The best comeback

I found this interesting post on the Arabic Gems blog (link is placed in the trackback, for some odd reason I can’t post the links here anymore =\)

 

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 him to come to visit him by sea. Ibn Rashiq, afraid of what the sea may bring did not want to set out on such a voyage, so he replied with two lines of poetry:

You ordered me to take my efforts to the sea,

But I disobeyed you, so select another means:

You are not Nooh that your ship can protect me,

nor am I ‘Eesa that I can walk on water.

Mind over matter

It’s indeed interesting to hear about such passionate people who channel their energies productively rather than destructively. I wonder what’s the lesson we can learn from this post?

Few Lessons:

_Stop taking things at heart and try to stand apart from the problem and analyse it. Do we need to change ourselves? Our attitude?

_How can we benefit more and how to ensure we don’t repeat the same mistake again?

_It takes consistency and practice to attain a good solid ground in knowledge. Everyone had to start somewhere; no one is perfect, but everyone can get better and better.

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 his words or the words of his teacher, al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, there is no doubt that Arabic grammar is indebted to Sibawayhi.

There is an interesting story behind how he came to be the grammar genius he was though. As a young boy living in Basrah, he used to learn Fiqh and Hadith from the scholars there. One day he went to his shaykh Hamad al-Basri to learn hadith, but when he recited a hadith to his teacher he made a grammatical mistake [he made the khabar of laysa marfoo' instead of mansoob] which changed the meaning. His teacher interrupted him and said, “You made a grammatical error, O Sibawayhi!”

Sibawayhi did not like to have made such an error, so he made a promise, “By Allaah, I will seek out a type of knowledge by which nobody will be able to point out any errors I make!” He then went to learn from grammarians such as al-Khalil ibn Ahmad and others, and thus began the journey of Sibawahyi through grammar, which took him to the heights that it did.

Mind over matter.

Every letter in its place.

There is an admirable lesson in these verses for all of us. How often do we thank Allaah and acknowledge His blessings and favours upon us?

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.

وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ

And when I am ill, it is He who cures me;

وَالَّذِي يُمِيتُنِي ثُمَّ يُحْيِينِ

And Who will cause me to die, and then will bring me to life (again)

Prophet Ibrāhīm tells his people that Allaah is the One who guides him, feeds him, cures him, and will resurrect him. When he spoke about the first three instances – guidance, sustenance, and curing – he used the word huwa (‘he’), even though the meaning is complete without this word. Yet when it came to mentioning death and resurrection, Ibrāhīm did not use the word huwa.

The word huwa in these instances has been used because guidance, substance and health are often attributed to other than Allaah. How often do we hear the words, “That brother guided me to the Deen,” and “My parents provide for me,” and “The doctor cured me.” Thus, the word huwa has been used to indicate that all guidance, sustenance and cure are rather from Allaah, and from no-one else. But when it comes to the issue of resurrection, nobody claims that it is from other than Allaah, so the emphasis was not needed.

A way forward?

I am surprised that Arabic Gems website is updated no more… What? In tribute to the website, I am going to post/reproduce (in line with the conditions placed on their website) here the articles that perked up my interest in refreshing the language in some dormant part of my brain

Oh the good old days..

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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 strove to Arabicize the tongues of the Turks, it would have been impregnable. But instead, it did the opposite and tried to Turkicise the Arabs which turned out to be a regretable policy and misjudged move. Arabicization would have removed the nationalistic feuds from the two nations [and united and strengthened them]…” [1]

[1] For more information, refer back to al-A’maal al-Kaamilah by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.