Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic is the language of the Quran, Hadith, and classical literature. It shares the same grammar with its direct descendant Modern Standard Arabic, but differs from it in style and word choices. Most non-Muslim Arabic students concentrate on Media Arabic, modern literature, or dialects after they reach an advanced level, while very few devote time to Classical Arabic or Islamic studies. In my humble opinion all are important aspects of a well-rounded academic pursuit.
Islam is such an integral part of the Arabic language that you can not study one without the other. Muslims, educated or illiterate, make endless references to the Quran and Hadith in their speeches. Learning a dialect will enable you to understand their daily lives, popular songs, and TV soaps, but the core of why they behave and think in a certain way lies in the religion itself. Without a basic understanding of Islamic history or the Quran, you will never be able to truly understand the Muslim psyche beyond a superficial level.
One subject I know almost nothing about is the contribution of Christian Arabs to the Arabic language. I assume that the Bible was translated into Arabic long before the rise of Islam, but I haven’t seen any classical Christian Arabic literature. Is it because it doesn’t exist or it is purposely suppressed? I don’t know, but would like to find out. Any enlightenment from you on this subject would be greatly appreciated.
Classical Arabic is perceived by some to be “hard”, in reality it is a lot closer to MSA than any dialect you’ll be learning. Unlike MSA and dialects, Classical Arabic gets very little exposure in the mass media. The only time it can be heard is during sermons, on religious channels, and on historical TV series. If you are not a big fan of listening to old men cloaked in shinny robes preach something you don’t believe in, your best bet of learning some Classical Arabic is probably TV series that depict historic events. With a few exceptions, the acting in these shows is usually pretty bad since the actors and actresses have to be coached to speak like 7th century Arabs. Men usually wear long beard and layers upon layers of clothing, and women, contrary to today’s reality, are always strong characters who have no qualms about barking orders at men.
The hard part about understanding these shows is not in the language itself, but the historical context, an assumed knowledge for all Muslims. Take “صدق وعده” for example, it’s a TV series aired during Ramadan 2009, telling a love story between a Bedouin and a prostitute in Mecca during the early years of Islam. Many of the famous characters around Prophet Muhammad were portrayed. The show makes no introduction to who is who if they are well known, and doesn’t tell you their relationships with other characters in the show. Muslims grow up listening to Quran and Hadith stories, so they know all the famous characters and who did what according to the Quran and Hadith.
This short clip was taken from the fifth episode of “صدق وعده”. The background story which was completely omitted is as follows: Prophet Muhammed’s uncle Abu Lahab, a prominent leader of the powerful Quraish tribe, was against Islam from the get-go. He was skeptical about the claim that his nephew Muhammed was the messenger of Allah, so he did everything in his power to silence him. Abu Lahab, together with his wife Umm Jamil, who used to carry thorns and sharp wood and place them in Muhammed's path, were the two most famous enemies of Islam. One day a passage of the Quran supposedly came down to Muhammed from Allah to condemn Abu Lahab to hell and his wife to carrier of firewood, apparently a grave insult to a noble woman of her stature.
Here is Yusuf Ali’s translation of Surah 111 – Al Masadd :
Perish the hands of the Father of Flame (Abu Lahab)! Perish he!
No profit to him from all his wealth, and all his gains!
Burnt soon will he be in a Fire of Blazing Flame!
His wife (Umm Jamil) shall carry the (crackling) wood - As fuel!-
A twisted rope of palm-leaf fiber round her (own) neck!
Angered and ashamed, Umm Jamil ran away to her brother Abu Sufiyan’s house. Abu Lahab came over to convince her to go home. Meanwhile Hind, Abu Sufiyan’s wife, joined in to calm her down.
أم جميل: لن أرجع معه، لن أدخل داراً لرجل لا يغار على امرأته.
I won’t go back with him. I won’t enter a house where the man doesn’t protect his wife’s reputation.
أبو سفيان: يا أم جميل، إن أبا لهب أكثر الرجال غيرةً على زوجته.
Umm Jamil, actually Abu Lahab is the most vigilant man when it comes to his wife’s honor. Comment: here Abu Lahab is in the accusative case after inna, therefore it becomes Aba Lahab, likewise, if it was in the genitive case, it would be Abi Lahab, so his name can be أبو لهب، أبا لهب ، أبي لهب depending on its case.
أم جميل: إن كان غيوراً لينتقم لي من ابن أخيه الذي جعل اسمي على كل لسان، جعلنا أضحوكة، أنا أنا حمَّالة الحطب؟!
If he had been vigilant, he would have taken revenge on his nephew who made me a laughing stock amongst people. I… I… carry firewood?!
