...read...

today's story is about one of the most common story we ever heard...
but i wanna tell it anyway...

about the first order that was sent down on our beloved Prophet, peace be upon Him.

everybody knows the order is "READ!!!"
and everybody is very familiar with the story...in a cave, on a hill, at night and suddenly Jibrail came...
and asked our prophet three times to read!...and each time He'd reply, I cannot read!, and each time He was hugged strongly by Jibrail...and after the third time, Jibrail said..."iqra' bismi rabbika allazi kholaq'"

hurmmm...

has it ever occurred to you, why Jibrail needed to ask three times? and each time he hugged our Prophet ever so strongly...that's a torture!, why couldn't he just teaches Him after the first disclaimer?

the answer~

well, you have to put yourself in our Prophet's position...imagine~
it was dark, He was alone in a cave, high up on the hill that was far away from the village...very far away from human beings, occasionally...some desert animal will pass through...with little food and not much water...that night was dark with stars glimmering above, still and silent...suddenly, with no warning, a man appeared in front of Him, smartly dressed, sparkling white, clean and with no signs of exhaustion.

surely, this took Him by surprise!...who is this stranger?...he couldn't be climbing up the hill just now, there was no sound! besides, his outfit is just too clean to just finished hiking...he came down from the sky? erupted from the earth?...and above all, this stranger commanded Him to read!!!...He's never read before~

so, in this situation...the first "maa ana biqaari'!" that our Prophet rebuffed to Jibrail...was proclaimed in an indefinite shock and fear...and He has never understood or can ever read anything before...as if He said..."lan aqra'!" - "I can never read!"

and here Jibrail hugged our Prophet...not gently like a mother caressing her son...it was a strong one!...the bone-braking kind...this kind of hug makes people fainthearted...at this early beginning, Jibrail was showing our Prophet that the path He's going to pass through is a tough path. that he needs to be patient and obedient to Allah. and once again, Jibrail asked Him..."Read!"

the second time, our Prophet rebuff "maa ana biqaari'!", but this time it was a notch lower, not the sudden, strong surprised reply like the first one...as if to say, in fright..."laa a3rifu al-Qiraa'ah!" - "i don't know how to read!"

and again...Jibrail embraced Him stronger than the first one, this second one teaches Him that whenever a command is told, don't ask how...and it teaches Him more patience...and for the third time, Jibrail asked "Iqra'!"

and again, our Prophet refused...softer..."maa ana biqaari'!"...He's exhausted and extremely frightened by now...and Jibrail keep insisting Him to read...His third reply was weaker...He doesn't know how to read...but being kept told to...so, this time...his weak reply meant "maazaa aqra'?" - "what shud I read?"

so that's why...only after the third time did Jibrail replied "Iqra' bismi rabbika al-lazii kholaq'!" - "Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exist)!"

as if to answer His hidden questions in His ever same remark. even though all three times our Prophet replied the same statement, the context, pronunciation and intonations make the same statement gives out different meanings...and for sure, the first "maa ana biqaari'!" couldn't be replied straight away with the first verse sent down to our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him.

and that's how the story went...

thanks to ustaz mahmuud for telling us this beautiful story...his story was longer, and has more hidden items of course...filled with emotions, except it was in arabic...hehe...and this is only about 'a' verse in the Holy Quran...huhu

hope u guys enjoyed reading it...:D

#in a couple of days, nisfu syaaban is coming...rabbana taqobbal minna ramadhan...
# i have this problem of confusing arabic words with each other, they sound and have somewhat kind of similar syllabus...but it has totally different meaning~...any idea how can i work dis out?
# notice how breezy this morning was (sorry, only applied to cairo's inhabitants)...hope it last through out the day...or month~...hehe

happy holiday!

the one and Only ONE!

it was a hot evening...i waited in class for ustaz mahmuud to finish his 'solat' at the same time completing my 'i3raab' of 'fe3l' and faa3l' of surah al-Qiyamah...

am really not good in this kind of task, it burns my brain up (hehe)...and tires me down, but i finished it anyway~

ustaz mahmuud came in and we continue our lesson of 'al faa3il'

i love ustaz mahmuud's classes as there are a lot of thinking process going up, before he teaches me any subject...he'd usually make me guess the contents of the lesson...

