school.
[00:06:03.270]I really missed that connection with my culture.
[00:06:05.370]So coming to UNL, it was very exciting to finally connect
[00:06:07.961]with people from my region again.
[00:06:10.350]And the UNL Arabic Program has really helped me a lot
[00:06:14.940]teach everyone about the beauty of the Middle East.
[00:06:17.910]But one more thing, why would you encourage the students
[00:06:20.580]at UNL to minor in Arabic or take classes
[00:06:23.400]from the Arabic Program?
[00:06:24.660]Because it's more than just learning the Arabic language
[00:06:27.360]or just the Arabic culture in general.
[00:06:29.400]You learn more about celebrities in the Arabic world,
[00:06:31.684]women in the Arabic world,
[00:06:33.390]and even love stories which were so interesting.
[00:06:36.210]Like there is a story that is called Layla and Majnun,
[00:06:39.330]or like Majnun w Layla and Majnun means crazy.
[00:06:41.910]It happened hundreds of years ago where Qais was like
[00:06:45.240]so in love and obsessed with Layla
[00:06:47.364]but Layla's father rejected Qais's marriage proposal
[00:06:52.830]and Qais went crazy.
[00:06:54.690]So like this happened hundreds of years ago
[00:06:57.420]and I was so like intrigued of like,
[00:07:00.990]I feel like I can be crazy too
[00:07:02.850]because he couldn't like call her,
[00:07:05.580]there was no Facebook like he couldn't like text her
[00:07:09.240]and say goodbye.
[00:07:10.073]I'll see you in heaven at least.
[00:07:11.730]Nothing.
[00:07:12.630]So like I would be crazy too.
[00:07:15.240]Interesting stories.
[00:07:16.345](audience claps)
[00:07:17.940]Thank you Furqan.
[00:07:18.773]Thank you Omar.
[00:07:20.370]Welcome everyone,
[00:07:21.510]and thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:07:23.610]It's my absolute pleasure to introduce
[00:07:26.101]Dr. Abla Hasan and her new book, "On Pain and Suffering"
[00:07:29.795]and which I'm hoping today to introduce it to you
[00:07:32.970]through our conversation.
[00:07:34.440]So let me start by asking you the question on the story
[00:07:36.448]behind that in this book.
[00:07:38.490]What motivated you to write a book on pain and suffering?
[00:07:42.000]First of all, thank you so much for the introduction.
[00:07:44.610]Sure.
[00:07:45.443]And thank you for the hosts of our event today
[00:07:48.450]for the wonderful introduction to the Arabic Program.
[00:07:51.540]It's always a pleasure to be with you Hassan.
[00:07:53.670]Thank you Dr. Abla.
[00:07:55.677]And allow me first probably to foreword your question
[00:08:00.309]to my audience.
[00:08:02.040]It's a book on pain and suffering as the title
[00:08:05.376]from a Quranic perspective as it's clear from the title.
[00:08:09.210]So if I ask you, have you ever heard the expression,
[00:08:13.461]"Life is unfair" or "Life is not fair", raise your hand.
[00:08:19.367]If you ever felt life is not fair at times,
[00:08:23.490]raise your hand, please.
[00:08:26.101]I will raise hand.
[00:08:27.270]I think this explains the book.
[00:08:30.180]So I believe the problem
[00:08:33.300]of pain and suffering is a shared problem.
[00:08:37.050]It's a shared experience of all of us.
[00:08:40.290]And this expression that I started from is commonly said
[00:08:45.390]but we rarely think about it.
[00:08:48.150]Of course the book is providing
[00:08:51.030]a Quranic perspective on the problem.
[00:08:53.550]It addresses the problem of theodicy.
[00:08:56.710]Whether God is fair in what he decides
[00:09:00.780]and how like, questioning God, questions related to that.
[00:09:06.570]So it's a shared experience of all of us,
[00:09:09.060]I would say Hassan.
[00:09:11.880]I'm from Syria, so starting from 2011.
[00:09:16.260]Yeah.
[00:09:18.600]And the ongoing tragedy in Syria.
[00:09:21.240]I noticed that number one question
[00:09:23.790]on social media was the question, where is God?
[00:09:27.846]Where is God, like?
[00:09:30.150]And every winter, let alone the rest of the year,
[00:09:33.750]every winter when it snows,
[00:09:36.240]I know we complain about snow here in Nebraska.
[00:09:38.490]I do that all the time.
[00:09:40.217]But it's different when it snows in refugee camps
[00:09:44.036]and we see all these images
[00:09:46.260]and people go back to the question, where is God?