هند: يا أم جميل، إن المرأة لتزهو وتفرح أن يسير ذكرها بين الناس؟
Umm Jamil, a woman should be proud and happy if she is constantly mentioned (talked about) by people.
أم جميل: بالهجاء والسب بالتحقير؟ لوكنت أنت يا هند أكنت تفرحين أم تقتلين من هجاك؟
Mentioned by people to be insulted, cursed, and humiliated? If you were she, would you be happy or would you kill those who insulted you?
هند: صدقت امرأتك، وحُقَّ لها أن تغضب. كيف تسكت على ابن أخيك؟
Your wife is right, and she should be angry. How can you be silent about your nephew?
أبو لهب: يا هند، لقد هجاني وسبَّني قبلها، ودعا علي بقطع ... قطع يديَي وقطع ذريتي.
Hind, my nephew already insulted me before her, and condemned my hands and my children.
أم جميل: أرأيت ... أرأيت يا أخي، أسمعت يا أبا سفيان؟ رجلٌ لا يغضب لنفسه، فكيف يغضب لغيره؟ لا لن أعود معك.
You see, you see, my brother, did you hear that, Abu Sufiyan? A man doesn’t get angry when he himself gets insulted, how can he be angry when others are insulted? No, I won't go back with you.
أبو لهب: يا أم جميل، ماذا تريدينني أن أصنع بمحمد؟
Umm Jamil, what do you want me to do with Muhammed?
أم جميل: اقتله
Kill him.
أبو لهب: أقتل ابن أخي؟
Kill my nephew?
أم جيمل: ولما لا؟ أمثله لا يستحق القتل؟
Why not? People like him deserve to be killed.
أبو سفيان: ويحك يا أم جميل، ويحك، تحرِّضين زوجك على القتل؟
What kind of talk is this, Umm Jamil, how dare you? How can you incite your husband to kill?
أم جميل: كأنك توافقه، تتواطأ معه. أترضى بإهانتي؟ أنا أختك، بنت حرب بن أُمَيَّة، أنا حمالة الحطب؟ أنا في عنقي حبل من ليف؟ أنا سيدة نساء العرب أصبح سخريةً بين الناس!
As if you agree with him and conspire with him? Are you happy with the insults toward me? I’m your sister, Harb bin Umayyah’s daughter, I carry firewood?? I have palm fiber around my neck? I’m the lady (leader) of all Arab women, and I’ve become a laughing stock amongst people! Side note: There were two clans within the Quraish tribe: Umayyads and Hashimites. Umm Jamil and Abu Sufian were from the Umayyads, and Muhammad was from the Hashimites. Abu Sufian's son Mu'awiyah later established the Umayyad dynasty and became the sixth Caliph after Ali and Hasan, but this claim is disputed by Shi'a Muslims.
أبو لهب: هوِّني عليك، هوِّني عليك. وسأقتصُّ من أولئك ولكن صبراً حتى أتدبر أمري.
Calm down, calm down. I’m going to take revenge on them, but be patient until I figure things out.
أبو سفيان: هيا مع زوجك، هيا. لقد وعدك بأن يشفي غليلك. هيا.
Go home with him. He already promised you to take revenge. Go ahead.
أم جميل: و واللاّتِ إن لم تفعل ما يرضيني وترد كرامتي وكبريائي بين الناس فسوف أفعل ما يعجز عنه الرجال.
I swear to God, if you don’t do what pleases me and restore my honor and dignity amongst the people, I’m going to do what men are incapable of. Comment: before Islam every tribe had its own deity with a unique name and statue, such as Hubel and Al Llaat. Instead of swearing to God, Allah, or Jesus like what people do today, they swore to the deity of their tribe, in this case, Al Llaat.
أبو لهب: انتظري! يا أم جميل، انتظري! انتظري يا أم جميل!
Wait, Umm Jamil, wait, wait, Umm Jamil.
Comment: Hind was no ordinary character. Like Umm Jamil, she was also from a powerful Meccan family and had a tough, bordering cruel personality that would not let anyone cross her. She was the mother of Muawiyah, who later founded the Umayyad dynasty. The story goes that after her father, brother, and uncle were slaughtered in battle by Muslims, she hired and trained a spear thrower who succeeded in killing Hamza ibn Abd Al Muttalib, the leader of the Muslim army, in the battle of Uhud. She ordered to have Hamza's belly cut open, then took out his liver and ate (or maybe just licked) it. She later accepted Islam, but her battlefield cannibalism and alleged illegitimate relationships with at least four men made some Muslim scholars question her status as a righteous Muslim, and for these reasons and others Shiites do not recognize the legitimacy of Umayyad dynasty.
“One subject I know almost nothing about is the contribution of Christian Arabs to the Arabic language. I assume that the Bible was translated into Arabic long before the rise of Islam, but I haven’t seen any classical Christian Arabic literature. ”
Incorrect. The bible was translated into arabic long after Islam, just as it was translated into english and many other languages long after Islam. Thank you.
