A while back we wrote a post on the importance of learning the Arabic language. Whilst sifting through some old notes, I found an email I wrote whilst we were in Egypt on the importance of two branches of Arabic, Nahw (Grammar) and Sarf (Morphology). Ive pasted the email below in the hope that you will all benefit from it inshaaAllaah.

NAHW: focuses on words and the harakah on the last letter of each word in a sentence

SARF: focuses on how different words are conjugated from one source and defines the harakah of every letter in a word except the last letter

How did the science of nahw come about? During the caliphate of ‘Ali ibn Abee Taalib, radhiyallaahu ‘anhu, a Bedouin man came from the desert to the town and was praying behind one of the Imaams and the Imaam was reciting soorah at-Tawbah and when he recited the following aayah:

أَنَّ اللَّهَ بَرِىءٌ مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ وَرَسُولُهُ

And a declaration from Allah and His Messenger to mankind on the greatest day of Hajj that Allah is free from obligations to the Mushrikin and so is His Messenger. (at-Tawbah aayah 3)

Instead of reading the last word as rasoolUhu, he recited it as rasoolIhi with a kasrah on the laam changing the meaning of the aayah to mean that Allaah, subhaanahu wa ta’aala, is free from the mushrikeen AND free from the Messenger of Allaah, ‘alayhis-salaatu was-salaam. This was a grave mistake and the Bedouin man because of the fact that the lughah amongst the Bedouins was preserved and not perverted like the people of the town who mixed with people from all regions, the Bedouin man understood straight away this grave mistake and he broke his salaah and made a commotion. Some of the Muslims narrated this incident to the Ameer, ‘Ali, radhiyallaahu ‘anhu and due to his foresight, he wanted to prevent such an incident happening again. So he ordered for a man who was known to be highly learned in the lughah. His name was Abul-Asad ad-Duwalee and asked him to write down the foundations of the lughah and its sciences. And when ‘Ali requested this from him, he said to Abul-Asad:

انحو هذا النحو

Unhoo haadha-nahw

Meaning ‘Go forth in this direction’ and this is where the name NAHW came from.

And its clear from that incident just how important knowing nahw is because there are many other examples of the Qur’aan where simple changing the last harakah of one letter can have a grave implication on the meaning. Of these examples are:

وَإِذِ ابْتَلَى إِبْرَهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَـتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ

(And (remember) when the Lord of Ibrahim tried him with (certain) Words (commands), which he fulfilled) (al-Baqarah aayah 258)

If the harakaat on the two highlighted letters are interchanged it would change the meaning to being that Ibraaheem, ‘alayhis-salaam, is the one who tried Allaah, subhaanahu wa ta’aala.

Another example, in soorah faatir, aayah number 28:

إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ

(It is only those who have knowledge among His servants that fear Allah.)

Again in this aayah interchanging the highlighted harakaat will render the meaning of this aayah to be that Allaah, subhaanahu wa ta’aala, fears the people of knowledge!

So i think these example suffice and it also suffices that no one who has treaded the path of ‘ilm has ever done so by learning the lughah without nahw so how can we all of a sudden think we can do that?

As for the knowledge of sarf, it also came about due to an incident involving a Bedouin passing through town. I cant remember fully but I believe it also took place during the caliphate of ‘Ali, radhiyallahu ‘anhu. Anyway this time in the salaah, the Imaam was reading soorah al-Baqarah, the following aayah, verse number 221:

…وَلاَ تَنْكِحُواْ الْمُشْرِكَـتِ حَتَّى يُؤْمِنَّ

وَلاَ تُنكِحُواْ الْمُشِرِكِينَ حَتَّى يُؤْمِنُواْ

(221. And do not marry Al-Mushrikat (idolatresses) till they believe … And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al-Mushrikin till they believe ….

