106-493: Majd ad-Dīn Usāma ibn Murshid ibn ʿAlī ibn Munqidh al-Kināni al-Kalbī (also Usamah , Ousama , etc.; Arabic : مجد الدّين اُسامة ابن مُرشد ابن على ابن مُنقذ الكنانى الكلبى ) (4 July 1095 – 17 November 1188) or Ibn Munqidh was a medieval Arab Muslim poet, author, faris (knight), and diplomat from the Banu Munqidh dynasty of Shaizar in northern Syria . His life coincided with the rise of several medieval Muslim dynasties,
212-864: A brief truce between Nur al-Din and the county (unlike a previous less severe earthquake of 1157 where fighting continued). Alfonso Jordan (1103–1148) was the son of Raymond IV and his third wife, Elvira of Castile . Although he was born in Tripoli, Alphonso-Jordan was raised in France. In 1147, he joined the Second Crusade , which was launched in response to the loss of the County of Edessa to Turkish forces. Alphonso died, possibly poisoned, in Caesarea , in 1148. He had an illegitimate son, Bertrand of Toulouse, who continued his progress towards Tripoli. Count Raymond II (1115–1152),
318-562: 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
424-435: 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
530-1077: 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
636-602: A fourteenth-century biographical dictionary, calls him "one of the most powerful, learned, and intrepid members of the [Munqidh] family" and speaks at great length about his poetry. He was also known for his military and hunting exploits. Ibn al-Athir described him as "the ultimate of bravery", regarding his presence at the Battle of Harim. For modern readers he is most famous for the Kitab al-I'tibar and his descriptions of life in Syria during
742-627: A friendship with members of the Knights Templar whom he considered more civilized than other crusader orders. Afterwards, Usama was suspected of being involved in a plot against Unur, and he fled Damascus for Fatimid Cairo in November 1144. In Cairo he became a wealthy courtier, but he was involved in plots and conspiracies there as well. The young az-Zafir became caliph in 1149, and Ibn as-Sallar became vizier , with Usama as one of his advisors. As-Sallar sent Usama to negotiate an alliance against
848-472: A less formal style of classical Arabic . Usama was known for becoming embroiled in palace intrigues and political maneuvering. As the Encyclopaedia of Islam says, "his career was a troubled one, and for this his own actions were surely responsible in large part." To contemporary and later medieval Muslims, however, he was best remembered for his poetry and his poetry anthologies. Ibn Khallikan , author of
954-483: 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
1060-677: 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
1166-576: 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
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#17330850007041272-462: 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",
1378-465: 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
1484-503: 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
1590-499: 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
1696-470: 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
1802-727: 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
1908-585: 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
2014-542: 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
2120-469: 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
2226-408: 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
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#17330850007042332-468: 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
2438-688: Is his dislike of jihad , which is different in the Shia doctrine. Usama also admired Christian monks and holy men, and was disturbed that Muslims were not as pious as Christians. He was very fond of Sufis when he first learned about them late in his life in Damascus. Around 1171 in Hisn Kayfa, Usama wrote the Kitab al-'Asa ("Book of the Staff"), a poetry anthology about famous walking sticks and other staffs, and al-Manazil wa'l-Diyar ("Dwellings and Abodes"). In Damascus in
2544-566: 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
2650-836: 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
2756-559: 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
2862-584: 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
2968-413: 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
3074-516: 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
3180-570: Is very obscure, but he travelled throughout the region, and probably wrote many of his works there. In 1174, Usama was invited to Damascus to serve Saladin , who had succeeded Nur ad-Din earlier that year and was a friend of Usama's son Murhaf. Usama lived in semi-retirement, as he did in Hisn Kayfa, and often met with Saladin to discuss literature and warfare. He may have also taught poetry and hadith in Damascus, and held poetry salons for Saladin and his chief men, including al-Qadi al-Fadil and Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani . He died on 17 November 1188. He
