The learning centre
On this page
The learning centre teaches step by step: how to pray, how to read Arabic, the basics of Islam and more. It is made of courses, and every course is a list of lessons. Anyone can read them; members who sign in can also tick off the lessons they have finished.
Where visitors find it
/learnlists the courses, each with its icon, colour and number of lessons./learn/<course>lists the lessons of one course, with the minutes each takes, and a Start learning button./learn/<course>/<lesson>is one lesson, with the other lessons beside it and Previous / Next lesson buttons.
The word learn can be changed under Admin → Settings → Permalinks. To show the courses on the home page, add the section Learning courses under Admin → Appearance → Home page.
Courses
Admin → Content → Learning lists the courses. Drag them into the order you want.
- Lessons opens a course with its lessons.
- Hide / Show takes a course off the site and brings it back.
- The bin deletes a course with all its lessons and the progress members made in them. Hiding is usually the better choice.
To add a course, fill in the Add a course card: Title (English) (required) and Title (বাংলা), an Address (empty: made from the English title), About (English) and About (বাংলা), an Icon and Colour for the course card, Shown, and an optional Cover picture. Opening a course shows the same form under Course, so you can change it later.
Lessons
Open a course and press Add a lesson, or Edit beside a lesson. Drag lessons to set their order.
- Title (English), Title (বাংলা) and Address.
- The text in two tabs, বাংলা and English, each with the full writing box. A reader sees their own language, or the other one when it is empty, so you can write in one language first.
- Publish: the Course (choose another to move the lesson), Minutes to learn and Shown. Save & add another opens an empty lesson in the same course.
- Video: a YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook link, or an uploaded video file. It plays above the text.
- Audio: a link to an mp3, or an uploaded mp3.
Administrators and members with the Editor role can manage courses and lessons.
Shortcodes
Type one of these in a lesson (or a blog post or page) and it becomes something live:
| Shortcode | What appears |
|---|---|
[quran 2:255], [quran 2:285-286], [quran 112] | Those ayahs with Arabic, pronunciation and meaning from the Quran on your site |
[prayer-guide] | The prayer in pictures |
[arabic-letters] | The speaking Arabic letters |
[arabic-quiz] | A quiz on the letters |
The prayer in pictures
[prayer-guide] shows every position of the salah, drawn for a man and for a woman, in nine steps from the intention to the salam. Each step says what to do, what is different for women, and what is said there in Arabic, in pronunciation and in meaning.
At the top the reader chooses For men or For women, and All steps or One at a time (with Back and Next). The guide follows the Hanafi practice usual in Bangladesh, and says so. The drawings are part of the page, so they stay sharp on any screen and print well. The lesson How to pray — step by step in Learn Salah (Namaz) already carries it.
The speaking Arabic letters
[arabic-letters] shows the 29 letters with their Bengali and English names. Tapping a letter says it aloud and shows how it is written at the start, in the middle and at the end of a word. The row above the board switches between the letter's name and the letter with fatha, kasra, damma, sukun or shadda. Play all reads them in turn; Shuffle mixes them.
[arabic-quiz] asks ten questions in one of three ways: see the letter and choose its name, see the name and choose the letter, or listen and choose the letter.
The sound is made by the server with the same male voice that speaks the translations; the Arabic voice is chosen under Admin → Settings → Media studio. Each sound is made once and kept in cache/arabic/, so the first tap can take a moment, and the server needs the internet to make a sound it does not have yet. The lesson The Arabic alphabet already carries the board and the quiz.
The courses that come with the site
The installer adds five courses, in Bengali and English, all editable:
| Course | Lessons |
|---|---|
| Learn Salah (Namaz) | 14, from wudu and the five prayers to Jumu‘ah, Eid, Janazah and sajdah sahw |
| Learn Arabic reading (Qaida & Tajweed) | 10, from the alphabet and makharij to madd, noon sakinah and waqf |
| Basics of Islam | 9: the pillars of Islam and iman, tawhid, fasting, zakat, hajj, good character and more |
| The life of the Prophet ﷺ (Seerah) | 6, from Arabia before him to the farewell sermon |
| Ramadan & fasting | 5, from why we fast to fitra and Eid |
A site that started before version 1.3 receives the last two courses, the speaking letters and the quiz when db_update.php runs; a course whose address is already taken is left alone. See Updating.
Member progress
A signed-in member sees Mark as finished at the bottom of every lesson (and Mark as not finished to undo it). Finished lessons get a tick in the lesson list, and the course page shows a bar such as 3/14 lessons finished. Visitors who are not signed in see Sign in to track progress instead.
In the member area, My learning (/account/learning) shows every course with its progress, and the overview counts the Lessons finished.