On Studying Classical Arabic: Learning a Dormant Language
Ustadh Syed Omair
A poet said:
لِسَانُ الْفَتَى نِصْفٌ وَنِصْفٌ فُؤَادُهُ فَلَمْ يَبْقَ إِلَّا صُورَةُ اللَّحْمِ وَالدَّمِ
One’s speech is half [of them] and the other half is their heart
Nothing thus remains except an image of flesh and blood.1
The status of the Arabic language in studying Islam cannot be understated. In multiple verses, the Quran denotes itself as “an Arabic Quran.” Thus, there is no escaping from learning the Arabic language for one who seeks to study Islam in a serious, academic manner. More specifically, one must understand the Arabic that was spoken in the time of the Quran — known commonly as “Classical” Arabic — to truly appreciate it, as modern and colloquial Arabic no longer suffice to grasp the Quran in its full brilliance. In this ongoing series, we will elucidate some of the pitfalls that students face when studying the Arabic language and offer some insights, suggestions, and solutions to make the journey easier, in shāʾ Allah.
Classical Arabic (العربية الفصحى — al-ʿarabiyyah al-fuṣḥā, or “the most eloquent Arabic language”) can be understood as a liturgical language — a language used for religious purposes — as well as a register of Standard Arabic, especially in its contemporary written form. Considering that there are no more native speakers of Classical Arabic, since all users of the language, including those of Arab background, have to learn the Classical register to engage with it, Classical Arabic can also classify as an extinct or dormant language.
Though this may come across as a harsh assessment, Classical Arabic may have ceased being an active language much earlier than is commonly assumed. Dr. Musāʿid al-Ṭayyār, a contemporary scholar, states,
وبهذا تكون اللغة التي ثبتت حتى عصر الاحتجاج بنقل العدول من علماء التفسير واللغة وغيرهم هي اللغة التي يُرجع إليها في تفسير كلام الله وما عداها لا يُعتمدُ عليه ولا يوثق به
…the language that was established up until the ‘Age of Proof’ through the transmission of trusted authorities among the scholars of tafsīr and language, and others — that is the language that is resorted to in tafsīr of Allah’s speech. Anything else is not relied upon or trusted.2
The “Age of Proof” (ʿaṣr al-iḥtijāj) mentioned above is the age during which Arabic poetry can be relied upon as being fully authentic and demonstrative of Classical Arabic. On this topic, Dr. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Shiḥrī clarifies,
ومن خلال أقوال أهل العربية في التحديد الزمني لنهاية عصر الاحتجاج بالشعر وجواز الاستشهاد به في اللغة والتفسير يظهر اختلافهم في وضعِ تاريخٍ دقيقٍ يكون فاصلًا بين مَنْ يصحُّ الأخذُ عنهم ومَن لا يصحّ ولذلك يُمكنُ القول إِنَّ المعتدلين مِنْ أهلِ العربيةِ قد ارتضوا تاريخًا وَسَطًا على وجه التقريبِ بين ذي الرمةِ المتوفى سنة ١١٧ هـ من جهةٍ وإبراهيم بن هَرمة المتوفى سنة ١٧٦ هـ من جهة أخرى فجعلوا سنة ١٥٠ هـ وهي منتصف القرن الثاني الهجري فيصلًا في خلافهم يأخذون بشعر مَنْ عاشَ قبل هذا التاريخ ويُعرِضونَ عن شعر من عاش بعده
Among the different opinions of the scholars of Arabic in temporally delineating the end of the ‘Age of Proof’ through poetry and the possibility of bringing authentic examples through poetry in the sciences of language and tafsīr, a difference of opinion arises in identifying a precise date to separate between those who can be taken from and those who cannot.
Based on that, it can be said that the more moderate scholars of Arabic found it fitting to place an approximate midpoint between Dhī al-Rimah, who died in 117 AH, on one side and Ibrahīm b. Harmah, who died in 176 AH, on the other side — thus establishing 150 AH, which is the middle of the second Hijri century, as an arbitration point in the debate, such that they take from the poetry of those who lived before this date and reject the poetry of those who lived after.3
Thus, the level of Arabic of native and non-native users of the language after 150 AH was considered by scholars of the language to be incapable of creating authentic Arabic poetry serving as proof of genuine reproduction of the language, with very few exceptions. Fast forward over one thousand years to the present day, and the task of learning Arabic may come across as very daunting, especially in light of the fact that Classical Arabic is not natively spoken anywhere in the world and has not been for some time.
How, then, should an aspiring student of the Arabic language and the Islamic sciences wrap their head around studying a dormant or extinct language? Should one even attempt it? The temporal gap may create a sense of hopelessness given that in the 1000+ years since 150 AH, the Arabic language has further split into new divisions: mainly ʿāmmiyyah, or the local dialects of various regions such as Levantine, Egyptian, Iraqi, Far West, etc., and what is called Modern Standard Arabic, or Modern Fuṣḥā, which spans across all regions but relies heavily on a modernized vocabulary and standardized expressions. Therefore, the quest for Classical Arabic looms as a daunting task beyond the reach of the modern world. However, there are some key points to keep in mind that may help push an aspiring student to continue their journey, which will be elucidated in this short article. In future articles, we will focus on concrete methods and techniques to facilitate study of the Arabic language, but for now, let us focus on what a student’s mindset should be when beginning their journey, especially in light of the preceding information.
