How long would you keep trying to learn something before deciding you simply were not capable of it? 

Feyza Şahin, a 47-year-old translator and science fiction writer from Türkiye and a mother of two college students, kept trying for most of her life. “I have been trying since I was 12,” she says of learning Arabic, “and at one point I was convinced that I was too dumb to understand Arabic.” Anyone who has attempted Quranic Arabic through scattered resources and stop-start courses will recognize that conclusion. It is almost never true, but it always feels true. 

When the Classes Came to Her 

Feyza was already a Bayyinah user when COVID changed everything. Ustadh Nouman started teaching online classes and she joined. What happened next went far beyond grammar. “The online classes changed my life,” she says. “My understanding of myself, of Arabic, of the Quran and even my imagination and writing skills.” 

For a professional writer to say a Quranic Arabic class improved her imagination is remarkable. It points to what studying the Quran in its own language actually does. It does not just decode sentences. It rewires how you see. 

“I Felt His Speech in My Bones” 

The deepest change Feyza describes is about her worth. “For the first time in my life I felt strong as a woman,” she shares, “because I saw first-hand the value Allah gave me. I felt His speech in my bones. I felt like I could be bold, upright, kind, steadfast and fight against what is wrong.” 

That discovery is not a modern reading imposed on the text. It is the Quran’s own declaration: أَنِّي لَا أُضِيعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ مِّنكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ “I will never deny any of you, male or female, the reward of your deeds” (3:195). When a woman reads that in Allah’s own words, in Allah’s own language, it lands differently than any translation could. 

A Life Put on Hold, Returned

Feyza’s story carries a weight that many of her generation in Türkiye share. She was one of the girls prevented from education and workplaces because of the scarf ban. “I had to put my life on hold at that time,” she says. “Allah showed me how He helps.” Decades after doors were closed on her, learning the language of the Quran opened ones she had stopped expecting. “I have so much to say, but let this be enough. Alhamdulillah and JazakAllahu khairan.” 

If you have spent years believing Arabic is beyond you, Feyza’s story is your evidence that it is not. The right teacher and the right method change everything, at 17 or at 47. 

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