States
96-620: Najahid dynasty ( Arabic : بنو نجاح ; Banū Najāḥ) was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Abyssinian Mamluks that ruled parts of Yemen from 1022-1158 from its capital at Zabīd . Najah would obtain the recognition of the Abbasid Caliph al-Qadir and would be given the honorific title 'al- Mu'ayyad Nasr al-din'. They faced hostilities from the Shia Ismailis Sulayhids who were loyal to the Fatimids . Their last sovereign
192-575: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
288-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
384-1081: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
480-481: A game where he let Husain, the vizier's son, win, following a promise of a reward from his father. Jayyash, after accidentally revealing himself, attempted to flee. The vizier caught up to him, but he did not expose him. They both swore an oath on the Quran . The vizier had told him what had occurred could not long remain concealed from As'ad ibn Shibab, and in reply Jayyash informed him that he had five thousand spearmen in
576-650: A haughty demeanor even towards me his brother, son both of his father and of his mother. I advised him to show kindness to the Lady Asma , and to grant an amnesty to the Princes of the Sulayhite family who accompanied her. He then ordered the Sulayhites to be brought forth, and they were slain to the last man. The mercy of God be upon them! I saw an old man among them, who sought to protect himself behind his son, and
672-487: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
768-445: A loaf of bread and gave it to a beggar, who would then deliver it to al- Mukarram. The Princess wrote to her son as follows: "I am great with child by (Al-Ahwal) see that thou come unto me before my delivery. If not, everlasting disgrace will ensue" Al-Mukarram assembled an army of 3,000 horsemen and marched toward Zabid to free his mother from captivity. The Najahid army was defeated and immense numbers were slain. Said al-Ahwal fled
864-639: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
960-594: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
1056-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
SECTION 10
#17327753192911152-470: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
1248-507: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
1344-507: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
1440-476: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
1536-737: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
1632-590: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
1728-559: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
1824-478: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
1920-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
2016-472: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
SECTION 20
#17327753192912112-574: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
2208-855: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
2304-572: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
2400-590: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
2496-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
2592-595: Is to say unveiled. Muhammad al-Thawr described her: "She was one of the most famous women of her time and one of the most powerful. She was munificent. She was a poetess who composed verses. Among the praises given her husband al-Sulayhi by the poets was the fact that he had her for a wife ... . When he ascertained the perfection of her character, her husband entrusted the management of state business to her. He rarely made decisions that went against her advice and [...] regarded her with very great respect and never gave any other opinion precedence over hers." In 1067, during
2688-524: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
2784-445: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
2880-570: The Ayyubid period and would later be the origins of the Rasulid dynasty ). Being a Sunni , he enjoyed the support of the population and easily gained power in the city. A dispute between two Sulayhids officials in Zabid played into his hands, Jayyash overheard one of them tell the other: "By Allah, if I could find a dog of the family of Najah, of a certainty I would make him King of Zabid " This
2976-468: The Fatimid Caliph, sent to Asma, two letters congratulating her on her safe return from captivity. Both started with the following: "From Imam al-Mustansir, commander of the faithful, to al-Hurra (lit. the free - it was used by most Yemeni tribes for their elite women), the noble, the pure, the pious, the honoured, guardian of the faithful, mother of the loyal princes, God protect her" Jayyash,
Najahid dynasty - Misplaced Pages Continue
3072-525: The Fatimid Caliphate , led by their founder Ali al-Sulayhi. Al-Sulayhi seized control of Sana from the Yufirids , and started directly challenging Najah's rule. According to Umara al-Yamani , he lived in dread of Najah but sought to win his favor, assuming a humble demeanor, but never desisting in his efforts against him, until he succeeded in bringing about his death. This was achieved through
3168-568: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
3264-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
3360-739: The pilgrimage to Mecca , the Banu Najah clan under Sa'id Ibn Najah, the prince of Zabid , attacked the travel party of Ali and Asma, killed Ali and took Asma prisoner. She was sequestered in a secret prison in Zabid , and reportedly, the severed head of her spouse was planted on a pole visible from her cell. After a year's imprisonment, she managed to get a message through to her son and daughter-in-law in Sa'na, and her son stormed Zabid and freed her. Asma returned to her realm and assisted her son, Ahmad al-Mukkaram , and daughter-in-law, Arwa al-Sulayhi , with
