Marhaban!
We are Ella and Habib. It’s safe to say, we’ve been obsessed with Arabic for a while:
We both completed a 4-year degree in Arabic at SOAS, University of London
We studied Arabic for a year in Nablus, Palestine
We currently live in Marrakesh, Morocco
After graduating in 2018, Ella and Habib discovered they were just as passionate teachers as students and founded Ihsan Arabic.
Five years in, Ihsan Arabic is blessed to have taught hundreds of students on every continent (except for Antarctica!). In 2022, fellow BA Arabic graduate Sophie joined the team.
About Ella
Born in China to Dutch parents and raised in Singapore, Ella chose to study Arabic at degree level to continue her exploration of the world. Little did she know at the time, her Arabic studies would put her on the path to Islam.
Ella is deeply passionate about helping others to unlock the beauty of the Arabic language. She first got the Arabic teaching bug when helping women in her local community to overcome the hurdles she had faced when studying the language at university.
As the principal curriculum developer, Ella spends lots of time revisiting her own Arabic learning journey and applying the superpower of hindsight. She is also the point of contact for learner queries on social media and other platforms.
About Habib
Born in Birmingham to Pakistani and English parents, Habib’s home-education gave him time to pursue many interests including drawing comics, writing songs and making up new languages. He has always loved travelling and so, at the age of sixteen, jumped at the opportunity to spend a year in Mallorca attending Madrassa Wazzani.
Habib’s mission is to make Arabic language education intuitive and accessible. When Habib is not fine-tuning course material or leading Arabic sessions, he is thinking deeply about the direction of Ihsan Arabic as a dynamic language learning community.
After completing his BA in Arabic, Habib’s professional life has taken him into schools and graphic design studios. From the get-go, the combination of education and design has been integral to the Ihsan Arabic approach.
About Sophie
Sophie takes pride in helping her students to achieve their full Arabic learning potential.
She has delved deep into the Arabic language as well as the history and politics of the region. She completed a BA in Arabic, including a year abroad, and went on to read an MSc in Middle East Politics. During this time, she fell in love with teaching Arabic, especially after she succeeded in helping her German mum to pronounce the letter ‘ayn ع.
Sophie leads a range of women’s courses and is our principal researcher, searching through Arabic texts to find the hidden gems which enrich our learning material.
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Arabic Thursday
We also love to write about Arabic. We have been publishing our articles in different settings including Amaliah magazine, The New Arab, our Instagram page, and our weekly email newsletter Arabic Thursday. Substack is the place for our writing about the Arabic language and our current adventure living in Marrakech.