The two highlighted words were mixed up by the Imaam so he read the aayah as such:

…وَلاَ تُنكِحُواْ الْمُشْرِكَـتِ حَتَّى يُؤْمِنَّ

وَلاَ تَنْكِحُواْ الْمُشِرِكِينَ حَتَّى يُؤْمِنُواْ

What did this do to the meaning? Well, the aayah now said, ‘And do not give (ie your daughters) in marriage to the Mushrikaat (idolatresses) till they believe….and do not marry the mushrikeen till they believe’

So if we go with the new meaning it would mean Allaah is permitting marriage of men to men and women to women, wal-‘iyaadhu billaah! So the Bedouin who was praying behine the imaam exited the salaah and shouted in the masjid saying ‘Wallaahi I will never marry them even if they believe!’

The Imaam did not have knowledge of sarf so he didn’t realise the difference between the two verbs. The first one TANKIHOO is from the verb NAKAHA and it is thulaathi and means to marry (ie a man on his own witout being given away) whereas the verb TUNKIHOO is a derivative from NAKAHA and it is rubaa’ee upon the wazn AF’ALA and the past tense of the verb is ANKAHA which means to give away  in marriage.

So this time the Ameer of the Muslims when he heard of this set about preventing it by outlining the principles of conjugating words and verbs from three (or in few cases four) lettered roots. So for example the verb DARASA, it is through sarf that we learn and know the difference between all the following words that are derived from it:

درس, يدرس, ادرس, دراسة, مدرس, مدرسة, تدريس

Darasa, tadrusu, udrus, diraasah, mudarris, madrasa, tadrees

At the end of the dars our teacher explained to us what I’raab meant. When someone asks you to give the I’raab of an aayah or sentence what do they mean and what do they want from you. So this is what he told us:

I’raab is to state the type of the word (naw’ul kalimah), its hukm (ruling) and its ‘alaamah (its sign).

So these are three things that are requested and as a rough guide this is what each of the three things mean:

1.       Type of Word    – Is it faa’il, maf’ool bihi, mudhaaf ilayhi etc

2.       Hukm of the word  – there are only four (marfoo’, mansoob, majzoom or majroor)

3.       The ‘alaamah – dhammah, fathah, kasra, sukoon, alif, waaw etc…
Then he gave us a brief mention about those words that do not have I’raab and how we do not say they have no I’raab, instead we say they are mabniyyun and have an alaamah but no hukm etc.

This article translated from the works of shaykh ‘uthaymeen, rahimahullaah, may also help the brother out:

http://quranicarabic.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/studying-nahw-by-shaykh-ibn-uthaymeen/

And this is the three principles we have always used when doing i’raab of any sentence. It may appear hard at times but all you need to get over that is revise, practice applying it in your speech and one thing that helped us a great deal is that after starting the second book of bayna yadayk, our teacher started to get us to make i’raab of aayaat from the Qur’aan. So for about two weeks or more, we started every lesson with 30 mins or so of him giving us random aayat from the qur’aan and we would have to do i’raab on the spot. Obviously there are things we haven’t learnt yet so he would only focus on those things that we do know and at times mention things we haven’t studied yet to introduce the concept. If the brother can do this with his teacher or someone else who is more advanced than him, it will help him a great deal in getting to grips with nahw inshaaAllaah.

Shaykhul Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah said:

“So verily the Arabic language is from the religion so knowing it is Fard Waajib for indeed understanding the Book and the Sunnah is Waajib and they are not understood except by understanding the arabic language and that which is needed to fulfill an obligation is itself an obligation. So you have from it that which is waajib upon each individual and you have that which is waajib alal kifaayah.”

Shaykhul Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah said:

“It is known that Arabic is Fard Alal Kifaayah and the salaf used to discipline their children for making grammatical mistakes ….”

Al-Fataawa Vol. 32, Pg. 252

Shaykhul Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah said:

“And likewise for indeed Allaah revealed his book in the Arabic language and he made his messenger convey this from him in the Book and Sunnah (Hikmah) in the Arabic language….So knowing the language becomes part of the religion and due to speaking with it (The Arabic language) it becomes easier for the people of this Deen to understand the religion of Allaah, to implement the religious ceremonies and easier to imitate the First generations from the Muhaajiroon and the Ansaar in all of their affairs.

Iqtidaa Siraatil Mustaqeem 1/406

Imaam Ash-Shaafi’ee said”

“The language which Allaah favored was the Arabic language as he revealed his noble book in this (Arabic) and he made this the language of the seal of the prophets Muhammed. And that is why we say that it is befitting for everyone who has the ability to learn Arabic that they learn it as it is the best language.”