and so, this lesson started with-

what is al-faa3il liyana?
the doer of doings. i replied
good!our lesson is going to be easy...and he wrote down 6 sentences to describe al-faa3il
that's item no. 1...now, what other condition a word needs to qualify itself as al-faa3il?
emm....i hesitated, well honestly...i dun have any other idea...after several minutes passed by...
think!...you are a doctor, look carefully at your patient, check his eyes, his mouth, his stomach...search for it indefinitely before you give out your diagnosis!...now come on liyana...from those examples, what do they present?
urghhh...the difference between female and male?...i ask, unsure
ustaz mahmuud clicked...urm...before that!...

and that how our thinking session usually goes...seriously it feels like in a game of chess, which reminds me of my dad a lot!...LOL

at last...after waiting too long for an answer, ustaz mahmuud gave me the conditions...
eleven of them!, and he explained one by one...it was nearly 6.15 p.m....
and we reached no. 11

now tell me liyana, can an arabic sentence have more than one al-faa3il?
yes?...that's usually how i answered if am not sure
okay, is "akalaa al waalidaan" a correct sentence?
yup!
is la3ibuu al waaliduun a correct sentence?
yup!
nope! you are wrong.
why?
the correct one is akala al waalidaan.
if the fe3l is in front it is always one...
why?
the arabs language is like that...because...there cannot be more than one doer in a sentence!...that's their rule
owh!...so my answer just now was wrong?
yes, and the beauty in this rule the arabs created here if you can see...they believe in their own mother tongue that there cannot be more than one doer in one sentence, so Allah ask them, ya 3rabiyyuun...you yourself speak that there cannot be more than one doer...how can you believe that there is more than one god, if you can see here liyana...the ultimate doer who does every doing is only ONE and that is Allah azza wajalla!

i was stunned!

that is why, al-Quran came in arabic language is a mukjizat...if you realize, yes you can do stuffs, make things move, run, climb...or anything, but if it is against Allah's will, you can never do any of them...so...for the arabs to deny this is against their own rule...how can their mind accept there is more than one god who created this world if their tongue could not accept more than one doer in their language?

wow!

and ustaz also said that your heart also cannot give ultimate love to more than one person, it is true that you do love someone more than you love another, it can never be the same level, but the one who get most of your love is the owner of your heart!...how is this related to our discussion?...i missed...LOL...i myte have got lost along the stunned realization of this fact hidden for so long since i had my first al-faa3il lesson years back...
how can i never realize this??? its blissful to see...honestly!

just thought dis is something worth to share...
there are many more wonderful stuff that opens my eyes during my lessons...i'll try and find time to jot em down...but this one, really... it's beautiful!

cause there is one creator and ONLY ONE and that is Allah


pray for me...=)

# these conversation are my own translation...do correct me if am wrong...
#this is one long typing...hehe
# learning needs patience...so do pray for me...
Rabbuna ma3akum!

choosing

whenever i wanted to decide to buy something, or choose anything and i seek for my father's opinion,
he will always say, you have the right to choose! but i will guide you, n you can make your own decision...

hurm...

it got me thinkin, during this holiday season...

when i woke up in the morning, and found myself unbounded to any important responsibility, i'll sleepily lay my head back down...

before the holiday, i can wake up very early and stay up late at night, almost 24/7 my face stares books...as exams are around the corner...hehe

but now?...urm...

well, do i live to wait for examinations commin up?...hurm...it got me thinkin~

coz i always have the chance to choose!

(a reminder for myself and whoever's readin~)

a dua' ust Maha taught us-
rabbana taqobbal minna....(whatever good deeds crossed your mind)
choose wisely~

where did it come from?

on my quest to understand this piece of arabic grammar, my teacher asked...what does 'nahu' (arabic grammar) teaches us?

i thought n replied based on what i wanted from that lesson
-to teach me where to put each word in a correct place in a sentence!...so damn confident!...LOL

my teacher smiled...n shook his head...u got it wrong!

uhuh...?so, what do i learn from the subject nahu?...

thus, my teacher told me the story of how the word 'nahu' came from...

it was in the era of khalifah Ali bin Abu Talib...an incident happened to his friend, Abu Aswad adDu'ali...
Abu Aswad here came from a pure arabic descendant, and that day, he was sitting outside at night in the desert with his 18 year old daughter...they were looking up at the sky~

his daughter said "maa ajmalu asSamaa'?"...(what is the most beautiful thing about the sky?)
"nujumuha!"...replied Abu Aswad...(its stars!)
"la, lam uridu as-su'ala, wa innama aradtu at-ta'ajjub!"...she corrected...(no, i didn't mean it as a question, i meant it as an amazement!)
he was so shocked hearing his daughter saying that..."iftahii famaki!"...(open your mouth!)
[maa ajmalaa asSamaa'!]

worried on how his daughter who was also a pure arabic could make this huge mistake...Abu Aswad told Ali bin Abu Talib about their conversation that night...

