Bikfaya ( Arabic : بكفيا , also spelled Bickfaya , Beckfayya , or Bekfaya ) is a town in the Matn District region of Mount Lebanon . Its stone houses with red-tiled roofs resting amidst pine and oak forests make Bikfaya one of the most sought-after suburbs of Beirut and one of Lebanon 's most popular summer resorts. An old town, among its monuments is the church of Mar Abda, built in 1587.
97-513: Amine Pierre Gemayel ( Arabic : أمين بيار الجميٌل , Lebanese Arabic pronunciation: [ʔæmiːn ɪlʒmaj.jɪl] ; born 22 January 1942) is a Lebanese politician who served as the 8th president of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988. He was born in Bikfaya to Pierre Gemayel , the founder of the Christian Kataeb Party (also known as the "Phalanges"). He worked as a lawyer, then was elected as
194-505: A Maronite Christian , thereby going against the tradition of reserving the premiership for a Lebanese Sunni Muslim. Muslim politicians and warlords refused to accept the Aoun government, instead recognizing a rival government of Selim Hoss , whom Gemayel had dismissed in favour of Aoun. When Amine Gemayel took office, Lebanon was torn by Israel's invasion of June 1982, and its subsequent occupation of large areas of Lebanese territory. This made
291-693: A brother, late Bachir Gemayel . His grandfather was forced to leave Lebanon in the early 20th century as a result of his opposition to the Ottoman Empire and therefore, had to spend several years living in Egypt . Gemayel's great uncle, Antoine, traveled to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 as a political representative of the Maronite Christian community in Lebanon. Gemayel obtained a law degree from
388-562: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
485-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
582-750: A daughter, Nicole, and two sons, Pierre and Sami . Pierre Gemayel was elected to Parliament in 2000, appointed to the Cabinet in 2005. He was assassinated by unidentified assailants in Jdeideh, a Beirut suburb, on 21 November 2006. Amine Gemayel angrily blamed Syria for the murder of his son. He is fluent in French and English. Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
679-575: A deputy for Northern Metn in 1970 by-election, following the death of his uncle, Maurice Gemayel , and once again in the 1972 general election. At the start of the Lebanese Civil War , the Phalanges were a member of the Lebanese Front , allied with Syria against the leftist National Movement . However, Syria became their enemy, while they started receiving the support of Israel . This phase saw
776-1077: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
873-562: A fellow and lecturer (1988–1989). He is affiliated with the University of Maryland as a distinguished visiting professor. From 1990 to 30 July 2000, he resided in Paris as an exiled leader of the opposition, and lectured extensively on Lebanon and the Middle East in various countries worldwide. Since July 2000, he has been living in Lebanon where he pursues his political agenda. Gemayel never promised
970-553: A few of the residents survived the onslaught and fled to the mountains of North Lebanon. As such, Bikfaya and its surroundings remained uninhabited until the 16th century. Feudalism in the Mamluk era was granted by the sultan in return for military services provided by individuals to the state. The Mamluk granted the Turkuman (known as Assafiyeen) control over the north (Lubnan Fi al-Tarikh- Dr Philip Hitty- Dar al –Thakafa- Beirut, 1959) with
1067-483: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
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#17328526463361164-510: A long tradition in Lebanon. The Gemayel family are originally from the northern region of Mount Lebanon. His ancestors settled in the town of Bikfayya, 25 kilometers northeast of Beirut, in the mid-16th century. Born in the Lebanese town of Bikfaya on 22 January 1942, Amine Gemayel is the eldest son of Pierre Gemayel , founder of the Kataeb Party and his wife Genevieve . He has two sisters and
1261-677: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
1358-730: A national unity government, including members from the opposition, headed by Rashid Karami. He cancelled the May 17 Agreement, and appointed Michel Aoun as a Commander of the Armed Forces. In 1986, he helped Samir Geagea organize a coup against the leader of the Lebanese Forces Elie Hobeika , for signing the Tripartite Accord with Berri and Jumblatt. Following the assassination of Karami, he appointed Selim Hoss as acting Prime Minister. Right before his term expired, Gemayel dismissed
1455-713: A quarterly journal edited in Arabic, French and English, comprising a chronology of the main events in the area, press reports, and a series of essays. In addition, he started a French-language daily newspaper entitled Le Reveil . Gemayel started a self-imposed exile for the next twelve years, living variously in Switzerland, France, and the United States. At first, he claimed that he was threatened by Syria, but he later published in his memoirs that Geagea threatened him with personal harm. In 1989, he joined Harvard University 's Center for International Affairs . He also lectured at
1552-576: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
1649-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
1746-462: A short drive to the Mzaar-Kfardebian ski resort and Zaarour Club. Summers in Bikfaya are cool and characterized by periods of fog in the afternoon. The Greater Bikfaya consists of the towns of Bikfaya بكفيا, Mhaydseh المحيدثة, Sakiyat al Mesek ساقية المسك, Bhersaf بحرصاف, Aïn el Kharroubé عين الخرّوبة and Al Aayroun العيرون. The name of the town comes from Phoenician origin (Beit Kfeya)
1843-465: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
