Sanaʽa Institute for the Arabic Language
Sanaʽa Institute for the Arabic Language (SIAL) is located in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen, on Sa’ilah Street. The school specializes in teaching Arabic as a foreign language.[1]
| Sanaʽa Institute for the Arabic Language | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
Sa’ilah Street, Sanaa Yemen | |
| Information | |
| Motto | "Study Arabic in its homeland" |
| Established | 1995 |
| Director | Muhammad Al-Anasi |
| Website | sialyemen.com |
SIAL also teaches courses in Arabic calligraphy, Islamic studies, and Yemeni culture.[2]
The school, located in a house in the Tabariya neighborhood, attracted many students from the United States and Britain before the September 11 attacks in 2001, but today most of the students are from the Indian subcontinent and the far East.[3]
The founder and director of SIAL is Muhammad Al-Anasi. He attended Reading University in the 1980s[4] and was Arabic language program coordinator for the Peace Corps in Yemen.[5]
Notable alumni
- Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the "Underwear Bomber", a Nigerian who attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, enrolled in this school as a pretext to enter Yemen for terrorism purposes.[6][7]
- Saïd Kouachi, French gunman in the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting.[8][9]
References
- "Sana'a Institute for the Arabic Language". Sialyemen.com. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- "Sana'a Institute for the Arabic Language". Sialyemen.com. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- Erlanger, Steven (31 December 2009). "Nigerian May Have Used Course in Yemen as Cover". New York Times. Yemen. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- Hider, James (January 1, 2010). "Double life of 'gifted and polite' terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab". The Times of London. Times Newspapers Ltd. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- "Sana'a Institute for the Arabic Language". Sialyemen.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
- Raissa Kasolowsky (June 4, 2010). "Yemen language schools near-empty after militant student". Reuters. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
Adil Badi, a teacher at the Sanaa Institute for the Arabic Language, said radical Muslims such as Abdulmutallab, a student from a wealthy family who had no criminal record, had used the Arabic courses on offer in Yemen as a pretext for entering the country to meet fellow militants there. "They had something else to do in Yemen but their excuse was to study Arabic," Badi said.
- Steven Erlanger (December 31, 2009). "Nigerian May Have Used Course in Yemen as Cover". The New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
- "Paris Attacker Said Kouachi Knew Convicted Nigerian Airline Bomber". The Wall Street Journal. 11 January 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- "Paris suspect Said Kouachi was roommates with 'underwear bomber': reports". Yahoo! News. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
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