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A closer look at نِعْمَة

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“And if you should count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them.” [16:18]
السلام عليكم,

One of the words I’ve always wondered about is the word نِعْمَة.  The word and other words that come from the same root (ن-ع-م) occur in the Quran more than 100 times.  It’s frequently translated as “favor”, “bounty”, or “grace”.  I’ve even heard it as “blessing”.  That gives the jist of it but I’d like to go more into the meanings using what’s found in the older dictionaries.

نِعْمَة and نَعْمَة

The word نِعْمَةٌ is a “situation in which someone is in a good state”.  It’s built using the same pattern that is used for single situations. For example, جِلْسَةٌ is used for a single situation of جَلَسَ (“he sat”) when someone sat or رِكْبَةٌ (a single situation when someone was riding). So now you know that words that rhyme with فِعْلَة (with a kasrah on the first letter) can be used to mark a single time that someone was in a certain condition.

The word نَعْمَةٌ (with a fathah on the ن) is used for a single occasion that somebody enjoyed what’s nice and had comfort in life.  It refers to the actual enjoyment itself.  Words that rhyme with فَعْلَة (with a fathah on the first letter) give the meaning that somebody did something once or a single time. For example, ضَرْبَةٌ means a single strike that somebody did (from ضَرَبَ – “he struck”). شَتْمَةٌ means when somebody gloated once (from شَتَمَ – “he gloated”)

نِعْمَةُ can be used for all kinds of good states, whether few or large in number.  Some places in the Quran:

  • وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا (“And if you should count the نِعمة of Allah , you could not enumerate it.”) [16:18]
  • اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ (“Remember My نِعْمَة that I made you get”) [2:40]
  • وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي (“and I completed My نِعْمَة upon you”) [5:3]
  • فَانقَلَبُوا بِنِعْمَةٍ مِّنَ اللَّهِ (“So they returned with a نِعْمة from Allah”) [3:174]

Notice that when the word نِعْمَة is attributed to Allah, it refers to something that only He can give (faith, life, hearing, sight, etc.).

The verbs أَنْعَمَ and نَعَّمَ

ًWhen used with the word عَلَى, the verb أنْعَمَ means to make something good happen for someone, to do a favor for them.  You only use it if you’re making it happen for an intelligent, talking being (i.e. humans, jinns, angels).

أَنْعَمَ فُلانٌ عَلَى فَرسِهِ (“Someone did a favor for his horse”) makes no sense because a horse is not a talking being.

  • أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ (“You did good for them”) [1:7]
  • وَإِذْ تَقُولُ لِلَّذِي أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِ (“And when you said to the one that Allah did a favor for and that you did a favor for”) [33:37] – Allah’s favor on Zayd رضي الله عنه was Islam and the Prophet صلى عليه و سلم did a favor for him by setting him free.

Now, if you use َأَنْعَم without عَلَى [Read more…] about A closer look at نِعْمَة

The فاعل (Doer)

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Yes, but to do it, one must first have DOER!

 

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله

In 7 types of nouns in رفع, we learned that they are 7 situations when an Arabic noun will be in raf’.  Today we’re going to look at the first one: the فاعل (or doer) of a sentence

The فاعل (doer)

الفاعِلُ هُوَ: الاسْمُ المَرْفْوْعُ المَذْكُوْرُ قَبْلَهُ فِعْلُهُ

The فاعِل (doer) is: The raf’-ized noun whose verb is mentioned before it.

The word فاعِل has two meanings, one that goes back to the normal meaning in the language and one that is specifically when we’re talking about grammar.  In the language, it just means “whoever made the فِعْل (action) happen”.  When we’re talking about grammar, the meaning is exactly what’s above: “The raf’-ized noun whose verb is mentioned before it”.

That means three things when we’re looking for what could be the doer in a sentence:

  1. It has to be a noun (so it can’t be a verb or a particle).  It can be:
    • an outright noun, as in قالَ نُوْحٌ (“Noah said”) and وَإذْ يَرْفَعُ إبراهِيمُ (“And when Abraham raised”)
    • something that’s not a noun, but can be interpreted as one.  Three quick examples:
      • أوَلَمْ يَكْفِهِمْ أنَّا أنْزَلْنا (“Hasn’t it sufficed them that we sent down…?”  – The word أنَّا (“that we”) together along with the verb أنْزَلْنا (“We sent down”) could be understood as the verbal noun إنْزالُنا (“our sending down of …”).  If we set that as the doer, then the we can understand it to mean “Hasn’t our sending down sufficed them?”  If you don’t understand this one fully, just move on because we’ll be talking more about the إنََ family more when we talk about the situations when a noun will be nasb-ized.
      • يَسُرُّنِيْ أنْ تَتَمَسَّكَ بِالْفَضائِلِ (“It makes me happy that you adhere to virtues”) – We see the nasb-izer أنْ along with the verb تَتَمَسَّكَ (“you adhere”).  Together they are understood as the noun تَمَسُّكُكَ (“your adherence”), and that will be the doer.  The meaning can be “Your adherence to virtues makes me happy”.
      • أعْجَبَنِيْ ما صَنَعْتَ (“What you manufactured amazed me”) – We can take ما (“what”) and صَنَعْتَ (“you manufactured”) together to mean صُنْعُكَ (“your manufacturing”) and set that as the doer.  The meaning can be “Your manufacturing amazed me”.
  2. It has to be in raf’ (i.e. it can’t be in nasb or jarr)
  3. Its verb has to be before it (i.e. the doer has to come after the verb) – If you find a raf’-ized noun before the verb, then you’re not looking at a verbal sentence.  It’s a nominal sentence, which has a mubtada` (or whatever modifies it) and a khabar.

The intent of “verb” here also includes whatever resembles a verb such as the:

  • اسم الفعل (noun that acts like a verb), like هَيهاتَ العَقِيق (“how far off is the canyon!”) and شتّانَ زَيدٌ وَعَمْروٌ (“How different are Zayd and `Amr!”) – The words العقيق and زيد (along with عمرو who’s connected to زَيد) to it are all doers.
  • اسم الفاعل (noun with the meaning of the doer of an action), like أقادِمٌ أبُوكَ (“Is your father standing?”) – The word أبوك is the doer of قادِمٌ (“one who stands”)

[Read more…] about The فاعل (Doer)

7 types of nouns in رَفْع

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These nouns sure have a high status!

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله,

Things are starting to pick up now in our Arabic grammar series.  We’ve gone through all the status indicators and how words look like in their different statuses.  Then we started looking at why status changes will happen, starting with what causes nasb and jazm in a verb.

Today, we’re going to move on to what causes an اسم (noun) to have a particular status.  As a refresher, a noun can have one of three possible statuses:

  1. رَفْع (raf’) – Usually represented by a dhammah at the end
  2. نَصْب (nasb) – Usually represented by a fathah at the end
  3. جَرّ (jarr), otherwise known as خَفْض (khafdh) – Usually represented by a kasrah at the end

Each of these positions has influences that demand it. We start with raf’, because it is the most honorable.

عَدَدُ الْمَرْفُوْعاتِ  وَأمْثالُها (The number of  nouns in رَفْع and their examples)

بابُ مَرْفُوْعاتِ الأسْماءِ – المَرْفُوْعاتُ سَبْعَةٌ وَهِيَ: الْفَاعِلُ وَالْمَفْعُوْلُ الَّذِيْ لَمْ يُسَمَّ فَاعِلُهُ وَالْمُبْتَدَأُ وَخَبَرُهُ وَاسْمُ “كانَ” وَأخَوَاتِها وَخَبَرُ “إنَّ” وَأخَواتِها وَالتَّابِعُ لِلْمَرْفُوْعِ, وَهُوَ أربَعَةُ أشْيَاء: النََعْتُ وَالْعَطْفُ وَالتَّوْكِيْدُ وَالْبَدَلُ

Chapter on the nouns in رفع status – The nouns put in raf’ are 7:

  1. الفاعِل – the doer of an action
  2. المَفعُولُ الذِي لَم يُسَمَّ فاعِلُه -The object of an action whose doer has not been mentioned
  3. المُبتَدَأ – The Subject of a nominal sentence
  4. خَبَرُه – Information about the subject
  5. The اسم of كان and its siblings
  6. The خَبَر of إن and its siblings
  7. A grammatical follower of a word in رفع status, which can be a:
    1. نَعْت – Description
    2. عَطْف – Conjunction
    3. تَوْكِيْد – Emphasis
    4. بَدَل – Substitute

A noun will be in raf’ in the following seven situations.  Each of them is going to be covered in detail in a later post إنْ شاء الله, so don’t worry if you haven’t come across them yet. [Read more…] about 7 types of nouns in رَفْع

What does al-Azeez mean?

