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1 Introduction
THIS BOOK IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IT IS INCOMPLETE AND MAY HAVE TYPOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ERRORS. IT IS NOT YET READY FOR STUDY.
All praises are due to Allāh. We praise Him, seek His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allāh from the evil in our souls and from our sinful deeds. Whomever Allāh guides, no one can mislead. Whomever Allāh leads astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allāh. I also bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and messenger.
May the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon the Prophet Muḥammad, his family, his companions, and those who followed them with good conduct.
1.1 History of Arabic
Allāh, may He be glorified and exalted, revealed the Qurʾān, some fourteen and a half centuries ago, to the Prophet Muḥammad, may Allāh grant peace and confer blessing upon him. The language of the Qurʾān is the Arabic language, as it was understood by the Arabs at that time. The sayings and actions of the Prophet, may Allāh grant peace and confer blessing upon him, were recorded by his companions also in this Arabic language. Also, composed in this Arabic language, was a vast body of poetry that the Arabs would consider eloquent and worth transmitting. We will call the Arabic of this pre-Islāmic and early Islāmic era as Classical Arabic.1 The Classical Arabic language consisted of multiple dialects that were spoken by the different tribes and in the different regions of the Arabian peninsula.
All languages change naturally over time. For example, English has changed to such a degree that the Old English language spoken 1400 years ago would be unintelligible to us today. So too did the Classical Arabic dialects begin to change. But when this began to happen, scholars took on the responsibility of preserving the language of the revelation.2 In the process of preserving Classical Arabic, one particular variety became standardized and gained prevalence as a literary language amongst the dialects of Classical Arabic. We will call this variety Standard Classical Arabic (sca).
sca became the language of religious scholarship, science, and literature in the Islāmic world. As scholars developed new branches of religious and secular sciences, new terms and meanings were added (which are termed post-classical). A few words were also borrowed from foreign languages and Arabicized, as needed by the different scientific disciplines. Even Classical Arabic itself had a few Arabicized foreign borrowings from neighboring languages.
While sca was used for literary purposes, the vernacular language that was spoken by Arabs in their day-to-day lives continued to evolve naturally over time and in the different regions where Arabic was spoken. And so, there began to exist two very distinct types of Arabic: the preserved sca which is taught by formal education and which is primarily a written language, and the vernacular Arabic dialects which Arabs learn as their mother tongue and which are primarily only spoken and not written.
In modern times, many new words and meanings were added to sca, often via translation from Western languages, to keep up with technological advancements and modern media. This modern development of sca is called Modern Standard Arabic (msa).
Figure 1.1 presents a simplified view the historical development of the different varieties of Arabic.
In the figure above, the extraction of sca towards the end of the Classical Arabic period does not imply that only later stages of Classical Arabic contributed to sca. Rather, it only implies that that is when sca emerged as the standard literary language for non-native Classical Arabic users. In fact, the source material for sca includes not only the speech of contemporary native Classical Arabic speakers, but also transmitted texts from throughout the Classical Arabic period, even texts from before the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
Nor does the diagram intend to imply that only sca was preserved amongst all the dialects of Classical Arabic. sca is the variety of Classical Arabic which became a standard that continued to be used later. But the scholars of the Arabic language made notes regarding the other dialects of Classical Arabic as well.
1.2 What defines sca
It may be appropriate to say a few words about what defines sca proper. When the Arab grammarians first began recording and describing Classical Arabic, the regular, day-to-day, speech of many people had already begun to deviate from Classical Arabic. So the grammarians would seek out and record samples of speech and texts from only authoritative sources. And they had criteria for determining what constituted an authority in the language. One such criterion was that the text sample be native Classical Arabic speech. What we mean by “native Classical Arabic” is the language produced by persons immersed from early childhood in an environment where they would hear (native) Classical Arabic from people around them in their day-to-day lives, such that they learned to speak it naturally, without discernable change.3
By the time sca was emerging as a standard for literary output, Classical Arabic was on the decline, as a native language. Most literary output produced in sca was then a non-native attempt to conform to the standard. So, even though proficiency in sca was generally pretty high, books written in sca are not themselves, generally, definitive of sca.
