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. …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, Arabic philologists have long studied the Arabic language in relation to the other ‘Semitic’ languages in an attempt to show the areas where Arabic is unique to the exclusion of the other Semitic languages. The reaction of many Muslims who embark on Arabic language study and who have no prior experience …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, Sibawahyi is the forefather of Arabic grammar, the Imam of the grammarians, the first person to systemize the rules of Arabic grammar and present them in a book form to be available to the masses for generations to follow. Although there is doubt whether the contents of his book al-Kitaab are …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, One of the most beautiful things about the Arabic language is the richness of its vocabulary and its rhetorical devices. Although the vocabulary is only rich in culturally-specific areas, it does indeed excel in them. Ibn Khalawayh said that the Arabs have five hundred names for the lion, and two hundred …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh One thing that can be noticed about the poets of old is that they would always seem to come out with the best comebacks in the form of clever couplets. One such example is from Ibn Rashiq al-Qayrawanee when he received a letter from Ibn al-Aghlab, the ruler of Majorca, asking …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh Jamal al-Din al-Afghani studied the relationship between the Arabic language and the strength of the Muslim Ummah, and among the conclusions he reached was: "The Turks overlooked a vital matter; the adoption of the Arabic language as their state language. Had the Ottoman Empire adopted Arabic as its official language and …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh There is a phenomenon in Arabic known as al-naht النحت. It is when two words are merged to make one word that refers to them both. Such words are often found in books of fiqh, and this is where I first came across the most common ones, some examples of which …
al-Salāmu 'alaykum wa rahmatullāh One of the words for a 'tap' in Arabic is a hanafiyyah. If it makes you think of the Hanafī madh`hab, there is a quirky story that explains why. When taps were invented, the scholars held that wudū' (ablution) must only be performed using still water, and that running water coming …
