al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, The opposite end of the ishtiraak phenomenon in which a single word has many shades of meaning, is that of al-taraaduf الترادف – synonyms – where many words share the same meaning. There has been much debate among the linguists over whether there actually are complete synonyms in Arabic, or whether …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, As the new student begins to learn Arabic vocabulary, one of the things that immediately strikes them is that a single word will often have many different shades of meaning. This phenomenon is known as al-Ishtiraak (lit. ‘sharing’, ‘association’) and such words are referred to as being a mushtarak lafdhee المشترك …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, If Arabic is a sea, then the Qur'an is the most precious treasures, jewels, pearls and gems that can be found in the sea. But reaching these treasures requires a diver skilled in deep thought and contemplation. One of the prerequisites for a diver to reach this level of skill, is …
al-Bayaan wa al-Tabyeen by al-Jaahidh الجاحظ The author is Abu ‘Uthman ‘Amr ibn Bahr ibn Mahbub al-Kinaa’ee, known as al-Jaahidh (d. 255 Hijri). He was born in Basrah, and among his teachers were Abu ‘Ubaydah, Abu Zayd al-Ansari, and al-Akhfash. He was a brilliant polymath who wrote on many subjects including Philosophy, ‘Aqeedah, Politics, Economics, …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, In classical times, students of knowledge would be given speific lessons that familiarised them with the most important classical books in our heritage on various subjects such as fiqh, tafseer, Arabic, 'aqeedah, and so on. This tradition even continued it seems right up until the previous generation, where students of Arabic …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, Poetry has always had an important place to play in Arab culture, even from pre-Islamic times, when the status of a tribe would greatly depend on the skills of its tribal poet in composing verse that praised his patrons and satirised all others. While English poetry may be an artistic form …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, There are endless gems to be extracted from the depth, breadth and precision of Arabic vocabulary, and among the many books which put some such gems on display is the classic Fiqh al-Lughah wa Sirr al-‘Arabiyyah by Abu Mansur al-Tha’aalibi. His book is divided into two sections, the first of which …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, The Arabic language no doubt has a special place in Islam because it is the language of the Qur'an, and the importance of Arabic to each Muslim is proportional to their relationship with the Qur'an and how deeply they seek to understand it. Thus, the Muslim must be vigilant in protecting …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, There is a phenomenon in Arabic known as itbaa’ (lit. ‘following’); it is when a word is placed after another word that sounds like it for the sake of emphasis. Some linguists also said that a condition of the second word is that it should not mean anything in itself. An …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, In Sūrah al-Shu‘arā’ (77-81), Prophet Ibrāhīm (‘alayhi al-salaam) speaks about the blessings that Allāh has bestowed upon him: الَّذِي خَلَقَنِي فَهُوَ يَهْدِينِ Who has created me, and it is He Who guides me وَالَّذِي هُوَ يُطْعِمُنِي وَيَسْقِينِ And it is He Who feeds me and gives me to drink. …
