Ibn Khaldoun (ابن خلدون) is a famous medieval Islamic historian and scholar who was born in Tunis in 1332 AD/732 AH, and who travelled extensively. He is a famous historian, sociologist, philosopher, among others. He was born to a rich and well-educated family of politicians and scholars, with ancestry in Andalusia. In his childhood, he learned the Quran (القرآن), Prophetic Sayings (الحديث), Arabic grammar (النحو) and Islamic law (الشريعة) at the hands of the best scholars at that time. He also learned logic (المنطق), philosophy (الفلسفة) and mathematics (الرياضيات).

Ibn Khaldoun lost his parents and many of his teachers in an outbreak of plague in North Africa when he was 17. This affected him deeply; then he pursued a career in politics which gave him popularity among many North African rulers; but due to rivalries, it left him in prison then in exile. He was sent by different rulers to diplomatic missions to Andalusia and to different parts of Africa, especially to Berber tribes, as he had strong relationships with them. During one of his missions, he sought refuge with a Berber tribe; and for three years, he dedicated all his time to writing his Muqaddimah (مقدمة ابن خلدون) “Introduction” to his version of world history in which he introduced very important concepts in social sciences and related them to history, such as sociology and demography. It is also considered to be the first book in the philosophy of history.

Ibn Khaldoun visited Egypt where he became a judge and respected scholar, but he gave it up when his wife and children died on the trip to join him, and he decided to undertake Pilgrimage (الحج). After his return, he worked on his history books, and then he participated in a military campaign with the Egyptian army to stop a Tatar attack on Damascus. He negotiated with the Tatar ruler Timur and wrote him an account of the history of Maghrib. Later, he wrote an account of the history of Tatars and sent it to the ruler of Maghrib.

Ibn Khaldoun wrote his own autobiography in which he described his journeys to the East and West, under the title (التعريف بابن خلدون ورحلته غربا وشرقا) or “Introducing Ibn Khaldoun and his Journeys East and West”. He is regarded as the father of sociology (علم الاجتماع), as he discussed very important concepts like social conflict, generation, tribalism, etc. Ibn Khaldoun’s books were translated into Greek and then into French, and were received very well in the Western world.

(Adapted from Wikipedia)

(Source: http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/Ibn%20Khaldun%20Cover%20Image1.jpg)

Computer terminology has become part of everyday language of people, especially young people in the Arab world. Computer technology develops very fast and reaches Arab markets and consumers before Arabic words have been made to accompany them. Therefore, computer technology reaches Arab societies in English. Of course there are Arabic words for a great deal of computer terms, e.g. consider the table below:

It should be noted, however, that most of these terms are not in use in everyday life. They are mainly used in writing, e.g. in advertisements or textbooks. People use the English terms in speaking, e.g. computer is (كمبيوتر) and hard disk is (هارد ديسك). It is interesting to note how these words are adapted to Arabic pronunciation and grammar. For example, computer becomes /combuter/ since Arabic does not have the sound /p/. Some English verbs in computer terminology get conjugates, e.g. save (سيفت) /sayevt/ ‘saved’, (تسيف) ‘tesayev/, ‘you save’. Many computer terms have entered young people’s every day language, even when not talking about computers, e.g. the word ‘online’ (أونلاين) is being used by young people about their daily life even when not talking about computer, in the sense ‘are you with me?’ or ‘can you understand me?’

In previous posts, I explained two cases of the present/imperfect tense. The default case in which present tense verbs take short /o/ (الضمة) which is called (المضارع المرفوع), and the subjunctive (المضارع المنصوب); in which verbs take short /a/ (الفتحة), and if the verb ends in one of suffixes (ون، ان، ين), the final (ن) is deleted.

The final case is called the jussive (المضارع المجزوم); in which verbs take no vowels at all (السكون), and if the verb ends in one of suffixes (ون، ان، ين), the final (ن) is deleted.

This case comes when the present tense verb is preceded by one of two particles:

لم = ‘did not’ used to negate the past tense.

لا = ‘do not’ expresses prohibition.

لم أدرسْ اللغة العربية.

“I did not study Arabic.”

لا تعملْ في المساء حتى تستطيعَ أن تدرسَ في النهار.

“Do not work in the evening in order to be able to study during day time!”

It should be noted that there are 2 usages of (لا), the first one is for negation, and after it the verb is in the imperfect case (المضارع المرفوع); and (لا) for prohibition which means ‘don’t’, and present tense verbs are in the jussive case (المضارع المجزوم) after it.

الأصدقاء لم يسافروا إلى مصر في العام الماضي؟

“The friends did not travel to Egypt last year?”

لا تتأخروا على الموعد.

“Do not be late for the appointment!”