As-salaamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullaah
قال رجل لهشام القوطي: كم تعد؟
قال: واحد إلى ألف ألف وأكثر
قال: لم أرد هذا، كم تعد من السن؟
قال: اثنين وثلاثين، ست عشرة من أعلى وست عشرة من أسفل.
قال: لم أرد هذا، كم لك من السنين؟
قال: والله، ما لي فيها شيء، السنون كلها لله تعالى.
قال: يا هذا ما سنك؟
قال: عظم
قال: ابن كم أنت؟
قال: ابن اثنين، رجل وامرأة.
قال: كم أتى عليك؟
قال: لو اتى عليّ شيء لقتلني.
قال: فكيف أقول؟
قال: تقول: كم مضى من عمرك
~ * ~
This is a humurous read denoting all the different ways of simply saying ‘how old are you.’ By giving many different answers (not intended by questioner), Hishaam al-Quuti highlights the fact that the most correct way of asking ‘how old are you’ is by saying كم مضى من عمرك – literally translated to mean “how much (in years) of your life has passed”
Asalamualaikum,
could you translate that?
Wa ‘alaikisalaam wa rahmatullaah
Ohh it’ll be difficult for me to translate it and still maintain the humour as well as the amazing language structure!
I can have a shot at it or get someone more experienced 🙂
If I get a good translation, inshaa’Allaah I’ll post it up ukhti
Asalamualaikum,
thats ok no problem. i just wanted to know roughly what it says. im learning arabic but still have trouble understanding it. im in no rush, take your time. jazak Allaah ..
As-salaamu 'alaikum sister
Here's a translation of the piece – someone was able to provide most of it (jazaahullahu khayra). However it has to be pointed out that it was really difficult trying to capture the intent/meanings of the words and questions when translating. Therefore if you can, stick to the arabic!
________________________
A man said to Hishaam al-Qooti:
How old are you? (However, the verb he used also means 'to count' so it could be understood as "how much can you count")
So he said: One to a million and more
He said: No! I didn't mean that! How old are you in terms of 'sinn'? (i.e. age – but 'sinn' also means teeth)
So he said: 32. 16 on top and 16 on bottom
He said: I didn't mean that! How many years do you have?
He said: By Allaah, I do not own any of them. The years all belong to Allaah!
He said: What is wrong with you! What is your 'sinn'? (Again, 'sinn' means both age and teeth).
He said: Bone
He said: You're a son of how many? (he intends years)
He said: A son of two. A man and a woman.
He said: How much has come over you? (i.e. how many years have passed over you)?
He said: If anything was to come over me, it would surely have killed me!
He said: Then how shall I say?
He said: Say – how much of your life (in years) has passed!
🙂
Hope it helps!
Asalaamu Alaikum,
Jazaak Allah khaire that was good 😀
reading it alongside the translation has helped my arabic atleast a little (i now know the arabic for teeth lol)
Wa ‘alaikumusalaam wa rahmatullaah
Wa iyyaakum
Glad it helped. If you’re interested, the plural for tooth (sinn) is ‘asnaan’ (teeth)!