Something which I have always found to be amazing is the fact that some words in the Arabic language can have two meanings – not just two meanings, but two totally opposite meanings! Lets take a look at some examples:
The word الغَرِيمُ means ‘one in debt’ i.e. a debtor and it also means the one to who debt is owned (creditor)
المَوْلَى means slave as well as Master!
The mawla of so-and-so can be in reference to the servant of so-and-so as well as the master. And many times in the Qur’aan, the term ‘mawla’ refers to protector and supporter.
ثُمَّ رُدُّواْ إِلَى اللّهِ مَوْلاَهُمُ الْحَقِّ
“Then they are returned to Allah, their True Master…” [Al-An’aam: 62]ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ مَوْلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
“That is because Allah is the Protector of those who believe…” [Muhammad: 11]
A husband and a wife not only share the same house, but also the same word… الزَّوْجُ can be used to describe both, as Allaah says in Sooratul-Baqarah:
فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ
“They learned from them (the two angels) the means to sow discord between man and his wife (zawjihi)…” [Al-Baqarah: 102]
البَيْعُ typically means sale (from باعَ meaning ‘to sell’), however it can also mean ‘to buy’
الوراء which is the ism makaan for ‘behind’ can also mean ‘in front’
The الصَّرِيمُ of the night can also be the الصُّبْحُ – morning. And this is because each one ينصرم – elapses and passes by the other.
Sometimes the reasoning behind giving opposite meanings to the same word is not clear. And sometimes, there’s a special reason. One of those is ‘تفاؤل‘ – optimism and giving a sense of hope.
An example of this is the term: بصير
It literally means ‘to see’ – i.e the one who sees. But the blind person is also called ‘baseer’ and this is out of ‘tafaa’ul’ – optimism
<><><> 
Another example is the terms for desert and village.
The desert is sometimes referred to as: المفاز and the village as: الضيعة
Looking at the root words of each, المفاز comes from the verb ‘فاز’ meaning to win or to gain, and the word الضيعة comes from ضاع meaning to lose.
It is optimism that there can be gain in a desert and loss in a village whereas we all know the opposite is true!
[Some information taken from Fiqh al-Lugha by Ath-Tha’labi]
Interesting. Jazaakallahu khayr
Assalamu alykum sis
Mashallah, Jazakallah khair for yet again intriging aspects of arabic, keep it up.
ws
Wa `alaykumusalaam wa rahmatullaah
Wa iyyaakumaa
Yeah, quite interesting eh? I wonder if it exists in other languages too…
assalamu alaykum
I think it does to some extent, but I dnt have the knowledge of that extent to share it with you!
Arabic is one of those language that is unique in many ways which other languages cannot touch. Take English for instance… its so boring!
So Fajr, Im still waiting for my lessons ukhti!
Wa `alaykumusalaaam 🙂
Ya Bint Ya’qub, I haven’t forgotten ukhtaa… inshaa’Allaah I’ll begin lessons soon (is summer too far?), just heavily overburdened by stuff right now!
Besides, you don’t need me… you got excellent stuff happening around your area, no? 😀
assalamu alikum
mashallah excellent..
if u dont mind can u plz link me to this site as i will do the same inshallah..
jazakallah khair
Jazakallah Khairan. Excellent material.
assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah..
MashaAllaah amazing
I love reading things like this SubhanAllaah, just makes you realise how little you actually know and the vast ocean of knowledge out there…
JazakiAllaahu khayr for posting sister, look forward to more InshaAllaah
ws
Wa `alaykumusalaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh
Wa iyyaaki khayra
Everytime I read something new it just feels like the ocean has no bottom to it!
As the lines of poetry go – the arabic language spoke saying:
أنا البحرُ في أحْشَائِهِ الدُّرُ كامِن *** فهل سألوا الغوّاسُ عن صَدَفاتِي
I am the sea inside which are the hidden pearls
So have the divers asked regarding my sea-shells?
Which reminds me of Arabic Gems 🙂
Assalamu Alaykum
UmmShurahbeel
Or anyone in contact with UmmShurahbeel.
I need her to contact me regarding the Futuhus Sham. I can help much with the book. zaydfaheem@yahoo.com
Wassalam
Zayd