Sudanese TeddyGate Follow-Up

Good to see a few moderate Islamic blogs expressing their disgust at the TeddyGate affair. Emirati and The Sudanese Thinker are a couple of welcome Muslim voices who recognise the damage this does to the worldwide image of their religion. Well done guys!

Update: 29-11-07
She has been sentenced to 15 days in jail followed by deportation. This has to be one of the sickest stories I have ever heard. Shame on the Sudanese Government and Islamist extremists everywhere. [Sound of puking offstage].

Sudanese Muslim Offence Level: Rising

The New York Times reports that a British junior school teacher is in jail in Khartoum. Her crime? Offending the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). It's not reported whether the Prophet has been in touch with anyone to explain about his offendedness, but you know what these Gods and Prophets are like. They never call. They're not even on Facebook.

What actually happened was that the teacher brought a teddy bear into class for a project with the seven-year-old kids. First job: name the bear. 20 out of 23 kids chose Muhammed from a list of eight names.

I don't get this. Really I don't. Why is it considered offensive to give this name to a warm, cuddly toy that kids of all ages love? Is it projecting the wrong image of the Prophet? Would it be ok to name a ferocious warrior toy after Him? And why is it ok for many thousands of men, some of whom have IQs appoaching zero, to be named after him? How is an educated non-Muslim supposed to know what the rules are (answer to last question: you're not - the rules are made up as we go along). And why is everyone assuming that the bear is named after the Prophet - I believe the caretaker at that school is called Muhammed and everyone really likes him.

Once more, Islamic hardliners are making their religion look ridiculous. How sad.

Topik 61: Latihan Surat Al-‘Ashr ayat 2 dan 3

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Para pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Setelah beberapa hari ini off, maka Insya Allah kita lanjutkan lagi pelajaran kita, dengan melanjutkan latihan surat Al-Ashr. Kita sudah pajang lebar membicarakan kaana, inna, anna, dan terakhir masalah mubtada dan khobar. Apa lagi yang kita akan pelajari? Sebenarnya masalah mubtada dan khobar masih ada kelanjutannya, tetapi kita pending dulu ya… Bosen juga kan, mending kita masuk ke latihan dulu…

Oke baiklah. Kita tuliskan ayat 2 surat Al-‘Ashr:

إنّ الإنسان لفي خسر

Kita sudah membahas Inna yang artinya : sesungguhnya.

Al-Insaana = insan (manusia)
La = sungguh
Fii = dalam
Khusrin = kerugian

Kalimat diatas bisa kita ringkas kan, dengan membuang Inna, dan lam taukid (lam penguat), menjadi:

الإنسانُ في خسر - al-insaanu fii khusrin : manusia itu dalam kerugian

Mubtadanya al-insaanu dan khobarnya fii khusrin. Hanya kalimat diatas kurang ada penekanannya, maka dimasukkanlah Inna dan La. Ingat bahwa dengan memasukkan Inna, maka mubtada al-insaanu berubah menjadi al-insaana.

Oke, itu tadi mengenai ayat 2. Sekarang kita masuk ke ayat 3 penggalan pertama.

إلا الذين آمنوا وعملوا الصالحات – illa alladziina aamanu wa ‘amilu ash-shoolihaat

Illa = kecuali
Alladziina = orang-orang yang
Aamanuu = (orang-orang yang) beriman
Wa = dan
‘aamilu = orang-orang yang beramal
Ash-shoolihaat = yang sholeh

Disini banyak sekali pelajaran yang akan kita petik. Insya Allah. Apa saja?

Yang bisa kita pelajari adalah secara ringkas sbb:
1. Bila ada kata Inna .... Illa ..., maka pemberian Inna itu mendukung adanya pengecualian (dengan Illa).
2. Kita pelajari isim mashul, yaitu alladziina. Apa kedudukan dan fungsinya.
3. Kita akan sebutkan lagi ciri-ciri fiil madhy (KKL) untuk pelaku orang ketiga jamak, yaitu adanya waw alif
4. Kita akan pelajari bentuk jamak muannats salim (jamak perempuan beraturan).

Wuih banyak juga ya. Padahal ini hanya penggalan pertama ayat 3 lho... Insya Allah kita akan tuntaskan pembahasannya dalam topik ini.

Oke, kita lihat yang pertama. Jika kita membaca ayat Al-Quran ada kata Inna .... Illa ... maka ayat tersebut menekankan bahwa sesuatu itu sungguh (inna) akan terjadi demikian, kecuali (illa) suatu kondisi. ”Sesungguhnya manusia itu sungguh dalam kerugian”, kecuali (kondisi).

Biasanya ayat ayat Al-Quran menggunakan illa dalam kondisi seperti ini:
Inna (kata benda + keterangan) Illa (kondisi)
Laa (kata benda + maujuudun) Illa (kondisi)
Laa (KKS) Illa (kondisi)
Maa (KKL) Illa (kondisi)

Contoh:
Inna Illa

فَإِنَّهُمْ عَدُوٌّ لِّي إِلَّا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ

karena sesungguhnya apa yang kamu sembah itu adalah musuhku, kecuali Tuhan Semesta Alam (Asy-syuara : 77)

Laa Illa

لا أستاذ إلا عمر – laa ustaadza illa Umaar (tidak ada Ustadz (yang hadir) kecuali Umar)

Laa Illa

لَّا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ

Tidak ada yang menyentuhnya, kecuali orang yang disucikan (Al-Waqiah:79)

Maa Illa

وَمَا أَضَلَّنَا إِلَّا الْمُجْرِمُونَ

Dan tiadalah yang menyesatkan kami kecuali orang-orang yang berdosa (Asy-syu’ara:99)

Oke saya rasa kita sudah cukup melihat contoh-contoh pemakaian Illa. Sekarang kita masuk ke topik berikutnya yaitu tentang isim maushul (kata penghubung).

ISIM MAUSHUL

Dalam bahasa Indonesia kata penghubung ini disebut kata sambung, dalam bahasa Arab contohnya الذي -alladzi dan الذين – alladziina. Terjemahan yang pas untuk kedua ini adalah: "yang" untuk alladzi dan "orang-orang yang" untuk alladziina. Bentuk lainnya banyak ada alladzaani (untuk 2 orang, atau 2 hal), allati (untuk yang – perempuan) dst.

Tapi yang banyak adalah alladzii dan alladziina.

Contohnya:
أنت مجتهد – anta mujtahidun : Anda orang yang ulet
أنت تدرسُ دائما – anta tadrusu daaiman: Anda senantiasa belajar

Jika digabung:
Anda yang senantiasa belajar adalah orang yang ulet.

أنت الذي يدرسُ دائما مجتهدٌ – anta alladzii yadrusu daaiman mujtahidun

Perhatikan bahwa kalimat pertama dan kalimat kedua jika digabung maka perlu isim maushul. Dalam bahasa Inggris, isim maushul ini sering kali adalah: that, which, who, dsb.

You are diligent.
You always study.

Digabung:

You who always study are diligent.

Shilah

Apa itu shilah? Shilah yaitu kata atau kalimat setelah isim maushul, yang jenisnya harus sama dengan jenis isim maushulnya. Contohnya:

Jika kita pakai alladzii, maka ini merujuk kepada orang ke-3 tunggal, maka shilahnya juga orang ke-3 tunggal. Lihat bedanya:

تدرسُ – tadrusu: belajar (orang kedua tunggal)
يدرسُ – yadrusu: belajar (orang ketiga tunggal)

Pada kalimat awal: kita pakai tadrusu. Tetapi tadrusu berubah menjadi yadrusu, karena dia terletak setelah alladzii. Yadrusu adalah shilah bagi alladzi.

Perhatikan lagi kalimat setelah digabung:

أنت الذي يدرسُ دائما مجتهدٌ – anta alladzii yadrusu daaiman mujtahidun : Anda yang senantiasa belajar adalah orang yang ulet.

Perhatikan dalam kalimat (yang panjang) diatas, mubtada nya anta, dan khobarnya adalah mujtahidun. Sedangkan alladzii yadrusu daaiman adalah pelengkap. Jadi terkadang kalimat yang panjang dalam bahasa Arab itu bisa kita "peras" menjadi hanya mubtada + khobar, sisanya adalah pelengkap kalimat saja. Mengetahui mubtada dan khobar ini akan membantu kita dalam menerjemahkan bahasa Arab al-Quran.

Insya Allah akan kita lanjutkan dengan pembahasan mengulagi fiil madhy dan bentuk jamak muannats salim.

Update from Tabelbala

I've gotten a clearer idea of the linguistic situation here. Apart from Kwarandjie, which, as I've said, is the main language of three of the four villages (and used to be the lingua franca of the oasis), and of course Arabic, there are a few families here (in Ifrenyu and el-Karti) speaking Tamazight - specifically, the dialects of the Ayt Khebbach and Ayt Atta tribes of southern Morocco. They seem to have traditionally been nomads in the general vicinity who settled down here in the seventies or so, although much outnumbered by the (Hassaniya Arabic speaking) Rgaybat who constitute what little population there is in the desert surrounding Tabelbala. I've been doing a little fieldwork with them, focusing on vocabulary that might be relevant to Kwarandjie etymologies, and have been struck by how rarely they seem to provide the source for Kwarandjie's Berber vocabulary - even when the word is quite common in Berber (as it often is not), like adra for "mountain", they seem to use a different one (in this case, tawrirt). The speakers I've spoken to have a rather impressively large vocabulary, but often seem quite embarrassed to speak the language at all - one at first quoted me a local proverb "Esshelha ma hi klam, weddhen ma hu lidam" - Shelha isn't language like ghee isn't (some sort of highly valued medicinal fat product.)"

