Monday, June 30, 2008

Mahmood [Arabic]

A conservative Sunni Muslim Pharmacist of 25 years occasionally commenting about politics and religion. He has pictures of Harith al-Dhari on his personal heroes list. Here is his about page:
مسلم عراقي صيدلي…. وإن شئيم أضيفوا أي شيء من الممكن وصفي به

أسكن بغداد، ولدت فيها ولا زلت أسكنها

ولدت في يوم الإثنين 21 ذو القعدة 1403 الموافق 29 آب 1983

درست في مدرسة الصمود العربي الإبتدائية ( 1989 - 1995 )

والثانوية في ثانوية المتميزين للبنين ( 1995 - 2001 )

ثم درست في كلية الصيدلة بجامعة بغداد ( 2001 - 2006 )

والآن أنا صيدلي بمستشفى أبي غريب العام ( منذ 25 آذار 2007 وحتى الآن )

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Remembrance of God

Remembrance of God instills in us a desire for the journey, and makes us into travellers.Divan-i Shams

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Young Hafiz

There was a young man, who got to know about a precious stone. He decided not to come back to his house till he finds the stone. So he left his house with a little provision. He sat down to sketch a map on a notebook. He had a very long route to cover, but he stuck to his ambition and had very high hopes.He believed that if he found the stone he would not have to work anymore and would become the

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Nikah

Nikah is a form of Ibaadat, but people have made it into a Museebat.Shaykhul Hadeeth Muhammad Zakariyya - Aap Beti

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Halal Diet and Pregnancy

We are what we eat. Today we complain our children are disobedient towards us, but why the surprise? If we feed our children haram (even while in the womb) then the thoughts that will be bred in their minds (later in life) will be haram. Understand well, halal foods breed halal thoughts and halal actions whilst haram food breeds haram thoughts and haram actions.Shaykh Ashraf Ali Thanwi

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Topik 82: Muhrim

Bisimillahirrahmanirrahim.

Kata muhrim sering kita pakai. "Eh awas... nanti whudhu'mu batal... jangan dekat-dekat... bukan muhrim". Muhrim yang dimaksud disini, adalah orang yang haram dinikahi.

Kata yang dekat dengan kata muhrim banyak. Antara lain: kata haram, muharram, mahrum, mahram, dsb.

Haram dan Halal

Haram, حرام adalah lawan dari Halal حلال. Sudah tidak kita perlukan penafsiran apa-apa lagi kan. Haram artinya sesuatu yang dilarang. Halal artinya sesuatu yang dibolehkan.

Dari mana asalnya kata Haram? Perhatikan kata haram dalam bahasa Indonesia itu dalam bahasa Arabnya حرام . Ada 4 huruf kan. HA RO ALIF dan MIM. Nah sebuah kata bahasa Arab umumnya terdiri dari 3 huruf asli (yaitu huruf hijaiyah selain YA, WAW, dan ALIF).

Kalau begitu kata حرام - yang 4 huruf itu, karena ada ALIF, maka huruf aslinya hanya 3, yaitu HA RO dan MIM. Jadilah dia: حرم.

Nah yang jadi soal gimana mbacanya? Dia bisa kita baca harama, haruma, harima. Ada 3 kemungkinan. Lho... kan bisa juga kita baca hurima, hurimi, dsb? Ya Anda benar. Akan tetapi yang umum jadi entri pertama di kamus adalah AWAL dan AKHIR fathah. Dengan demikian tengahnya bisa fathah, kasroh, atau dhommah. So hanya 3 kemungkinan.

Okeh... sekarang kita lihat lagi. Kata حرم , jika mendapat alif sebelum huruf terakhir, maka biasanya kata itu menunjukkan sifat, dan cara bacanya tertentu. Jadi kata حرام , walau tidak ada harokatnya, dibaca haraam. Yaitu sesuatu yg sifatnya haram.

Sama halnya dengan رحمان walau tidak ada harokatnya kita baca rahmaan. Tidak bisa dibaca ruhmaan, atau rihmaan.

Sekarang balik lagi ke kata حرم. Bagaimana cara membacanya, diantara 3 kemungkinan? Hanya ada 1 cara, yaitu lihat kamus... (hik.. only that??? lah iya laaa...)

Di kamus ditulis:
حرم يحرم حرما - haruma yahrumu hurman : haram, terlarang.

Berarti kita bacanya haruma (kata kerja).

Simple kan? Insya Allah ya...

Oke, dari KKL haruma itu, banyak kata yang terbentuk setelahnya, seperti:

حرّم - harrama : mengharamkan (KKT-2)
أحرم - ahrama : berihram (KKT-1)

TAHRIIM dan MUHRIM

Kata ahrama - berihram. Orang yang melakukan ihram disebut محرم - muhrim (isim fa'il). Sama halnya dengan أسلم - aslama : berIslam, maka orang yang Islam disebut مسلم - muslim.