1940-552: A special parliamentary committee into former President Amin Gemayel's role in the Puma aircraft sale. Apart from his political activities, Amine Gemayel established, in 1976, the "INMA Foundation", which coordinates several institutions dealing with social, political and economic issues concerning Lebanon and the Middle East. He also founded "Beit-al-Mustakbal", (the house of the future), a think-tank and research center which published Haliyyat ,
2037-503: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
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#17328526463362134-499: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
2231-601: A variety of vehicles decorated with thousands of colorful flowers and fruits parade through Bikfaya's tree-lined main street. Live music bands, bazaars, and the election of three beauty queens: the Queen of Flowers, the Queen of Fruits and the Queen of Sports, are held in the public squares and gardens. Bikfaya is home to 20,000 Lebanese who are followers of the Maronite Catholic , Greek Orthodox , Greek Catholic , Armenian Orthodox , Baptist and other Christian churches. Bikfaya
2328-470: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
2425-727: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
2522-677: Is a contraction of the Aramaic (Syriac) compound phrase "Beit Keifayya", בית כיפיא, with "Keifayya" being the relative adjective of the word כיפא, meaning "rock" or "stone" in Aramaic. And so, Bikfaya would mean the "house of stone" or "the rocky/stony house" with the semantic connotation of "the place, location of stones, or stone quarry." Bikfaya is nestled in the mountains overlooking the Mediterranean with an elevation ranging from 900 to 1000 meters above sea level. It lies 25 km from Beirut and only
2619-585: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
2716-542: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
2813-611: Is also the summer seat of the Armenian Catholicos of Cilicia. Gemayel is the name of a prominent Lebanese Maronite Christian family based in Bikfaya. Many restaurants, especially ones specializing in Lebanese cuisine , can be found in Bikfaya. It also offers tourists rest and leisure in its numerous hotels, amusement centers, and public gardens, such as the Grand Hotel Naas and such as Locanda Corsini guest villa. The Naas
2910-469: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
3007-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
Amine Gemayel - Misplaced Pages Continue
3104-468: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
3201-566: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
3298-836: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
3395-559: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
3492-530: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
3589-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
3686-516: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
3783-563: The Druze Walid Jumblatt , in what is known as the Mountain War . By the end of the conflict, the government suffered heavy defeat, and lost control over wide areas of Mount Lebanon . It was followed by February 6 Intifada , where the army was expelled out of West Beirut, and disintegrated into sectarian groups. As a result of heavy pressure, and the withdrawal of the multinational forces, Gemayel visited Damascus in 1984, and formed
3880-445: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
3977-459: The Gemayels who came from Jaj in 1545 and were delegated control over Bikfaya and its northern suburbs. In 1587 father Antoun Gemayel sought to build a church in Bikfaya, so he donated one thousand Kobrosy to this cause. However, this sum was not enough and the number of inhabitants of Bikfaya was little, so father Antoun resorted to his brother-in-law and nephew for help and unified the efforts of
Amine Gemayel - Misplaced Pages Continue
4074-694: The Lebanese Army , receiving support from the Multinational Force in Lebanon and despite fierce internal opposition, he reached the May 17 Agreement with Israel in 1983, which stipulated the withdrawal of the Israeli forces and ending the state of war between the two countries, but didn't ratify it. Under his command, the army, allied with the Lebanese Forces , clashed with Jammoul , a Syrian-backed alliance led by
4171-643: The Qornet Chehwan Gathering , a group of anti-government Christian politicians. In 2003, Amine Gemayel attempted to act as an intermediary between U.S. President George W. Bush and the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein . Although his efforts to forestall the ensuing Iraq War were not successful, they fuelled speculation that he might be a candidate for Secretary General of the United Nations when Kofi Annan 's term expired. After
4268-596: The St. Joseph University in Beirut in 1965. Amine Gemayel began his career after his graduation practicing as an attorney in 1965. He then concentrated on building up his family's newspaper business. In a 1970 by-election , he was elected to succeed his deceased uncle, Maurice Gemayel , as a member of the National Assembly; he defeated Fuad Lahoud by a margin of 54% to 41%. In 1972, in the last election to be held for 20 years, he
4365-496: The University of Maryland, College Park . On 30 July 2000, however, he returned to Lebanon and began to organize the opposition to the government of President Émile Lahoud , whom he regarded as a Syrian puppet. Unable to regain control of the then pro-Syrian dominated official Kataeb Party, he founded a new party, al-Qaeda al-Kataebiya , which claimed to be the true successor to the old Kataeb Party founded by his father. He also joined
4462-561: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
4559-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
4656-480: The "Arab Deterrence Force", which provided the legal framework for Syria's military presence since 1976; and in 1985, he refused to ratify the so-called "Damascus Agreement" brokered by the Syrian government between the fending Lebanese chiefs of militias, which aimed at disintegrating any independent decision-making process in Lebanon. In 1987, he promulgated the law annulling the "Cairo Agreement" of 1969, which authorized