Hi Linda,
First of all nice website. This maybe a late reply, but on the subject of Arab Christians:
They were among the first to contribute to the massive translation movement to the Arabic language that begun after the spread of Islam. Among the most well known:
يحيى بن عدي وابن زرعة عيسى أبو علي وأبو الخير الحسن بن سوار ابن الخمّار واسحق بن زرعة ويوحنا ابن ماسويه طبيب البلاط العباسي من أيام الرشيد حتى المتوكّل. وعمار البصري، وابن الطيب وايليا النصيبيني وحنين بن اسحق وثاودورس أبو قرة وقسطا بن لوقا البعلبكي
Among the most famous Christian poets was
الاخطل الشاعر العربي المشهور وهو من بني تغلب من ابناء الكنيسة السريانية ولقب بشاعر بني أمية. قصيدته الأكثر شهرة أسمها “خف القطين”
As for the first translation of the Bible:
عام 639 م أو حوالى هذا العام طلب القائد العربي عمر بن سعد ابن أبي وقاص من البطريرك اليعقوبي يوحنا أن يضع ترجمة الإنجيل في اللغة العربية.
For the most part, Christian literature is not very distinct from the Islamic one. Living in the middle east you would know that Arabic is quite loaded with Islamic references, and Christian and even non-religious people tend to use them as well.
Thank you 3aaleeyah and Raed for your comments.
Raed, you said that Amr bin Saad ibn abi Waqas asked Al Batrirk Al Yaqubi to translate the Bible into Arabic around 639 AD, but was it actually accomplished? Do we have any evidence that the Arabic Bible existed soon after 639 AD?
I have always been told that the Quran is the first book written in Arabic. If what you said was true and could be supported by solid evidence, then the Bible would be the first Arabic book, but I have never heard such claim, not even from Christian Arabs.
Hi Nadine
Parts of the Bible definitely existed in Arabic before Islam. In Islamic traditions Waraqa bin Nawfal (the uncle of the prophet’s first wife Khadeejah) is told to have translated parts of the gospels, but only parts.
Concerning the translation, I’m not sure whether it was carried out, I assume the only solid evidence would be manuscripts, but that’s unlikely to exist today as even Qur’anic manuscripts from that time are rare. The first translation which was definitely completed was in 675. As far as the Qur’an being the first book in Arabic, that’s true. But bear in mind that what Muslims mean by this is that it’s the first to be put between two covers. A work could exist, but not compiled between two covers and would not be considered a “book”. This was also before 635 AD; although the Qur’an was standardized at the time of Uthman, at least one complete manuscript (the Hafsah Qur’an) existed from the time of Abu Bakr, who died in 634 AD.
P.S.
I have no idea who “Nadine” is! Linda.
Alhamdullilah Thank You dear sister for your website especially The Classical Arabic 101 – Transcript and Translation which I find very useful for people like me who have some knowledge of Arabic but have no opportunity to hear and speak it. Dear Linda is there any more continuation of this or any other such website in the internet?
Thank You.
Thanks Raed for your explanation. Based on your comments and my own reading, the Quran is the first KNOWN Arabic book. There may or may not have been other Arabic books before the Quran, but we have no evidence to suggest either way.
Abdul Kadir, thank you for your comment. I haven’t posted anything new for a while because of my recent relocation. It usually takes me a couple of hours or more to record, transcribe, and translate a short clip, so it’s pretty encouraging to hear from people that it’s actually helpful. I will try to post more transcripts soon. Subscribe to my website by email so you get notified when I post something new. Do you prefer classical Arabic (not widely used), Modern Standard Arabic (media Arabic), or dialects?
Meanwhile, I would recommend GLOSS website for transcripts of news items.
Dear Linda .Thank you for reply I would definetly prefer the classical Arabic. Having aquired substantial kowledge of classical Arabic I think one could some how follow the MSA or some dialetcs. Anyway any contribution from your part is very much appreciated.
Hey Linda. Its me again. I’ve just finished using your other post about “qaat wa dukhaan” in a reading exercise with a native arab. He was helpin’ me boost up on my readin’ skills. I enjoyed it so very much and so did he. He did say it was a “difficult passage”, which is a compliment to you! Meanwhile,back at the barn, I just had to vist again and see what was new. I love this lil bloggie uve got goin. Linda, are you pretty much fluent in Arabic by now? Hello raed and Abdul. Salam to you al. The movie above seems right up my alley. Im gonna challenge myself, inshaa allah , and attempt to read and comprehend the transcription you have for the script. Wish me luck! and keep on blogging!
ps: consider me SuBsCrIbEd O.0