Arabic: Passport Control

Assalāmu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Well, living in an environment occupied with various kind of people and ethnicity, it sometimes makes my head a little dizzy to communicate with them especially when we have to switch codes while talking. It happens to me since I was young. 

I speak Northern Malay at home and we have sprinkling of Hindustani, Persian and Arabic in our speech that do not really exist in Southern Malay especially during my schooling times. I am not sure the words such as kutub khanah (library), gerek (bicycle), prashat (villains), bahadur (courageous act), rumbas (fight), and so on ever exist in Southern Malay. We used those words before we leave them out as the time is moving on up to now...  In term of pronunciation, I was frustrated with Quranic and non-Arab teachers who taught Islamic related sciences where they pronounced things differently to our pronunciation... The Qaf (ق) becomes Kop... The Ghayn (غ) becomes Gain... The Khaf (خ) becomes Haf... Ḍhad (ض) becomes Dott.. The special glottal 'Ayn (ع) turned out to be Ain... 

I pronounced them without any pain because I am a Peranakan Arab of the Past yet I had to pretend or forced to pronounce things like non-Arabs because we are not recognized with our own ethnicity instead we were lumped into Malayan nationality during British administration era... I was so much confused back then and yes... I was so depressed... 20 years ago people perhaps were not familiar with dialectical differences as compared to now with the development of modern information technologies and the internet. 

That was just my experience. I am relieved that I could share how I feel... I am dumping some Arabic for Communication. I would only use Roman script as Arabic script would take time unless if I write everything with my hand, hehe... These are in Syrian Arabic... Not Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).

Passport Control

In this story, Sylvana had just arrived in Damascus and she has to check her passport at the passport control. Let us see how she deals with el-mowazzif (worker).

Sylvana: Ṣabāḥ el-khayr!

Worker: Ṣabāḥ el-khayrāt! Jawādh el-safar idhā bitrīdī.

Sylvana: Tafaḍḍhal...

Worker: Shukran... Shū esmek?

Sylvana: Anā ismī Sylvana.

Worker: We entī minīn? 

Sylvana: Min Iṭāliyā. Anā mu'allimeh.

Worker: Āh! Enti Iṭāliyyeh? Iṭāliyā balad helwe katīr.

Sylvana: Eh, bas b'ide katīr.

Worker: Ṭhayyib... Tafaḍḍhalī. Haī basburik, ahlaw wa sahlan fīkī bish Shām!

Meaning

Sylvana: Good morning!

Worker: Good morning! Passport please.

Sylvana: Here you are...

Worker: Thank you... What is your name?

Sylvana: My name is Sylvana.

Worker: You are from?

Sylvana: From Italy. I am a teacher.

Worker: Oh! You are an Italian? Italy is a beautiful country.

Sylvana: Yes, but it is so far.

Worker: Great... Here you are. Your passport, welcome to Syria!

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Arabian Chronicles : Thamudic Ancient Arab

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

A remnant of Thamudic house, they dwelled in rock mountains around the area

The Thamudic people had began from a person who is known as Thamud bin Katir bin Iram. Their dwelling place is in the area called Hagar Wadi al-Qura. It is located in between Hejaz of Saudi Arabia and Syria today. Their houses were carved inside metal rocks.

The God had also sent them a noble prophet and messenger who is known as Saaleh a.s in the glorious Quran. Said al-Mas'udi : "Thamud had been in power in Hejaz to Syria and the sea of Ethiopia. Their houses were carved inside the rocks and pilgrimage caravans who passed through the area of Wadi al-Qura can see the remnants of their houses."

According to the narration of Ibnu Kalbi, he said that the tribe of Jadis and Tasmin among the branches of Thamudic Arabs came from the lineage of Iram bin Shem. The Tasmin was said as inhabited the area of Bahrain today. However, according to at-Tabari, both of the Jadis and Tasmin dwelled in Yamamah and not in Bahrain. It is due to that Yamamah is a fertile area and easier to establish settlements, build up houses and creating gardens. One of the king from Tasmin dynasty or the tribe of Tasmin was known as Amluq and he was so brutal and cruel.   

If we open up our Old Testament, we can also read a word which sounds like Amelechites. Amelechites referring to Amaliqah in Arabic. They came from the lineage of a person whose name is Amaliq bin Lawz. Amalechites were a kind of ancient Arab tribe. I had also heard a narration of elders that some followers of the noble prophet Moses a.s from the children of Israel was sent down to Arabian Peninsula to track these Amalechites and massacre them all as they were very cruel people.

The Amelechites according to at-Tabari had expanded widely. The major descendents were in Oman in the East of Amelechites. There were also Amelechites in Arabian Peninsula. Some Pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt were also from Amelechites lineage. Kings of Cana'an were also Amelechites. The opinion which support the assumption that some Pharaohs of ancient Egypt came from al-Jarjany. Another branch of the sibling of Amaliq bin Lawz according to some narrations had expanded to ancient Persia. A branch of Thamudic Arab called the Hadhora had build up settlements in a place called Rass. They became adherents of Zoroaster. 

The map portraying the area where Thamudic Arabs had been which is marked with the cross, some of them had expanded as far as Azerbaijan and Georgia today. Both Azerbaijan and Georgia were under Persian lands.

Those Arabs in Hadramawt are not considered as ancient Arabs. They are considered as the 'Ariba Arabs because they survived until post-Christ era. Other under this category is the Jurhums and Jurhums were divided into the First Jurhum and the Second Jurhum. The First Jurhum falls under the category of ancient Arabs because none of them survived. The Second Jurhums are descents of this person, Jurhum bin Qahtan. The son of Qahtan whose name was Ya'arob began to rule Yemen in Southern Arabian Peninsula. He also appointed his sibling to be king in Hejaz.          

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!