Ustādh Yūsuf Al-Hāshimī
Founder · Grammar & Eloquence
Trained in Damascus and Cairo, Yūsuf has spent twenty years guiding adult learners back to the classical sources. He believes a grammar lesson should feel like a poem.
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About the school
A small school built around the patience the Arabic language deserves.
Salsabil Al-Dhad began as a single weekly circle in 2014. Today it is a quiet, growing community of teachers and students from a dozen countries — united by the conviction that classical Arabic is not a museum piece, but a living, generous language that rewards every hour you give it.
Our story
Founded in a living room. Held together by one promise.
In the autumn of 2014, a small group of friends gathered around a low table in Marseille. Some had grown up speaking Arabic at home but could no longer read it. Others had never spoken a word, but had fallen in love with a verse and wanted to know where it came from. There was a teacher among them — patient, thorough, a little stubborn — and there was a notebook. That was the school.
Ten years on, the table is bigger and the notebook has become a full curriculum, but the promise has not changed: every student is taught by a real teacher, every essay is read by hand, and no one is ever rushed. We grow only as quickly as we can grow without losing the warmth of that first room.
Today, our students range from seven-year-olds reading their first short story in Arabic to retired professors returning to the classical sciences. They all share one thing: the willingness to give the language a little time, every week, for years. That, we have found, is enough.
The teachers
Taught by people, not platforms.
Every teacher at Salsabil is a native or near-native speaker trained in classical philology. They write your feedback themselves.
Ustādha Maryam Bint Ṣāliḥ
Reading & Literature
Maryam holds an ijāza in the recitation of classical poetry. She leads our literature seminars and the spring reading circle for women and girls.
Ustādh Idrīs Belkacem
Children's Program · Morphology
A teacher of children for over a decade, Idrīs designs lessons that turn morphology into a game. Parents say their kids ask, on Sundays, when class is.
Enrollment
Three steps to your first lesson.
- ١Take the placement testFree, online, and friendly — about thirty minutes in Arabic, English or French.
- ٢Receive a personal recommendationA teacher reads your answers and writes back with the path that fits you.
- ٣Choose your start dateNew cohorts open every September, January and April. Private tutoring runs year-round.
Book a spot
Begin this season.
Hold your seat for the next cohort with a free fifteen-minute call with one of our teachers. No payment is taken until your placement is complete and you have chosen a program.