3456-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
3552-822: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. Asma bint Shihab People Centers Other Asma Bint Shihab al-Sulayhiyya ( Arabic : أسماء بنت شهاب الصليحي ; died 1087)
3648-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
3744-571: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
3840-834: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] . Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
3936-588: The African mainland, enslaved soldiers hailed from diverse origins. The presence of military slaves in the region dates back to the 1st millennium and persisted into the early modern era. At its zenith, the Himyarite Kingdom exerted significant influence over large portion of the Arabian Peninsula through its subordinate, the Kinda tribe, who acted as auxiliaries. Initially, soldiers from Abyssinia formed
Najahid dynasty - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-540: The Highlands until his death. Following his death, confusion prevailed. He was followed by his son Fatik, born to an Indian concubine , whose reign was relatively brief and marred by a succession dispute with his brothers. This conflict persisted even after his death in 1109. Fatik was succeeded by his son al-Mansur, who fled the discord among his uncles and sought refuge and backing from the Sulayhids . Eventually, he
4128-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
4224-690: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
4320-576: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
4416-558: The Syrian geographer Al-Dimashqi also has 'the Djazl who are renowned for their beautiful physique'. Dimashqi's "Djazl" might correspond to Umarah's "Jazali," which is otherwise unidentifiable. Nevertheless, some tribes listed are identifiable. Umarah states that the vizier Muflih hailed from the tribe of " Sahrat ." The most renowned ruler, Surur, Umarah says "He of whom I speak was the noble Kaid Abu Muhammad Surur al-Fatiki. He belonged to
4512-447: The act of sending him a beautiful slave-girl as a gift, who poisoned him. After Najah's death, Sulayhi captured Zabid and forced Najah's children to flee to Dahlak . Out of the children of Najah, Sa'id al-Ahwal and Jayyash were the most effective. Mu'arik, the eldest of the family, in an access of folly committed suicide, and Dhakhirah, she had barely attained the age of puberty. Sa'id departed from Dahlak and concealed himself in Zabid at
4608-504: The battle field again to Dahlak . Ahmed al-Mukaram found out later that his mother was not pregnant, she thought to excite and stimulate her son to vindication of his honor. He removed the two heads and buried them and appointed his uncle As'ad ibn Shihab to govern Zabid and its dependencies in Tihama and returned to Sana'a . In 1087, Said al-Ahwal returned to Zabid but was killed that same year by Ahmed al-Mukkaram. al-Mustansir Billah ,
4704-407: The buckets of a well (which rise full of water for the benefit now of one, then of another). But such as I ask not for mercy."" And such as thou, O Abu Hassan," answered Jayyash," shall not suffer harm." Jayyash treated As'ad and his children with kindness, and sent him forth with all the property he possessed, and with all his family to Sana'a . Jayyash continued to rule securely with no hardship from
4800-619: The city in crowds to meet him. They divided themselves into classes and stood on a lofty hill awaiting his arrival. The first to salute him were the Jurists of the Malikite, the Hanafite and the Shiifi'ite schools. The Prince used to dismount in token of respect, a thing he did for no other class. They were followed by the merchants, after whose departure the soldiery came forth in crowds. After
4896-471: The city. "Victory is in thy hands,' replied 'Aly; declare thyself publicly." Jayyash told 'Aly that he unwilling that harm should befall As'ad ibn Shihab, because of the kindness the vizier had displayed for him. Jayyash commanded the drums and trumpets to be played, prompting the residents of the city to take up arms alongside him and Ibn Shihab was taken prisoner." Naught can defend us against you, O family of Najah," he said to Jayyash," for man's fortunes are as
SECTION 50
#17327753192914992-574: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
5088-587: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
5184-648: The eminence attained by the Surur. After his death while in prayer by an agent of the Kharjite Ibn Mahdi, the closed gates of evil were thrown open against the dynasty, and the bonds of its stability were unloose" He defeated the Sulaymanids , who used to pay an annual tribute of 60,000 dinarsand was widely popular in Yemen. According to Umarah , the people on his arrival from al-Mahjam, used to go forth from
5280-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
5376-607: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
5472-549: The following year he defeated at Zabid , Najib ad-Dawla, whom the Fatimids had sent from Egypt as Sulayhid power was weakening. al-Mansur's concubine, Alam al-Malika contrived a plan for his death in which she succeed. He was succeeded as vazir by a man named Ruzayk and later al-Muflih. Alam, however, opposed al-Muflih and supported her favorites Surur and Ikbal, although they were not on good terms themselves. Their disputes led to conflicts where other rulers were brought against Zabid . Ikbal had Fatik II killed in 531/1137, and he
