An Enlightened Man

Below is a beautiful reflection from Shaykh Abdullah Adhami (www.sakeenah.org)

The word شمس “shams” ( sun in Arabic ) is feminine, and قمر “qamar” ( moon in Arabic ) is masculine. The sun burns itself out to give light and life to everything around, and the moon isمنير muneer, meaning it reflects the light. Within itself it has no light; it radiates the brilliance of the sun. So when we shine as men, the implication is that we are reflecting the glorious light of our women.

May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’aala be pleased with them

Institute of the Language of the Qur’an, Toronto Canada

Arabic Balaghah And Greek Rhetoric*

This article argues that Arabic baläghah ‘eloquence’ is among the pure Arabic sciences. These are the linguistic sciences which according to Ibn Khaldün were born in the Arabic environment to serve purely Arabic purposes, mainly to prevent the corruption of the Arabic language which began to creep into the language as new peoples embraced Islam. The thesis of this paper goes against the argument that Taha Hussein put forward almost 80 years ago in a conference in which he declared that Aristotle was not only the First Teacher of Muslims in philosophy but also in the science of eloquence.

Nature of Arabic baläghah:

Versteegh points out that the Greek influence on Arabic scholarship although spread over several disciplines, did not cover the so called pure Arabic sciences, namely the science of traditions and linguistics (1977:1). Arabic linguistic sciences began even before the contact with the Greek culture. According to Ibn Al-Anbari the first Arabic grammatical treatise was compiled by Abul Aswad al-Du’ali around 680s. Ibn al-Anbari in his book Nuzhat al-Aliba’ (ed. By Attia Amer 1962) traces the beginnings of Arabic interest in grammar and the study of language in general to the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib and gives in support of this view the story of Ali asking Abul Aswad ad-Du’ali to construct a science of Arabic grammar.

Addressing a judge as ‘lord’ in court

Question: In a British court of law, I have to respond the judge by saying “My Lord”. Is it Islamically permissable? I ask this because I understand that our only Lord is Allah.

Answered by the Fatwa Department Research Committee – chaired by Sheikh `Abd al-Wahhâb al-Turayrî
The meaning of the English word “lord” is not exclusively for Allah.

It is linguistically used for a person who is in authority over an estate or over a jurisdiction. It is used metaphorically for God (just like the word “king” is used).

Even in Arabic, the word which is translated as Lord – rabb – has other uses. It can be used in various phrases to mean different things.

The Power of Language

Michele Toomey, PhD

Words can inform our mind, caress and comfort our feelings, excite and thrill our spirit, or warm and kindle the flame of our hearts. They can also slap our face, punch us in the stomach, rattle our nerves, kill our desire, or destroy our self-confidence. Of course this is metaphorical, but these metaphors capture in words our physical reactions to what is said, and that is the power of language. It can emotionally move and affect us as powerfully as physical actions. Unfortunately, however, we have yet to recognize and legitimize this great power in the way we should, and we are left to deal with language in whatever way we have learned and adopted.

‘These two Sorcerers’

In the Arabic Language The Nominalizer إنَّ & her Sisters (لعلَّ ، أنَّ ، کأنَّ ، لکنَّ ، لأنَّ ) change the subject nominative case mood to the accusative but they leave the predicate in its nominative case.

For Example:

إنَّ الأکلَ لذيذ

Indeed, the food is delicious.

This grammatical rule also applies in the dual and plural form.

A novice learner of the rules and grammar of the Arabic Language will no doubt be confused and perplexed when coming across Allah’s saying:

ْ إِنْ هَـٰذَانِ لَسَاحِرَانِ[Taha:60]

In the aforementioned verse you can see that the subject has not changed to the accusative case as it should: “إن هذين لَسَاحِرٰنِ”

 

Language-Miracle

Each Prophet was wisely selected by Allah in order to be the best person for the job. He was then provided by Allah with miracles as proof of his truthfulness and his message. These miracles were wisely selected by Allah in order to be in the same field as that which these people excelled in so that they could fully comprehend the magnitude of these miracles.

For instance, the people during the time of Moses excelled at magical trickery. Their rulers used to surround themselves with the most powerful of these wizards as a sign of power. This is why Allah made the miracles of Moses (as) similar to their magical trickery (changing a stick into a snake, parting of the sea… etc.) but of a much greater magnitude than anything they could ever hope to accomplish. For they were not tricks, but actual physical miracles.

‘and his wife…’

وَٱمْرَأَتُهُ

There are many issues in relation to Fiqh which the Scholars have differed upon but when carefully looking at the verses of the Qur’an they give you a clear and accurate answer. The Qur’an was revealed in the Arabic language and therefore any issue that the Muslims are faced with must be traced back to the Qur’an in its Arabic context in order to find the correct position of Islam on it.

Below is an example:

Scholars have differed on the issue of whether a couple who has embraced Islam need to renew their marriage contract islamically?

Language: The Main Vehicle Of Contemplation

Malik Badri

Despite the complexity of this problem, research in cognitive psychology has become familiar with many secrets of human internal intellectual and mental activities and their precise relation with language. With the help of modern computer, it has been possible to set up simplified programs to clarify some of the methods followed by the human mind in classifying information. It has been found, for instance, that language is not only a human being’s means of address and communication, but also the basic system used in thinking. Without the laws that control the way in which tangible and abstract meanings are conveyed through word symbols, human beings cannot develop abstract concepts. They cannot use either their sensory perception or their ability to imagine and remember in dealing with various types of experiences they underwent in the past, so that they can relate them to the present and deduce from them possible solutions to p.roblems they are facing. Thinking, in fact, is using such symbols through cognitive processes.

Importance Of Arabic

As the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic, the importance of the knowledge of Arabic cannot be over emphasised. Even if one does not know or understand Arabic it is useful to know a few facts about the Arabic language.Arabic is a very scientific language, in which the meaning of a word is based on its roots, which usually consist of three letters. ‘Variations in shades of meaning are obtained, first by vowelling the simple root, and secondly by the addition of prefixes, suffixes and in-fixes. Thus, from the root salima, to be safe (literally, ‘he was safe’) we derive sallama, ‘to deliver’; aslama, ‘to submit’ (also, to become a Muslim); istalama, ‘to receive’; istaslama, ‘to surrender’; salamun, ‘peace’; salamatun, ‘safety, well-being’; muslimun, ‘a Muslim’.¹ It is an unfortunate fact that – only when one has a grasp of the structure of the language, and, in particular, when one knows the various derived forms of the verbs, both strong and weak – is one able to use an Arabic dictionary with ease, as all Arabic dictionaries enter words under their roots and only the roots are in alphabetical order. So those who have some grounding in Arabic can easily find the meaning of an Arabic word from its roots by consulting an Arabic-English dictionary or lexicon. For those who are interested in a deeper understanding of the Qur’an, it would be useful to have a concordance of the Qur’an, which lists all the verses in which a particular word appears, together with its root. There is no doubt that for a deeper understanding of the Qur’an a knowledge of the Arabic language is absolutely essential. Such knowledge can be achieved easily if the language is taught in the early stages of schooling, particularly in countries in which the substantial majority is Muslim.