Jadi kalau begitu kata MUHRIM lebih tepat diartikan orang yang berihram (sedang melaksanakan ibadah haji).

Sedangkan kata محرم - mahram, adalah orang yang haram dinikahi.

Dalam AQ sesuatu yang dilarang disebut dengan mahruum محروم .

Kata tahrim artinya pengharaman. Kata ini adalah kata masdhar dari harrama. Tashrifnya adalah: harrama yuharrimu tahriim.

Muharram

Muharram محرم adalah nama bulan. Secara letterleijk, muharram adalah isim maf'ul (objek) dari kata harrama. Jadi kalau harrama mengharamkan, muharrim adalah sesuatu yang mengharamkan, sedangkan muharram artinya sesuatu yang diharamkan. Dari kacamata sejarah bulan muharram adalah bulan dimana berperang dibulan tsb diharamkan.

Kembali lagi ke konteks muhrim dan mahram. Kalau yang dimaksud orang yang tidak boleh dinikahi maka disebut mahram, bukan muhrim. Karena muhrim adalah orang yang berihram. Di Indonesia dan Malaysia (kalo tidak salah), sering dijumpai perkataan muhrim, tapi maksudnya mahram.

Allahu a'lam.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Worrying

When I lived in the UAE, my family and friends in Europe worried that
a) I wasn't getting enough beer and bacon
and
b) I might be blown up in a terrorist attack.

I repeatedly told them there was no cause for alarm - beer and bacon are readily available to non-Muslims (I think it's about time the UAE tourist authorities came out with a definitive statement, along the lines of 'this is not Saudi Arabia, you can get as much beer and bacon as you want!'), and the UAE has never suffered a succesful terrorist attack (although there have been at least two credible attempts that I know of).

I bring this up today because the British Foreign Office has raised it's terrorist threat level to 'as high as it can go'. Conspiracy theories abound as to why the UAE has been safe up until now; it's generally reckoned that the enemy are paid good hard cash to stay away. So why is it now thought there's a serious threat? Has the money dried up, or what?

Friday, June 13, 2008

Topik 81: Sallim

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Sudah lama sekali saya tidak menulis. Selain sedang ada tugas-tugas kantor dan kuliah, juga tugas sebagai ayah dari anak-anak yang mulai abg, juga tidak mudah :-) Disamping itu, saya juga ragu apakah pembaca blog ini sudah pada belajar ke gurunya masing-masing, sehingga belajar bahasa arabnya pun semakin bisa lebih kencang. Jika ya alhamdulillah. Mari kita giatkan dan tularkan ke muslim lainnya agar mau belajar bahasa Al-Quran ini. Saya dibilangin oleh seorang saudara saya, bahwa dia mendengar sebuah hadist: ta'allamuu al-lughata al-arabiyata wa 'allimuuha an-naasa (belajarlah bahasa Arab, dan ajarkanlah dia kepada manusia).

Sallim

Mari kita ingat hal yang sederhana. Dulu waktu saya SMA, kadang bertemu orang / saudara, dia berkata ke anaknya: "ayo sallim, ayo nak sallim..." Waktu itu saya hanya sedikit bingung, karena terdengar asing ditelinga. Yang sering diucapkan orang: "ayo nak, salam", atau "ayo salaman nak".

Sebenarnya yang paling tepat memang: "ayo nak, sallim".

Kata sallim, adalah bentuk kata kerja perintah.

سلّمْ - sallim : beri salam!

Kata ini dibentuk dari kata sallama - yusallimu - tasliiman, yang artinya menyelamatkan atau memberi salam.

Tapi jangan pula sampai "double L" nya tak terucap. Nanti artinya lain. Kadang kita sering mendengar: "ayo salim". Nah salim atau saliim, ini artinya selamat atau sentosa, bukan memberi salam. Jadi "ayo nak, salim", beda dengan "ayo nak sallim".

Poster di pintu

Kadang untuk membiasakan seorang anak (saya sih belum mempraktekkan, hanya dengar dari teman), maka di rumah bisa dipasang poster yang ada tulisan arabnya.

اطرق الباب أولا - uthruq al-baaba awwalan : ketok pintu ini terlebih dahulu.

Kalimat ini bisa dipasang di pintu kamar orang tua.

Atau bisa juga dibiasakan, waktu kita mau masuk rumah orang kita suruh anak kita: "uthtruq awwalan" - ketok dulu... dst

Menyuruh anak memperkenalkan diri

Selanjutnya waktu kita menyuruh si anak memperkenalkan diri, bisa kita pakai ekspresi kalimat berikut:

عرّف نفسك - 'arrif nafsaka : perkenalkan dirimu

Kata 'arrif, berasal dari kata 'arrafa yu-'arrifu ta'riifan, yang artinya mengenalkan, atau memberitahukan.

