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Arabic Basics
Arabic Basics
Arabic Diacritical Marks - Vowels
4. Diacritical Marks – A Mystical Explanation
Short list
Long List
1. Sukoon — the a vowel-less sign — is transliterated (-),
Meanings Can Change According to the Vowels
Lets use another example. Look at the words kibr and akbar. Both come from (k-b-
r). If the heart form kibr from that, it means boastfulness, or pride. If we form
akbar, then it means greatest, or all encompassing. There is nothing too hard for
God, or anything He can’t understand. Kabeer is actually one of the perfect 99
Names of God’s attributes.
So it is like this, according to the wisdom and forms of placing the words and
vowels, so goes the grace.
7 Dialects Based on Tribal Vowel Usage
For Qur’an, since there were at least 7 separate tribes, the vowel marks were
accepted in 7 dialects by Rasoolallaah (sal) himself. The original Arabic had no
vowels marked, or very little. So when Uthman al-’Affan (rd) compiled the Qur’an,
they had to debate the vowels to be preserved as hafith. It is important to know that
Rasoolallaah (sal) did not do this, but his successors. Because the Qur’an was
slipping away gradually as people died, so too the vital memory of the exact form
and meaning.
Bayyan & Sunnat & Sirat - 3 Sources
So 3 bodies of ‘ilm science emerged, one as the Qur’an itself, and it’s tafseer or
situational awareness (history), and the other was the sunnat ar-Rasoolallaah (sal),
the lifestyle of the sirat al-mustaqeem. As Rasoolallaah (sal) was imbued with Qur’
an in spirit and body, it is said that he was a living example of the Qur’an.
Shaykh explained that 2 forms of sunnat example are observed. One is the legal
forms of the Qur’an and the physical appearance of the people involved. The other
is the Light understanding of the meaning of the sunnat and Qur’an. He said 5 outer
forms and 6 inner duties, and those are the 2 ways to understand the Message.
We need a legal system, but also we need a moral system as well. He said that as
Rasoolallaah (sal) did it slowly, and did the inner before the outer, that too should
be our way. It took in excess of 23 years to receive the Qur’an in entirety. Shaykh
said it took much longer, a whole life time, to fulfill sunnat and reveal Qur’an.
Rasoolallaah (sal) had 40 years of salaw/thoughtfulness before the 1st sajedah was
impelled into him by Power on High (Jabburat).
First Things First - The Inner Source - 'Ilm al-Batin
Now Shaykh said that people have it all backwards, as they learn the letter of the
law before the meaning and sobriety of spirit. So you can see this as a craziness in
people who only see the outside form of law, and have no fear or sobriety of spirit
with them.That is sirat al-mustaqeem on an inner level, and not strictly what we see
in our times.
Vowels Form the Meanings
Now for an illustration. Take kafara (k-f-r). It forms the root of kafireen, or
disbelieving concealers. They got that name because they purposefully suppressed,
concealed, and covered by lies, the good that was being revealed. They actually
took pens and scratched out letters and diacritical marks that made the meaning
correct, terrorizing and dissolute.
Now in a different form takaffara, you see a Divine attribute shown just by
changing a form and a vowel. It means to cover over sins, or to forgive sins. It’s the
same word, but because of the diacritical marks, the meaning is all different.
Spiritual Meanings Emerge from Within First
So in actual application, in our hearts, these letters make sounds that God hears too.
As He hears, so He blesses. Shaykh went so far as to say that our body is
mystically made of the letters of the Arabic alphabet. The nature or convictions and
even out bodily health comes from the sounds made by the combinations of
consonants and vowels. The patterns of Light are shown by the sounds.
So as different parts of the body form into words, the entirety of creation can be
revealed through these letters and diacritical marks and 10 forms.
As we receive this, the positions of the marks determines if the word has a good
meaning and resonance, or a bad meaning and evil motivation.
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Short list
- 1. u - damma
- 2. a - fatha
- 3. e - kasra
- 4. no sound - sukoon, silent, cut off, no vowel
- 5. aaa - maddah – prolonged aaa in Allaaah
- 6. doubled - shaddah, assimilated, doubled
- 7. gaurdian alif - signals an unpronounced letter
- 8. ay - yaa diphthong
- 9. au, aw - waw diphthong
- 10. uu, uw - damma & waw prolonger
- 11. aa - alif & alif prolonger
- 12. ee, iy - kasra & yaa prolonger
Long List
1. Sukoon — the a vowel-less sign — is transliterated (-),
- making the consonant stationary as there is no vowel after it.
- When Shadda appears over any consonant, that consonant is voiced twice, as
n in run-ner. But in Arabic , the letter is voiced separately, run-ner, fod-der,
the first is stationary, not runaner or fodader.
- Fatha that sounds like u in cut or but is transliterated into (a).
