First up: Al-Fatihah

I’ve been thinking of posting some Arabic’s simple grammar… (and you can check the pronunciation here)

But it’s too much of a hassle. I’ll explain along the way, then. :D

First, let’s start with some simple surah…

Wait. Which one to use again? Not sure.

Then I remembered this.

Teacher: I need you to do this every night.
Me: Enshallah.
Teacher: Before going to sleep, sit down, exactly at the kiblat’s direction, be certain that miles away, Kaabah is in front of you.
Me: *nods nods*
Teacher: Recite these surahs while holding up your hands. First, Al-Fatihah. Next, ayat Al-Kursi. Then, the three Quls—Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and Al-Nas. Now, these surahs that you’ve read are in your hands. Massage it to your face, to your head, to your arms, body, legs, everything. From head to toe, everything.
Me: So that the surahs will protect our entire existence?
Teacher: Exactly. May nothing could disturb you while you’re in an unconscious state.

(that teacher is an imam…hence the serious tone…)

Well, hope you find that interesting, and practice it in your everyday lives. :) Never hurt to try, you are simply giving yourself some sort of a shield. Because who knows what could happen when your soul is elsewhere XD

So I suppose I should start with Al-Fatihah then. :D

اعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم‎
a3ud'u billah min alshai6n alrajim/ a3ud'u billahi min alshai6n irrajim
I seek refuge with Allah from the satan, the accursed.

اعوذ – ‎I seek refuge (ana (me) + 3ud' (verb - seek refuge) = a3ud' (simplified) Every word that has alif at the front and pronounced as 'aaa' refers to yourself.)
بالله – By/with Allah (bi has dual meanings – by or with, depends on the situation)
من – from
الشيطان – The satan (al simply means the)
الرجيم – The accursed

Quite simple, right? :)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Bism Allah alra7man alra7im/ Bismillah irra7man irra7im
By the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful.

بسم – by the name (bi + ismi (name) = bismi)
الله – Allah
الرحمن – the beneficent
الرحيم – the merciful

Now let’s start with the actual surah. :D

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Al7amd lillah rab al3lamin/ Al7amdu lillahi rabb il3lamin
The praise to Allah, the god/lord of all worlds

الْحَمْدُ – the praise
لِلَّهِ – Allah
رَبِّ – God/lord
الْعَالَمِينَ— all worlds

الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Al-ra7man al-ra7im/ Alra7man irra7im

(explained above)

مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
Malik yaum addin/ Maliki yaum iddin
The king of the judgment day.

مَالِكِ – king
يَوْمِ— day
الدِّينِ—the judgment

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
Iyyak na3bud wa iyyaknasta3in/ iyyaka na3budu wa iyyaka nasta3in
To you we worship and to you we seek for help.

إِيَّاكَ – To you (when the Alif is pronounced as ‘iii’, it becomes an order word. And when there’s a kaf at the back, it refers to ‘you’. Iyya + k (you) = Iyyak (to you))
نَعْبُدُ— we worship (nahnu (we) + a3bud (worship) = na3bud)
وَإِيَّاكَ— and to you
نَسْتَعِينُ— we seek for help (nahnu (we) + asta3in (seek for help) = nasta3in)

اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
Guide us to the straight path.

اهْدِنَا – Guide us (Ihda (verb – huda. Pronounced ‘iii’ – order word) + nahnu (us) = Ihdina)
الصِّرَاطَ— the path
الْمُسْتَقِيمَ— the straight

صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا الضَّآلِّينَ
9ira6 allad’ina an3mt 3laihim 8’ir alma8’9’ub 3laihim wa la al9’llin/ 9ira6 allad’ina an3mta 3laihim 8’air ilma8’9’ubi 3laihim wa la a9’9’llin
The path of those that’s been given benefit on them, not the one that’s been seethed on them, and not the one who’s gone astray.

صِرَاطَ – path
الَّذِين—those
أَنْعَمْتَ— benefit (ni3mat)
عَلَيْهِمْ – on them (3ala (on) + him/hum (them) = on them (3alaihim))
غَيْرِ – not
الْمَغْضُوبِ — the seethe
عَلَيْهِمْ — on them
وَلا — and no
الضَّآلِّينَ— those who went astray

ءامين
Amin.
Literally means safe.