The list of tense/aspect/mood particles continue to grow - a particularly impressive example I encountered yesterday was `a-s-a`a-m-k-dri (1S-neg-prox.fut.-subj.-yet-go), meaning something like "I've totally stopped going." (ma tlitsh nruh kamel). Actually, -s-a`a-m is a contraction that probably deserves a single lexical entry, but never mind. Note the `ayns in historic Songhay vocabulary here, deriving from original gh.

The phonological issues I mentioned last turn out to derive historically from deletion of an emphatic r, not from any significant difference in the consonants themselves. Not sure yet how to deal with them synchronically, though...

Leaving Dubai

I don't think I ever did do a post about our last few days in Dubai, so here goes.

The essential things that we had to accomplish were:
1) Sell/get rid of most of the furniture
2) Sell the car
3) Shut down our Etisalat (phone/internet monopolist) accounts
4) Shut down our DEWA (electricity/water monopolist) account
5) Be ready for the packers/shippers
6) Have a little rest
7) Leave

1) The second-hand stuff market in Dubai is controlled by Pakistani dealers. They will plead poverty and say that no-one wants to buy the kind of stuff we are selling (nearly all IKEA stuff in excellent condition), and offer you a couple of Euros for each item. When you have spat on your hand and agreed the deal, they pull out their wallet to pay you, at which point they see you looking at their huge wad and feel obliged to tell you that they never go anywhere with less than 50,000 Dirhams (€9200), in case they have to buy a car. Bastards, snakes, Sindhis probably*.

2) Selling the car was problematic. I got quite a lot of responses from my advertising, but the damn car could tell something was going on and kept breaking down to try to stop me selling it. In the last week we had: a flat tyre (I never had a wrench that was the right size, so it needed to be taken to the fixers), overheating engine (water pump or something), and finally, just as we were about to drive it to the Traffic Department to complete the ownership transfer formalities, a loose cable on the underside (the guy who was buying it and his buddy are both aircraft engineers - they said the cable was responsible for the changing of the gears: I could have driven it to the Traffic Department, but only in first gear).

So we went to the Traffic Department without the car. This was close to closing time on a Thursday evening. They would not be opening again until Sunday morning, and BetterArf and I were flying out on Saturday night. It comes to our turn in the queue and they tell us that the car needs a new roadworthiness test. I explain that it passed this test only five weeks ago and they say, no, it's a new rule, whenever you transfer ownership of a car, it has to have a fresh test.

Bugger, the car is actually undriveable at this point, and also about fifteen kilometres away. We go to see the facility manager. He is very understanding, and says we can all sign the documents, and the other guys can bring the car and its test certificate on Sunday and finish it off. So, they pay me the balance, express certain doubts about this guy keeping his word (he is a UAE national, they are Sri Lankan, make of that what you will), we exchange email addresses, and hope and pray that this will work out (they sent me an email a few days later: it did work out).

3) Packing day was the 5th of July. Once the packers had arrived, I tootled down to Etisalat in Jebel Ali to shut down my landline, ADSL and mobile accounts. This proved to be much harder than I had expected. The Etisalat billing system was down. No problem, I said, I can check my balances on the Public Cash Payment Machines. No, said the guy, it won't be accurate. Meaning, any outstanding balance will be till 3am this morning, but I might have spent all morning on the phone to my auntie in Australia, and that won't be shown on the outstanding balance until tomorrow. The system in their office is real-time. But it's down. Fecking hell. I couldn't wait around at their office all day until the system came up again. I tried to pay a bit more than the balances we get from the machine, but the guy said he couldn't accept it. So I paid the exact amount, and if I ever move back to the UAE and try to open accounts with Etisalat, they will insist on being paid the outstanding balance.

They did this to me once before - after my first job in Dubai went to ratshit, I left for a bit. Before I left, I tried to pay off all my bills, but they were unable to determine the outstanding amount on my Internet dial-up account. So it kept on going with some kind of monthly rental charge, and by the time I had returned and tried to open new accounts they insisted that I pay them Dhs 700 (€129) to cover the cost of a service that they had not provided and I had obviously not used. Bastardos!

4) I went to the DEWA (electricity/water company) office a couple of weeks before our departure to find out what the score was with final bills etc. I discovered that I could book the disconnection for a certain date/time, and collect/pay the final bill the next day. This would have been cool, because I expected that they would owe me money in the form of a partial refund of my Dhs 1,000 (€184) security deposit.

So I booked the disconnection for 5pm on the 4th July. We were staying at a friend's flat by then, so no power at night was not a problem: we'd also checked with the packers: they would do their work the next day whether there was a/c or not.

When we arrived back at the flat on the morning of the fifth, we still had power (the switches and meters for the power supply live in a room down the hall - DEWA do not need to enter the flat to read the meter/disconnect the supply). Bugger.

The DEWA guy turned up just as all the packing was finished: he said he had disconnected it the day before, and wanted to know who had put it on again. All very odd, and it meant that we could not get a final bill before leaving Dubai. I had phoned them a few times during the day, and got responses like 'what's the rush' and 'what do you expect me to do about it?' DEWA have a few gazillion miles to go in terms of customer service.

5) Global Relocations (the packers/shippers) turned up at the appointed time, and did their work efficiently. I was a bit disappointed that they had no kind of trolley with them (there were some heavy things that we needed to get rid of, and wheels would have been useful: in the end we bribed the guys a bit to carry them out). But everything was wrapped and packed securely (not a single broken item at the Madrid end!). They could have maybe used a few fewer rainforests-worth of paper in packing the kitchen stuff, and the three rolls of bubble-wrap (weight: zero, volume 0.25 cubic metre) should not have been sent! The point here is that the shipping cost is based on volume rather than weight, so our estimated 6-8 cubic metres became about 15 when it was all packed. That really fucked our budget.

Throughout the day we were taking out stuff that was not to be shipped and leaving it out for anybody who wanted it. BetterArf called the security guys to tell them it was all there for the taking - it was interesting to see the pecking-order amongst the guys who turned up.

And just as we were about to leave, our new next-door neighbour showed up. He was happy to take some of the plants. It turns out he has a small-holding in Andalucia and occasionally has to come to Dubai to do some work. Small world eh?

Finally, it was done: I had expected that it would have been finished by about 1pm, but it was actually 5pm by the time they finished: too late to do a proper handover with the landlord. The weekend was upon us.

6) Our stuff is packed and on its way. Now to meet the guys who are buying my car at the Traffic Department. This is the point where we realise that there's something dangling and clicking on the road under the car (see item 2). Park the car, call the guys, and wait.

BetterArf takes a cab down to the Landlord's office to hand in the documents - they finish at 3pm on a Thursday so she stuffs notes through their letterbox.

The indefatiguable car-buyers arrive about an hour later. They lift up the car and have a wriggle underneath it, but need some special tools to fix it. No worries, we all jump into their car and head off to item 2. After the Traffic Department, we head, exhausted, to our sanctuary.
Amazingly, the lovely, lovely Sri Lankans who have insisted on buying my broken-down car despite all of the problems, take us there - there's obviously something magical about my ex-car that I failed to appreciate but which they prize highly. Possibly it's the red paint-job. Or the furry dice.

So, sanctuary; one of BetterArf's colleagues is putting us up for a couple of nights in deepest Jumeirah. They say that moving house is one of lifes most stressful experiences, on a par with bereavement and divorce. They are wrong: this was worse than anything! I was so exhausted that I can't remember what we did that night. Ate a bit, drank a bit, slept a lot, I suppose.

7) And so we left. We had, for the first time, forsaken Dubai Airport: we were booked on Abu Dhabi-based Etihad. I'd heard nothing but good reports about this airline, and their fares were the best around. You can check-in your luggage at their office on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai up to (I think) 24 hours before your flight, and take a luxury coach from there to Abu Dhabi Airport. Absolutely bloody fantastic. It can easily take you an hour to drive/taxi to Dubai Airport - depending on traffic; it could be a shitload more and you are always at risk of missing your flight. To Abu Dhabi Airport, it's a virtually guaranteed 45 minutes. The flight was grand, marred only by the fact that the destination was Heathrow, the first-world's worst airport bar none.

Do I miss Dubai? Hardly at all. I do miss my buddies, really I do. And I miss the girl who used to come in and do our mountains of ironing. I miss having an apartment that was big enough to live in and accommodate guests - but next year we will get a bigger one. On the upside, we have proper weather that changes throughout the year, we live in a supremely civilized country, we have a King who tells dickheads like Chavez to 'shut up', we have public transport that works, we have freedom of speech and action, we have democracy, we have a government that doesn't need to launch PR things like 'Dubai Cares' - in general the 'caring' is built into the system, we have so much art and culture that it is difficult to keep up with it all. What we have here is real life. And not a small amount of what BetterArf would describe as 'yabadabadoo'.

I'm still lovin' it.

*This may or may not be racist: but I have met both Indians and Pakistanis who've said 'you trust a Sindhi like you trust a snake'. So nerr.

Hujjaj Awareness Campaign

Just thought I'd share this message I received on email. Click on the image to view full size.

