The Language of Fatwā
ʿAjīb shahr — A strange town holds within it words waiting to be said. In the field of logic, one comes across terms like…
Arabic and Language
Featured in Arabic and Language
★ Featured
I am a Coward and an Ally of the Arabs
It has reached me that one Arab said to his brother: “If you do not ride your horse boldly through the encampments, and your wounds do not drip blood upon your chest and your feet,…
Cold is cold, and heat is heat
The history of passion is that, in every age of reason, we ourselves have fashioned the scaffold of persecution. From the early days of…
Nurturing Writing Instinct and Intellectual Awareness in the Students of Nadwat al-ʿUlamāʾ
The Arabic language, ever since its light first shone upon the land of India, was never merely an instrument for speech or writing. It…
Some Verses of Akhtal
The poetry of Akhtal stands as a monument to that golden treasury of the Arabic language in which the depths of the human heart,…
The Book of Sībawayh
Our brilliant teacher, the historian of Islamic sciences, the eminent ʿAllāmah Abū al-ʿIrfān al-Nadwī, may Allah have mercy on him, used to say: “In…
The Literary Language
To consider language merely as a tool for conveying thoughts is a shallow injustice to its true essence. Language is a subtle, veiled reality—custodian…
The Book al-Muqtasid in Commentary of al-Īḍāḥ
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Some of my excellent students—those committed to knowledge, eager to grasp deeper meanings, and drawn to what lies beyond the…
Alas for the Letters!
I am not among those who glorify the past in mourning, nor among those who curse the present out of discontent. Rather, I am…
Academic Language and Our Negligence
Academic language is the invisible foundation upon which the entire edifice of modern education rests. It is not merely a collection of words and…
Choice of Words: Taste, Subtlety and Responsibility
A word… a small, simple, yet extraordinarily powerful entity… is not merely a vocal symbol, but rather a crystallised thought, a reflection of feeling,…
The Harm of Non-Arabs Dominating the Islamic and Arabic Sciences
The prominence of certain non-Arabs—despite their brilliant intellects, evident talents, and creative contributions in the fields of knowledge and thought—in the disciplines of Islam…
Adab for the Sake of Adab
When a government constructs a road, its quality is determined by its technical design, engineering principles, and construction standards. It is not evaluated according…
Questions & Answers on Arabic and Language
View all Q&A →al-Jāḥiẓ on the definitions of balāghah
Assalamo Alaikum, I pray Almighty to find you in good health. Of late, I was studying up. It was Al-Bayan wa-Al-Tabyeen of Al-Jahiz (775-868 A.D.). An erudite para stuck me up. I was, indeed, at a loss. I could not…
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Respected Maulana Rida ul-Haq, Principal of Jamiat Al-Huda in Nottingham, may Allah preserve him, has a daughter, Ustadha Safiyya Zaid, who is an accomplished scholar, a specialist in Arabic language and Hadith, and also one of my students. She has…