One of my teachers said once

الذي يكشف العجمي من العربي عند المستمع في الغالب ثلاثة أشياء
١ـ المخارح
٢ـ الضمائر
٣ـ الاعداد

That which allows the listener to distinguish between the Arab and non Arab usually are three

1- Pronunciation
2- Pronouns
3- Numberings

These are three important things for the one learning Arabic to work on perfecting when speaking.

I did not spend enough time as I would have liked studying classical Arabic poetry so I always used to read various classical Arabic lexicon as a habit. This came as an easy habit for me because before Islam I used to always carry my Random House rhyming dictionary in my back pocket.

Just from this habit of reading classical lexicons and checking up words regularly, I realized how much linguistic mistakes are made due to a lack of awareness regarding how words are used and change in meaning based on context، even amongst people of learning and teaching.

Dear Students of Knowledge get yourself at the very least a pocket size copy of these 3 classical dictionaries and refer to them on the regular:

1 المختار الصحاح
2 المصباح المنير
3 المغرب في ترتيب المعرب

ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said, "Knowledge of Arabic increases murūʾah and strengthens the intellect."

— Ibn Mufliḥ, Al-Ādāb al-sharʿiyyah, ii. 94

قالَ وهيب بن الورد رَحِمَهُ الله

‏بلغَنا أنَّ الحِكْمَة عشرة أجزاء: تسعةٌ منها في الصَّمت، والعاشرة في عُزلةِ النَّاس.

‏•العُزلَة لِلخَطّابي

Wisdom has ten parts.
Nine parts are keeping quiet, and the tenth part is staying away from people.

—al-Wuhayb ibn al-Ward, d. 153 CE

Quoted in al-Khaṭṭābī (d. 988) in The Book of Seclusion

Review of Bayān FundamentalsThe study of figurative language is called bayān. It consists of four figurative devices: tashbīh, kināyah, istiʿārah, and majāz mursal. Each device uses explicit wording to impart an implicit meaning. The relationship between these two meanings is called the ʿalāqah. The context that causes the listener to realize that the explicit wording isn’t intended is the qarīnah.

In the case of tashbīh & istiʿārah, the ʿalāqah is mushābahah (resemblance or likeness). The difference is that tashbīh mentions both the mushabbah (tenor) and mushabbah bihi (vehicle), while istiʿārah omits one or the other, mentioning instead something that implies the omitted component. For example, “Zayd is a lion (زيدٌ أسدٌ)” is a tashbīh, since both tenor & vehicle are mentioned, while “Zayd roars (يزأرُ زيدٌ)” is an istiʿārah, because the vehicle (“a lion”) is missing.

Ḥaqīqah & Majāz vs Literal & FigurativeThe terms literal & figurative in English are not the same as the ḥaqīqah and majāz of classical bayān, though modern Arabic usage conforms to the English equivalents. To be clear, the entire study of bayān has very little to do with literal truth, as it concerns itself with figurative language. Despite this, tashbīh & kināyah are both ḥaqīqah.

Alarm bells should go off in your head when you hear that “Zayd is a lion” is considered a ḥaqīqah, since that simply is not literally true. The root of the problem is actually the translation: “Zayd is a lion” is not identical to the Arabic: زيد أسد. A nounal sentence in Arabic can consist of exactly two nouns: a subject and a predicate. But what does it mean when we say the equivalent of: “Zayd lion”? What is the relationship between these two words? By default, we say it means: “Zayd is a lion.” However, simile and hyperbole are so engrained into Arabic usage that a looser meaning, closer to: “Zayd is like a lion”, is standard. Thus, the relationship of a subject to its predicate in a nounal sentence is literally either “is” or “is like”.

If you want to know the theory behind why native Arabic nounal predication includes simile, it’s because when both the tenor (Zayd) and vehicle (lion) are mentioned, they must be distinct things, as no one would say: “Zayd is Zayd”, and sentences like “Zayd is a man” are not of interest in the field of bayān, because they’re literally true. Now, since Zayd is not the same thing as a lion, we must conclude that this is an implicit simile.

A figurative device is a ḥaqīqah when its qarīnah does not rule out the possibility of its literal meaning. Zayd can literally be like a lion in some ways.

This also applies to kināyah. When we say that “Prof Jones takes no prisoners” to mean he’s uncompromising, it doesn’t change the fact that he most likely doesn’t take any prisoners.

Thus, a device is a ḥaqīqah when its explicit wording can be true, allowing for implicit similes. It is literally true when its explicit wording is true.

This is in contrast to majāz, such as istiʿārah. “Zayd roars (يزأر زيد)” is not a ḥaqīqah, as humans do not roar. Tashbīh focuses on telling you Zayd is (like) a lion: a simile expressed using the literal meanings of words. Istiʿārah doesn’t mention the lion at all, but directly attributes roaring to Zayd, thereby using the word “roars” figuratively.

Thus, there are three major differences between haqīqah and literal truth:

1. Ḥaqīqah is concerned with the literal use of words. Literal truth conforms to reality or the speaker’s understanding, notwithstanding lies.
2. A figurative device is a ḥaqīqah if it can be true. A figurative device is never literal.
3. Arabic’s nounal sentences, e.g., زيد أسد, can literally mean “Zayd is like a lion.” (After all, there might be a lion named Zayd.)

[Via Ustadh Moustafa Elqabbany]

This is the arrangement of Arabic letters according to the Maghribi sequence, which is
necessary to know it in order to benefit from the dictionaries, lexicons, and other books compiled by the scholars of the Maghrib, which are alphabetically arranged according to their sequence.

Some good Arabic resources https://ejtaal.net/islam/arabic.html

عجبت لمن يقرأ القرآن وهو لا يعرف معانيه - كيف يلتذ بقراءته؟
- ابن جرير الطبري

I am left stupefied by one who recites the Qur'an without understanding its meanings. How can he delight in its recital?
- Ibn Jarir al-Tabari

“God Won’t Forgive Me”

Will Allah overlook my past? Listen now to find out as Shaykh Mahdi dispels common misconceptions related to the topic of Sinning & Forgiveness!

https://www.arkview.org/arabic

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Fahd (Ibn al-ʿAlāʾ) (@fahd_ibn_ala) on X

Good point but couldn’t help but notice the board that says: • «الطريقة الشاطبي» (“The Way is al-Shāṭibī!”) • «مراقي الصعود» (“The Stairs of Going Up”)