[00:09:51.049]And what alarmed me more was the pandemic, Covid-19.
[00:09:59.970]And there is nothing new about Covid-19 other than
[00:10:03.480]the question now is asked on a global scale.
[00:10:06.450]Everyone are asking the question regardless
[00:10:09.750]of their ethnic background, or religion or citizenship.
[00:10:15.300]What's going on?
[00:10:17.160]And I was alarmed by some scholars and some papers
[00:10:21.150]in the field arguing for the pandemic as
[00:10:24.025]a divine punishment from God.
[00:10:27.120]And arguing that God is basically unhappy with humanity,
[00:10:33.270]with all of us at once.
[00:10:36.480]One of the basic arguments in the book that I reached
[00:10:40.320]from based on a hermeneutical investigation
[00:10:44.040]of the Quran itself is the argument,
[00:10:47.070]or let's say the conclusion that our pain and suffering
[00:10:52.260]happens due to our divine nature,
[00:10:55.980]not due to our sinful nature.
[00:10:59.490]So we suffer because we are divine.
[00:11:02.190]We're deputies on earth, we're tested.
[00:11:06.840]In other words, we suffer because we don't deserve to
[00:11:10.110]suffer, not because we deserve to suffer.
[00:11:12.900]So a short answer to the question on Covid-19,
[00:11:18.720]and it's a global question,
[00:11:21.360]but also it's a personal question
[00:11:23.970]that we all ask ourselves from time to time.
[00:11:27.360]And it can boil also to the problem of evil.
[00:11:32.130]Why does God allow all this evil in the world?
[00:11:35.490]Now while I'm saying these words, I can think also
[00:11:38.370]of the kids in Ukraine.
[00:11:40.335]So there's always something going on, but the same question,
[00:11:44.640]the recurring question, keeps coming back.
[00:11:47.670]Where is God?
[00:11:49.080]Do we deserve what's happening to us and how
[00:11:51.270]can we make sense of it?
[00:11:53.640]Pain and suffering, I argue in the book
[00:11:57.771]is essential human experience.
[00:12:00.987]It's not accidental, it's essential.
[00:12:04.230]It happens to all of us.
[00:12:06.060]It's common to all of us.
[00:12:08.130]And it's existential.
[00:12:11.460]It's woven in the same fabric of our existence.
[00:12:15.300]A long answer to your question, Hassan.
[00:12:17.730]No, if you have more we can listen to it.
[00:12:19.117](laughs)
[00:12:25.483](gentle music)
[00:12:27.810]Hello, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:12:30.595]Each spring, I teach Women In The Quran,
[00:12:33.900]a junior level course dedicated to discussing,
[00:12:37.230]learning about, and understanding one of the most basic
[00:12:41.400]yet one of the most misunderstood topics in Islam.
[00:12:45.150]To show you how we do it here in Nebraska,
[00:12:47.580]let's visit my classroom.
[00:12:49.710]They were able to get over their religious selves
[00:12:53.040]and Christians and Jews and Arabs and everything.
[00:12:56.070]So we had religious freedom that allowed for,
[00:12:59.370]you know, open debates, open discussions.
[00:13:03.900]In my course, Women In The Quran,
[00:13:06.253]I join my students each year in a new academic adventure.
[00:13:11.340]We explored some of the most challenging questions
[00:13:14.820]on women's status and gender rights in Islam.
[00:13:18.270]I would recommend this to other students
[00:13:19.920]because you learn so much more
[00:13:23.670]than you think you're going to.
[00:13:25.170]We delve into the history,
[00:13:27.270]the current, the present, the future.
[00:13:30.480]Our resource is The Quran,
[00:13:32.310]and our analytic investigation
[00:13:34.327]leaves no relevant question behind.
[00:13:37.140]Our civilization hadn't been known.
[00:13:38.790]The class is student centered.
[00:13:41.400]And my philosophy of teaching prioritizes discussions,
[00:13:45.390]group work, and student engagement.
[00:13:47.851]It was also interesting he mentioned like
[00:13:49.980]the possibility of peace.
[00:13:51.060]Because he offered peace.
[00:13:52.740]Whether you take the class in person or via distance,
[00:13:56.190]there are many opportunities to collaborate
[00:13:58.800]with your classmates and me as your professor.
[00:14:01.868]Abla is an amazing teacher.
[00:14:04.050]She just really gives us the opportunity to discuss.
[00:14:06.810]She gives us the chance to just like talk about ideas.