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السلام عليكم و رحمة الله,

Today we’re going to look at Allah’s name, العَزِيْز, and other words in the Quran that derive from the root ع – ز – ز.

Let’s look at some meanings that come from this root…

To be hard and difficult to overcome

  • عِزَّة (‘izzah) is a situation that prevents someone from being defeated or conquered
    • أرْضٌ عَزازٌ is used for terrain that is hard and rough.
    • أَيَبْتَغُونَ عِندَهُمُ الْعِزَّةَ فَإِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا (“Do they seek ‘izzah with them?  But indeed ‘izzah belongs to Allah completely”) [4:139] – They were seeking protection from their idols from being defeated
  • ُتعزّزَ اللَحْم (“The meat became hard”) – It became tough
  • عَزِيْزٌ- One who defeats and is not defeated
    • إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ (“Indeed, He is al-Azeez, al-Hakeem”) [Quran 29:26]
    • يَا أَيُّهَا الْعَزِيزُ (“O Azeez”) [12:88] when the brothers of Yusuf عليه السلام addressed him as a ruler
    • وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ (“And to Allah belongs all ‘izzah, and to His Messenger and to the believers” ) [63:8]
    • سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ (“Exalted is your Lord, the lord of ‘izzah“) [37:180]

Sometimes used as dispraise

Sometimes عِزّة is used as praise and sometimes as dispraise.  For example, بَلِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي عِزَّةٍ وَشِقَاقٍ (“Nay, those who disbelieve are in ‘izzah and opposition”) [Quran 38:2].  This is because the ‘izzah that is ascribed to Allah, His messenger صلى الله عليه و سلم and the believers, is  the permanent, ever-lasting one that is the true ‘izzah.  On the other hand, the ‘izzah that is ascribed to the disbelievers is merely a feigned form of it, and in reality is actually a disgrace!

On this basis, the polytheists are mentioned: وَاتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ آلِهَةً لِّيَكُونُوا لَهُمْ عِزًّا (“And they have taken besides Allah deities so that they would be an ‘izz for them”) [19:81]  They took these deities so that they would be prevented from the punishment, but they are in for a major humiliation.

A very important lesson here: مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا (“Whoever desires ‘izzah, then ‘izzah belongs to Allah completely”) [35:10]. Whoever wants to be given ‘izzah needs to earn it from Allah, because it all belongs to Him.

Fanaticism and haughtiness

ٍSometimes the word عِزَّة is borrowed to give the meaning of fanaticism and haughtiness.

  • أَخَذَتْهُ الْعِزَّةُ بِالْإِثْمِ (“‘Izzah in sinfulness takes ahold of him”) [2:206]

Honor

  • تُعِزُّ مَن تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَاءُ (“You honor whom You will and You disgrace whom You will”) [3:26] – From this ayah we understand that to give ‘izzah to someone is the opposite of disgracing them.

The roots ع-ز-ز and ذ-ل-ل work as opposites here.  In the Arabic and Urdu languages, the word ذَلِيْل means something that is lowly and despicable.  Knowing that عَزِيز is the opposite of ذليل, whatever arises in your heart and mind when you hear the word ذليل, the opposite should come when you hear عزِيز.

To be difficult and hard to bear

عَزَّ عَلَيَّ would mean “it became hard on me” as in عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ  (“ًWhat you all suffer is ‘azeez on him”) [9:128], meaning that what causes suffering to the followers of Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم is difficult on him.

To defeat someone

  • عَزَّه gives the meaning “he overcame/conquered him”.
  • وَعَزَّنِي فِي الْخِطَابِ (“And he overcame me in speaking”) [38:23].  Meaning “he got the better of me in the argument”, or “he was stronger than than me. so he beat me in the conversation and argument”

To pour down

  • عَزَّ المَطَرُ الأرضَ – meaning the rain poured down on the ground

To be little in number or rare

  • شاةٌ عَزُوْزٌ – a sheep that gives only a little milk
  • عَزَّ الشَيْء – The thing was scarce/rare
  • وَإِنَّهُ لَكِتَابٌ عَزِيزٌ (“And indeed it is a book that is ‘azeez“) [41:41] – You cannot find or attain a book like it

Power and strength

  • فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ (“… so we strengthened with a third”) [36:14].  When two messengers were denied by their people, Allah strengthened them with a third one

A pagan deity

العُزّى (Al-‘Uzza) is one of the main idols that the pagans of the pre-Islamic era of ignorance worshipped.  It is the female form of الأعَزُّ (“the more honorable one” or ” the one with more ‘izzah“).

أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَالْعُزَّى (“Have you then considerd Al-Laat and Al-‘Uzza?”) [53:19]

To be overcome by sickness or death

استُعِزَّ بِهِ has the meaning that he was overcome by sickness or death

Conclusion

The word عَزِيز means one who is strong, forceful and victorious.  Other words derived from the same root letters combine the meanings of forcefulness and strength.  When you think of Allah’s name العزيز, combine all of these meanings, and it will affect you much more إن شاء الله

  • Powerful and forceful in strength
  • Uniquely rare.  Nothing can be found like Him
  • The one who defeats all and is never defeated, invincible.
  • No one else can reach His status or level of nobility

Also whenever you see one of these related words, try not to limit it to just one shade of the meaning.  You’ll find that things make more sense when you try to combine multiple meanings.

If you have other words that you wonder about, I’d love to hear your ideas.

Until next time, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

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18 Jazm-izers of Verbs

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السلام عليكم,

We’ve looked into why a verb will be in the state of nasb.  Today, we’re going to see what can change it into the state of jazm.

The Jazm-izers of the present tense verb

وَالْجَوَازِمُ ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ, وَهِيَ لَمْ, وَلَمَّا, وَأَلَمْ, وَأَلَمََا, وَلامُ الأمْرِ وَالْدُعاءِ, وَ ((لا)) فِي النَهْيِ وَالْدُعاءِ, وَإِنْ, وَمَا, وَمَنْ, وَمَهْما, وَإِذْما, وَأَيٌّ, وَمَتَى, وَأَيْنَ, وَأَيَّانَ, وَأَنََى, وَحَيْثُما, وَكَيْفَما, وَإِذا فِيْ الشِّعْرِ خاصَّةً

The influences that cause jazm are 18, and they are:

  1. لَمْ
  2. لَمَّا
  3. أَلَمْ
  4. أَلَمَّا
  5. The ل of commanding and beseeching
  6. لا in prohibition and beseeching
  7. إِنْ
  8. مَا
  9. مَنْ
  10. مَهْمَا
  11. إِذْمَا
  12. أَيٌّ
  13. مَتَى
  14. أَيْنَ
  15. أَيَّانَ
  16. أَنَّى
  17. حَيْثُما
  18. كَيْفَما

And in poetry only: إِذْا

There are 18 tools used to put a verb in jazm, and they are divided into 2 groups below.  If a verb is attached to a pronoun, I bring it out.  Otherwise, you should be able to figure out how it looked like in raf’ before becoming jazm-ized.