'ya amir al-mukminin! last night i spent my time outside with my daughter.'...Abu Aswad started the conversation
'great!, you are a great dad!'...he replied
'we were looking up at the sky, and my daughter said..."maa ajmalu asSamaa'?"'
'tell her its stars!"
'yup, i told her that!...but she replied..."la, lam uridu as su'ala, wa innama aradtu at ta'ajjub!"'
'yaah!!!how can an arab made such mistake???' Ali was suprised!

worried that arabic language would be broken, Ali ordered Abu Aswad to write down that arabic words has three types..."al-ism, al-fe'l, al-harf"...and he added "unhu nahwan haza nahwi" (follow this path!)

and from there came the word 'nahu'...

but still,
my question has not yet been answered...what does 'nahu' teaches me?

my teacher replied politely...
"hua ilmun ya'rifu bihi dobtu awakhiri al-kalimati bi'anwaa'i al-harakati"
(it is the knowledge that teaches you with precision about types of line at the end of each word)

only???

hurm...
to learn whether you used the correct word for a meaningful sentence we study 'balaghah'
and so on...
owh why dun i like history before???...LOL

post 101: language vs family

i got this story, from my arabic teacher...
pardon me if i deliver it wrongly...but this is how i understood it~

the value of a language-
the ripening age for arabic language reaches its peak the moment alQuran was sent down to our beloved prophet p.b.u.h.

the Quraish people wholly understood word by word used in the holy Quran. because, every word in it were used by them in their daily lives. but at their time, arabic language was not yet a lesson, nor the rules were yet written, how come...the peak of arabic language came earlier?

*the arabic language verb's (nahu) discipline were first written by sibaweyh

my teacher explained, even though back then they dun have written rules about arabic language...never once anybody made a mistake in their language during communicating!

how can that be?...(i was really curious)

imagine!...my teacher said...
the leaders prohibited anyone from making even a slight mistake in speaking, or else...he will be banished from the group (qabilah) and left to die from hunger in the desert. they value correct verbal more than their own family...
and even young kids were not allowed to make a mistake...thus, their ears have never heard mistakes in their life, so they never speak mistaken words...
they were very proud of their language!

my teacher added-
the ears, if it listen to wrong things the tongue will speak wrong things

how they really honored their language once~

now...the purity of arabic language is decilinig...therefore i got this advice from my teacher
learn from the difficult books!
because within it lies the knowledge
easy books does not contain knowledge...
_______________________________
tonight's the final game...(no idea which side should i choose...LOL)
met a kitten on my way home with a white pupil on its right eye...it got me thinkin'...can cats have cataract?...i tried to test its visual acuity but it ran...huhu~

4th yr da abes!!!

dis yr was awesome!!!
glad it's finished, and can't wait for what's commin up during the summer...

a bit sad that everything has become a memory~
will treasure it for the rest of my life insyaAllah...

unexpected 'freedom' celebration (next yr kene tawan balik...huhu)-
*i dunno how i ended up sitting in dr mo'tasem billah's office~ (gosh!...i missed anatomy so much!!!!!!)

*went to have sushi for lunch (sepatutnye ya hala...Allah certainly has better plan for us!-thnx!!!)

*and finally i ended my day by watching a chinese opera...LOL

owh, jz to remind myself...and anyone who reads dis...
free time kills!
so, plan ur time well...do pray for me so dat i dun waste my summer!
i recalled a quote ust razi once told us (MEP3) -
wasting ur time = time u spent without remembering Allah
=)

happy holiday everybody!!!
#plus, to those about to get married dis summer...Barakallahulakum! (ramainyer~)
may you guys b together till the infinity~...=D

what a very small world!

a little girl...
threads slowly...
trying to figure out what she actually wanna be...
finding on the way...
that, she loves company...

now the little girl has grown a bit
n she is astounded!

what a very small world!!!
as she kept stumbling into her companies...

one of the reason y i chose medicine...

Allah's blessings are countless!
2 more left....