- Fatha+Alif that sounds slightly longer is (aa).
- Fatha+Alif+Mad that sounds like extra long (aaa).
- Kasra that sounds like i in pin or sin is transliterated into (i) .
- Kasra+ya sounds slightly longer as ee, as in free, transliterated (ee)
- Kasra+ya+Mad that sounds like extra long ee is transliterated (iy)
- Zamma that sounds like u in put is transliterated into (u) .
- Zamma+Waw that sounds slightly longer oo as in soon is transliterated into
uw). - Zamma+Waw+Mad that extra long oo is transliterated into (uw). In the
beginning of a word or syllable, 'a, 'i and 'u ('ain), are consonants. But, if they
appear after a consonant they are vowels.
- ('a) sounds like 'a
- ('e) sounds like 'e
- ('o) sounds like 'u
- ('-) short stop - choke off sound
- ('â) sounds like 'aa
- ('ê) sounds like 'iy or 'ee
- ('ô) sounds like 'uu or 'oo
Meanings Can Change According to the Vowels
Lets use another example. Look at the words kibr and akbar. Both come from (k-b-
r). If the heart form kibr from that, it means boastfulness, or pride. If we form
akbar, then it means greatest, or all encompassing. There is nothing too hard for
God, or anything He can’t understand. Kabeer is actually one of the perfect 99
Names of God’s attributes.
So it is like this, according to the wisdom and forms of placing the words and
vowels, so goes the grace.
- kufur = unbelief - damma
- kibr = stubborn, ignorant – sukoon on letter baa
- Kabiyr = Great, Expansive -
- akbar = greatest
7 Dialects Based on Tribal Vowel Usage
For Qur’an, since there were at least 7 separate tribes, the vowel marks were
accepted in 7 dialects by Rasoolallaah (sal) himself. The original Arabic had no
vowels marked, or very little. So when Uthman al-’Affan (rd) compiled the Qur’an,
they had to debate the vowels to be preserved as hafith. It is important to know that
Rasoolallaah (sal) did not do this, but his successors. Because the Qur’an was
slipping away gradually as people died, so too the vital memory of the exact form
and meaning.
Bayyan & Sunnat & Sirat - 3 Sources
So 3 bodies of ‘ilm science emerged, one as the Qur’an itself, and it’s tafseer or
situational awareness (history), and the other was the sunnat ar-Rasoolallaah (sal),
the lifestyle of the sirat al-mustaqeem. As Rasoolallaah (sal) was imbued with Qur’
an in spirit and body, it is said that he was a living example of the Qur’an.
Shaykh explained that 2 forms of sunnat example are observed. One is the legal
forms of the Qur’an and the physical appearance of the people involved. The other
is the Light understanding of the meaning of the sunnat and Qur’an. He said 5 outer
forms and 6 inner duties, and those are the 2 ways to understand the Message.
We need a legal system, but also we need a moral system as well. He said that as
Rasoolallaah (sal) did it slowly, and did the inner before the outer, that too should
be our way. It took in excess of 23 years to receive the Qur’an in entirety. Shaykh
said it took much longer, a whole life time, to fulfill sunnat and reveal Qur’an.
Rasoolallaah (sal) had 40 years of salaw/thoughtfulness before the 1st sajedah was
impelled into him by Power on High (Jabburat).
First Things First - The Inner Source - 'Ilm al-Batin
Now Shaykh said that people have it all backwards, as they learn the letter of the
law before the meaning and sobriety of spirit. So you can see this as a craziness in
people who only see the outside form of law, and have no fear or sobriety of spirit
with them.That is sirat al-mustaqeem on an inner level, and not strictly what we see
in our times.
Vowels Form the Meanings
Now for an illustration. Take kafara (k-f-r). It forms the root of kafireen, or
disbelieving concealers. They got that name because they purposefully suppressed,
concealed, and covered by lies, the good that was being revealed. They actually
took pens and scratched out letters and diacritical marks that made the meaning
correct, terrorizing and dissolute.
Now in a different form takaffara, you see a Divine attribute shown just by
changing a form and a vowel. It means to cover over sins, or to forgive sins. It’s the
same word, but because of the diacritical marks, the meaning is all different.
Spiritual Meanings Emerge from Within First
So in actual application, in our hearts, these letters make sounds that God hears too.
As He hears, so He blesses. Shaykh went so far as to say that our body is
mystically made of the letters of the Arabic alphabet. The nature or convictions and
even out bodily health comes from the sounds made by the combinations of
consonants and vowels. The patterns of Light are shown by the sounds.
So as different parts of the body form into words, the entirety of creation can be
revealed through these letters and diacritical marks and 10 forms.
As we receive this, the positions of the marks determines if the word has a good
meaning and resonance, or a bad meaning and evil motivation.
Back Top Next
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