:D

So next time you’re praying, make sure you know what you’re saying! :D

Let's study the Quran...with me! :D

(sungguh ku tidak dapat menahan kepoyoan tajuk itu...err...hmm.)

I’m thinking of polishing my translating ability, and aside from that, I really want to do this because I lost my way with my blog (supposed to be that, but I get that, and I want to be that, but I don’t want to lose that, and then there’s that, so that’s that, so I figure, what the heck, really. Hmm).

I think it’ll be a good method of understanding the Quran better, both for you and for me. :D

But first, I suppose I will tell you about the magnificent way of Arabic’s romanization.

(because I can’t write Arabic sentence with those fat7ah and others)
(so I will write the ayat—sentence—in Arabic font, and type a romanization under it, as well as the translation.)

So first! Things that you should know. :D

Due to the increasing usage of cell phone among teenagers (or something to that extend), a romanization chart was created, so that everyone can type in Roman alphabet without having the inconvenience of constantly switching to Arabic font. However, the Roman alphabets and Arabic fonts undoubtedly couldn’t be matched thoroughly with each other, so they’ve incorporated numbers into the romanization chart to make due with the lacking of alphabets.

So! Let’s get over it.

(bear in mind, I live in Saudi, precisely in Rabigh, which is near Jeddah, so the people here mainly use the Hijazi slang—or something like that. I myself have been using that pronunciation as well, since it’s the one that I’ve been exposed to, so I will use that slang in my translation posts. Other parts in the world speak the words differently, and that is especially prominent in Egypt, and I will discuss it later if I have the chance, but let’s not stressed about that at the moment.)

Let’s begin!

• ا = a (say aaa…yeah, that’s how you pronounce it.)

• ب = b (baa baa black sheep. Okay I should stop being silly.)

• ت = t (bit your tongue and say tta.)

• ث = t’/th – but I prefer th (bit your tongue and blow some air and say thaaa…)

• ج = j (just like Jim)

• ح = 7 (take a deep breath and blow out a hard HA!. Really, you need to be harsh. HAA!)

• خ= kh/7’/5 – but I prefer 5 (scoffing sound. Do not spit. Okay sorry for the grossness. But your pronunciation needs to be pronounced! So practice those khooooooo with those saliva vibrating in your throat. Okay, major disgusting alert.)

• د = d (soft daaaa.)

• ذ = 'd (bit your tongue and try to say daa and zaa at once, leaning more towards daa. It will result in ddza…)

• ر = r (It will be better if you can roll your r.)

• ز = z (ZAAAAA simple.)

• س = s (slithering thin saaaaa that will make the glass shatters.)

• ش = sh/ch/s^ – but I prefer sh (just the sh in shampoo.)

• ص= capital S/9 – but I prefer 9 (thicker S. Don’t make it thin. Do not. D:)

• ض= capital D/9’ – but I prefer 9’ (thick DHO)

• ط = 6 (place your tongue on your palate and try to say, THO.)

• ظ = Z/6’ (some people pronounce it as dzo but in my place, it sounds more ddzo than dzzo. So in a way, zuhur actually sounds as – dhuhur with a twinge of z.)

• ع = 3 (tighten your throat and try to say ‘a or nga or…something like that.)

• غ = gh/8’ – but I prefer 8’ (deep from your throat, try to spit out GHO)

• ف = f (simple faa.)

• ق = q/8 – not sure which I prefer, but possibly 8. (because here, it’s more pronounced as go rather than qo. But try to speak in between k and g, or if you can’t, g will let you get away just fine.)

• ك = k (just a straightforward KAY.)

• ل = l (LALALA)

• م = m (MAMAMA)

• ن = n (NANANA)

• ه = h (HAHAHA…soft ha. Don’t need to spit it out or something.)

• و = w (WAWAWA...)

• ي = i/Y – depends. (yiyiyi. yayaya. Okay I shall stop now.)

That concludes this post for today. :D Make sure to tune more later for some fun…well I hope I’ll be able to provide some fun. Well, it’s fun!

Till we meet again. :D

EDIT:

Read the Al-Fatihah post here :D