1.3 msa
As we have mentioned earlier, sca when produced today will tend to have a lot of modern vocabulary, and will generally be referred to as msa. msa is used today as the language of published literature and formally produced news media.
msa, in theory, still attempts to conform to the grammar of sca. In practice, however, msa is influenced noticeably by European languages. This is because much written material, like books and news articles was, and is, translated wholesale from European languages. This translation, along with adding vocabulary, has also influenced the style, and also in places, the grammar of the msa which you are likely to find printed today. That is not to say that all msa produced today has deviated from the grammar and style of sca. Persons who have been more exposed to classical books are more likely to stay closer to sca. In any case, as we have mentioned earlier, all Arabic that is produced today that attempts to conform to sca, is merely that: an attempt to conform to sca, and not definitive of sca.
As a new learner, this exactitude is largely academic. Excepting the Qurʾān, which is inimitable, you may feel free to emulate the writing of good writers of sca.
1.4 Spoken sca
As we have mentioned above, sca is primarily a written language. As a spoken language, sca is, today, heard almost only in religious and formal settings.
We will learn in this book, if Allāh wills, that there are very exact rules for properly pronouncing and pausing in sca. Practically, however, most native Arabic speakers today rarely adhere to these rules exactly in extemporaneous speech. Furthermore, depending on the situation, speakers may sometimes casually mix in their vernacular dialect within their sca speech. In terms of usage, Classical Arabic had many idiomatic expressions that were used in casual, day-to-day speech. But because spoken sca is relegated to formal settings today, many of those expressions are now deemed archaic and are largely unused. In fact, a strict adherence to all sca grammar, usage, and pronunciation/pausing rules in informal spoken settings may, today, come across as pretentious or overly formal.4
Our advice to the learner who wishes to speak his newly learned Arabic is to learn to be comfortable with the different spheres and sociolinguistic norms of Arabic. Consider the following real-world setting:
A scholar may be giving a lecture, in Arabic, on one of the Islāmic branches of knowledge. It may even be a lecture on sca grammar. In the beginning of the lecture, the scholar will praise Allāh and ask Allāh to confer blessing upon and grant peace to the Prophet ﷺ This will be done using exact sca grammar and pronunciation/pausing rules.
The scholar will then begin the instructional part of his lecture. The language of this instruction will still typically be sca. But adherence to pronunciation and pausing rules may be considerably relaxed. The scholar’s speech may be closer to exact sca rules when giving formal instruction, and then more relaxed when elaborating on some particular point. When quoting an āyah from the Qurʾān, strict sca would be employed, even if not reciting the āyah. The scholar’s fluency in spoken sca is also a factor in how close his extemporaneous formal speech is to sca. Because, like anyone born after the classical era, he is not a native speaker of sca. And his proficiency in speaking exact sca fluently does not detract, if Allāh wills, from his eminence and knowledge of his domain. Within the lecture, the scholar may even dip in and out of his vernacular dialect, often when interacting with a questioner from the audience.
Once the lecture is concluded, the scholar and his students may engage in an informal session. The conversation in this session will almost entirely be in vernacular dialect(s).
If you find yourself in such a society, it is advisable to conform to its norms. As a non-native Arabic speaker, you won’t be expected to speak a vernacular dialect. So your speaking sca in an informal setting is excused. But aim for a natural and easy flowing speech, even at the cost of grammatical correctness. Don’t over articulate, and vary your pitch and tone. In fact, it may not be a bad idea to supplement your learning of sca with some knowledge of a vernacular dialect, not least to understand the native speech of the Arabs today.
1.5 Scope of this book
In this book, we will study the grammar of sca. If Allāh wills, this will help you to begin to understand the language of the Qurʾān, the Ḥadīt͡h, and Islāmic literature.
If your goal is to learn msa, then this book may still be of help because the core language and the grammar are essentially the same. However, you may prefer to study from a resource that focuses on the modern language.