3286-445: 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
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3392-674: The Battle of Shaizar , their defence of the kingdom was successful. In 1119, the Seljuk Empire again attacked Antioch, winning the Battle of Ager Sanguinis . However, Count Pons of Tripoli and Baldwin II defended Antioch and, at the Battle of Hab , successfully defended the flank of the Christian forces. In 1125, Count Pons of Tripoli marched against the Turks who had again attacked Edessa , this time besieging
3498-725: The Fatimid court in Cairo , as well as the Artuqids in Hisn Kayfa . He travelled extensively in Arab lands, visiting Egypt, Syria, Palestine and along the Tigris River, and went on pilgrimage to Mecca . He often meddled in the politics of the courts in which he served, and he was exiled from both Damascus and Cairo. During and immediately after his life, he was most famous as a poet and adib (a "man of letters"). He wrote many poetry anthologies, such as
3604-471: The Kitab al-'Asa ("Book of the Staff"), Lubab al-Adab ("Kernels of Refinement"), and al-Manazil wa'l-Diyar ("Dwellings and Abodes"), and collections of his own original poetry. In modern times, he is remembered more for his Kitab al-I'tibar ("Book of Learning by Example" or "Book of Contemplation"), which contains lengthy descriptions of the crusaders , whom he interacted with on many occasions, and some of whom he considered friends. Most of his family
3710-575: The Latin patriarch of Antioch . This was so even after a papal edict to the contrary. As a vassal of the kings of Jerusalem , Bertrand of Tripoli was drawn into war with the Seljuk Turks . In 1111, Mawdud , a Turkish military leader, campaigned against Antioch and Edessa . Count Bertrand of Tripoli and King Baldwin I of Jerusalem marched to defend the Christians in the north. In joining Prince Tancred of Galilee and Count Baldwin II of Edessa at
3816-561: 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
3922-494: 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
4028-419: 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
4134-745: 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. County of Tripoli The County of Tripoli (1102–1289)
4240-454: 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
4346-514: 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
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4452-812: 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
4558-520: The Arabs and Byzantines, who regained it in 999. In 1025 the Banu Munqidh tribe were given an allocation of land beside Shaizar by the ruler of Hama, Salih ibn Mirdas . Over time they expanded their lands building fortifications and castles until Usama's grandfather Izz al-Dawla al-Murhaf Nasr retook it in 1080. When Nasr died in 1098, Usama's father, Majd ad-Din Abi Salamah Murshid (1068–1137) became
4664-562: The Buqai'ah plain. This included the castles of Krak des Chevaliers , Anaz, Tell Kalakh, Qalaat el Felis and Mardabech. In the 1150s, the defences were further strengthened by the presence of the Knights Templar at Tartus on the seashore. In religious matters, the counties of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were expected to follow the lead of the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem . However, Count Pons had formed an alliance with Antioch , and acknowledged
4770-723: The Byzantines and the crusaders attempted on many occasions to storm it. However, due to its natural fortifications, it never fell. As a child, Usama was the second of four boys and raised by his nurse, Lu'lu'a, who had also raised his father and would later raise Usama's own children. He was encouraged by his father to memorise the Quran , and was also tutored by scholars such as Ibn Munira of Kafartab and Abu Abdullah al-Tulaytuli of Toledo . He spent much of his youth hunting with his family, partly as recreation and certainly as warrior ( faris ), training for battle as part of furusiyya . He also gathered much direct fighting experience, against
4876-611: The County of Tripoli along its borders, especially those to the east. In 1137, Raymond II , the reigning count, lost control of Montferrand. The Muslim position strengthened when the Hashshashin ( Nizari Ismailis ) forces formed in the Nosairi mountains to the north. In 1144, in order to increase the county's defences, particularly against Zangi of Mosul, Raymond II gave the Knights Hospitaller large stretches of frontier land along
4982-769: The County of Tripoli fell to the Muslim Mamluks of Cairo under Sultan Qalawun , and the county was absorbed into Mamluk Sultanate. Raymond IV of Toulouse was one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the crusaders . Even so, after the First Crusade , he had failed to secure any land holdings in the Near East . Meanwhile, the County of Edessa , the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Principality of Antioch had been established. Tripoli