  1. Puts one verb into jazm – All of these are harf‘s by consensus
    1. لَمْ – Used for negation and changes the meaning to the past tense (i.e. something didn’t happen in the past)
      1. لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا  (“The ones who disbelieved were not…”) [Quran 98:1]
      2. لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوْا (“You have not believed”) [49:14]
    2. لَمَّا – Like لَمْ, but a key difference is that it means something hasn’t happened yet (i.e. till now)
      1. بَلْ لَمَّا يَذُوْقُوْا عَذابِ (“Rather they have not yet tasted my punishment”) [38:8]
    3. أَلَمْ – It’s the same as لَمْ, but with a أ used to ask a yes/no question
      1. ألَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ (“Have we not opened your breast for you?”) [94:1]
    4. أَلَمَّا – Same as لَمَّا, but with the added أ
      1. ألَمَّا أُحْسِنْ إلَيْكَ؟ (“Haven’t I yet been good to you?”)
    5. The ل of commanding and beseeching –  You’re seeking that someone do something
      • Commanding is from the higher one to the lower
        1. فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْرًا أو لِيَصْمُتْ (“Then he should say good or keep silent“) [al-Bukhari and Muslim]
      • Du’a is from the lower to the higher
        1. لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنا رَبُّكَ (“Let your Lord put an end to us!”) [43:77]
    6. لا in prohibition and beseeching – You’re seeking that someone not do something
      • Like the command, prohibiting is from the higher to the lower
        1. لا تَخَفْ (“Don’t fear”) [20:68]
        2. لا تَقُوْلوُا رَاعِنا (“Don’t say Raai’inaa”) [2:104]
        3. لا تَغْلُوْا فِيْ دِيْنِكُمْ (“Don’t commit excess in your religion”) [4:171]
      • Du’a is from the lower to the higher
        1. رَبَّنا لا تُؤاخِذْنا (“Our Lord, don’t punish us“) [2:186] – تُؤاخِذْ (“you punish”)
        2. لا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنا إصْرًا (“Don’t impose on us a burden”) [2:186]
  2. Puts two verbs into jazm – The first is called shart (condition) and the second is called its jawaab (response) and its jazaa (consequence). There are 12 jazm-izers in this group, and it breaks down into four sub-sections:
    1. There is a consensus that it’s a harf (particle):
      1. إنْ – For example: إنْ تُذاكِرْ تَنْجَحْ (“If you revise, you will succeed”).  إن is a particle used for conditional statements.  The condition (تُذاكِرْ – “you study”) and the consequence (تَنْجَحْ – “you succeed”) are both in jazm because of إنْ
    2. There is consensus that it’s an ism (noun) – These are nine:
      1. مَنْ (“who”) – used for intelligent beings
        • مَنْ يُكْرِمْ جارَهُ يُحْمَدْ (“Whoever honors his neighbor is thanked“)
      2. مَا (“what”) – used for non-intelligent beings
        • ما تَصْنَعْ تُجْزَ بِهِ (“Whatever you do, you will be rewarded for it”
      3. أَيٌّ (“which”) – you might see ما after it
        • أيًّا ما تَدْعُوْا فَلَهُ الأسْماءُ الحُسْنَى (“Whichever you all call, for His are the most beautiful names” [17:110]
      4. مَتَى (“when”) – it can come with a ما after it
        • مَتَى تَلْتَفِتْ إلى وَاجِبِكَ تَنَلْ رِضا رَبِّكَ (“Whenever you attend to your duty, you’ll earn the pleasure of your Lord”
      5. أَيَّانَ (“when”) – it can come with a ما
        • أَيَّانَ تَلْقَنِيْ أُكْرِمْكَ (“Whenever you meet me, I’ll honor you”) – تَلْقَ (“you meet”)  and أُكْرِمْ (“I honor”)
      6. أَيْنَ (“where”) – it can come with a ما after it
        • أَيْنَمَا يُوَجِّههُّ لَا يَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ (“Wherever He directs him, he brings no good”) [16:76] – يُوَجِّهْ (“he directs”)
        • أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُوا يُدْرِككُّمُ الْمَوْتُ (“Wherever you all may be, death will overtake you”) [4:78] – يُدْرِكْ (“it overtakes”)
      7. أَنَّى (“where”)
        • أنَّى يَكُنِ السَلامُ فاشِيًا يَأمَنِ الناسُ (“Wherever peace is widespread, the people will feel safe“)
      8. حَيْثُما (“where”) – Needs to have ما after it to work as a jazm-izer
        • حَيْثُما تَسْتَقِمْ يُقَدِّرْ لَكَ اللهُ نَجاحًا (“Wherever you stand firm, Allah will ordain success for you”)
      9. كَيْفَما (“however”) – both of the jazm-ized verbs have to be from the same verb.  In both of the examples below, the condition and the consequence are both from the verb يَكُوْنُ (“to be”)
        • كَيْفَما تَكُنِ الأُمَّةُ يَكُنِ الْوُلاةُ (“However the nation is, its rulers will be“)
        • كَيْفَما تَكُنْ نِيَّتُكَ يَكُنْ ثَوابُ اللهِ لَكَ (“However your intention is, Allah’s reward for you will be“)
      10. إِذا – I know I said “9”, but the Arabs cheated a little bit and allowed إذا as a jazm-izer in poetry only.  You won’t find it like that otherwise, so it’s not really considered a jazm-izer.
        • إذا تُصِبْكَ خَصاصَةٌ فَتَجَمَّلِ (“If destitution befalls you, then adorn yourself”)
    3. Difference of opinion, but the majority say it’s a harf (particle)
      1. إذْما – Used for conditions.  Must have a ما after it to be jazm-izer
    4. Difference of opinion, but the majority say it’s an ism (noun)
      1. مَهْمَا – Used for conditions
        • وَقَالُوا مَهْمَا تَأْتِنَا بِهِ مِنْ آيَةٍ لِّتَسْحَرَنَا بِهَا فَمَا نَحْنُ لَكَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ (”And they said, ‘No matter what sign you bring us with which to bewitch us, we will not be believers in you.'”) [7:132]

[Read more…] about 18 Jazm-izers of Verbs

What Bayyinah Dream is really like

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السلام عليكم,

A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to be part of  an Arabic immersion program offered by Bayyinah Institute  called Bayyinah Dream.  It was one of the greatly transformative periods of my life that I have many fond memories of, but what I want to focus on is what an immersion program like it can do for you.  If you’re looking for gossip about on-campus hijinks, you can go right ahead and skip this one!  Also I know that changes have been made in the program since then (we were the guinea pigs that were experimented on, so go on and thank us for our sacrifice 🙂 ), but it worked for me and a bunch of others, so I’m going to go ahead and share what I experienced.

