Words are not always what they seem to be.
Here, 3 poems are presented – in most of the cases, the same word is used (sometimes a derivative of it) and in each case it means something different!
رَأيْتُ فِي كَافرٍ كافرَ بنَ كافرٍ يَكْفُرُ في كافرٍ عند كافرٍ
“I saw in the field (kaafir), a farmer son of a farmer (Kaafir ibn kaafirin), digging ( yakfuru) in the field (kaafir) near a wide valley (kaafir)”
The verb ‘كَفَرَ‘ literally means to cover up/hide, it also means to be ungrateful. The farmer will dig, bury and cover up a seed, ready to grow it, whilst a disbeliever in his Lord is an ingrate to the favours of his Lord and he indeed covers up the Truth when it comes to him…
Seas and wide lakes are also sometimes called ‘Kaafir’ because according to Lisaan al-Arab, they cover what is beneath them.
And you thought kaafir just meant someone who disbelieved!
The next post will inshaa’Allaah be going through this topic in more details… watch this space.
Consider this… what does it mean to you?
الخِيَارُ خِيَارُ الخِيَارِ
Khiyaar is the khiyaar of the khiyaar 😀
It means:
“Cucumber is the choice of the Elite”
The term خيار here means 3 different things each time! [Cucumber/choice/the elite]
بِجَدِّي لا بجِدِّي كلُ مجدٍ *** فهل جدٌّ بلا جِدٍّ بمُجْدِي؟
The poet says,
Every glory is by exertion and not by luck
Is luck without any exertion of any glory?
جدّ (with fat-ha and kasra) also has an extensive range of meanings from seriousness, effort/exertion to luck and also grandfather!
*Jazaakillaahu khayran to my study partner who mentioned these poems to me during our fiqh sessions 🙂
as salaamu alaikum
jazaak Allah khaire, i enjoyed that =)
Assalam u Alaikum,
MashaAllah! i loved that kaafir one 🙂
All I can say is:
A-ha 🙂
Masha Allah, very informative. Keep them coming!
Jazak Allahu khayr. I like the kafir one as well.
Asalaam alaykum wa Rahmatuallahi wa Barakatu
If you don’t mind to direct me to your bio. in the blog. I just want to know where your studying and what year you are currently.
assalamu alaykum
cool! Mashallah
you proved yet again the depths of arabiyyah
Wa `alaykumusalaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh
Wa iyyaakum khayraa
Inshaa’Allaah I hope to soon finish up some small info regarding the 1st poem on ‘kaafir’ and a little extension on that – you’ll be in for some surprise!
Br. in Islam, baarak’Allaahu feek but I don’t have any bio posted on the blog at the moment. See here for other info: http://fajr.wordpress.com/about/
Assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah
I pray that you are in the best of health & imaan.
This is a short message to notify you that this entry has been selected for publishing on I J T E M A; a venture to highlight the best of the Muslim blogosphere.
To find out more about I J T E M A, and how you can further contribute, please click here.
May Allah bless you for your noble efforts.
Wa’salam
Wa `alaykumusalaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh
Jazaak’Allaahu khayran for the thought. May Allaah place barakah into your project and accept it from you 🙂
For very good pieces on arabic, I’d also like to recommend this blog to you: http://www.arabicgems.wordpress.com – maybe you can feature posts from there too.
Again, baarak’Allaahu feekum for the hard work you’re putting in.
this is wonderful, man-shallah- shukran ya’habibi