5088-427: The County of Tripoli. Nevertheless, the County of Tripoli owed fealty (allegiance) and homage (declarations of allegiance) to him, and he, in return, provided support to the county in times of trouble. Although occupying a narrow coastal plain, the mountain range beyond was a natural defensive line for Tripoli. Several castle forts were built to defend the mountain passes. Muslim forces (Turk and Egyptian) attacked
5194-655: The Fatimids and other Shi'ite dynasties, and he himself served the Fatimids in Egypt. Philip K. Hitti thought he had a "secret sympathy" with the Shi'ites. Paul M. Cobb does not think there is enough evidence one way or the other, but believes he was probably Sunni with "acceptable Shi'ite tendencies." Robert Irwin thinks the Banu Munqidh were Twelver Shi'ites (unlike the Fatimids who were Seveners ), and that another clue to Usama's Shi'ism
5300-412: 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
5406-672: 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
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#17330850007045512-561: 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
5618-530: The Templar house in Tripoli and forests at Montroque. This action led to indecisive fighting over the following months at Botron, Fort Nephin , Sidon and at sea. In 1282, Guy II Embriaco and the Templars were ambushed in Tripoli. Guy, his brothers, and cousins were imprisoned at Fort Nephin and left to starve; his followers were blinded and the Templars were summarily executed. After the death of Bohemond VII in 1287,
5724-505: The arrival of the First Crusade , and the establishment of the crusader states . He was the nephew and potential successor of the emir of Shaizar, but was exiled in 1131 and spent the rest of his life serving other leaders. He was a courtier to the Burids , Zengids , and later Ayyubids in Damascus , serving Zengi , Nur ad-Din , and Saladin over a period of almost fifty years. He also served
5830-587: The atabeg of the Burid dynasty . Zengi was determined to conquer Damascus, so Usama and Unur turned to the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem for help. Usama was sent on a preliminary visit to Jerusalem in 1138, and in 1139 Zengi captured Baalbek in Damascene territory. In 1140, Unur sent Usama back to Jerusalem to conclude a treaty with the crusaders, and both he and Unur visited their new allies numerous times between 1140 and 1143. During these diplomatic missions Usama developed
5936-426: The communes decided they could not rule, while Benedetto I Zaccario declined the countship. Thus, after negotiations, Lucie became Lucia, Countess of Tripoli in 1288. Constant infighting, lack of resources, a series of poor harvests, changes to trade routes and the local economy and Muslim and Mongol military pressure led to the decline of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . By the 1280s, only two crusader states remained;
6042-402: The construction of a large fortress, the Citadel of Tripoli ( Arabic : قلعة طرابلس Qalʻat Ṭarābulus ), formerly also known as the "Castle of Saint-Gilles" ( Arabic : قلعة سان جيل Qalʻat Sān Jīl ). Despite this new fortress and seasoned troops, Raymond IV's siege of Tripoli failed to secure the port. He died on 25 February 1105. Count William of Cerdagne , Raymond IV's cousin and comrade,
6148-509: 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
6254-436: The crusaders with Zengi's son Nur ad-Din , but the negotiations failed. Usama took part in battles with the crusaders outside of Ascalon on his way back to Egypt, and after he left, his brother 'Ali was killed at Gaza . Back in Egypt, as-Sallar was assassinated in 1153 by his son Abbas, Abbas's son Nasr, and caliph az-Zafir, who, according to Usama, was Nasr's lover. Thirteenth-century historian Ibn al-Athir says that Usama
6360-500: The crusades are sometimes obvious jokes, exaggerating their " otherness " to entertain his Muslim audience. As Carole Hillenbrand wrote, it would be "dangerously misleading to take the evidence of his book at its face value." Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
6466-427: The demands of neighbouring crusader states. At its height, the county controlled the coastline from Maraclea in the north to Beirut in the south. Inland, the county's control extended to the Krac des Chevaliers fortress. The rich inland agricultural land of the Homs Gap was known as La Bocquée. The county was divided into 'lordships'; areas based roughly around its coastal ports. The count of Tripoli himself held
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#17330850007046572-459: The early 1180s he wrote another anthology, the Lubab al-Adab ("Kernels of Refinement"), instructions on living a properly cultured life. He is most famous for the Kitab al-I'tibar (translated various ways, most recently as the Book of Contemplation ), which was written as a gift to Saladin around 1183. It is not exactly a "memoir", as Philip Hitti translated the title, although it does include many autobiographical details that are incidental to
