Quickie language acquisition
There are there many ways to learn a foreign language, but, as a general rule, there is no “quick fix” way of doing it. At some point, you have to buckle down, study and attend classes. Or do you? An Islamic boarding school in Probolinggo, East Java, has a rite that they say will allow you to master a foreign language without doing any of the above….
This rite is called Ilmu Laduni (the knowledge from God) and allows someone to learn something without really studying it. To master this Ilmu Laduni, Yahya was to say a prayer for several hours and then recite a few Arabic sentences (not taken from the Holy Koran) mixed with words from the Coptic language of Egypt.
A March 27, 2006 report in the Jakarta Times gives this and further details. The method is not without critics:
Deputy chairman of the regional board of Nahdlatul Ulama’s East Java chapter, Ibnu Anshori, said “This method is irrational because it cannot be scientifically verified.”
(Thanks to Adiyasa Dwitama for bringing this to our attention.)