My Hands

An old man, probably some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the park bench. He didn't move, just sat with his head down staring at his hands. When I sat down beside him he didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if he was ok.Finally, not really wanting to disturb him but wanting to check on him at the same time, I asked him if he was ok. He raised his head and looked at me

Social Justice for Migrant Workers

The abuse of migrant workers and domestic servants is often a prevalent topic of discussion in reference to the Persian Gulf countries. While physical abuse occurs in the worst cases, it is often the cheating of these workers of their salary and benefits that is more wide-spread. Domestic servants who work in the private homes of Arabs and expats are female migrant workers from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, or the Philippines. Their tasks range from cleaning and cooking to childcare. Although they are involved intimately in maintaining the affairs of house, they are often ignored and treated and not given due consideration as full human beings. There is even a website offering domestic labor service that allows a person to search for a suitable servant based on nationality and religion

Domestic servants are brought to Kuwait from their home countries on a certain type of visa that only permits them to work as domestic servants. Agencies act as the middle-men to bring the workers and arrange their visas and to find them employers. Normally, the domestic servant signs for a two-year contract to work in a person’s home at a salary of about $160 with food and clothing paid for by the employer. After the two years she is entitled for a paid airline ticket by her employer to return to her home country for a vacation.

One particular story I heard recently smacked of avarice. A non-Kuwaiti Arab couple both of whom were doctors had been nice to their maid. Yet as the two year mark approached and the maid wanted to travel, the employers began changing their attitude towards her and telling her that she could only travel for less than the normally granted time. Also, the maid was seeking to be released by her employers so that she could find more profitable work in a store or restaurant. A release requires the employers to sign a document releasing the domestic servant from their employment in order for her to change her visa status so that she may work in more well-paid jobs in a store or restaurant. However, the employers of this maid, who lived a comfortable life and were well-off, attempted to extort money from her by demanding that she pay them an exorbitant amount such as a $1,000 for them to sign the release paper. She refused and was returned to the agency before her two year contract ended allowing her employers to forego the expenditure of her rightfully deserved plane ticket per the stipulations of the contract.

Though it is unfortunate that such incidents occur and there is little recourse for justice for the domestic servants, even in the extreme cases of violence and rape (see this Al-Jazeera English news report that highlights two Indonesian servants that were abused by their sponsors in Kuwait), there is hope that there is a growing awareness among Kuwaitis for the need to redress these abuses and promote social justice. The granddaughter of the current Amir of Kuwait, Bibi Nasser al-Sabah, is involved in the Social Work Society of Kuwait which provides various forms of assistance to migrant workers such as helping detained workers return to their home countries, helping them get medical care, and promoting reforms in the labor laws. She runs a blog promoting social justice for migrant workers.

It is important to note that the problem of domestic worker abuse is not restricted to the Gulf Arabs but is rather a widespread problem stretching from Africa to India to East Asia the roots of which lie in a traditional mentality veiled from the light of education. I remember watching a program in the US that documented abuse of African domestic servants in the US by their African immigrant employers. Though seemingly slow, but yet surely, the light of education will pierce the veils of ignorance as humanity acknowledges the oneness of mankind and the implications thereof.

“The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.” –Baha’u’llah

Topik 60: Khobar Muqoddam

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Kita menyisakan pertanyaan pada topik 59, yaitu apa bahasa Arabnya:

A boy is in the house?

Mas… Kalau:

The boy is in the house, bahasa Arabnya: الولدُ في البيتِ – al-waladu fii al-bayti

Nah kan Mas pernah bilang, kalau kata benda yang belum diketahui, maka tinggal buang AL nya, sehingga al-waladu, buang al, menjadi waladun.

ولدٌ في البيتِ – waladun fii al-bayti

Secara umum sih iya. Anda betul sekali. Hanya saja, dalam bahasa Arab, adalah janggal (jarang dipakai, atau agak aneh), jika mubtada itu bukan kata benda yang tidak definitive (sudah diketahui).

Dalam bahasa Arab ada dua istilah: ma’rifah dan nakiroh.

ولدٌ – waladun : A Boy (seorang anak laki-laki) ini disebut nakiroh (umum, belum spesifik)

الولدُ – al-waladu: The Boy (anak laki-laki itu), ini disebut ma’rifah (jelas anak laki-laki mana yang dimaksud)

Nah kembali ke kalimat diatas:

ولدٌ في البيتِ – waladun fii al-bayti

Mubtada: waladun (nakiroh)
Khobar: fii al-bayti

Kalimat diatas jarang ditemukan, atau janggal. Lalu biar gak janggal gimana dong Mas? Nah orang Arab ada solusinya. Gimana tuh? Solusinya, Khobarnya dikedepankan (muqoddam). Sehingga kalimatnya menjadi:

في البيتِ ولدٌ – fii al-bayti waladun : A boy is in the house, atau bisa juga In the house, (there) is a boy.

Nah terlihat bahwa kadang khobar mengawali kalimat.

Dalam Al-Quran kita sering menemukan khobar muqoddam ini. Contohnya sudah pernah dibahas dulu dalam Surat Al-Baqoroh ayat 10.

في قلوبهم مرضٌ – fii quluubihim maradhun : dalam hati mereka ada penyakit. Atau lebih tepat sebenarnya: Penyakit (ada) dalam hati mereka. Tapi masalahnya karena penyakit itu bersifat general (umum) artinya bisa penyakit apa saja, maka tidak dipakai al-maradhu, tetapi maradhun.

Kalau penyakitnya itu jelas apa jenisnya, maka dipakai al-maradhu. Jika al-maradhu, maka kalimatnya (umumnya) mengikuti pola yang umum yaitu:

المرضُ في قلوبهم – al-maradhu fii quluubihim.

Perhatikan mubtada adalah maradhu (penyakit) sedangkan khobar adalah fii quluubihim (dalam hati mereka).

Dan perhatikan, karena mubtada’nya nakiroh (maradhu), sehingga tidak bisa diawal kalimat, yang akibatnya mubtada “mengalah” menjadi di-akhir kalimat. Jadilah dia menjadi: في قلوبهم مرضٌ – fii quluubihim maradhun : dalam hati mereka ada penyakit, atau Penyakit (ada) dalam hati mereka.

Allahu a’lam bish-showwab.

Topik 59: Jenis-Jenis Khobar

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Kali ini kita akan menggali jenis-jenis khobar. Apa saja itu? Oke, kita mulai dengan contoh.

الطالبُ مجتهدٌ – at-thaalibu mujtahidun : Siswa itu rajin

Mana mubtada dan khobar nya? Gampang.

Mubtada: الطالبُ - ath-thaalibu : siswa itu
Khobar: مجتهدٌ – mujtahidun : rajin

Nah, topik kali ini kita akan singgung, apa saja jenis khobar, dan jenis mubtada. Oke perhatikan kalimat diatas.

Mubtada ath-thaalibu, adalah kata benda alam (isim alam)
Khobar mujtahidun, adalah kata benda sifat (isim shifat)

Apa saja jenis Mubtada lain? Jenis mubtada yang lain adalah kata-ganti (isim dhomir).

Kalimat diatas, bisa saya ubah.

The student is diligent: الطالبُ مجتهدٌ – at-thaalibu mujtahidun : Siswa itu rajin
He is diligent: هو مجتهدٌ – huwa mujtahidun : Dia rajin.

Nah dalam kalimat diatas, mana mubtada dan khobar?

Mubtada: huwa – dia
Khobar: mujtahidun – rajin

Itulah 2 bentuk / jenis mubtada’ yang umum dijumpai. Apa itu? Kita ulangi. Mubtada bisa berupa isim alam (nama orang, nama benda, profesi orang, dsb), atau kata ganti (saya, kamu, dia, mereka, dsb).

Ada lagi jenis yang umum juga untuk mubtada, yaitu kata benda penunjuk (isim isyarah). Contohnya: ini, itu.

Saya katakan sbb:

ذلك البيتُ – dzalika al-baytu: itu rumah. That is the house.
هذا ولدٌ – hadza waladun : ini seorang anak laki-laki. This is a boy.
هذا الولدُ – hadza al-waladu : ini seorang anak laki-laki itu. This is the boy.

Nah mubtada dalam tiga kalimat diatas adalah: dzalika (itu) dan hadza (ini). Sedangkan khobarnya adalah al-baytu (rumah [yang sudah diketahui oleh lawan bicara]), waladun (anak laki-laki [siapapun dia]), atau al-waladu (anak laki-laki [yang sudah diketahui oleh lawan bicara]).

Oke, kita tutup dengan kesimpulan. Mubtada, bisa terdiri dari (salah satu)
1. Isim alam (nama orang, nama benda, profesi, dsb)
2. Kata ganti (saya, dia, mereka, kamu, dsb)
3. Isim isyarah (ini, itu)

Sekarang kita beralih ke jenis-jenis Khobar.

Perhatikan lagi kalimat-kalimat diatas. Rata-rata khobar itu terdiri dari, isim shifat (seperti rajin, malas, besar, ganteng, dll), atau kata benda isim alam (seperti dalam kalimat “itu rumah”).

Sekarang saya kasih contoh, yang mungkin membuat kita bingung.

Apa bedanya:

هذا البيتُ كبيرٌ جديدٌ – hadza al-baytu kabiirun jadiidun

هذا البيتُ الكبيرُ جديدٌ – hadza al-baytu al-kabiiru jadiidun

Bedanya kalau dalam bahasa Inggris lebih terlihat, sbb:

هذا البيتُ كبيرٌ جديدٌ – This house is big (and) new : rumah ini besar (lagi) baru

هذا البيتُ الكبيرُ جديدٌ – This big house is new : rumah besar ini baru

Pada kalimat pertama, mubtada: this house, khobarnya big (and) new
Pada kalimat kedua, mubtada: this big house, khobarnya new

Oke, sampai disini, kita resume-kan, tentang khobar. Khobar dapat terdiri dari isim shifat, isim alam. Sekarang bentuk ke 3.

