Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language to Students of Islamic Theology: A Case Study of the Faculty of İlahiyat, Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University

Abstract

Arabic is the indispensable key to accessing the primary sources of Islamic law—the Noble Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah—and therefore occupies a central place in the curricula of Sharia and Theology faculties across the Muslim world, including Türkiye. In recent years, increasing numbers of Turkish students with no prior grounding in Arabic have sought to pursue Islamic studies, giving rise to significant challenges in the effectiveness of Arabic language instruction at these institutions. This study investigates the extent to which Arabic language instruction in the preparatory program of the Faculty of Theology at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University integrates with, and adequately supports, the study of Sharia courses at the undergraduate level. It identifies the most pressing obstacles, evaluates the curriculum and pedagogical approaches, and examines how closely these approaches align with the linguistic demands of engaging with Islamic legal texts in their original form. The overarching research question is: How successfully do Arabic language programs for non-native speakers in faculties of theology—specifically at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University—prepare students to comprehend primary religious texts in Arabic?

Employing a descriptive-analytical methodology, the research analyzes the objectives, content, teaching methods, and instructional resources of the Arabic program, alongside survey data gathered from both instructors and students. This dual perspective provides insight into the practical challenges faced in the classroom. The findings aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse on Arabic pedagogy within theological education, offering evidence-based recommendations for curriculum design and instructional strategies that better serve the needs of non-Arabic-speaking students in Islamic studies.