4753-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
4850-717: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. Bikfaya The name Bikfaya
4947-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
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#17328526463365044-562: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
5141-812: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] . Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
5238-845: The Cedar Revolution the Kataeb factions were united under the leadership of Gemayel. After Gemayel's son Pierre was assassinated in November 2006, Amine ran for his late son's seat. Amine lost by a small margin to an unknown candidate presented by Michel Aoun as a member of the Free Patriotic Movement . In February 2008, Gemayel was appointed the president of the Phalange or Kataeb Party, replacing Karim Pakradouni , who resigned from office in 2007. Gemayel married Joyce Tyan in December 1967. They had
5335-455: The Israelis anything in order to be elected president, but he promised that he would follow the path of his brother Bashir whatever that path was. He left his post in the Kataeb Party after being elected president. Once elected, he refused to meet any Israeli official. With foreign armies occupying two-thirds of the country ( Syria in the north and east , Israel in the south ), and private armies independent of government control occupying most of
5432-447: The Maronite Emirs and Bishops starting from the 7th Century AD and the most distinguished of these was Emir Semaan who resided in Bhersaf in the 11th century. The residents of the old Keserwan (which included at the time the Metn area and its surroundings) supported the Crusaders who remained in Lebanon from 1099 to 1291. When the Crusaders withdrew from their last strongholds, the Mamlukes led their first campaign in revenge under
5529-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
5626-413: The PLO to use Lebanon as a base for military operations against Israel, disregarding Lebanese sovereignty. Amine Gemayel was believed to be behind the purchase of what were supposed to be new, French-made Puma helicopters. That was in 1983. Then the aircraft were discovered to be used and Ukrainian-made, making them worth far less than original price (184 million francs, a rough equivalent of $ 80 million at
5723-432: The Qornet Shehwan Gathering, and participated in the Cedar Revolution following the assassination of Rafic Hariri . In 2006, Pierre Gemayel , his son, who was a member of the parliament, was assassinated. He ran in the by-election, but lost against a Free Patriotic candidate. His other son, Samy , succeeded him as president of the Phalangist Party. Gemayel descends from a Maronite Christian family (the Gemayels ) with
5820-474: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
5917-413: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
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#17328526463366014-417: The cabinet and formed a military government headed by Michel Aoun . Aoun then declared war on Syria but was defeated in 1990, marking the end of the civil war and the implementation of the Taef Agreement . Gemayel moved to Switzerland and later France, starting a self-imposed exile. In 2000, Gemayel returned to Lebanon, and organized opposition to Syria, and the leadership of the Phalangist Party. He joined
6111-435: The commander of the army. Chamoun and Aoun were both unacceptable to Syria and to Muslim politicians in Lebanon. A constitutional crisis developed. Fifteen minutes before the expiry of his term, Gemayel appointed Aoun to the post of prime minister , who takes on the role of acting president if the presidency is vacant. He did so to preserve the tradition that the president, and by implication anyone acting in that role, should be
6208-509: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
6305-455: The country under foreign occupation, there was little that he could do. He managed to keep a semblance of constitutional order. This order began to unravel in 1988. Gemayel, whose term was due to end on 23 September, was constitutionally barred from reelection. Amine Gemayel opposed Dany Chamoun for the presidential elections, a man known for his strong anti-Syrian views and the son of former president Camille Chamoun , or General Michel Aoun ,
6402-412: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
6499-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
6596-447: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
6693-427: The financial losses as a result of breaking the contract. Officials also held then Army Commander General Ibrahim Tannous responsible for “neglect” because an illegal military deal was sealed during his term of office. The minutes showed that Parliament also held Gemayel responsible, and that it referred the case to the state prosecutor for further investigation. This was all brought up in 2002 as part of investigations by
6790-403: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
6887-427: The hometown of then President Amine Gemayel , was extensively damaged and most of its inhabitants left their homes. The shelling was condemned by the Shia leader Sheikh Fadlallah and Amal took no part in the fighting. La Fête des Fleurs à Beckfayya or the Festival of Flowers has attracted tourists since 1934 when Maurice Gemayel started the festival to attract attention to the mountainous town. Each year,
6984-579: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
7081-608: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
7178-599: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
7275-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