Iqtidaa Siraatil Mustaqeem 1/464

In this third part of the series, we’re going to talk to you about the importance of learning the meaning and tafseer of the Aayaat.

As the majority of you probably do not speak Arabic, it would be extremely useful for you if you learnt the meaning behind the verses you are memorising and read their tafseer. This is a great tool for strengthening your memorisation and for helping to increase the presence and concentration of your heart whilst reciting and memorising the Book of Allaah. If whilst reciting a section you have memorised, you find yourself stuck at a particular aayah and are not sure what is coming next, knowing the meaning can help trigger your memory. And as there are many parts of the Qur’aan that narrate stories from past nations, it aids your memorisation when you understand and know the narrative.

The way to do this is to read the translation of the verses you are memorising before you start to memorise the new section, one verse at a time and its corresponding Arabic text. Try to compare the Arabic and English sentences and connect words that you know in Arabic to the English meaning. Also, if there is a specific word in the verse that will help remind you should you be made to forget, try to learn the word in Arabic.

In addition to this, should you choose to, you can read the tafseer of the verses. An abridged version of the Tafseer of Ibn Katheer has been completely translated into the English language in a ten volume set and is available at all good Islamic bookshops. This is very beneficial reading for any Muslim towards understanding the revelation of Allaah but even more so for the student of the Qur’aan.

Some of you may ask, ‘I don’t know Arabic anyway, so what is the point of me learning the English meaning in order to remember the Arabic Aayaat?’ This can be answered from two angles. Firstly, it is desirable for the student of the Qur’aan and its memoriser to have a basic understanding of the Arabic Language and the Qur’aan is the source, manual and explanation of this beautiful language. There are many verses of the Qur’aan in which making a mistake as simple as replacing a kasrah with a fathah can cause you to alter the meaning of the verse so much so that you would be uttering a statement of kufr (disbelief). An example of this is in Soorah al-Baqarah, verse 124 where Allaah says:

وَإِذِ ابْتَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَاتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ قَالَ إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا قَالَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِي قَالَ لاَ يَنَالُ عَهْدِي الظَّالِمِينَ

And (remember) when the Lord of Ibraaheem (Abraham) [i.e., Allaah] tried him with (certain) Commands, which he fulfilled. He (Allaah) said (to him), “Verily, I am going to make you a leader (Prophet) of mankind.” [Ibraaheem (Abraham)] said, “And of my offspring (to make leaders).” (Allaah) said, “My Covenant (Prophethood, etc.) includes not Dhaalimoon (polytheists and wrong-doers).”

Mixing up the fatha on the letter meem in إِبْرَاهِيمَ (so that it reads Ibraaheemu) and dhamma on the letter ba in رَبُّهُ (so that it reads rabbahu) renders you to change the meaning of the verse to:

And (remember) when Ibraaheem tried his Lord….

This is a statement of kufr as Allaah is above being tested by any of His creation. This is a slightly complex example and mistakes concerning the vowels on the letters can be complicated for even those who have studied the Arabic language in detail.

But there are simpler examples which involve omitting prepositions and pronouns or mixing up letters such as replacing ta for ya in the word ta’lamu (you know) so that it reads ya’lamu (he knows).

Another good point for learning the tafseer and reading the translation is that the more you memorise of the Qur’aan, the more you will encounter Aayaat of very similar wording and this can make you confused but if you have a strong understanding of the verses, you will be able to distinguish the differences.

In time you will find that through applying this tip, you will increase in your knowledge of the Arabic language by acquiring a lot of vocabulary.

On a final note, please don’t put yourself in difficulty by trying to memorise the English translation as this isn’t something that we can see any benefit in. Even if you were to do it, you would eventually reach a point where you cannot continue because the English language and translation of the Qur’aan doesn’t retain the rhythmic and poetic flow of the original Arabic. So it is arguably impossible to memorise the English translation of the entire Qur’aan. If you are thinking of doing this, we would advise you to rather spend that time to learn the basics of Arabic as this will be much more useful to you.