Kata 'arrafa ini kita temukan di Al-Quran surat 47 ayat 6:

وَيُدْخِلُهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ عَرَّفَهَا لَهُمْ - wayudkhilhum aljannata 'arrafahaa lahum

dan Allah memasukkan mereka ke dalam surga (yang) Dia telah memberitahukan (tentang)surga itu kepada mereka (sebelumnya).

Pola kata 'arrafa adalah KKT-2, yang biasanya dalam pola bahasa Indonesia me+KataKerja+kan.

Ini yang membedakan 'arrafa (KKT-2) dengan 'arafa (KKT-1)

'arafa (KKT-1) artinya mengenal.

Seperti عرفت محمدا - 'araftu muhammadan : saya kenal muhammad

Sedangkan 'arrafa (KKT-2) artinya mengenalkan (sesuatu) kepada (seseorang)

عرفت هذا الكتاب لك - 'arraftu hadzal kitaaba laka : saya mengenalkan kitab ini kepadamu.

Orang yang 'arif

Kita sering mendengar orang berkata: Ih dia orangnya 'arif banget ya? Nah kata 'arif sudah diserap kedalam bahasa Indonesia, yang sering diasosiasikan dengan arti: orang yang bijaksana.

Sebenarnya banyak sekali kata bentukan dari 'arafa ini, yand diserap ke bahasa Indonesia.

Mari kita lihat tashrifnya:
'arrafa yu'rifu 'irfah 'irfan ma'rifah

3 kata terakhir adalah mashdar.

Kita sering mendengar, "oh dia itu ahli irfan", maksudnya dia itu orang yang punya pengetahuan yang tidak dimiliki orang lain (atau dipersepsikan orang yang bijak, orang yang bisa meramal masa depan, mengerti maksud yang tersembunyi, dsb)

Kita juga sering mendengar, kata ma'rifah, yang artinya pengetahuan. Seperti: "yang pertama kali mesti dipelajari adalah ma'rifatullah", maksud ma'rifatullah adalah pengetahuan tentang Allah.

Ta'arruf

Nah kata ini lagi trend. Ta'arruf, adalah kata 'arafa (KKT-1) yang kemudian berubah bentuk jadi KKT-5 dari wazan fa'-'ala, sehingga menjadi ta-'arrafa, yang artinya berkenalan dengan.

Sebelum proses menikah, didahului dengan proses ta'arruf, artinya proses mengenal calon istri.

Ma'ruf

Ma'ruf artinya sesuatu yang diketahui. Wazannya sama seperti manshur منصور (orang yang ditolong). Kalau orang yang menolong: naashir ناصر . Dengan wazan yang sama, orang yang mengetahui disebut 'aarif عارف.

Mudah kan? Ya, kalau sudah kenal dengan wazan2x tsb maka lebih mudah membentuk kata-kata dalam bahasa Arab. Insya Allah.
(se)Gitu dulu yah...

This Post is a Sin to Read

I imagine pretty much all English speakers agree on the grammaticality of the following sentence:
* It is a sin to eat pork.

But looking around online recently, I was struck by the following construction:
* Pork is a sin to eat
* Soon it will say in the bible that Speghetti is a sin to eat.
* I don` t think any kind of food is a sin to eat

To me, this construction seems rather odd, and the extreme rarity of such constructions on Google suggests that I'm with the majority of English speakers on this point. Do people who do find this normal allow it with other verbs, I wonder? Can they say "This post is a sin to read?" or "Wine is a sin to drink?" Or, indeed, "Tea is a pleasure to drink?" Has anyone else heard constructions along these lines? Presumably, these speakers were influenced by the analogy of sentences like "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" or "Tea is a good thing to drink"; but if I ever figure out why the former seem so weird and the latter are perfectly grammatical, I'll make sure to tell you...

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Good Character

Narrated AbudDarda' (رضى الله تعالى عنه):The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم ) said: There is nothing heavier than good character put in the scale of a believer on the Day of Resurrection. [Sunan Abu Dawud]

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Baby talk across the centuries

Most languages probably have a few words used especially for addressing babies. However, Siwi seems to have a lot more than I know from English or Arabic (I've recorded something like 40). One of these (already noted in Laoust 1931) is mbuwwa "water" (the normal Siwi word is aman). mbuwwa, meaning "water" or "drink", turns out to be rather widespread: they use it in baby talk in Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Malta, Sicily, and probably a few other places for which I haven't found sources. The remarkable part is that Ferguson managed to track down a historical source for this word. Varro, a Roman grammarian of the first century BC, gives bua as the nursery word for "drink" (presumably to be related to bibere, the adult verb for "drink".) (Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find the relevant work online.) If the connection is correct, then this word (possibly along with some others, like pappa for "bread" or "food") has persisted in Mediterranean baby talk for at least 2000 years, apparently without ever passing into adult speech.