Bentuk ke-3 Khobar: JER MAJRUR

Oke apa lagi nih Mas? JER MAJRUR. Hehe… istilah ini sering dipakai dalam pelajaran bahasa Arab. Apa itu? Gampangnya saya kasih contoh begini.

dalam rumah: في البيتِ – fii al-bayti.

Ingat-ingat lagi pelajaran kita dulu-dulu banget, tentang huruf jer (kata depan). Contohnya في – fii (didalam), على – ‘alaa (diatas), من – min (dari), إلى – ilaa (ke), dst. Nah kata-kata ini disebut JER. Lalu MAJRUR apa? Majrur adalah kata benda setelah JER. Dalam contoh diatas Majrur nya adalah البيتِ – al-bayti. Lalu gabungan keduanya disebut kalimat JER MAJRUR.

Nah bentuk ke 3 dari khobar ini, dapat berupa jer majrur ini. Contohnya begini.

الولدُ في البيتِ – al-waladu fii al-bayti : The boy in the house – anak laki-laki itu dalam rumah.

Mana mubtada dan khobarnya? Mubtada, pastilah al-waladu. Dan khobarnya adalah JER MAJRUR yaitu fii al-bayti.

Oke ya, semoga yang diatas itu bisa dimengerti. Sekarang ada masalah nih.

Bagaimana kalau, di dalam rumah itu, anak laki-lakinya belum diketahui. Oh ya, sebelumnya, Anda pasti tahu kan apa bedanya dua kalimat ini:

The boy is in the house
A boy is in the house

Dalam kalimat kedua, anak laki-lakinya belum diketahui. Bisa anak siapa saja. Sehingga dipakai A Boy (waladun, bukan al-waladu). Sedangkan dalam kalimat pertama, anak laki-lakinya adalah sudah diketahui, misal Anaknya Bang Faisal, misalkan. Dalam kalimat pertama, karena Boy nya sudah diketahui maka dipakai The (atau al, sehingga menjadi al-waladu)

Dalam bahasa Arab, kedua kalimat itu sebagai berikut.

The boy is in the house : الولدُ في البيتِ
A boy is in the house : ???

Apa kira-kira yang akan Anda isi untuk ??? diatas. Jawabannya Insya Allah di topik selanjutnya. Ini masuk dalam Bab Khobar Muqoddam (khobar yang didahulukan). Baca topik selanjutnya.

Topik 58: Inna dan saudara-saudaranya

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Kita sebenarnya akan melanjutkan pembahasan surat Al-‘Ashr ayat 2. Sebagaimana telah disampaikan kita menghadapi Inna di awal ayat kedua ini. Pembahasan إنَّ sangat dekat dengan pembahasan mubtada dan khobar. Telah kita lihat bahwa pengetahuan mengenai mubtada dan khobar ini sangat penting. Karena yang mempengaruhi mubtada dan khobar itu ada dua kelompok:

كان dan saudara-saudaranya.
إنَّ dan saudara-saudaranya.

Nah, saudara-saudara kaana itu banyak. Saudara-saudara inna juga banyak, suatu saat kita akan ketemu. Tapi untuk sekedar contoh, saudara-saudara إنَّ itu ada 5, diantaranya لعل – la’alla, dan ليت – layta. Dua-duanya artinya semoga, dengan beda maksud. La’alla adalah harapan yang mungkin terjadi, sedangkan layta adalah harapan yang mustahil terjadi.

Contohnya:

زيدٌ عالمٌ – Zaidun ‘aalimun : Zaid adalah orang yang berpengetahuan

Jika kita tambahkan inna, menjadi:

إنَّ زيدً عالمٌ – Inna Zaidan ‘aalimun : Sesungguhnya Zaid adalah orang yang berpengetahuan

Nah kita bisa mengganti inna dengan la’alla atau layta:

لعل زيدً عالمٌ – la’alla Zaidan ‘aalimun: Semoga Zaid (jadi) orang yang berpengetahuan

ليت زيدً عالمٌ – layta Zaidan ‘aalimun: Semoga Zaid (jadi) orang yang berpengetahuan

Perhatikan fungsi la’alla dan layta, sama dengan fungsi inna, yaitu menashobkan mubtada dan merafa’kan khobar. Lihat bahwa Zaidun (rofa’) setelah kemasukan inna, atau saudara-saudara inna (spt. La’alla dan layta), maka mubtada itu jadi nashob (dari Zaidun berubah menjadi Zaidan).

Perhatikan beda la’alla dengan layta diatas. Kalimat pertama, kemungkinan besar terjadi.

لعل زيدً عالمٌ – la’alla Zaidan ‘aalimun: Semoga Zaid (jadi) orang yang berpengetahuan

Misalkan tampak Zaid itu memang anaknya rajin, sehingga kemungkinan dia jadi orang alim, sangat besar.

Nah beda halnya dengan kalimat kedua. Misalkan telah diketahui umum bahwa Zaid itu anaknya idiot. Maka mengharapkan Zaid menjadi orang yang berilmu, tentu sia-sia, alias mustahil. Maka la’alla tidak tepat digunakan. Tetapi yang digunakan adalah layta.

ليت زيدً عالمٌ – layta Zaidan ‘aalimun: Semoga Zaid (jadi) orang yang berpengetahuan --> yang tidak mungkin terjadi, karena Zaid idiot, misalkan.

Atau seperti saya katakan:

ليت النارَ باردةٌ – layta an-naara baaridatun : semoga api itu dingin

Mengharap sifat api jadi dingin tentu mustahil. Makanya kita pakai layta.

Oke apa pelajaran yang kita dapatkan di topik ini? Ya, kita sudah lihat bahwa teman-teman inna itu cukup banyak, ada 5 (saya baru sebut 2 kan, yaitu la’alla dan layta). Teman-teman kaana juga banyak. Nah akan sangat untung kita, kalau kita tahu apa tugas kaana (dan saudara-saudaranya) dan apa tugas inna (dan saudara-saudaranya).

Oke, satu lagi, saudara Inna adalah Anna (hehe berarti saya sudah kasih tahu 3 ya).

Oke Anna sama dengan Inna, secara fungsi dan arti. Bedanya apa? Bedanya, kalau Inna ada diawal kalimat, kalau Anna ada ditengah kalimat.

Contohnya:

Saya paham, sesungguhnya Zaid itu orang yang berilmu.

فهمتُ أنَّ زيدً عالمٌ – fahimtu anna Zaidun ‘aalimun : saya paham, sesungguhnya Zaid itu orang berilmu.

Perhatikan bahwa awal kalimatnya adalah fahimtu (saya paham). Karena Inna tidak diawal kalimat, maka dia berubah menjadi Anna.

Oh ya terkadang dalam terjemahan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia, karena anna terletak di tengah kalimat, maka dia sering diterjemahkan dengan “bahwasannya”, sehingga contoh diatas menjadi:

فهمتُ أنَّ زيدً عالمٌ – fahimtu anna Zaidun ‘aalimun : saya paham, bahwasannya Zaid itu orang berilmu.

Oke, topik mengenai mubtada dan khobar ini masih belum selesai. Insya Allah kita akan lanjutkan dengan jenis-jenis khobar (prediket).

Dreams

To believe in one's dreams is to spend all of one's life asleep.Chinese proverb

DARI QATAR SAMPAI TURKI

Alhamdulillah, perasaan senang saya haturkan kepada para pembaca sekalian. Adalah suatu kesenangan tersendiri bagi seorang penulis, jika tulisannya dibaca. Latar belakang saya menulis, adalah sharing. Saya percaya semakin banyak yang kita beri (apapun itu, termasuk Ilmu), maka Allah akan menggantikan apa yang kita berikan itu dengan sesuatu yang lebih baik.

Setelah membuat blog ini dan rutin menulis tiap minggu (paling tidak) satu tulisan, saya mulai dihinggapi rasa jenuh. Apa ada ya orang yang membaca? Apa saya capek-capek nulis, sharing pengalaman saya belajar bahasa Arab, apa worth it gitu?

Saya yakin, banyak orang seperti saya. Ingin belajar bahasa Arab, agar mengerti apa yang dibaca ketika sholat, atau ketika baca Al-Quran. Semangat untuk bisa itu membuat saya terus ingin belajar. Tapi, dasar gak punya landasan waktu kecil (hehe ketahuan waktu kecil gak ikut madrasah), maka belajar dikala sudah dewasa terasa sangat sukar. Hanya semangat yang besar, dan keyakinan bahwa Allah SWT akan memudahkan, dan akan mengganti jerih payah ini dengan pahala, yang membuat saya tetap ingin menulis.

Setelah hampir 1 tahun berlalu dan sudah memasuki topik 50 an lebih, timbul keinginan saya untuk tahu, siapakah yang membaca, dari negara mana saja, berapa lama waktu yang dilewati membaca tulisan di blog ini. Alhamdulillah saya bertemu sensor untuk mengetahui itu. Sensor tersebut saya pasang kemaren. Dalam 1 hari lebih ini, telah ada pengunjung sebanyak 147 orang, dengan jumlah hit 361. Rata-rata satu orang menghabiskan 4 menit dalam sekali kunjungan.

