Mabrouk. Congratulations. You have chosen to study Arabic, one of the most beautiful, musical and enduring Classical languages of the world. This book is intended to be used as a primary textbook and consists of two parts: the primary textbook (Part One) and a secondary reader which contains "The Story of Sami and Warda" (Part Two). (Downloadable audio files are available for Part Two). Part One incorporates the lessons of Part Two. Together, the two parts of the textbook provide a complete course in Arabic at both the elementary and intermediate levels. However, Mabrouk can also be used to...

In Arabic literature and philosophy, mysticism is one of the most significant traditions. The fountainhead of Sufism in Islam is still a debatable issue. The Persians had many famous mystic poets. Arabic literature has only one great mystical poet of pure Arabic descent worthy to stand next to the Persian masters: Sharaf ad-Din 'Umar Ibn 'Ali as-Sa'di, known as Ibn al-Farid, or the Notary's Son (1181-1253), who was born in Cairo. He was dedicated from early manhood to the mystic's method of withdrawal from the world. He was utterly satisfied in later life to remember with ecstatic pleasure...

In Beirut '75, Ghada al-Samman shockingly depicts the tragic lives of fictitious characters who find themselves in Beirut, Lebanon prior to the outbreak of the war. Heralded by many critics as being a work that prophesied the Lebanese civil war, Beirut '75 is instead a work that expresses the existential and political views of its author and not the complete reality of the socio-political situation at that critical moment in Lebanese history. Even though Ghada al-Samman argues that the work is not autobiographical and that she does not profess any particular political stance, the work is...

marHaba II - A Course in Levantine Arabic - Lebanese Dialect- Intermediate Level - is a companion book to marHaba (Elementary Level) and a much requested next step in learning Levantine Arabic. marHaba II builds on the vocabulary and grammar used in the first marHaba textbook. It is expected that users of marHaba II are familiar with the content of marHaba and that they have already learned to read in Arabic. Furthermore, a semester or two of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is a welcome addition and will help facilitate language acquisition. This book contains 28 lessons. The dialogues and texts...