[00:14:10.020]You'll be part of a learning community involving
[00:14:13.020]all of us collectively to understand what
[00:14:16.080]The Quran really says about women.
[00:14:18.720]And it's very easy for us to discuss ideas
[00:14:21.000]and topics that come up.
[00:14:22.259](mumbles) whatever cause.
[00:14:23.130]Our investigation involves not only the critical analysis
[00:14:26.850]of the Quranic text,
[00:14:27.999]but also the history of interpreting that text.
[00:14:31.560]Both in the Islamic exegetical tradition,
[00:14:34.320]and in the Western academia.
[00:14:36.319]We will answer questions of gender equality in Islam.
[00:14:40.050]Polygamy, women's rights to prophethood,
[00:14:42.556]women's rights to public authority positions,
[00:14:45.522]women's rights to education and work,
[00:14:48.105]whether the Quran really commends domestic violence,
[00:14:51.780]and what does hijab really represent?
[00:14:55.140]The class is your chance to have your questions answered
[00:14:58.800]in a professional academic environment.
[00:15:01.320]Free from both ideological commitments
[00:15:04.050]and media created stereotypes.
[00:15:06.399]I love this class
[00:15:08.250]because you never really realized what you don't know
[00:15:10.860]about a culture until you're learning about it.
[00:15:13.830]There's so many different stereotypes
[00:15:15.208]that we're delving into.
[00:15:17.100]It just lets you have a different perspective
[00:15:19.752]on a culture that we've never really
[00:15:21.930]been able to look into or learn.
[00:15:23.881]The course Women In The Quran is cross listed here
[00:15:27.630]at the University of Nebraska
[00:15:29.550]with these departments and programs.
[00:15:32.790]William Shakespeare once said,
[00:15:34.507]"There is no darkness but ignorance."
[00:15:36.780]Join me as we unfold the largely ignored face of The Quran
[00:15:40.980]and uncover the true story of Women In The Quran.
[00:15:45.766](gentle music continues)
[00:15:54.950](gentle sanguine music)
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[00:16:54.563](gentle uplifting music)
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[00:18:07.012](light airy music)
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[00:21:12.561]Marhaba, masa' alkhayr.
[00:21:14.880]Today I'm going to talk about subject pronouns in Arabic.
[00:21:19.230]This is the first group that I will show you
[00:21:21.720]and then I will join you
[00:21:24.300]with a different set of pronouns later.
[00:21:28.141]Marhaban, and today we are doing learning
[00:21:32.310]about how to ask different kinds of questions.
[00:21:35.662]Salam Alaikum,
[00:21:37.017]today we'll be going over question words in Arabic.
[00:21:40.620]The first word is who.
[00:21:45.540]And this sounds like men in Arabic
[00:21:52.153]and the way you would write it is men.
[00:21:59.460]Our second word is what, which sounds like madha.
[00:22:07.620]And you would write it like madha.
[00:22:15.982]Assalamu alaikum, ahlan wa sahlan.
[00:22:19.278]Wa alaikum assalam, marhaban.
[00:22:21.795](speaking arabic)
[00:22:29.936](speaking arabic continues)
[00:22:44.217](speaking arabic continues)
[00:22:52.931](speaking arabic continues)
[00:23:12.438](speaking arabic continues)
[00:23:31.087](light airy music)
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[00:25:09.377]As-salamu alaykum. Ismi Yasmin.
[00:25:12.200]This is my first time taking a course from UNL.
[00:25:15.030]I'm actually from UNO.
[00:25:16.650]So I was really grateful to have this opportunity
[00:25:19.140]to take this online course during the summer.
[00:25:21.510]Something I really like is that everything's
[00:25:23.460]with PowerPoints and you can ask the teacher
[00:25:25.560]if you need any extra help.
[00:25:27.450]She also asks you if there's any like specific
[00:25:31.440]things you're trying to learn with Arabic.
[00:25:34.440]So I am a vocal performance major
[00:25:37.260]so I'm trying to sing more in Arabic.
[00:25:39.210]So she sent me like a lot of songs to learn
[00:25:42.510]and I'm really excited to see where the rest
[00:25:45.600]of this course takes me.
[00:25:46.950]I'm taking Arabic 1 and 2
[00:25:48.928]and they're both intensive courses.
[00:25:52.200]So I'm fitting a whole year into summer.
[00:25:54.990]I'm super grateful for that opportunity
[00:25:58.352]and I'm really excited to take it.
[00:25:59.970]And you should too.
[00:26:00.803]Dr. Hasan is awesome.

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Arabic Studies at UNL

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