5568-401: The former conspired with Marjan to kill the boy-king and assume the title of Sultan. Nafis was of a tyrannical disposition and was dreaded by the people, whilst Najah was merciful, righteous, and beloved. Nafis would end up killing the child king and the princess. The murdered king was the last of his dynasty, with him Banu Ziyad came to an end. Najah, on hearing of the treatment of the king and
5664-510: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
5760-545: The house of a man named Rais Mula'ib the Khaulanite. He wrote to his brother, ordering him to come to Zabid, and announcing the speedy downfall of the Sulayhites and the restoration of their rule. Sulayhi , along with his brother and Queen Asma , traveled to Mecca for hajj, whilst on the journey, his army was ambushed and fatally attacked by Sa'id ibn Najah. He plundered and captured the soldiers of as-Sulayhi. Said, continues Jayyash, "became intoxicated with pride, and assumed
5856-597: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
SECTION 60
#17327753192915952-558: The international Muslim world, Asma bint Shihab and Arwa al-Sulayhi were the only female monarchs in the Muslim Arab world to have had the khutba proclaimed in their name in the mosques as sovereigns. Asma bint Shihab married her cousin, Ali al-Sulayhi , sultan and founder of the Sulayhid dynasty . The marriage between Ali and Asma was reportedly a happy one, and Ali relied on her support on his way to power and participated in
6048-613: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
6144-604: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
6240-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
6336-459: The latter's rejection of Fatimid authority. Three days after the battle, Sa'id left for Zabid with the heads of Sulayhi and his brother, Abdullah al-Sulayhi and a large amount of booty. He then imprisoned Queen Asma and he raised the heads on high, opposite the casement of a house he assigned for her residence. Asma remained a full year the captive of Sa'id ibn Najah. The death of as-Sulayhi made everyone afraid of Sa'id ibn Najah. The governors of
6432-533: The lord of Zabid . This condition was accepted, but eventually, the Mahdids would capture Zabid. According to Umarah, Ibn Mahdi , followed the Hanafi school of thought but he added to its fundamental articles of faith, the doctrine that regards sin as infidelity and punishable with death. He held in like manner that the penalty of death was to be inflicted upon all professing Muslims who opposed his teaching, that it
6528-426: The majority of these military slaves during the Ziyadid era (818-1018). The dynasty was established by Najah, one of the many Abyssinians recruited to serve the Ziyadid dynasty , however whether he was born in Yemen or brought over from Abyssinia is not clear. According to Umarah , Najah belonged to the Abyssinian tribe of "Jazali". This tribe seems to have furnished the dynasty. In a short list of Abyssinian tribes
6624-399: The management of the realm until she died. When she met her son al-Mukarram, she confirmed him as his father's successor, but when he was paralyzed shortly afterward, she retook control as the co-regent of the realm together with her daughter-in-law Arwa, who was to be her co-ruler in accordance with the will of her son, as he was himself unable to rule because of his condition. Queen Asma
6720-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
6816-445: The morning prayer, he would often embark on various activities such as visiting a Jurist, attending to the sick, offering condolences to mourners, joining festivities, or participating in weddings. His visits were not limited to military leaders, scholars, or wealthy merchants; he also made time for individuals of lower status. Anyone who sought his attention would receive it, regardless of their rank. In Yemen , despite its proximity to
6912-463: The mountain fortresses seized possession of the places confided to their rule, and the authority of al-Mukarram (the son and successor of as-Sulayhi) was all but destroyed. However, Sa'id's authority in Tihamah grew stronger and he sent people to Dahlak to buy twenty thousand men for him. During her captivity, Asma devised a clever plan to send a letter to her son al-Mukarram. She hid the letter inside
7008-782: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
7104-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
7200-486: The other son of Najah, fled to India and stayed there for six months with his wazir Khalf, the son of Abu Tahir the Umayyad (apparently descendant of Suleiman ibn Hisham son of Abd al-Malik) Jayyash returned to Zabid disguised as an Indian by allowing his hair to grow long and covered one of his eyes with a black cloth. He also brought with him 3,000 Oghuz Turks (The presence of Turks would drastically increase by
7296-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
7392-463: The people of the Highlands, and he was styled King, both in the Khutbah and in official documents, with the title of Our Lord. He had several children, among whom were Said, Jayyash, Mu'arik, adh-Dhakhirah and Mansur. While Najah held sway over the coastal areas in southwest Yemen, his dominance on the mainland faced opposition due to the emergence of the Sulayhids , a Shia Ismail dynasty loyal to
7488-612: The princess summoned his neighbors to his assistance, Arabs and non-Arabs. He marched upon Zabid and would eventually kill Nafis and Marjan. Najah prayed over the dead body of the King and the princess and erected a mausoleum over their place of burial. Najah would obtain the recognition of the Abbasid Caliph al-Qadir and would be given the honorific title 'al-Mu'yyadd Nasr al-din' and struck coinage in his own name. He continued to rule over Tihamah, and to exercise control over most of
