Journeys with Arabic: Mohammed N.

خَريف

root: خ-ر-ف / noun / definition: autumn

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It’s that time of year, as September dips into the mid-autumn of October, that I start worrying about the narrowing window of daylight and almost-inevitable wintery mood that draughts in through closed curtains.

And if I weren’t so distracted by the spring of a new season in my life, I’d already be blanketed by a premonition of sombreness.

But away from my own seasonal reflections, I thought it’s time—again—to bring a new voice to the blog. And this time, I reached out to someone whose Arabic notes I, once upon a time, embarrassingly misread.

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Mohammed was one of my classmates during my Arabic undergraduate degree.

To be honest, we spent most of those three years on opposite sides of the classroom. But on the occasion of a forgotten textbook (his, not mine), we shared one (mine, not his).

After finishing the textbook exercise, I suggested that I test him on some vocab notes he’d made and ended up making quite a fool of myself when I badly misread the word “foolish” as something quite unsavoury.

I doubt he remembers my mortifying error, though. Or at least, I hope not.

But I do remember how impressed I was with his Arabic skills at the time, so I decided to reach out to him via his popular Instagram page (where he, amongst other things, adds translated subtitles to Arabic, Islamic video content) and ask him to write something about his journey with Arabic.

Here’s what Mohammed says:

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السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته 

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So my desire to learn Arabic was borne out of a desire to understand the Qur’an and Islam. 

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I undertook religious studies for 7 years from 2016, the first three of which included 3 years at university – which is where I shared multiple Arabic classes with the owner of this blog!

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It was interesting, I definitely learned a lot from the university syllabus especially comprehension, vocabulary and I got practice speaking the language!

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Every language has a culture – and the culture and perspective that Classical Arabic brings to a man’s life is rooted in notions of chivalry, honour, honesty, bravery and eloquence (among other things).

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Now having graduated from University and my Alimiyyah programme, I am a teacher of Arabic – check out Whitethread Institute! (Sneaky shoutout), I also am now translating classical Arabic texts and editing them for publication on the side as well as dabbling in research for Hadīth studies.

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My goals now are to excel and continue to improve on my translation skills for classical books which can be quite difficult and become well grounded in the sciences of Hadīth.

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I’d say to any would be learners out there – it’s not the institute nor the place that makes you proficient in any subject, but rather your own motivation and discipline to continue. Although travelling abroad for studies is a bonus (one that I have yet to enjoy), it isn’t necessary. So don’t be disheartened if you’re not able to go.

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Finally, I leave you with some poetry from Ibn al-Wardi from his Laamiyah:

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جَمِّـلِ المَنطِـقَ بالنَّحـو فَمـنْ * * * يحُـرَمِ الإِعـرْابَ بالنُّطـقِ اخَتَبـلْ

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انظُـمِ الشِّعـرَ وَلاَزِمْ مَـذْهَبِـي * * * فـي اطَّـراحِ الرَّفد لاَ تبغِ النَّحَـلْ

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Ending with poetry is always a beautiful conclusion—who is brave enough to give their translation of these lines in the comments? Have a try!

Mohammed, thank you for contributing to this series and providing insight into your journey with Arabic. And if you do happen to remember my unfortunate misreading of your notes… please forget.

!إلى اللقاء

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P.S. Speaking of forgetting, check out last week’s post: Arabic Observations: Solace Through Forgetting!

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