Pengunjung tersebar dari beberapa negara. Pengunjung dari Indonesia paling banyak sebesar 46%, diikuti pengunjung dari Malaysia 16%, Amerika 14%, Norwegia 10%, dan Jepang 4%.

Kalau yang dari Malaysia, beberapanya mengirimkan email pribadi ke saya. Sedangkan kalau dari pengunjung dari Negara Lain, spt Jepang, Norwegia, Amerika, saya menduga ini adalah pelajar Indonesia, atau orang Indonesia yang bekerja di negara tersebut.



Sebenarnya sensor tersebug menghasilkan report yang lebih banyak lagi. Seperti tulisan mana yang paling sering dibaca. Bagaimana orang sampai ke blog ini (apakah di-refer oleh Yahoo, Google, atau Website lain) dsb. Alhamdulillah, saya bersyukur menemukan sensor ini.

Demikian sekilas profile dari pembaca blog ini, dari pengamatan selama satu dua hari ini, dan kita akan lanjutkan minggu depan Insya Allah, dengan pembahasan Ayat 2 surat Al-'Ashr.

Brief update

Today I'm in Bechar, with a somewhat more effective net connection; I apologise for the poor appearance of the previous one, which I sent by email. I am currently sitting with Omar Yahiaoui (who asked me to mention this); I've been hanging out mainly with the Yahiaoui extended family of Kwara, one of the three villages that speak the language, although I'll have to balance this soon with some extended staying in Ifrenyu, the other main village with which there is a certain amount of mostly but not totally friendly rivalry. The phonology keeps getting bigger and richer - never mind all the emphatics and labiovelarised consonants and affricates, there are a few contrasts involving h and gw that have clear effects on surrounding vowels but that I simply can't seem to hear. I've made a few more recordings, and done a bit more sightseeing, going into the erg a little - sand dunes and not much else from Tabelbala all the way to Ougarta.

PS: should have written Shelha, not "Shelhiyya", in my previous Bechar post.

Topik 57: Pendalaman masalah Mubtada’ dan Khobar

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Sebelum kita lanjutkan pembahasan ayat 2 surat Al-‘Ashr, kita berhenti sejenak disini. Oke kita sudah lihat dan bahas peranan dan fungsi kaana dan inna dalam kalimat. Ingat-ingat lagi ya, karena dua kata ini sering dipakai dalam Al-Quran.

Oke. Kalau dilihat bahwa peranan atau fungsi kaana dan inna ini, sangat berkaitan dengan apa yang disebut mubtada’ dan khobar. Maka pengetahuan mengenai mubtada’ dan khobar ini perlu lebih di perdalam. Sebagai perbandingan kitab Al-Arabiyah Bin Namajiz (Bahasa Arab dengan Pola-pola) membahas masalah mubtada dan khobar ini ke dalam 4 bab terpisah. Dari sini tercermin betapa pentingnya pengetahuan mengenai mubtada’ dan khobar ini.

Oke baiklah. Walau secara ringkas kita sudah bahas, bahwa mubtada’ itu subjek dan khobar itu prediket, sebenarnya pembagian ini kurang begitu operasional. Saya akan jelaskan mengapa.

Mari kita berandai-andai membuat perumpamaan kalimat.

Misal saya katakan:

The house is big.

Rumah itu besar.

Oke dalam bahasa Arab kita katakan:

البيتُ كبيرٌ – al-baytu kabiirun --> Kalimat A

Nah dalam bahasa Arab diatas terlihat bahwa mubtada’ adalah البيتُ – al-baytu, dan yang menjadi khobar adalah كبيرٌ – kabiirun.

Sangat straightforward dan mudah kan.

Tapi bayangkan skenario begini. Tanpa sengaja saya “tertambahkan” alif lam di depan kabiirun. Sehingga kalimatnya menjadi:

البيتُ الكبيرُ - al-baytu al-kabiiru --> Kalimat B

Apa padanan bahasa Inggris nya? Padanan untuk kalimat diatas berubah, menjadi

The big house (rumah besar itu)

Lihat bedanya.

The house is big: Rumah itu besar (kalimat A)
The big house: Rumah besar itu (kalimat B)

Kalimat A adalah kalimat yang sempurna, yang terdiri dari Mubtada’ (Rumah itu) dan Khobar (besar).

Sedangkan kalimat B, bukan kalimat sempurna. Kenapa? Karena kalimat B, hanya terdiri dari mubtada’ saja. Khobarnya tidak ada. Jadi kalimat “Rumah besar itu …” adalah mubtada’, belum jelas “ada apa dengan rumah besar itu”, alias belum ada khobarnya (khobar dalam bahasa Arab artinya berita). Kalimat B, khobarnya belum ada, atau berita-nya belum ada.

Oke. Sekarang kembali ke kalimat B. Saya katakan tadi bahwa Kalimat B belum sempurna. Bagaimana membuat kalimat B jadi sempurna?

Gampang. Tinggal kasih khobar, kan? Ya, anda benar.

Misalkan saya katakan:

The big house is new.

Sekarang saya sudah pilih new: baru (جديد - jadiidun) sebagai khobar. Maka kalimat B, dalam bahasa Arab jika ditambahkan jadiidun, menjadi:

البيتُ الكبيرُ جديدٌ – al-baytu al-kabiiru jadiidun

Sim salabim. Kalimat diatas berubah jadi kalimat sempurna, karena sudah ada khobar (prediket) nya. Mana khobarnya? Yaitu jadiidun.

Nah, kita sudah lihat kan ciri-ciri mana yang khobar, mana yang mubtada. Ciri-cirinya begini:

- Jika ada kata benda ma’rifat (spesifik: biasanya ditandai dengan alif lam -al), maka dia mubtada. Dalam contoh diatas بيتٌ – baitun (sebuah rumah), kemasukan alif lam menjadi البيتُ – al-baytu (rumah itu), adalah mubtada (karena ada al-nya)

- Jika setelah mubtada itu kata benda lagi yang juga spesifik (ada alif lam), maka kata benda itu bukan khobar, tapi shifat dari mubtada’. Dalam contoh diatas, kata كبيرُ - kabiirun (besar) karena mendapat alif lam menjadi al-kabiiru ( الكبيرُ ) maka dia bukanlah khobar, tetapi sifat dari mubtada. Sehingga kita tidak bisa terjemahkan: the house is big, tapi the big house.

- Setelah shifat, jika masih ada kata benda yang ada alif-lam, maka dia bukan lah khobar, tetapi shifat yang kedua. Saya bisa membuat begini: البيتُ الكبيرُ الواسعُ جديدٌُ – al-baytu al-kabiiru al-waasi’u jadiidun (The big large house is new ), atau Rumah yang besar (lagi) luas itu baru. Terlihat disini besar (big) dan luas (large) adalah sifat dari rumah itu, dan keduanya adalah masih bagian dari mubtada’. Sedangkan khobarnya adalah jadiidun (baru).

- Jika setelah mubtada (yang ada al-nya) ada kata benda yang tidak ada al-nya, maka itulah khobarnya. Dalam contoh diatas, kata jadiidun (baru) tidak ada al-nya, maka dapat diindikasikan kata jadiidun adalah khobar.

Ingat, jika sebuah kalimat sudah ada mubtada’ dan khobarnya maka, itu disebut kalimat sempurna.

Demikian, mudah-mudahan jelas ya. Sebagai penutup, saya sampaikan bahwa khobar-pun dapat terdiri dari lebih dari satu kata. Contoh sebelumnya khobar hanya satu kata, yaitu jadiidun. Dalam Al-Quran kadang-kadang khobar itu terdiri dari 2 kata benda.

Contoh dalam surat Al-Baqarah ayat 115.

إن الله واسعٌ عليمٌ – inna Allaha waasi’un ‘aliimun : sesungguhnya Allah Maha Luas (rahmatNya) lagi Maha Mengetahui.

Lihat kalimat diatas, jika inna saya buang maka menjadi:

اللهُ واسعٌ عليمٌ – Allahu waasi’un ‘aliimun : Allah Maha Luas (rahmatNya) lagi Maha Mengetahui.

Perhatikan, bahwa struktur kalimatnya:

Mubtada: Allahu
Khobar: waasi’un ‘aliimun

Khobarnya terdiri dari dua kata benda. Kita bisa lanjutkan menambahkan kata benda (yang merupakan sifat dari Mubtada) dengan tambahan lain misalkan: Allahu waasi’un ‘aliimun rahiimun rahmaanun dst (dimana mubtada'-nya Allahu, dan sisanya adalah khobar).

Jelaslah sekarang, bahwa kepandaian menentukan mana khobar, mana mubtada’ akan membantu kita dalam menerjemahkan text Al-Quran, khususnya yang berkaitan dengan inna dan kaana. Insya Allah akan kita jelaskan mengenai khobar muqoddam, pada topik-topik selanjutnya.

Fieldwork post I

Hello everybody! I am alive and well in Tabelbala, speaking "Korandje" ([kwɑ́:ṛɑ-n-dʒji], probably /kwaṛa-n-dzyəy/) on a regular basis and writing down vast numbers of obscure words enthusiastically volunteered by the more fluent older generation of speakers, while trying to figure out grammatical issues from natural speech overheard or addressed to me and from occasional elicitation when I can find someone who will put up with it. I've filled a notebook of more than two hundred pages with notes already, but I've done only a very small amount of recording, which has so far proven harder to negotiate.