First, while the cut-off point of Classical Arabic is established in 150 AH, it is important to note that the vast majority of written Islamic scholarship takes place after this point. This is all undertaken by scholars who would have learned the Classical register of Arabic similar to students in the modern world. For example, of the four canonical imams of Sunni jurisprudence, only two lived before 150 AH, namely Abū Ḥanīfah and Mālik, whereas al-Shāfiʿī was reputedly born in 150 AH and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal even later. Most of the texts of these schools — including key texts, such as Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī in the Ḥanafī school, Risālah ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī in the Mālikī school, Matn Abī Shujāʿ of the Shāfiʿī school, and ʿUmdah al-Faqīh of the Ḥanbalī school — were written after 150 AH. Even the canonical texts of hadith, with the notable exception of Mālik’s Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, were compiled after 150 AH. Though one might argue that the great compilers of hadith were not writing original texts, they nonetheless had to learn enough Classical Arabic to understand, compile, and categorize the collections of ḥadīth, and often did write their own hadith commentaries and other texts. This is without recognizing the great figures of the Islamic tradition who clearly come from non-Arab backgrounds and whose primary languages would have been Persian, Hindustani, Turkish, or other languages: earlier figures such as Imam al-Bukhārī, Imam al-Ghazālī, and al-Zamakhsharī, and later figures like Shaykh al-Islām Ebussuud Effendi, Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī, Imam Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī, and Mawlānā Muḥammad Zakariyyā al-Kandhlawī were all of non-Arab backgrounds.
Second, while creation of original poetry may have been the benchmark of delineating the “Age of Proof”, it is often not the standard needed to engage with classical Arabic texts and not required for understanding the Quran. While reading and understanding poetry may be considered essential to understanding the Quran, as this genre gives the context of the Arab psyche and the socio-political backdrop on which the Quran was revealed, this does not necessitate that the learner be able to produce a similar level of poetry. In fact, there is no indication that the majority of scholars of the past were skilled poets, though certainly many may have been.
Finally, Classical Arabic may be unique among all ancient languages in the amount of teaching material available for students of the language. From the time of the first generations of Islam, and especially after the great Sībawayh (d. 180 AH), Classical Arabic was systematically studied and codified into several subdisciplines that allowed students to grasp the language of the Quran. These subdisciplines are usually listed as twelve. Shaykh Muḥammad al-Ahdal enumerates them as,
وعلوم العربية اثنا عشر علما علم اللغة وعلم التصريف وعلم النحو وعلم المعاني وعلم البيان وعلم البديع وعلم العروض وعلم القوافي وعلم قوانين الكتابة وعلم قوانين القراءة وعلم إنشاء الرسائل والخطب وعلم المحاضرات ومنه التواريخ
The sciences of Arabic are twelve: language; morphology; syntax; semantics; figures of speech; embellishments; prosody; rhyme; the standards of writing; the standards of reading; the science of composition and address; and the science of transmission, part of which is [transmission] of dates.4
Arguably, the most important of these sciences are those of grammar and rhetoric, namely naḥw (syntax), ṣarf (morphology), maʿānī (semantics), bayān (figures of speech), and badīʿ (embellishments) — the latter three forming the branches of ʿilm al-balāghah (rhetoric). These are the sciences that all students, including those who specialize in fields outside of language and literature, generally study before branching out into other specializations. The curricula for these sciences contain hundreds of titles authored across the Islamic world, such that it is still possible to master these linguistic sciences in places like Turkey, Bangladesh, Somalia, Senegal, Kerala, Jakarta, and all other corners of the Islamic world. Even in the Western world, institutions in England and more recently the United States have been founded which teach the Arabic sciences at a high level, and many of these texts are being translated into English.
To summarize, while Classical Arabic may be considered dormant or extinct in its native spoken and poetical form, this does not mean that the language cannot be learned and used by students coming from other languages, which is indeed the case for all scholars and students in the present day. Being able to write poetry is not the benchmark for being able to benefit from the Quran or from the various Islamic sciences, all of which use Classical Arabic as the standard of communication. Finally, while the task may still seem daunting, there are so many resources, publications, and curricula available to help facilitate learning Classical Arabic, such that students and scholars to this day and age regularly reach a level of Arabic that allows them to engage with the Quran and scholarly texts of the past. In future installments of this series, we will look at concrete techniques and solutions that students can use to strengthen their command of the Arabic language.
Notes
[1] Al-Sayyid Aḥmad al-Hāshimi, al-Qawāʿid al-Asāsiyyah li-Lughah al-ʿArabiyyah (Dar al-Marefah, 2011), 3
[2] Musāʿid al-Ṭayyār, Al-Tafsir al-Lughawī li al-Qurʾan al-Karīm (Dar ibn al-Jawzi, 1432 AH), 6
[3] ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Shiḥrī, Al-Shāhid al-Shiʿrī fi Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, (Dar al-Minhaj, 1431 AH), 101-102
[4] Muḥammad al-Ahdal, Al-Kawākib Al-Durriyah Sharḥ Mutammimat Al-Ājurrūmiyyah (Dār Taḥqīq al-Kitāb, 2023), 104-105
Ustadh Syed Omair serves as a faculty member at the Qalam Seminary. He earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. During university, he took a gap year to study at the Qasid Arabic Institute in Amman, Jordan, and after graduating from college he returned to Qasid as a teacher of Classical Arabic from 2010 to 2017. He taught all levels of the Qasid Curriculum while developing curriculum and textbooks as well. While in Jordan, he studied the Islamic Studies in private and evening classes, particularly focusing on Shafi’i fiqh, Aqidah, Hadith, and furthering his knowledge of the Arabic language. Since returning to the United States, he has taught for Fawakih Arabic Institute, served as an Imam at the ADAMS Center in Northern Virginia, and was an instructor at Islamic Foundation School in Villa Park, Illinois. He lives in Dallas with his wife and two children.