7584-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
7680-472: The sacrifices his religious faith placed upon him. When Ali became king in 1047, he named her queen, malika , but not merely his consort, but his formally acknowledged co-ruler and political partner, who governed the realm of Yemen by his side. In recognition of this, her name was proclaimed alongside that of her spouse in the Khutba , the traditional privilege of a sovereign in a Muslim state: 'the khutba
7776-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
7872-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
7968-450: The spear passed through the bodies of both. May God preserve us from the grievous pressure of calamity ! I shall never forget," continues Jayyash," the sight of as-Sulayhi's head mounted upon the shaft of the royal umbrella". According to Ibn Khaldun , Sulayhi was en route to Mecca under the directive of al-Mustansir Billah , who instructed him to wage war against the Emir of Mecca due to
8064-563: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
8160-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
8256-650: The tribe of Amhara , and all I can relate of him is but as a drop in the sea of his great merits" Umarah concluded about them, saying, "No Arab king surpassed them in personal merit or in aught but nobility of lineage. They were noted for their generosity, for their brilliant estate (architecture), and for combining renown in war with celebrated achievements in times of peace." Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
8352-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
8448-572: Was dominated by two competing kingdoms since the 9th century; the Yufirids in the city of Sana , and the Ziyadids in the city of Zabid . Husayn recovered the original limits of the Ziyadid kingdom. Husayn ibn Salamah is renowned for his construction work on Zabid. Husayn was then succeeded as vizier by a slave named Marjan, who entrusted the regency to his Abyssinian administers Nafis and Najah, but
8544-656: Was established in Zabīd by the Ṣulayḥids. Queen Arwa al-Sulayhi , the last Sulayhid sovereign died in 1138. After her demise, Yemen was split between several contenders. Zaydi Immamte was revived in Najran , Sa'dah , and Jawf after 72 years of absence. The Hamdanid sultans were sovereign of Sana'a and Najahid viziers were ruling Zabid independently. Mansur foiled an assassination attempt plotted by his vazir, replacing him afterward. However, he would later fall victim to poisoning orchestrated by his subsequent vazir, Mann Allah. In
8640-595: Was killed by Ali ibn Mahdi the Kharijite in 1158. The last Ziyadid king died in 1018, leaving a child behind. The guardianship of the child was eventually assumed by a Nubian slave named Hussein ibn Salama. Husayn ibn Salamah saved the Ziyadid Dynasty from total collapse after a devastating attack by the Yu'firids . Prior to the ascendance of Najahids, the south-western coast of Yemen and Saudi Arabia (Tihama)
8736-465: Was lawful to reduce their captured women to the condition of concubines, their children to slavery, and to treat their country as a land of infidels. Their reign was short-lived, as Yemen quickly came under the control of the Ayyubids . Among the causes that contributed to the success of Ibn Mahdi , Umarah says, "was the circumstance that their chiefs were filled with jealousy and envy, at the sight of
8832-519: Was proclaimed from the pulpits of the mosques of Yemen in her husband's name and in her name', after the Fatimid sovereign and her husband: 'May Allah prolong the days of al-Hurra the perfect, who manages the affairs of the faithful with care.' This was the first time ever in history when the name of a woman had been proclaimed in the khutba. Another almost unique occurrence was that queen Asma bint Shihab "attended councils with her face uncovered", that
8928-415: Was said in consequence of some cause of offence that had arisen between the governor As'ad ibn Shibab and Aly ibn al Kumm (who was wazir to the governor appointed by the King al-Mukarram). He made use of his skill at chess to ingratiate himself with the vizier. Jayyash got close with the vizier and began playing chess with him often, but he inadvertently revealed his identity with a slip of the tongue after
9024-478: Was sometime affectionally referred to as the Little Queen of Sheba, according to Muhammad al-Thawr, "Some poets, carried away by their admiration of Asma, went so far as to declaim that if the throne of the queen of Sheba had been magnificent, that of Asma was still more so." This is somewhat remarkable, as the queen of Sheba belonged to the jahiliyya , the time before Islam, which was traditionally viewed as
9120-531: Was succeeded by his cousin, Fatik III who had a relatively long reign though effective power remained with the viziers Surur, who had been effectively in control since 529/1135, was assassinated in a Zabid mosque in 551/1156 by an envoy of the Mahdids . When the Zaydi Imam al-Mutawakkil Ahmad b. Sulayman was called upon for help by the Najahids, he demanded that Fatik should be deposed and he be recognized as
9216-495: Was the queen and co-ruler of Yemen in co-regency with her cousin and spouse, Ali al-Sulayhi , and later her son Ahmad al-Mukkaram , and daughter-in-law, Arwa al-Sulayhi , from 1047 until 1087. Her full title as sovereign, "al-Sayyida al-Hurrat -ul" translates to "The noble lady who is free and independent, the woman sovereign who bows to no superior authority". As female sovereign, Asma bint Shihab has an almost unique position in history: though there were more female monarchs in
#290709