This book does not touch at all upon the modern vernacular dialects that are spoken in the Arab world today.
1.6 Organization of this book
We will start, if Allāh wills, with the Arabic script and present, in each chapter, a new concept of Arabic grammar, together with examples. Though there is none right now, we also plan to give, if Allāh wills, a vocabulary list and exercises for each chapter.
We have generally tried to organize content coherently for convenient reference during learning. Sometimes, this can mean that on encountering a new topic, we present it in more detail than is strictly necessary for learning at that stage. Although identifying such material may not be easy for the learner, you may feel free to skim over such material and refer back to it later, as needed.
Some of the sentences we present, both as examples and as chapter exercises, because of their contrived nature, may seem of dubious usefulness to a learner wanting to learn practical usage. Also, when translating examples, we usually steer toward a literal, word-for-word, translation rather than an idiomatic one. This is in order to illustrate the function of each word, and to show a correspondence between the words in the Arabic sentence and the English translation. The resulting English will then often sound awkward and, at times, even ungrammatical. Our excuse is that our aim in this book is to teach Arabic, not how to translate Arabic into English.
We request the reader’s patience and indulgence in these and other matters.
1.7 How to study from this book
Keep pen and paper in hand when studying. Write some of the examples as you are studying and try to understand how the example is relevant to the topic. In answering the exercises, we strongly recommend that you memorize the vocabulary in full and write down the answers with pen on paper. We strongly recommend that you avoid the tendency to answer the exercises only orally or mentally without writing them down, or look up the answers from the answer key before attempting to write the answer yourself, or look up words in the vocabulary list without memorizing them, or proceed to the next chapter before memorizing the vocabulary and going through the exercises. You may also find yourself having to go back a few chapters every once in a while and revising the concepts therein. This is very normal and not a cause for any concern. It may also prove beneficial to re-do the exercises of that chapter when doing so.
Know that while Arabic grammar requires effort to master to a proficient degree, the real barrier to reading and understanding Arabic texts by oneself is vocabulary. Arabic is a very rich language and knowledge of a few thousand words is needed before the student can begin to read texts independently. In fact, we would not be too far off to say that grammar, at this stage, is only a tool to help you make sense of the vocabulary that you are acquiring. So strive to achieve a balance between learning grammar and acquiring vocabulary. In appendix @ref(vocabulary-and-reading), we suggest companion reading material, dictionaries, and techniques on acquiring and retaining vocabulary.
1.8 Interpreting the Qurʾān
As you proceed in your Arabic studies, you may begin to form an understanding of the meanings of some of the āyahs of the Qurʾān. Pondering over the āyahs of the Qurʾān, to understand it, obtain guidance from it, and act upon it is one of the foremost goals of the Qurʾān.5 Know, however, that forming this understanding should be done with a proper methodology: one that is based on sound and confirmed knowledge.6 Interpreting the Qurʾān is one of the branches of Islāmic knowledge known as tafsīr. There are proper sources for tafsīr. They are:
- The Qurʾān. The Qurʾān itself is a source of tafsīr. What is stated in a concise fashion in one place may be elaborated upon at another place.7
- The Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. The Sunnah (via the Ḥadīt͡h) is the second most important source of tafsīr. Allāh tasked the Prophet ﷺ with explaining the Qurʾān and gave him ﷺ the necessary knowledge in order for him ﷺ to do so.8
- The understanding of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ. The Companions had an excellent command of the Arabic language and lived through many of the events that the Qurʾān refers to. Furthermore, if a meaning of an āyah was not clear to them, they had access to the Prophet ﷺ and would ask him ﷺ about its meaning.9