The people here are incredibly hospitable, and the area remarkable for its beauty - an oasis of gardens (ləmbyu) and irrigation canals (tsirgyanən) between the mountain (aḍṛa) and the erg (amrər). However, it is remarkably isolated, connected to the outside world (and the nearest towns are a very long way away) by only a single road and a single telephone line, which has not been conducive to job creation; there is talk of a second road to Adrar, which might help. Its inherent touristic potential, which some here are keen on expanding, is difficult to realise in the absence of any hotels.

The language is clearly endangered. People from about 30 and up speak it routinely (though all speakers appear to speak dialectal Arabic to native standard), but most younger speakers seem to have a primarily passive knowledge of the language, always answering in Arabic or struggling to find even basic vocabulary, though this is more true of some families than others. Most people I've spent time talking with have been keen on the idea of reviving its fortunes, or even teaching it in school "like Kabyle", but some have been rather more negative, dismissing it as not a proper language and of no use.

There's some very interesting stuff going on in the language, including what I take to be a sound shift in progress of affricated [kç] (the sound that Cancel wrote as <χ>) to affricated [ts] (of which speakers are well aware.) Cancel's <th>, incidentally, is itself [ts]. The tense/aspect/mood system has been reworked much more radically than existing materials indicated, with a past copula (also used for what I so far interpret as a past progressive) ga showing up before personal agreement rather than, like aspect and mood markers, after. The phonology is complex: tone and most vowel contrasts have definitely been lost, but a lot of emphatics have been gained, including such unusual sounds as affricated [ṭṣ]. Vowels reduced to schwa, and lost coda r's, reappear in verbs when you add a 3rd person direct object pronoun "clitic" (but not when you add a 3rd person indirect object one.) The language has a specialised focus marker, which interacts interestingly with subject person/number markers. The vocabulary is of major interest in its own right for what it has to say about the history of this part of the Sahara. It defies any simple effort to pin down the immediate source of the agricultural technologies that have allowed the Belbalis to survive and flourish here: "palm" is Songhay kungu, but "date" Berber tsini; a foggara is Songhay bəng-bini as long as it stays underground, but Berber tsargya once it emerges.

Islamist Member of Parliament visits AUK

The American University in Kuwait is viewed as a bastion of liberalism that attracts the most liberal-minded and the children of some of the wealthiest Kuwaitis. There you will find male and female students sporting the latest styles at what seems to be almost any expense. Thus, when Kuwait’s probably most well-known conservative Islamist Member of Parliament, Dr. Walid Tabtabaie, came to AUK on Sunday, 4 Nov, to speak about the Kuwaiti constitution on the pretense of a lecture entitled “Serving the Community,” it was a surprise to many.

Dr. Tabtabaie seems to be a young looking man in his forties. He sports a jet black beard and noticeably short dishdasha (the white dress of local men), both signs of a strict fundamentalist or literal understanding of Islam. He received his PhD in Islamic Law from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the leading bastion of Sunni Islam education. Al-Azhar has been in operation for a little over a thousand years but ironically it started out as a Shi’ite institution under the Fatimids.

The session started out politely with an explanation of the verities and virtues of the Kuwaiti constitution. But after Tabtabaie had finished his talk, the session was opened to the real and unofficial topic of discussion which was the lack of exercise of personal freedoms such as freedom of press, the view that women should not be playing football, and the preoccupation with separating boys and girls in universities and schools. Students were allowed to ask questions and I was surprised by the number that were out-spoken. There was especially one student who seemed to give his own speech in railing against the state for I think the detention of two journalists recently before asking his question. The problem of listening to conversations in Arabic is that I understand the main point but don’t often pick up on the details.

It was certainly an interesting session and an illustration of the main tension in the Middle East, tradition versus modernity which in this case was played out by the actors of Islam and liberalism.

There were a few questions to Tabtabaie about why women shouldn’t be playing football by some of the AUK female players as he is against that. It came to the point where he said that his reasoning was because women’s uniforms was too light, meaning that it was too revealing, and that that was simply his opinion.

But the most interesting scene was at the end when the organizer of the session shared that her favorite section of the constitution was freedom of thought or belief at which one point someone commented how can that be when the parliament wants to limit people's freedom, with the example given of Tabtabaie’s opinion that women playing football is immoral. Then Tabtabaie asked for the constitution, turn a few pages and read the section that stated that the state of Kuwait is based on Islam and Sharia which he explained meant freedom of thought was bound within that stricture. It was a nice encapsulation of the tension in Kuwaiti and Arab society between tradition and progress, religion and modernity.

The Persian Gulf and the Environment

I recently just watched the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” by Al Gore and found it quite moving and well-produced. He brings together various pieces of evidences for global warming into a stunning and compelling presentation. As a Fulbrighter living in Kuwait, I wonder if the message of the film, that global warming is a serious and real phenomenon that requires immediate attention, is understood by the people of the Gulf Arab states.

I remember being shocked and appalled by the blatant wasteful consumerism when first arriving to Kuwait. I think it would be safe to say that just by observing the types of cars on the roads that Kuwaitis have any other country beat for the highest per capita ownership of Hummers. It is disgraceful and quite frankly revolting that the people in the Gulf in general wastefully spend their money to the detriment of the environment at this critical hour on large, bulky vehicles that are unnecessary and consume large amounts of gas. Yes, gasoline is cheap in the Gulf, but that should not be an excuse to buy a Hummer or SUV. In Syria, a much poorer country where I was studying Arabic, I was told there were only 4 Hummers in the entire city of 6 million whereas in Kuwait with a population of 3 million you will see just driving through the streets on a normal day at least 4 hummers.

While most of the pollution contributing to global warming is undoubtedly from the US, the recent development in the Middle East means that this region in the future will have a larger share in the pollution as new high rise buildings and luxury hotels are built, more cars are added to the streets, and new desalination and power plants are built to run the redeveloped and expanded cities. Indeed, already global warming has had its effects in Kuwait. When my mother was growing up in Kuwait 50 years ago, the weather was much cooler and some people used to sleep on the roofs of their houses in the summer. However today, average temperatures are higher during the day and evening so that it would not be as comfortable sleeping outside on a summer night. I read that average temperatures in May this year were the highest on record.

It does not surprise me considering how much heat is being produced by the power and desalination plants, the AC units and cars. I remember standing in a building overlooking a desalination plant and noticed that so much heat was coming out of one of the exhaust towers which I could tell from the air above it that was superheated giving a hazy, blurry image when looking at it. Additionally, because power is so cheap in Kuwait due to government subsidization, some homes and buildings are so cooled in summer that it is cold inside and require the wearing of a light jacket when temperatures outside are between 45-50C. Thus, due to the wasteful use of electricity on AC, Kuwait has experienced brownouts and this summer the government organized a massive campaign to make people aware to conserve electricity. There were electric meters displayed during programs on TV indicating the percentage of output being consumed and signs along the streets, especially very large ones on the way to the airport, reminding people to conserve electricity and lower the AC and turn off the lights before traveling.

It seems Arabs are unaware of the seriousness of global warming. The marine ecosystems of the Gulf have already been ravaged and coral communities destroyed. Diving in one particular area I saw a sea of sea urchins that had destroyed the coral in the area. Additionally, in speaking to a professor in Bahrain focusing on the marine life, he frankly stated that financial interests grossly outweigh a desire to preserve and protect environment. Hence the leaders of the Gulf countries are so quick to reclaim land such as for new business and luxury housing developments in Bahrain and the Emirates.


It’s safe to say that the people here and in other Arab countries rarely think about environmental interests. I wonder if they are simply are not conscious of it. People are so easy to throw their refuse into the streets. In Damascus and Aleppo when I went to sightseeing points to take in city views, there were piles of trash below where people would sit. I remember clearly in Aleppo a group of two or three adolescent girls sitting to the right of where I was standing throwing their empty soda cans and a plastic bag of trash on to the slight drop off in front of them. I do not understand why there such little respect among Arabs for the environment. Why is it so difficult for them to throw their trash in marked receptacles?

In Kuwait, the lack of car for the environment is on display when one goes to some of the beaches. One can often find plastic bags, bottles, cans, batteries, and once I found a small piece of carpet. Even when I went on a boating trip to a popular island of the mainland were there numerous clearly marked receptacles not far from the beach, I still found refuse along the beach and floating in the water. It seems it was too inconvenient for the Kuwaitis to gather their refuse and walk the 10 meters to deposit it in the waste bin. Such is the environmental degradation and apathy that I no longer desire to go to the beaches in Kuwait and witness their spoilage. Of course there are private, well-kept beaches but they are not as easy to access. Additionally, what is ironic is that a Kuwaiti I spoke with working as a director in one of the government departments tasked with monitoring fishing noted that Kuwaitis when they travel to Europe are aware of the rules against littering and abide them whereas the same person is more likely to litter in their country when they return home.

Another sign that today’s Gulf Arab leaders do not give sufficient consideration to the environment is the wasteful manner in which they spend their resources. Take for example the Emirates. The emirate of Dubai already has a large, established international airline. However, the rulers of neighboring emirates felt the need to start their own airlines to spur economic growth in their emirates which is understandable since you want airlines to bring tourists. Yet wouldn’t a much cheaper, more effective, and environmentally friendly solution be to develop high speed rail service between the major cities of the emirates. After all, when Dubai is only a 20 min drive to Sharjah, an hour drive to Abu Dhabi, and a 45 min drive to Ras Al-Khaimah, a high speed rail service connecting Dubai’s airport with the other emirates would be the ideal and practical solution rather than to have a country with 4 national airlines. While Dubai established Emirates Airways in 1985, Abu Dhabi started Etihad airways in 2003, Air Arabia was founded in Sharjah in 2003, and Ras Al-Khaimah’s RAK Airways is set to launch later this year.