7372-570: The leadership of prince Pedra in 1292 against the citizens of Keserwan who were diverse early on, forming pockets of Shia Muslims and Maronites. However, the harsh mountains proved resistant to Mamluk soldiers who led a second campaign in 1293 which ended in the death of their leader and the slaughter of most of their soldiers. In retaliation, the Mamluk gathered an army of fifty thousand warriors and attacked Kesrwan in 1305 . They destroyed villages, burned temples, cut trees and wiped out all traces of construction and killing everyone they could find. Only
7469-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
7566-459: The mission to safeguard the shoreline against intrusion by occidentals and early natives. The Assafiyeen inhabited areas they called after their notables and then moved to Ghazir. During the era of prince Mansour al-Assafy, with security spreading in the Kesrwan area, some members of the Bikfaya families—who had survived in 1305—started to return to their hometown in 1540 (Sheikh Edmond Bleybel) such as
7663-768: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
7760-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
7857-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
7954-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
8051-459: The rest, Gemayel's government lacked any real power. His efforts to reach a peace settlement with Israel were stymied by Syria and by Muslim politicians at home. His government found itself largely unable to collect income tax, as warlords controlling the ports and major cities pocketed the tax take themselves. Many criticized Gemayel for not moving decisively enough to assert the authority of the government, but others have pointed out that with most of
8148-539: The rise of Amine's brother, Bachir , who had disputes with Amine about the military leadership, such as uniting the Christian militias by force. In 1982, Bachir was elected to presidency, but was assassinated before taking office. Endorsed by the United States and Israel, he was elected on 23 September as the eighth president. At the age of 40 years, Amine was the youngest president to take office. Gemayel re-organized
8245-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
8342-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
8439-556: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
8536-501: The stone house – that is consecrated to worship the God "Kifa". Church historian, the German historian Roehinger, proved that the Christian peoples — later known as al-Marada — have lived in this area and built BasKinta, Bikfaya, and Bhersaf starting around the year 679, a short time before building Ehden in north Lebanon. Historians mention as well that Bikfaya and Bhersaf were the headquarters of
8633-521: The time). The deal was signed in Beirut in July of the year 1983 by Lebanese Defense Minister Issam Khoury and the “Société Francaise de Vente et Financement de Materiels Terrestres et Maritimes” (SOFRANTEM). Gemayel denied that he had any connection with the affair. According to the minutes of Parliament's session, published in the Official Gazette in 1994, Parliament held the French government responsible for
8730-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
8827-537: The two towns and implemented his project next to an old oak tree. The tree is estimated to be around 1000 years old, and its trunk is still visible. Antoun set in the south-eastern side of the church an altar in the name of Mar Abda for the Maronites and another in the north-eastern side in the name of Our Lady for the Greek Orthodox (Bleybel). Dweihy says in his book: the history of the Maronites page 181 :…and in
8924-429: The withdrawal of Israeli troops a top priority on his political agenda. As head of state, he set himself three main objectives which still form the basis of his political activity today: (1) Reestablishing the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon; (2) Maintaining an effective dialogue between Lebanon's different communities and (3) Restoring and modernizing the institutions of the state. In 1984, Amine Gemayel dissolved
9021-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
9118-427: The year 1587 (996H) father Antoun of Gemayel family built the church of Mar Abda in the village of Bikfaya and had it illustrated by Elias al-Hasrouny. He spent on it 1000 Kobrosy in addition to donations by the residents of Bikfaya and other philanthropists… then Patriarch Sarkis followed in the steps of his predecessors and raised father Antoun to Archbishop as a reward for his efforts. Historians believe that Bikfaya
9215-633: Was assassinated by a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party , therefore, Amine was regarded as a natural choice to bring together both the supporters of his slain brother, and his Muslim opponents. On 21 September 1982, he was elected the president of the republic. His term in office ended on 22 September 1988 (six years as per the Lebanese Constitution). He then joined the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University as
9312-486: Was reelected by a large margin. While his younger brother Bashir was regarded as a political radical, espousing the expulsion of Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanese soil and a radical overhaul of the political system, and hinting at a possible peace settlement with Israel, Amine Gemayel was considered more moderate. Always a consensus politician, he avoided, at least in his pre-presidential years, alienating Muslim politicians as his brother had done. When Bashir Gemayel
9409-733: Was the consecrated shrine of the Phoenician deity Baal . It was also the capital of the Christian Cancimat of Lebanon (1840–1860). Towards the end of March 1986, following the rejection by the Maronite Lebanese Forces (LF) of a peace plan, brokered by the Syrians , aimed at ending the Civil War , Christian areas were subject to indiscriminate bombardment by the Syrian Army . Bikfaya,
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