Arabic Lingo

By Mohamedarif Suleman (Nairobi, Kenya)

Languages: Lots of our problems today are because we are not conversant with the language governing our religion. Whether we should learn Arabic or seek more translators is an age-old discussion with no right side in the contest. In the past, we have dealt with the issue of whether Majlises should be recited in English or Urdu. Here is an opportunity to discuss the third dimension.

What do you think? How do we solve this problem? It all starts when we are told that our wrong understanding of the Quran and even salaat is simply because the language used is foreign to most of us. Is that a fact? Do we have those learned people in the community who can speak Arabic around? If there are, can we hear of their experiences as to whether knowing the language has helped their understanding of the religion better?

Many of us, however, try very hard and on one of our ziyarat trips do attempt the usage of one or two isolated words and phrases to communicate with our hosts. But the fact remains that if a language is not in use, it is not very practical to expect knowledge of the language let alone fluency, for for one to speak a language in contemporary fashion, one would have to know the slang and the connotations, the contexts and the newly coined words to escape the plight of sounding obsoletely Victorian in English.

A few years ago, when the Husayni Madressa had Arabic as a compulsory subject in senior sections, students were enthusiastic to use newly learned words and phrases in daily friendly conversations. But again, a Madressa can hardly be expected to train individuals intensively due to the multiple constraints of time, availability of teachers and mostly the innate attitude problem that the community at large holds about such institutions.

Then, of course, our community can be accused of not being clear on policy regarding language, in any case. Thus it would be fallacious for us to presume that Arabic can be taught continuously whereas our mother tongue is endangered.

While the Community on Friday awaits the views of readers, let us take a look at Engr Sayyid Khadim Husayn Naqavi in the book ”Dictionary of Islamic Terms”, in which he attempts to explain the English equivalents of oft-used Islamic (Arabic-Persian, you may say) terms. Here is a selected assortment:

Arambaksh; COMFORTING

Aramish; TRANQUILITY, PEACE, CALM

Arayish; EMBELLISHMENT

Arman; IDEAL, AIM, DESIRE

Aranj; ELBOW

Azar; The name of Prophet Ibrahim’s maternal grandfather or, according to others, his uncle

Asayish; COMFORT, CONVENIENCE

Astanah; THRESHOLD

Asudagi; SATIATION, COMFORT, TRANQUILITY

Asiya; ASIA

Ashti; PEACE, RECONCILITATION

Ashkar; MANIFEST, OPEN,EVIDENT

Ashub; DISTURBANCE,RIOT, CONFUSION

Ashufta; DISHELVED

Asif bin Bakhiya; Prime Minister of Prophet Sulayman

Afaridah; CREATURE

Agah; COGNIANT, ACCQAINT

Aghanah; INFORMED, INFORMATIVE

Aal; BESCENDANTS, FAMILY, OFFSPRING

Ale Imran; Family of Imran

Ale Muhammad; Family of Muhammad

Aaludah; INFECTED, CONTAMINATED, POLLUTED

Aalyazh; ALLOY

Aamarish; SALVATION, FORGIVENESS

Aamuish; TRAINING, EDUCATION, INSTRUCTION

Aamizish; INTERCOURSE, ASSOCIATION

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About the author

Mohamedarif is a marketing professional and educationalist with a penchant for writing as a hobby since childhood. As he experimented writing about sporting events at first and then current affairs, he quickly developed a skill for observation of his environment and began to write on reform topics, especially in connection with the community. To further feed his pursuit of writing, he founded several newsletters and bulletins at his school and at the Husayni Madrasah in the 1980's, all the time learning from others already in the field not just about writing, but also about pre-press and production processes. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Knowledge Magazine in 1995–1996. A decade later, importing a flurry of ideas into his new home, Nairobi, he first founded a two page community newspaper then became a regular writer of the Friday Faculty before establishing the Community on Friday, a fully fledged Madrasah magazine in 1996. And while his writing at the community continued, he simultaneously started writing for a business weekly, pairing in with his newfound role as a marketing professional. During his time in Nairobi, he wrote several speeches for sitting chairmen and presidents while also giving some himself, developing his concurrent role as a public speaker and trainer.

With changing times and a decrease in advertising sponsorship, as well as a fall in overall readership, Mohamedarif transformed this publication into an electronic blog. Thus was born the Community on Friday in its present format.

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