- The Arabic language.10. One needs to have sound knowledge of the Arabic language of the time of the Prophet ﷺ to be able to interpret the Qurʾān linguistically. However, one cannot rely solely on the Arabic language for tafsīr.11 There are many instances where the Companions, who possessed knowledge of the Arabic language, did not understand the intent of an āyah and it was necessary for the Prophet ﷺ to explain the Qurʾān to them.12
The specialist in the science of tafsīr is able to use the above sources, and his educated reasoning, to interpret and comment on the meaning of āyahs.13
There are grave dangers to speaking about the Qurʾān without sound knowledge. If one interprets and comments on the Qurʾān, then he is actually making a statement on behalf of Allāh.14 So he better be sure that he is making that statement based on sound knowledge. Because speaking about Allāh without knowledge is a most great sin. This is because it involves and includes ascribing something falsely to Allāh.15
Here is an example of an āyah where it is conceivable that someone may make an incorrect interpretation, if he did not interpret according to a proper methodology:
- إِنَّ ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَٱلَّذِینَ هَادُوا۟ وَٱلنَّصَـٰرَىٰ وَٱلصَّـٰبِـِٔینَ مَنۡ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡیَوۡمِ ٱلۡـَٔاخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحࣰا فَلَهُمۡ أَجۡرُهُمۡ عِندَ رَبِّهِمۡ وَلَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَیۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ یَحۡزَنُونَ [سورة البقرة 2:62]
Translation by Ṣaḥeeḥ International™:
Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muḥammad (ﷺ)] - those [among them] who believed in Allāh and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.
Footnote by the same translator:
After the coming of Prophet Muḥammad (ﷺ) no religion other than Islām is acceptable to Allāh, as stated in 3:85.
The āyah referred to in the footnote is:
- وَمَن یَبۡتَغِ غَیۡرَ ٱلۡإِسۡلَـٰمِ دِینࣰا فَلَن یُقۡبَلَ مِنۡهُ وَهُوَ فِی ٱلۡـَٔاخِرَةِ مِنَ ٱلۡخَـٰسِرِینَ [سورة آل عمران 3:85]
And whoever desires other than Islām as religion - never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.
Ibn Kat͡hīr, in his tafsīr of this āyah, cites a report narrated from the the Companion of the Prophet ﷺ Ibn Ɛabbās regarding āyah سورة البقرة 2:62, that Allāh revealed after it سورة آل عمران 3:85.
Ibn Kat͡hīr then says (paraphrasing):
This statement by Ibn ʿAbbās indicates that Allāh does not accept any deed or work from anyone, unless it conforms to the Law of Muḥammad ﷺ that is, after Allāh sent Muḥammad ﷺ. Before that, every person who followed the guidance of his own Prophet was on the correct path, following the correct guidance and was saved.16
From the tafsīr of this āyah, we see how one āyah is explained using another āyah. And we also see the role of the Companions in tafsīr.
The tafsīr of Ibn Kat͡hīr is available, abridged, in English translation:
- Al-Mubarakpuri, Tafsir ibn Kathir (abridged, English translation), Darussalam, 2nd edition, 2003
Arabic abridged editions also exist:
- عمدة التفسير عن الحافظ ابن كثير لأحمد شاكر
- المصباح المنير فى تهذيب تفسير ابن كثير للمباركفوري
These are beneficial, if Allāh wills, not only for their tafsīr, but also as good companion reading material for the student of Arabic.
Some researchers term the Arabic of this era as pre-classical Arabic. They use the term Classical Arabic to refer to the later use of what we call sca. Our choice is based on the contention that sca is but a variety of Classical Arabic (even if it was standardized later), and not a later development.↩︎
See also علة رفض الاحتجاج بكبار الشعراء والكتاب الذين جاءوا بعد زمن الفصاحة in مجموع مقالات فيصل المنصور 93–95↩︎
Hallberg, A., Case endings in Spoken Standard Arabic 54–55. see also p. 86↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 96 citing الفوزان↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 187↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 205 citing الزركشي↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 212–213 citing الألباني↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 224ff↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 235ff↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 241↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 213ff↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 244–245↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 194↩︎
Zarabozo, How to approach and understand the Quran 197 citing ابن القيم↩︎
Al-Mubarakpuri, Tafsir ibn Kathir (abridged, English translation), Darussalam, 2nd edition, 2003 1/249↩︎