Does a country as small as the Emirates with a population of 4.5-5 million people in real need of 4 airlines based in 4 separate emirates with the associated redundancy in infrastructure (i.e. airports) needed to support them? Is it greed that is driving the leaders of the emirates to establish unnecessary airlines while a rail system would be just as sufficient and with the added benefit of reducing traffic on the Emirates jammed roads, a growing problem?

I hope that the next generation of Gulf Arabs will be more conscious in their planning and preservation of the environment and not succumb to greed and materialism for the Earth is groaning under the oppression of the negligent and unconcsious.

Chain Letters

There occurs today a very detestable practice among our muslims in particular. It is the indulgence and participation in email chain letters. For those of us not familiar with this activity, it is where someone sends an email letter with some sort of story pertaining, in most cases but not always, to something Islamic, and then they put a condition at the end of this story to distribute this

Topik 56: Fungsi Inna

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Kita akan segera masuk ke ayat 2 surat Al-‘Ashr. Dalam topik ini kita akan pelajari fungsi dari inna ( إنّ ) dan anna ( أنَّ ), dan apa bedanya dengan kaana ( كان ). Dan jika ada waktu kita bahas juga bedanya dengan an ( أنْ ).

Empat hal itu sangat sering ketukar-tukar (at least bagi saya sendiri). Oke sebelum masuk ke ayat 2 nya, saya sampaikan summary dari 4 hal tsb.

Kata inna ( إنّ ) artinya: sesungguhnya (indeed) dan anna ( أنَّ ) artinya : bahwasannya. Terlihat berbeda antara inna dan anna, secara bahasa Indonesia. Tetapi secara bahasa Arab fungsi dan kedudukannya sama. Anna adalah inna yang terdapat ditengah kalimat.

Kaana fungsinya kebalikan dari Inna. Kaana secara arti sudah dibahas panjang lebar di topik sebelum ini (lihat dan baca lagi jika belum paham).

Sedangkan kata an ( أنْ ), secara bahasa Indonesia tidak ada artinya (tidak bisa diartikan), tapi karena dekat (apalagi kalau nanti baca arab gundul) kita sukar membedakan:
أن apakah أنَّ – anna (bahwasannya) atau أنْ – an (tidak ada padanan bahasa Indonesianya).

Oke baiklah kita sekarang masuk ke ayat 2 surat Al-‘Ashr.

إنَّ الإنسان لفي خسر - inna al-insaana la fii khusrin

Inna = sesungguhnya
Al-insaana = manusia (insan)
La = sungguh
Fii = dalam
Khusrin = kerugian

Baiklah... Kita lihat Inna dalam kalimat diatas, artinya sesungguhnya. Ya, kata inna ini fungsinya penekanan. Sering dalam bahasa Inggris diterjemahkan Indeed. Oke, kalau begitu apa kedudukan dan fungsi inna dalam kalimat?

Fungsi (tugas) inna adalah sbb:
- me-nashob-kan mubtada'
- me-rafa'-kan khobar.

Oh, kalau begitu fungsinya kebalikan dari kaana كان ya Mas? Ya, Anda betul. Kalau Kaana fungsinya:
- me-rafa'kan mubtada'
- me-nashobkan khobar.

Duh bingung nih... bisa kasih contoh gak?

Oke pada saat membahas kaana kita kasih contoh sbb:

كان البيتُ جميلا - kaana al-baitu jamiilan : (dulu) rumah itu bagus

kalau kita pakai Inna maka menjadi:

إن البيتَ جميلٌ - inna al-baita jamiilun : sesungguhnya rumah itu bagus

Terlihat bedanya kan. Mubtada al-baitu, khobar jamiilun. Jika kemasukan kaana, maka kbobar menjadi nashab (fathah). Sedangkan jika kemasukan inna maka mubtada' jadi nashab (fathah).

Oke sekarang kita sudah tahu bedanya: kaana dan inna secara fungsi. Kita kembali ke surat Al-'Ashr ayat 2 ini.

إنَّ الإنسان لفي خسر - inna al-insaana la fii khusrin

terlihat dari kalimat diatas yang menjadi Mubtada adalah al-insaana. Lalu khobarnya mana. Nah khobarnya disini adalah khobar jumlah (khobar yang tidak terdiri dari 1 kata, tapi dari kalimat). Jika khobarnya khobar jumlah, maka efek perubahan dhommah ke fathah tidak kelihatan.

Kalimat diatas bisa diganti dengan khobar satu kata saja.

إن الإنسان خسرا - inna al-insaana khusran : sesungguhnya manusia itu rugi

Lihat bahwa khobarnya menjadi fathah (dibaca khusran, bukan khusrun atau khusrin)

Nah kalau kita pakai kaana, kalimat diatas menjadi:

كان الإنسان خسْرٌ - kaana al-insana khusrun : (dulu) manusia itu rugi

Atau jika khasirun tidak ingin dalam bentuk mashdar, kita ubah ke isim fail menjadi khaasirun

إن الإنسان خاسِرٌ - inna al-insaana khaasirun : sesungguhnya manusia itu (adalah) orang yang merugi

Jadi, kita ulangi, bahwa kanaa secara fungsi (tugas) dalam kalimat, berkebalikan dengan inna.

Insya Allah di topik selanjutnya kita akan bahas mengenai lam taukid (lam penguat). Lihat di ayat 2 ini ada kata-kata:

la fii khusrin

Nah pada kalimat diatas adalah lam taukid. Insya Allah kita akan bahas juga pendalaman masalah khobar yang panjang (ditambahi dengan shifat / maushuf).

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Topik 55: Fungsi dan Kedudukan WAW

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Kita akan masuk ke ayat pertama surat Al-‘Ashr. Kita akan pelajari peranan dan fungsi huruf waw.

Oke sebelum kita masuk ke ayat 1, saya tanya dulu nih, rasanya semua tahu arti wa = dan, bukan? Feeling saya mungkin semua yang bisa baca al-Quran ya katakanlah 80% pasti tahu kan bahwa kata وَ wa itu artinya “dan”

Misal:

ذهب إلى المسجد عمر و علي - dzahaba ila al-masjidi Umar wa ‘Ali

Pergi ke masjid (si) Umar dan Ali.

Nah semua pasti tahu kan kata عمر و علي – Umar wa ‘Ali, bahwa kata wa disitu artinya dan? Ya saya rasa semua sudah pada tahu ya.

Oke apa lagi makna wa itu? Nah ini saya kasih daftarnya. Wa itu maknanya ada 3 kemungkinan:

1. Artinya: dan (and)
2. Artinya: demi (untuk sumpah)
3. Artinya: padahal

Oooo… gitu… Yang saya tahu selama ini, wa itu artinya hanya dan, ternyata ada arti lain ya… Oke kapan masing-masing itu kita gunakan? Insya Allah saya akan jelaskan.

Baiklah, kita masuk ke ayat 1 dulu ya, surat Al-‘Ashr:

و العصر - wa al-‘ashri

Diterjemahkan: Demi Masa.

Oke kata al-‘ashr bisa artinya masa (waktu), bisa artinya senja. Kalau begitu wal-ashr itu artinya: Dan masa dong mas… Kok malah diterjemahin Demi Masa?

Nah ini lah fungsi pertama waw. “WA” jika diikuti isim yang harokatnya kashroh, maka kata “WA” disitu artinya “DEMI” yang diucapkan dalam rangka sumpah.

Misalkan begini. Pernah lihat kan kalau pejabat disumpah dibawah Al-Qu’ran. “Demi Allah. Saya bersumpah. Bahwa saya … bla bla bla”. Nah kata-kata : Demi Allah disitu dalam bahasa Arabnya:

و اللهِ – wa Allahi, atau wallahi.

Lihat harokat kata Allah adalah kasroh, sehingga dibaca wallahi. Nah kalau waw bertemu isim (kata benda) dengan harokat kasroh, maka ini adalah kalimat sumpah, dimana wa diterjemahkan DEMI.

Dalam Al-Quran banyak ditemukan Allah bersumpah dengan nama Makhluknya. Seperti wal-layli : Demi Malam, wan-nahaari : Demi Siang, wal-fajri : Demi (waktu) Fajar, dsb.

Jadi singkat cerita, untuk mengartikan WA tinggal dilihat harokat isimnya, apakah kasroh atau tidak. Jika kasroh, maka diterjemahkan “DEMI”, jika tidak (dhommah, atau fathah) maka diterjemahkan DAN.

Kita tidak boleh bersumpah dengan nama makhluk. Misalkan: walardhi (demi bumi) saya berjanji tidak berbohong. Nah ini tidak boleh. Manusia hanya boleh bersumpah atas nama Allah.

