Thoughts 2018

[Inner Peace 99]

New year new thoughts thread! 

Special thanks to a person who wishes to remain anonymous. 

[repenter-gone4awhile 7,289]

Thoughts! This is a good thread for 2018!

[Intellectual Resistance 1,167]

Alhamdullilah, may Allah accept all of our good deeds, forgive all of our bad deeds, and allow us to reflect on the year and think about how we could better improve in the coming year. May he allow us to respect all of our scholars, from Sayed Sistani (ha) to Sayed Ali Khamanei and the rest of our ulema, with clean intentions, no speculations, and unite the Shia, and thwart the efforts of anyone from any community who seeks to spread rumours. 

I would like to dedicate my first post on the new thoughts thread to share a thought i have: why not take up Arabic in 2018? Imagine opening the covers of the glorious Quran and being able to understand and feel the real sweetness of what you are reciting? Imagine being able to locate any hadith from the Prophet or the imams online and understand it directly from the very words they used to speak more or less? Imagine being able to watch far higher quality lectures from scholars in Arabic that we English speaking people do not get. Imagine being able to read the words of classical scholars on a verse of the Quran, or their commentary on a hadith that simply isn't accessible in the English language? Imagine being able to feel the beauty of Arabic poetry, being able to follow news in the Middle East, and so much more.

Don't be put off by Arabic or feel it is too difficult because you hear a lot about the complex grammar, and sometimes the feel it is just abstract words on a page. If you follow this method, you will be able to get some incredible progress in the Arabic language in 2018. No other language save Arabic has as much online resources, as much attention given to it, and as many people volunteering to promote the cause of learning it. The internet is awash with some of the most precious and valuable resources. 

it is important to understand, Arabic is based on mainly a Trilateral route system, and so getting to grips with how verbs can change and be modified from that route (Sarf-Morphology) and how words change depend on where they are in the sentence (Sarf and Grammar) are important especially for a highly inflective and very sophisticated but learnable language like Arabic.

Want to feel inspired? Watch this beautiful lecture by Hamza Yusuf on the Arabic language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RKV_s52f0o

 

So how do i learn it?:

There are many courses out there, but the one i completed and i feel is best for English speaking people are the Medina Series. Not only are all the books  for this course free and online, you have people who have produced far more summarised and to the point tutorials and lectures which save an incredible amount of time. 

The Medina books come in three volumes, and you can download them for free on the official website here: http://www.lqtoronto.com/madinaarabic.html

The best lectures i have ever seen teaching these have got to be the summarised, yet comprehensive ones on this youtube channel;

Medina Book1: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHHCQMGIzlJtaKFzl7dzvuPdlAktclJUledin

Medina Book2: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe-aPVZYx1lH4CSVh_WkZEUrfsUF-japn

Medina Book3:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl7FSzR4VMXnK9lAZNs3KaX_fLhTHuU4D

Furthermore, there is a website with even shorter videos that can be used as a revision guide or to help introduce concepts in a clearer way that should be use to supplement the above:

Year 1 summarised Arabic grammar: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBv6B6E0IuHgw7symFQKGdqaWgS5yYP31

Year 2 summarised Arabic grammar: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBv6B6E0IuHhF7Z0CZiq222KUj0aUnDMv

All Medina series resources, handouts, grammar books: http://www.lqtoronto.com/downloads.html

Medina Arabic conversational drills: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS4jnMwZk3wopoTkXo689FwbpiDYJ0W4BBuilding vocabulary

 

It is essential the language is more to you than abstract words on a page, and that you do not only learn grammar , but you greatly build your vocabulary too.  I would use this first, and I also highly recommend to anyone with an Android Phone, or with a Laptop or device, to download the free Anki Software here: https://apps.ankiweb.net/

Once you have done so, download a deck of vocabulary by searching for 'Arabic words MSA' as well as 'Medina book 1 vocabulary' and 'Medina book 2 vocabulary' and 'Medina book 3' vocabulary. Anki uses spaced repetition, which is highly effective in learning vocabulary and you are shown a certain number of new words per day, as well as repeats of words you've been through. If you do this over a long period of time it can help you accumulate more vocabulary.