No magic pill

The thing to know is that like just like with anything else, mastering Arabic is a journey.  Months and months of reading, writing, listening, writing (and occasionally even dreaming) in Arabic is definitely a game changer, but think of it as a booster shot that is going to give you rapid growth in your knowledge of the language. What really matters is what you do after a program like that to maintain it and keep it growing. So go into it with an expectation of where it should take you and where you want to go from there.  Some of the guys knew 80% of the grammar and morphology and saw it as an opportunity to perfect them and gain fluency of the language. Their expectation after the program was to go on and formally study the Islamic sciences as taught in Arabic.  Others had no knowledge of it and then went on to become teachers after the program.  The point is not to think that you have “arrived”,  because that means your journey is over and you are done.

Connections

Undoubtedly, spending an extended amount of time with an experienced teacher is going to foster a relationship between you.  Just by virtue of being around them, you will pick up so much.  Of course, Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan was not a scholar of Islamic studies, but it just made sense to go to him for Arabic because it was obvious that he had created something special that works.  I still don’t agree with how he has explained some things, but what totally gets me is how his persistent dedication to his mission and his style of presentation allowed him to gain prominence over those who might know more or better than him.

No one will pretend that he’s the world’s highest authority in the Arabic language (and if you think that, he’ll be the first one to disabuse you of that notion!).  What he is, however, is the English-speaking world’s most prominent figure in the field.  Why is that? Because he found out what gets results for people and brought it to them.  That is one of the key things that I took with me, that being a teacher is not about merely regurgitating what you know, but making it work for people.  It is a very powerful sunnah to explain things to people in a way that they can understand, and he’s applied it very well.  To that end, he not only taught me how to learn, but  also how to teach.  I’m still reaping the benefits daily, and barely a day goes by that I don’t remember him and the other teachers in the program and make du’a for them.

What I didn’t anticipate was that the bond you make with your classmates is also going to have a huge impact on you for the rest of your life. In fact, it’s probably even more closer than with the teacher.  The teacher may move on to other groups and have other students (even though we are still in denial that he could have a favorite batch after us), but this is really the one group that you all have together.  You become a family, and just like any other family you come to know each other intimately, warts and all. These are people you can count on to keep you real when your head starts to get too big and pull  you back up when you’re falling off the tracks. So many of my classmates have gone on to become movers and shakers, including teachers, students of knowledge, doctors, and entrepreneurs, and that has inspired me further in my own efforts.  We came from different backgrounds and levels of religious practice, but we were determined to learn the language of the last great miracle that is still with us, and that is what kept us together despite our differences.  Even now we’re constantly in contact with each other, another blessing from Allah.

Structure of the program

The program itself was divided into 7 modules.

  1. Quranic Grammar – taught using notes prepared by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan
  2. Quranic Grammar – using classical texts written in Arabic
  3. Reading
  4. Writing
  5. Listening
  6. Speaking
  7. Conversation

To me, I don’t see how any truly “immersive” program can get away without all of these, otherwise it won’t be much more than an aggressive self-study program.

We were all English speakers at the beginning; some of us could not even say one sentence properly.   About 1/3 of the way in, we were told that we were not to talk in English anymore on campus and that we’d be penalized.

We studied classical Arabic, but for the reading and writing section, we spent at least 100 hours going through MSA textbooks after studying the grammar of the Quran for 6 weeks and some 300 verbs.

For conversational practice we would split into small groups and converse with native Arabic speaking teachers about random topics.

As for listening and writing composition, they brought in Ustadh Bashir Ansari, a correspondent for Al Jazeera.  He went through media clips and articles with us and then would assign us topics to write on.  I know it doesn’t sound very “Quranic”, but the true test of your ability in the language is to be able to express yourself fluently and in a powerful way in it.

