Archive for September, 2012
Baklava Posted by aziza on Sep 12, 2012
Do you like baklava (البقلاوة)? It is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. Here is one way of preparing it: Ingredients 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough 1 pound chopped nuts 1 cup butter 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup…
Perceptions of Standard Arabic and colloquial dialects Posted by aziza on Sep 8, 2012
Learners of Arabic as a foreign language often wonder which variety of Arabic to learn. The advice that we give to them is to learn Modern Standard Arabic (الفصحى) which is the variety used in written and formal spoken media (e.g. the news). Then after achieving some proficiency in MSA, we advise learners to acquaint…
Egyptian Proverbs (6) Posted by Fisal on Sep 7, 2012
Arabic proverbs الأمثال العربية reflect the beauty of the Arabic Language and the wisdom حكمة of the Arabs العرب and their culture الثقافة . In Egypt, these proverbs are part of everyone’s daily routine. There is no one single situation موقف that would not have the perfect proverb tailored for it. Just for the…
Verbal Sentence: The Subject/Doer (Part 1) Posted by Fisal on Sep 6, 2012
The Verbal Sentence: The Subject/Doer الــفــاعــِــل (Part 1) We have already started studying Arabic verbs. Check the previous posts for revision: 1) Introduction to Verbs مـُـقــَــدِّمــَــة فـِـى الأفــْــعــَـــال 2) Verb Type نــَــوعُ الــفــِــعــْـــلِ 3) Verb Tense زمــنُ الــفــِــعــلِ ; (1) The Past الــمــَــاضــِــى 4) Verb Tense زمــنُ الــفــِــعــْــلِ ; (2) The Present…
Al-Biruni Posted by Fisal on Sep 5, 2012
Abu-Rayhan Al-Biruni; (973 – 1048) Yesterday, Google celebrated the birthday of the great Muslim scientist of the medieval Islamic era. Abo Rayhan Muhammad Ahmad Al-Bairuni أبو ريحان محمد أحمد البيرونى was born on 5 September 973 in Kath, Khwarazm; known today as the region of Uzbekistan. He was a traveler, philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, chemist…