 Just as a warning, before embarking on this book try to get to at least half way through book 3, because you  may not understand why a certain word has five forms in the table, if you do not understand how Arabic can use the same three letter root in order to change the meaning of the word. Here are some of the best resources to do that: 

The following PDF contains 83% of Quranic words by use. If you learn this small document you know 83% of the words used in the Quran by use: https://ia600406.us.archive.org/18/items/80Percent/80_percent.pdf

Feel the language is real

In order to make the language feel real, rather than just abstract words on a text you have no connection to, i highly recommend watching subtitled, quality Arabic cartoons. The following are some of the very best:

1. Tales of Women in the Quran:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7pVItspz0nvtJTN2xkpUn1E

2. Tales of humans in the Quran: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7oGrRjriW4H6R-LaJwmDFnV

3 Tales of animals in the Quran: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7rzH2ClknLpzbPHR5yLWC32 

4. Muslim scientists: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7rjuFulohTxs0zq7RYl0AJN

 

Dictionaries:

I don't recommend using one until you finish the Medina series, however, once you understand roots of words, different verb forms, and are good with morphology, the following dictionaries are great, and all free online and the most recommended:

1. al-Mawrid:  http://kalamullah.com/Books/alMawrid.pdf

2. Hans Wehr searchable dictionary:  https://giftsofknowledge.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/hans-wehr-searchable-pdf.pdf

Dictionaries like this can be confusing for English speakers, and so this is a great video as to how to use the Hans Wehr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcQw_yMkm3I

 

Useful resources to supplement the above:

1. Fundamentals of classical Arabic: http://kalamullah.com/arabic.html

2. Learning the Arabic of the Quran: http://kalamullah.com/arabic-language-of-the-quran.html

3. Word-for-word Quran translation (one of the best!): Volume 1: Volume 2: Volume 3

4. Essentials of Arabic verbs: http://kalamullah.com/Books/Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar 2nd Ed.pdf

5. 101 rules of Arabic grammar:  https://www.scribd.com/document/362303444/101-Rules-of-Arabic-Grammar-pdf

6. Umar series [Biography of the Prophet and the early conquests , and while we Shias differ on details, a lot of it is neutral and in classical Arabic subtitled into English]: https://archive.org/details/MBC-Omar-Series

7. Modern standard Arabic picture book: http://www.shiplife.com.br/downloads/arabic.pdf

8. Basic Arabic vocabulary picture book: https://www.scribd.com/document/241062227/Arabic-Vocab-for-Basic

 

Further advanced books:

Once you have completed the Medina Series, the same author of those books has written some excellent further books to strengthen ones Arabic:

1. Selections from the glorious Quran:   http://www.lqtoronto.com/sfgq.html

2. Surat al-Hujurat: http://www.lqtoronto.com/hujurat.html

3. Nur al Nur: http://www.lqtoronto.com/nurunalanur.html

4. From Esfahan to Medina: drvaniya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/From-Esfahan-to-Madinah-With-Lexical-and-Grammatical-Notes.pdf

5. Salawayh story book 1: https://www.scribd.com/document/61410066/Sahlawayhi1

6. Salawayh story book 2: https://www.scribd.com/document/61203309/Sahlawayhi-2

7. Salawayh story book 3: https://www.scribd.com/document/61203325/Sahlawayhi3

Make a Dua for me and all those currently on this journey. Remember, if you remain consistent at something, and continue to do it, even if you take a little bit of time from your day, it will eventually pay off. Seek the help of Allah, be sincere in your intention, and be patient. In languages there is a something called the 'inflection' point, which is where after many months of learning, or even close to a year, everything starts to come together and learning starts to become fare more rapid and the language starts to click, and i found this is the case for Arabic. Sticking to it will be off, and you will inshAllah if you follow the right method and are consistent, get to that point. 

