A New Way to Learn
Our main goal is to get people to love learning Arabic and to help people overcome any fear they may have learning it. Arabic is an incredibly beautiful language and our method is simple, learn Arabic by speaking with people and teach what you learn.
Being of Chinese and Malay background but born and raised in Australia, Imran started learning Arabic at Sunday school, private tutoring and University but struggled to really learn anything. Inspired by a trip to the Middle East, he studied with a shaykh at a local Masjid for six years. The shaykh taught him to learn Arabic like a child learns languages. He emphasised losing all inhibitions, embrace making mistakes and just start speaking. Learning should be experiential and students shouldn’t be too worried about grammar, because that comes later.
After getting married and moving cities, Imran and Anisa met more and more people who really wanted to learn Arabic, but most of them had a bad experience learning it. Learning Arabic should be fun and enjoyable. Frustrated that people had a negative association with learning the language, they started teaching Arabic to friends in the same relaxed lifestyle way that they were taught. This unique style caught on and soon they were teaching people across Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Middle East and Europe. They taught university students, young professionals, Islamic bank executives, unemployed people, expats and students studying religion. People studied for all reasons like understanding religious texts, for relationships, for business, for travel and some just for fun. If you want to learn basic Arabic in a new and innovative format and with other students like yourself, come and join us.
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Meet the Trainers
Dr Imran Lum
Imran has been teaching Arabic for over 12 years with his wife Anisa. He has developed a unique methodology of learning Arabic in a lifestyle format through speaking and conversation in a relaxed setting.
In his day job Imran is a banker and an academic. He is currently a Director at a major Australian bank and his primary responsibility is building the bank’s Islamic finance capability. Imran was also appointed by the Foreign Minister to the Board of the Australia-ASEAN Council, DFAT, he is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute for Religion, Politics and Society at the Australian Catholic University and is currently writing a book on Islamic Finance in Australia and the UK due to be published by Routledge in 2020. Imran was ranked in the top 500 who make the Islamic Economy by ISLAMICA 500 for three years (2017-2019) and was the Corporate Category winner in the 40 under 40 most influential Asian Australian Awards in 2019.
Imran has an undergraduate degree from the University of Adelaide, a Masters in Islamic Studies from the University of New England and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the Melbourne Law School and the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Anisa Buckley
Anisa has been teaching Arabic for over 12 years in Melbourne and Sydney. She is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on Islamic law, gender and Muslim minorities. Anisa has over twenty years of experience working with various Muslim community organisations across Australia in the areas of Islamic education, capacity building and Muslim women’s advocacy. She was a founding Board Member of the Islamic Museum of Australia in Melbourne, and is a longstanding Board Member of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights.
Anisa holds a B Ed (Prim), University of Sydney, Grad Cert (International Development), RMIT University, MA Arts (Islamic Studies), University of New England and a PhD (Islamic Studies and Law), University of Melbourne. She is also the author of the book: Not ‘Completely’ Divorced: Muslim Women in Australia Navigating Muslim Family Laws (Melbourne University Press). Anisa is married to Imran with four kids.
Hediah Abiyet
Hediah is our technical expert when it comes to Arabic language and Grammar. Hediah was born and raised in Ahwaz and has had a passion for the Arabic language throughout her life. She studied her Bachelors in Arabic and Arabic literature at Ahwaz University and a Masters in Arabic Literature at Tehran University. Currently she is completing a double degree in Law and Development at the University of Adelaide.
