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The Day of Ashura Posted by aziza on Dec 18, 2010
The Day of Ashura (عاشوراء) is on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. It marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram. The day of Ashura is special to all Muslims, especially the Shiites. Sunni Muslims celebrate the day by fasting it and by preparing a special treat that…
The New Hijri Year Posted by aziza on Dec 15, 2010
The new Hijri year (1432) started on the 7th of December 2010. The word Hijri is derived from the word Hijra (emigration of Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina.) This is considered the beginning of the establishment of the Islamic state. The beginning of the Hijri year is often celebrated in many ways. Sufi traditions…
Sesame Street in the Arab World Posted by aziza on Dec 12, 2010
The famous American educations series Sesame Street has an Arabic version (عالم سمسم) which is very popular in the Arab world. I am familiar with the Egyptian version of Sesame Street. It is fun, educational and very popular with Arab children. The setting is adapted to the Arab culture and the setting reflects the Egyptian…
Abaya Posted by aziza on Dec 9, 2010
In a previous post, I wrote about the traditional costumes of Arab men in the Gulf region. In this post, I write about women’s dress. In Gulf countries, women traditionally wear Abaya (العباية) which is a traditional long black over garment. The Abaya often comes with a matching head cover, as shown in the picture…
Arabic Negation Using ‘laa’ Posted by aziza on Dec 6, 2010
In my previous post, I explained how (لا) can be used to indicate categorical negation. In this post, I explain the difference between its use for negation (النفي) and prohibition (النهي). (لا) is used for negation (النفي) with present tense verbs, e.g. لا أشرب القهوة كثيراً. “I do not drink a lot of coffee.” لا…
Categorical Negation in Arabic Posted by aziza on Dec 3, 2010
The negative particle (لا) is typically used to negate verbal sentences in the present tense. In this way, it is used before the present tense verb to negate it, e.g. لا أشرب الكحول. “I do not drink alcohol.” There is another use of (لا) for categorical negation (لا النافية للجنس). In this way, (لا) negates…
Word search and drills answers Posted by aziza on Nov 28, 2010
In this post, I present the answers of the word search and the prepositions drill. Word search answer: Prepositions drill answer: جاسم طالب عربي من الكويت يدرس في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية ليحصل على درجة الدكتوراة في الرياضيات. جاسم يحب السفر كثيراً، وفي الشهر الماضي سافر إلى نيويورك مع صديقه حمد. وهناك زار أماكن شيقة وتعرف…