Arabic 101: Beginner

MAHDI LOCK is a professional freelance translator of classical Arabic Islamic texts into English. He has a BA in Arabic and History from the University of Leeds, an MA in Arabic Linguistics from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and a Diploma in Translation from the Chartered Institute of Linguists in London, of which he is also a Member (MCIL). He has been studying theology, law, and other Islamic sciences for several years with teachers in England, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Shaykh Mahdi has also been teaching English and Arabic for about two decades, from primary school through to the university level. He teaches other sciences, mainly fiqh, and regularly does online study circles, such as the Halaqah Book Club.

To date, his translated works include:

• Kitāb al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām by Imam Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī
• Kitāb al-Waqf from al-Mughnī al-Muḥtāj by al-Khaṭīb al-Shirbīnī
• The introduction to al-Majmūʿ by Imam Yaḥyā al-Nawawī
• Sharḥ al-Ṣudūr by Imam Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī
• Almost 2000 pages of the Khawāṭir of Imam Muḥammad Mutawallī ash-Shaʿrawī
• La Dhukūriyyah fī al-Fiqh by Imam Muḥammad at-Tāwīl
• Manhaj al-Ḥaḍārah al-Insāniyyah fī al-Qurʾān by Imam Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān al-Būṭī

For Nawa Books, he has translated the following:

• Al-Wāfī: A Thorough Commentary on the Forty Nawawiyyah by Imams Muṣṭafā al-Bughā and Muḥyī ad-Dīn Mistū
• Man and Allah’s Justice on Earth, Inward Sin, A Unique Pedagogical Approach in the Qurʾān, To Every Young Woman Who Believes in Allah, Islam and the Problems of the Youth, all of which are part of the Pinnacle Papers series by Imam Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān al-Būṭī
• The first volume of al-Fiqh al-Manhajī ʿalā Madhhab al-Imām ash-Shāfiʿī, by Imams Muṣṭafā al-Bughā, ʿAlī ash-Sharbajī, and Muṣṭafā al-Khin
• The Rights of the Husband and Wife by Shaykh ʿAbdul Hādī al-Kharsah
• Remembrances & Etiquettes of The Prophet ﷺ