So what special words do you use in your language when talking to babies?

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Taking a TESOL Course at Home vs. Abroad

Often, I am asked which is better... To take a teacher training program in my native home country where it is usually less expensive as opposed to taking the course in the country where I ultimately want to work. The answer is simple.

No matter which country you prefer or which provider appeals to you and no matter whether its TESOL, CELTA or Trinity, always, always take the course in the country where you would like to work. I'll explain why... Lets focus on Europe for a moment seeing as there are more challenges to find employment;

Europe is a region where many teachers would like to work and travel therefore there is a decent amount of competition for jobs. This means that you would definitely need a certificate. This is best done in the country where you want to start as there are many of advantages.

1. You can get acclimated gradually in the country/culture while you still have a support system (training centres usually provide services such as airport pickup, arrange housing during the course, and provide local orientation).

2. You can be sure your certificate will be recognized by local employers and the training centre can give you invaluable contacts and advice regarding reputable local
employers as well as those who pay the best.

3. A standard certificate for Europe is 120 hours on-site, including at least 6 hours of supervised practice teaching on real students (not peer trainees). Online programs aren't well-accepted by reputable employers.

4. Your "teacher practice" will be composed of native/local students which will be representative of those you’ll be working with when you start your job.

5. Finally, jobs in Europe aren't normally found from abroad. You really need to be here with a cell phone and C.V.s in person to get interviews. There are rarely if ever exceptions to this.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Kant's Sparrow and the Wolf Girl

I remember coming back to Algeria after a year or so in America at the age of six. I had completely forgotten the Arabic I had known, and relearning it was an incredibly difficult process that took years, made no easier by my frequent preference for books over playmates. Over the past seven months, I've found learning Siwi and Korandje far, far easier than learning Arabic was then, and I'm pretty sure I speak both of them, if not fluently, at least far better than I spoke Arabic after my first four months back. Yet the nativist theory of language acquisition that I remember from my linguistics courses says that kids should learn languages much more easily than adults. I don't expect anybody to pick theories based on anecdotal evidence from my childhood memories, but this has made me wonder again whether kids usually learning languages faster and better is due to a pre-programmed critical period for language learning, or simply to the big difference between the social contexts of adults and children. Coincidentally (being back in London), I found two works vaguely relevant to that question this weekend; neither offers an answer, but they are interesting background.

Kant's Sparrow confirms a claim originally reported by Kant - that sparrows brought up by canaries learn to sing like canaries. Apparently, they do - but not completely. Not only do their canary songs feature a detectable accent (they differ in several ways, notably in repeating the same syllable fewer times in a row), but their repertoire includes some song types ("two-voice syllables") which they rarely or never heard from the canaries raising them, and which the author attributes to sparrows' innate repertoire (3.3.2.6.) In other words, sparrow song, like human communication, combines innate and learned (arbitrary, if you like) elements.

Wolf Child and Human Child, by Arnold Gesell, is a short, not very helpful work on a very interesting case, apparently described more fully in Diary of the Wolf Children of Midnapore, by Rev. J. A. L. Singh - two children, later named Kamala and Amala, who were adopted into a wolf family, and raised for years alongside the mother wolf's own cubs. In 1920, in response to locals' reports of a "man-ghost", a party of men dug into the wolf's den, killed the mother wolf when it tried to fight back, and brought the two children back to be taken to an orphanage (and the two wolf cubs they lived with to be sold at a fair.) Kamala was about eight, and Amala substantially younger; however, Amala died only a year later Unsurprisingly, Kamala found language rather difficult to acquire; even without the wolf factor, I imagine losing your entire family and then your entire step-family before the age of nine might have a negative effect. At any rate, apparently, she spoke her first word two years after being captured, and her first two-word sentence after three and a half years. For later years the information gets a lot sparser, but it is claimed that by the time the poor kid died (from illness) nine years later, at the estimated age of seventeen, she "talked freely with full sense of words used." The report that after several years "her formerly rigid countenance took on more expression" suggests a similar gradual development in her body language. However, while at eight years old she knew little or nothing of how humans communicate, she seems to have learned at least some wolf methods - for months at the orphanage, she would howl every night, at 10 pm, 1 am, and 3 am, and when approached by someone she did not trust she would show her teeth. Unfortunately, the lack of detail makes it hard to say what this says about first language acquisition - how well could she really speak before she died? Perhaps Rev. Singh's diary offers some quotes.

NB: see comments; apparently there is serious doubt about the veracity of this account. Looks like I should have Googled first.. The original diary also turns out to be online.