Asslamo Allaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
In this lesson we would like to talk about new subjects which are easy to understand but you will pick these up with practise as you go along in the book.
As far as the names of the places (countries, cities, landmarks etc) are concerned some will be prefixed by “ال” and some won’t. There is just the way Arabic language has developed and there is no hard and fast rule as to which names get an “ال” and which ones don’t.
There is a joke which is told by some Ulama to their classes at this point to illustrate this example.
There was a pious Shaykh who lived in Madinah and he devoted his life to the worship of Allah (SWT). A rich and greedy businessman wanted to show off his money and impress the people by showing off that he serves Ulama & Mashaykh and he travelled for Hajj. In Makkah he found out about this pious Shaykh and travelled to Madinah to meet him and caught up with him.
He greatly annoyed the Shaykh with his habits and pompous manners but the Shaykh remained patient because he was the host. During dinner the Shaykh asked his guest as to where he had travelled from. One of the servants eager to impress his Master interjected and said to the Shaykh,
خَرَجَ مِنَ المَكةَ وَ ذَهَبَ إِلَىٰ مَدِينة
He left Al-Makkah and came to Madina
The servant thought that since Makkah is more important than Madinah it must have an “ال”! He was obviously wrong!!! And the truth is the reverse of this...
The Shaykh was already annoyed and couldn’t control himself at the misuse of the Arabic language and he just said, “When you go back home please make sure that you put the “ال”back where it belongs”!
باكستان i.e Pakistan doesn't get an “ال” while .الهند i.e India does!
While you are doing Lesson 4 and also in future Lessons, watch out for the place names with “ال”
Diptotes
We have stated previously that this Level 1 course will primarily deal with the following three (3) states described below which is shown by the vowel on the last letter of the word.
- State of Rafa or Marfoo = كتابٌ
- State of Nasab or Mansoob كتاباً , with Fathatain (two Fathaas) an Alif is added and the vowels are placed on it
- State of Jaar or Majroor كتابٍ
And you have done exercises to show words when they are Marfoo, Mansoob & Majroor with and without “ال”
A normal word declines properly in Arabic and the last letter of the word carries the proper vowel sign i.e. "Damma", "Fatha" & "Kasra" and these words in English are called "TRIP-TOTES" i.e. they have all three states!
Names of places in Arabic which don't have “ال” only decline twice and hence they are called:
- "DIP-TOTES" (as taught in Western universities)
- Mamnoo-Minus-Sarf ممنوع من الصرف
- Ghair Munsarif غير منصرف (in the Darul-ulooms, this word is preferred).
Watch the example of Al-Madina Al-Munawwar properly declining and in all 3 states as it is a "TRIP-TOTE"
| المدينةِ | المدينةَ | المدينةُ |
Now watch Makkah & Pakistan and see that they DO NOT take a Kasrah and their last two states are the same (i.e. with Fatha on the last letter) as they are "DIP-TOTES". In other words the Mansoob & Majroor states both carry a Fatha and visually look the same!
| مكةَ | مكةَ | مكةُ |
| بَاكستَانَ | بَاكستَانَ | بَاكستَانُ |
"DIP-TOTES" will be discussed much later but for right now watch out for place names with no “ال”!