I admit that around the 9-month mark, some of us were getting a major case of “senioritis”, so empty chairs started appearing and grades started dipping.  Yep, it was that advanced that a disease that normally takes three years to develop manifested after only 9 months!  Between you and me, I’m pretty sure that’s why the program was shortened after that.  Still, by the end of the program, those who initially knew nothing were able to stand in front of us and visiting professors and deliver fluent 5-10 minutes talks in Arabic that were flowing, properly constructed and impactful, all without notes.  To me, that is the ultimate measure of the program’s success.  Remember that Arabic, first and foremost is a spoken language, and that speech has a more powerful effect on the audiences’ hearts than written words.  If you can take someone from zero to delivering a touching speech solely in Arabic, then you’ve done the job.

Materials we used in the program

Below is a list of some of the texts we used, in approximate order of usage.  All of them are available online.  There might have been more, but the fact that I remember these means that they were the most important.  It covers everything you need to be self-sufficient in your journey.

  • al-Ajurroomiyyah and Ibn Malik’s Alfiyyah, along with an English explanation – These covered grammar and morphology as detailed by the classical scholars.  They are what really put the love of grammar in my heart.  Some of my more experienced readers have already figured out that my Arabic Grammar series is  really just an explanation of the Ajurroomiyyah!
  • From the Treasures of Morphology by Maulana Ebrahim Muhammad – A very thorough breakdown of the rules of morphology.  This work is indispensable for a serious student
  • Elementary Modern Standard Arabic: Volume 2 (ISBN-13: 978-0521272964, ISBN-10: 0521272963  ) – Known famously on campus as “the orange book”, EMSA is brilliant, and I haven’t seen anything better than it for gaining fluency in contemporary Arabic.  In fact, if you’re only interested in MSA, this is the textbook I recommend (even though you’re selling yourself short if you don’t decide to progress to classical, but that’s your call)
  • العربية بين يديك (a.k.a. Arabic Between Your Hands) – This is a great 3-volume series for Arabic conversation with an Islamic bent.  It has some grammar points in it, but its main benefit is the conversations and expressions in it.  We only did the first two volumes, and I still regret not doing the final one.  You’d need a teacher for this series, because the text is Arabic-only.  I’ve successfully used this on students and after a year of weekly classes, they were able to roughly converse about the topics in Book 1
  • al-Balaghah al-Waadhihah – A text in the sciences of balaghah, exploring the literary tools used in Arabic to achieve eloquence in speech
  • The Connectors in Modern Standard Arabic by al-Warraki/Hassanein – Packed full of connectors and expressions that will take you from functional, yet clunky conversation to flowing speech
  • Qasas al-Nabiyyeen – A series written by Sh. Abul Hasan al-Nadwi on the stories of the prophets.  It’s great because it starts from really simple vocabulary and progresses as you move through the series.  I only got up to the second volume during my time in the program, but I do eventually want to get through the 5th volume إن شاء الله
  • Hans-Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic – Those of us who didn’t cheat in class using phone apps (you know who you are) relied on this heavily.  If your mother tongue is English, there is no way around having this one in your library.  I still use it several times a week

Final thoughts

I’ve seen what immersion can do, in the middle of a non-Arab, non-Muslim country like America.  Arabic goes from only being in the books and into the air around us.  What’s already in the minds through  hundreds of hours of reading and writing, but is now also being breathed.  Pens and tongues start to flow with what is in our hearts.  Stutters became full sentences, sentences became paragraphs, paragraphs became speeches, the miracle becomes alive.

Now, what if you can’t do an immersion program or go abroad (yet)?  Well, don’t ever let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.  See that list up there?  It represents a pretty comprehensive syllabus for learning grammar, morphology, vocabulary and eloquence.  I’m giving it to you, so take it and run with it.  Find a teacher, sit them down and say “teach me”.  If you can’t find a teacher, look online for one.  It doesn’t matter what curriculum he did if it’s comprehensive enough.  Don’t wait for that “Big Moment” to just come and magically make you a superstar.  “Luck” has a funny way of happening to those who prepare for it and skipping over those who are just waiting for it arrive.  Put in the work and you’ll get there, even if takes you a little longer (a few years is nothing in the courtyard of infinity).

The ball’s in your court, so now what’re you going to do?

Till next time, السلام عليكم

If you’ve been in Dream or any other intensive Arabic program and would like to share what texts or books you used, I’d like to hear what worked for you.  Jazakumullahu khayran!

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