[ShiaMan14 6,541]

Happy New Year ShiaChatters

[Sumerian 5,495]

Hopefully a good year bro

[Husayni 1,091]

Salam Alaikum,

Begin your new year with a salawat ala Muhammad wa Ale Muhammad (s)

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَّ عَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

O Allah, send your blessings upon Muhammad (s) and on the family of Muhammad (s)

Don't forget to pray for the reappearance as well

[hasanhh 6,176]

lnshallah, 2018 will be 'better' than 2017.

[notme 16,736]

We are starting the year with temperature too cold for the heat pump to work! My toes froze! (Not really, but it's a bit chilly here.)

[Heavenly_Silk 2,862]

 

اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد وعجل فرجهم

❤️ Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad wa ajjil faraja hum. ❤️

Happy New Year to you all! Let's not forget our brothers and sisters across the globe who have been suffering and continue to do so. Let's pray 2018 brings peace and justice for all and the reappearance of our beloved and holy Imam (a.j.t.f.s). May Allah (s.w.t) give us the strength to keep our faith strong in difficult times.

[hasanhh 6,176]

1 hour ago, notme said:

We are starting the year with temperature too cold for the heat pump to work! My toes froze! (Not really, but it's a bit chilly here.)

Over in the PoorJoke thread, l posted this morning that in readying for wudu, l couldn't tell if my feet or the bare floor were the coldest.

Tomorrow, the local weather hysteric is 'predicting' "record cold".

Where in the heck is the global warming Trump promised US ?

 "And it is getting cold down here, too."

[Sirius_Bright 2,904]

2 hours ago, notme said:

We are starting the year with temperature too cold for the heat pump to work! My toes froze! (Not really, but it's a bit chilly here.)

Same here. 18 degree Celsius. :P

[Chaotic Muslem 5,762]

sc suddenly shifted to mobile site on my laptop and i ant fix it even after browser cleaning

[wolverine 1,279]

Thank you to Mods and Admins that were popular contributors last week.  

@Gaius I. Caesar @Hameedeh @starlight @ShiaChat Mod @notme @Qa'im @Abu Hadi @Hassan- @Haji 2003 @Heavenly_Silk 

[Gaius I. Caesar 6,746]

No problem, man. Happy New Year!

[Husayni 1,091]

(About Imam Ruhollah Khomeini)

“One night I noticed the Imam sobbing so intensely that it affected me, and I too began to cry. Just then the Imam came out of his room on his way to renew ablutions and on seeing me crying, stated, “O Tavassoli, know the worth of your youth and worship God. The pleasure of worshipping God is attained in youth. When a person becomes old, he does have the inclination to worship, but lacks the mood and vigor.”

(Hujjat al-Islam Muslimeen Tawassoli)

[ruhollahkhomeini]

[hasanhh 6,176]

11 hours ago, Sirius_Bright said:

Same here. 18 degree Celsius. :P

Fortunate warm you. lt is -18 degrees Celsius here. That is -1 degree Fahrenheit.

And it is NOT Midnight, yet.

[Hameedeh 17,719]

Congratulations to ShiaChat members who were Popular Contributors last week! @Intellectual Resistance @Ashvazdanghe @Laayla @IbnSina @Inner Peace @ali_fatheroforphans @Islamic Salvation @Wholehearted Shi'a @Salsabeel @Mohamed1993 @Ali-F @Hussaini624 @Khomeinist @MuslimahAK @baqar  @rinneganMahdi @Jin Jin @Ībn Mūneer Āl-Feylī

[IbnSina 5,440]

Another year waiting for him(ajf) and him(ajf) waiting on us...

[hasanhh 6,176]

Well, minus 21 Celsius and still dropping.

Remember the hurricane displacees in Houston? Those that are in their cleaned-up but still-open-to-the-weather homes have minus 2 C' right now.

[IbnSina 5,440]