today Ustaz Mahmoud started our class with his journey looking for a مَخْطُوط
"ya liyana, do you know what is a 'makhtoot'?"
i shook my head
"makhtoot is a hand written book, written by ulama' from ages ago. it comes from the word 'khat'...i've been looking for this makhtoot, written in the 900 hijriah, and one page cost me LE5...and this one is of 13 pages"
wow!
"nowadays liyana, people have lost the ability to appreciate these valuable old written knowledge...let me tell you...a story...about a makhtoot in Egypt...entitled 'kitab dawud' of a hundred pieces of papers, written by a jew who was a renowned doctor at the times of Andalus...he became a muslim and wrote this makhtoot in arabic
well,
in the year around 1920, there was this British who came to Egypt, he had studied arabic very well, and he visited the 'maktabatul makhtootot' (library of old hand written books) everyday.
the 'Amin' (the person in charged of the well beings of these old valuable handwritten books a.k.a librarian) noticed that he would sit and read these handwritten books.
the Amin said...one day however, the British took out a book that was hidden among the never-read-section...a very old book, that the Amin believed to have only been read by the writer if ever. the Brittish sat reading it intensely and once he finished, he brought the book to the Amin and said:
'i'd like to have this book, i'll give you THREE Thousand dollars for it!'
'huh?...i don't know, no books should be taken out from this library' said the Amin
'hmm, how about FOUR Thousand dollars?'
now the Amin realized that this book must've been very valuable...so he said
'i cannot allow that'
'FIVE Thousands dollars?' the British kept negotiating
'ermm....well, give me one week to have this book out for you' the Amin finally took the bait
so the Amin said he paid a person to copy the 200 pages of that hand written book in one week by hand and gave the original copy to the British.
unfortunately, one sad day, the Amin's house caught fire, and the whole copy that he had of that book was burnt but only small bit of a single paper left...=(
he was very sad but he kept telling the story of a book (of which he know not of it's title) that was taken by the British until his death.
now...around two to three years ago, a Muslim student from Egypt studying in Great Britain read books in one of the libraries and found a book entitled 'kitab dawud' in English. he fortunately have heard about the existence of this book from his Muslim Scholars, but to his knowledge, the book was originally written in Arabic...not English...
and...he had heard the story of the Amin who talked about a book taken by a British...things click!
so this student went searching for the writer of the book...the writer has passed away...huu
he asked around for the writers children instead...and finally was lead to the writer's grandson who lives in his grandfather's house
'does your grandfather keep his writing materials?' the student asked
'hurm, we still keep some of his possession in the basement below, you can go look around down there, we are about to throw them all out anyway' the grandson replied
so this student went searching among the writer's possession...and walla!
he found a very old shabby hand written Arabic book entitled 'kitab dawud'...he sat there for hours reading that book...a book of medical ailments and treatment, stories of the jews and their holy book 'taurah'...
finally, he climbed up the attic and asked the grandson if he could buy that book from him
'take it, we don't want it'
and so...that precious handwritten book finally return back to Egypt =)"
"did you see liyana how people who knows the value of these knowledge 'see' this old books? the British might have made double or triple the price he paid the Amin. but how his grandson didn't even notice the fortune inside that old book that it was return for free to Egypt"
wow!
am speechless!
as usual...a story i heard in Arabic that i'd love to share with the world...i try my best to translate it from my understanding...and Ustaz Mahmoud is very patient to stop at every point i was confused and made sure as much as he can i understand every single word...
pardon me if i made any mistakes...Ustaz Mahmoud taught me to always say this:
every good and benefits comes from Allah
and any mistakes or bad words come from myself the imperfect slave =)
"ya liyana, do you know what is a 'makhtoot'?"
i shook my head
"makhtoot is a hand written book, written by ulama' from ages ago. it comes from the word 'khat'...i've been looking for this makhtoot, written in the 900 hijriah, and one page cost me LE5...and this one is of 13 pages"
wow!
"nowadays liyana, people have lost the ability to appreciate these valuable old written knowledge...let me tell you...a story...about a makhtoot in Egypt...entitled 'kitab dawud' of a hundred pieces of papers, written by a jew who was a renowned doctor at the times of Andalus...he became a muslim and wrote this makhtoot in arabic
well,
in the year around 1920, there was this British who came to Egypt, he had studied arabic very well, and he visited the 'maktabatul makhtootot' (library of old hand written books) everyday.
the 'Amin' (the person in charged of the well beings of these old valuable handwritten books a.k.a librarian) noticed that he would sit and read these handwritten books.
the Amin said...one day however, the British took out a book that was hidden among the never-read-section...a very old book, that the Amin believed to have only been read by the writer if ever. the Brittish sat reading it intensely and once he finished, he brought the book to the Amin and said:
'i'd like to have this book, i'll give you THREE Thousand dollars for it!'
'huh?...i don't know, no books should be taken out from this library' said the Amin
'hmm, how about FOUR Thousand dollars?'
now the Amin realized that this book must've been very valuable...so he said
'i cannot allow that'
'FIVE Thousands dollars?' the British kept negotiating
'ermm....well, give me one week to have this book out for you' the Amin finally took the bait
so the Amin said he paid a person to copy the 200 pages of that hand written book in one week by hand and gave the original copy to the British.
unfortunately, one sad day, the Amin's house caught fire, and the whole copy that he had of that book was burnt but only small bit of a single paper left...=(
he was very sad but he kept telling the story of a book (of which he know not of it's title) that was taken by the British until his death.
now...around two to three years ago, a Muslim student from Egypt studying in Great Britain read books in one of the libraries and found a book entitled 'kitab dawud' in English. he fortunately have heard about the existence of this book from his Muslim Scholars, but to his knowledge, the book was originally written in Arabic...not English...
and...he had heard the story of the Amin who talked about a book taken by a British...things click!
so this student went searching for the writer of the book...the writer has passed away...huu
he asked around for the writers children instead...and finally was lead to the writer's grandson who lives in his grandfather's house
'does your grandfather keep his writing materials?' the student asked
'hurm, we still keep some of his possession in the basement below, you can go look around down there, we are about to throw them all out anyway' the grandson replied
so this student went searching among the writer's possession...and walla!
he found a very old shabby hand written Arabic book entitled 'kitab dawud'...he sat there for hours reading that book...a book of medical ailments and treatment, stories of the jews and their holy book 'taurah'...
finally, he climbed up the attic and asked the grandson if he could buy that book from him
'take it, we don't want it'
and so...that precious handwritten book finally return back to Egypt =)"
"did you see liyana how people who knows the value of these knowledge 'see' this old books? the British might have made double or triple the price he paid the Amin. but how his grandson didn't even notice the fortune inside that old book that it was return for free to Egypt"
wow!
am speechless!
as usual...a story i heard in Arabic that i'd love to share with the world...i try my best to translate it from my understanding...and Ustaz Mahmoud is very patient to stop at every point i was confused and made sure as much as he can i understand every single word...
pardon me if i made any mistakes...Ustaz Mahmoud taught me to always say this:
every good and benefits comes from Allah
and any mistakes or bad words come from myself the imperfect slave =)
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