Sampai disini kita sudah mempelajari 2 fungsi dan macam waw yaitu:
WAW QOSAM (WAW janji) yang diterjemahkan Demi
WAW ATHOF (WAW penyambung) yang diterjemahkan Dan

Ada jenis WAW yang ke tiga yaitu WAW HAL, yaitu waw yang menjelaskan suatu keadaan (yang biasanya bertentangan dengan asumsi). Misalkan dalam surat Al-Maarij ayat 7.

ayat 6: Sesungguhnya mereka memandang siksaan itu jauh.
ayat 7: و نراه قريبا - wa naraa hu qoriiban

wa = padahal
naraa = kami melihat
hu = nya
qoriiban = dekat

Orang kafir memandang siksaan akhirat itu jauh (Ibnu Katsir menafsirkan maksud jauh itu mustahil terjadi). Jadi orang kafir merasa siksaan akhirat itu mustahil terjadi. Padahal Allah SWT memandang siksaan itu sangatlah dekat dengan mereka. Lihat wa disini diterjemahkan padahal.

Demikianlah telah kita bahas 3 macam jenis WAW. Insya Allah jelas ya. Alhamdulillah.

Topik 54: Latihan Surat Al-'Ashr (Pendahuluan)

Bimillahirrahmanirrahim.

Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Kita akan mulai masuk ke surat pendek lainnya. Oh ya, saya janji untuk mengulas bacaan-bacaan sholat ya? Kalau boleh nawar, habis seluruh surat-surat pendek saja bagaimana? Atau bagi yang sudah gak sabar, sekarang kan banyak buku-buku mengenai sholat, disitu ada terjemahannya juga kan…

Masalah lain adalah sampai saat ini belum semua materi tatabahasa Arab kita sudah selesaikan. Masih banyak lho, materi yang belum. Contoh, masalah inna atau anna. Kemudian KKT 3 s/d 7, juga belum kita bahas. Berikut hal-hal yang kecil-kecil, seperti Jamak Taksir, belum kita perdalam. Sebagai perbandingan, dalam buku-buku standar pelajaran babasa Arab, Jamak Taksir (kata benda jamak tidak beraturan) saja dibahas dalam satu sampai dua bab sendiri. Dari seluruh peta perjalanan, kita sudah sampai mana? Saya katakan sampai topik 53 ini kita baru menyentuh 10 – 15% materi… wuihhh…. Still long way to go man!!! Gpp… tetap semangaaattt!!!

Baiklah, kita masuk ke latihan surat Al-‘Ashr, surat ke 103 di Al-Quran. Surat ini pendek sekali hanya 3 ayat. Tapi banyak sekali pelajaran bahasa Arab yang akan (Insya Allah) kita pelajari. Apa saja? Seperti biasa, fokus latihan kita adalah:
1. Mendapatkan mufrodad (vocabulary) baru
2. Mempelajari tata-bahasa (nahwu – shorof)
3. Menyinggung sedikit mengenai ahamiatuhu (nilai penting)nya, berupa tafsir dari beberapa ulama.

Di topik 54 ini kita akan bahas point no. 3 yaitu ahamiyyah - nilai pentingnya (أهمية) surat Al-‘Ashr ini. Seperti biasa kita pakai beberapa kitab tafsir seperti Ibnu Katsir atau Tafsir Al-Azhar. Oke... sebelum menyinggung ahamiyyah surat ini, maka saya akan “janjikan” dulu dari aspek tatabahasa (point 2) kira-kira kita akan belajar apa?

Oke... Dalam surat ini, banyak pelajaran tatabahasa yang kita bisa pelajari. Inilah peta perjalanannya:
1. Mengetahui makna dan fungsi waw- و
2. Makna dan fungsi Inna - إنّ atau Anna أنّ
3. Pemakaian LAM taukid (penguat)
4. Pemakaian kata pengecualian illa إلاّ
5. Bentuk Jamak Salim Muannats
6. KKT 4 (Kata Kerja Turunan ke 4) dengan wazan تفاعل

Wuih... banyak juga ya... Hehe... no worries, laa tahzan... sabar ya... Insya Allah kita akan pelajari satu-satu... Kalau bisa sih dalam topik yang terpisah biar lebih fokus ya... Insya Allah...

Ahammiyah Surat Al-Ashr

Surat ini merupakan surat yang termasuk golongan surat Makiyyah, atau surat yang turun dalam periode sebelum Hijrah. Sebagian kecil salaf, seperti Mujahid, Qatadah, dan Muqotil memasukkan kedalam golongan Madaniyah, tetapi mayoritas memasukkan ke dalam kategori Makkiyyah. Ciri-ciri surat Makkiyyah sangat kental di surat ini. Surat Makkiyyah datang pada masa-masa awal Islam. Ayat-ayatnya biasanya pendek-pendek, tapi jelas, dan lantang terdengar ditelinga. Siapa yang melintas mendengar, akan tersentak, dan terdiam untuk mendengarkan.

Pesan yang singkat, padat, dan pendek lebih memancing perhatian orang. Lihatlah poster-poster iklan sekarang. Tidakkah mereka pakai strategi itu juga. Contoh, salah satu operator seluler baru iklannya spt ini:

“Gratis SMS ke sesama X, Mau?”

Atau iklan pembasmi nyamuk:

“Yang lebih bagus? Yang lebih mahal banyak!”

Atau iklan waktu Pilpres kemaren:

“Bersama kita bisa!”

Ya, ilmu komunikasi massa sudah menjadi disiplin ilmu tersendiri. Dalam dunia marketing kita kenal istilah yang sangat masyhur: Marketing Mix 4 P. Yaitu Product, Place, Price, Promotion. Nah promosi (iklan) itu sudah menjadi pilar marketing sendiri. Dan lihatlah, strategi yang disampaikan Al-Quran 15 abad yang lalu, dimasa-masa awal Islam, pada masa introduction (pengenalan produk ke masyarakat), bahasa-bahasa iklan yang sesuai dengan psikologi massa sudah digunakan. Bahasanya singkat, padat, dan lantang.

“DEMI MASA”

Coba banyangkan kalau ada orang yang berbicara keras, ditengah kerumunan orang, dengan kalimat singkat diatas “Demi Masa!”. Tentulah akan menarik perhatian orang disekitarnya. Apa maksudnya nih... “Demi Masa”? Kenapa? Ada apa dengan waktu?

Itulah salah satu mu’jizat Al-Quran. Bahasanya sangat manusiawi. Menyentuh semua level kepandaian. Dari orang rata-rata sampai genius. Dari buruh & petani sampai saudagar. Dari tamatan SD sampai Profesor. Semua bisa memahami Al-Quran dengan bahasanya yang menyentuh tsb.

Ambil contoh, di Al-Quran dikatan

كل نفس ذائقة الموت - kullu nafsin dzaa-iqatu al-maut

Yang diterjemahkan: tiap-tiap yang berjiwa akan merasakan mati. Orang yang awam akan merasakan: oohh… tiap yang hidup akan mati. Orang yang ahli biologi atau dokter, langsung terbayang bagaimana syarat suatu kehidupan (seperti pembakaran makanan perlu oksigen, aliran darah dst), yang jika itu berhenti, maka akan matilah dia. Orang yang mengerti rasa bahasa Arab, akan melihat ayat itu dengan takjub juga. Perhatikan kata dzaa-iqa ذائق diterjemahkan merasakan (catatan: sebenarnya yang pas itu, "yang merasakan" karena ini isim fa'il, sama dengan kasus faa-i-zin & 'aa-i-din). Kata dzaa-iqa ini akarnya adalah ذاق – dzaaqa, yang artinya mencicipi (to taste), sehingga kata dzaa-iqa itu = yang mencicipi. Bayangkan indahnya bahasa Al-Quran. Tiap yang berjiwa akan mencicipi kematian. Seperti hidangan, ayo masing-masing orang cicipi deh itu kematian… Jangan takut, kalau banyak amal sholeh, rasa cicipan kematian itu akan sedap, dst. Beragam interpretasi dan khayalan muncul dari text suatu kalimat, tergantung background masing-masing pembacanya.

Ayat-ayat dalam surat Al-‘Ashr ini secara umum mengatakan, bahwa sebenarnya kita-kita ini selalu dalam keadaan rugi. Lawan rugi tentu untung. Siapa yang tidak rugi, atau dalam bahasa lain, siapa manusia yang beruntung? Dalam ayat ini dikatakan yang tidak rugi itu adalah orang-orang yang: (1) Aamanuu: beriman, (2) Aamilush-sholihat: mengerjakan amal sholeh, (3) tawaa shaubil-haq: saling bernasehat kepada kebenaran, (4) tawaa shaubish-shob : saling bernasehat kepada kesabaran.

Mengutip tafsir Al-Azhar: Ibnul Qayyim di dalam kitabnya "Miftahu Daris-Sa'adah" menerangkan; "Kalau keempat martabat telah tercapai oleh manusia, berhasillah tujuannya menuju kesempurnaan hidup.

Pertama: Mengetahui Kebenaran.
Kedua: Mengamalkan Kebenaran itu.
Ketiga: Mengajarkannya kepada orang yang belum pandai memakaikannya.
Keempat: Sabar di dalam menyesuaikan diri dengan Kebenaran dan mengamalkan dan mengajarkannya.

Jelaslah susunan yang empat itu di dalam Surat ini. Demikian, Hamka mengutip. Insya Allah kita akan lanjutkan ke Latihan.

Catatan: Nasyid Raihan ini sangat saya sukai.

Demi masa sesungguhnya manusia kerugian
Melainkan yang beriman dan yang beramal soleh

Gunakan kesempatan yang masih diberi
Moga kita takkan menyesal
Masa usia kita jangan disiakan
Kerna ia takkan kembali

Ingat lima perkara sebelum lima perkara
Sihat sebelum sakit
Muda sebelum tua
Kaya sebelum miskin
Lapang sebelum sempit
Hidup sebelum mati