6678-487: The early crusades. The disjointed nature of the work has given him a reputation as a senile rambler, although it is actually written with an anthological structure, with humorous or moralistic tales that are not meant to proceed chronologically, as a true autobiography would. Since this style of literature, adab in Arabic, does not necessarily have to be factual, historians are quick to point out that Usama's historical material cannot always be trusted. Usama's anecdotes about
6784-411: The effect this could have on his uncle. Despite this, he still spoke well of his uncle on a few occasions in his autobiography and highlighted his noble actions. Usama ultimately left Shaizar temporarily in 1129, and after his father death in 1137 his exile became permanent. Usama's uncle died in 1154 and his son, Taj al-Dawla Nasr ad-Din Muhammad, inherited the castle. However, Usama was the last heir of
6890-412: 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
6996-451: The emir of Shaizar and the surrounding cities. However, he soon gave up his position to Usama's uncle, Izz ad-Din Abi al-Asaker Sultan, since Murshid was more interested in studying religion and hunting than in matters of politics. While Usama's uncle's rule, Shaizar was attacked numerous times by the Banu Kilab of Aleppo, the sect of the Hashshashin , the Byzantines, and the crusaders. It was struck with siege engines for 10 days in 1137 by
7102-728: 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
7208-447: 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
7314-403: 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
7420-506: The grandson of Bertrand, Count of Tripoli, engaged his enemies, Nur al-Din and Unur of Damascus , to confront his cousin, Bertrand. The Turkish forces, having only recently battled Raymond II at the Siege of Damascus , attacked the castle of Arima (al-Ariymah). They captured Bertrand of Toulouse, who spent the following decade in Muslim prisons. He was released in 1159 following the intervention of Manuel Komnenos , emperor of Byzantium. Raymond II later regained Arima. In 1152, Raymond II
7526-420: 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
7632-608: 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
7738-599: 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)
7844-420: 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
7950-512: The line left alive when in 1157 an earthquake struck the area, killing most of his family. Usama went to Homs, where he was taken captive in a battle against Zengi , the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo , who had just captured nearby Hama. After his capture he entered Zengi's service, and travelled throughout northern Syria, Iraq, and Armenia fighting against Zengi's enemies, including the Abbasid caliph outside Baghdad in 1132. In 1135, he returned to
8056-637: The main point. It was meant to be "a book of examples (' ibar ) from which to draw lessons." In 1880, Hartwig Derenbourg was the first to discover the Kitab al-I'tibar , which survived in only one manuscript, in the possession of the Escorial Monastery near Madrid . Derenbourg was also the first to produce an Arabic edition (1886), a biography of Usama (1889), and a French translation (1895). In 1930, Hitti produced an improved Arabic edition, and an English translation. Qasim as-Samarrai produced another Arabic edition in 1987. Usama wrote in "Middle Arabic",
8162-883: 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
8268-671: 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
8374-599: The neighbouring crusader County of Tripoli and Principality of Antioch , hostile Muslim neighbours in Hama , Homs , and elsewhere, and against the Hashshashin who had established a base near Shaizar. According to Usama, his first experience in battle took place in 1119, in a raid on the crusaders at Apamea . Sultan did not initially have any male heirs and it is possible that Usama expected to succeed him. He certainly singled him out among his brothers by teaching him, tutoring him in
8480-424: 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
8586-549: 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
8692-519: The port of Tripoli and its surrounds. He also controlled the hostile region of Montferrand , now modern-day Bar'in, Syria , lying to the east. Approximately one quarter of the land seized around Tripoli was given to the Genoese as payment for military aid. The Genoese admiral Guglielmo Embriaco was awarded the city of Byblos . The County of Tripoli was an autonomous state. Despite his contribution to its establishment, Baldwin I did not directly control
8798-410: 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
8904-572: The remnants of Jerusalem and the County of Tripoli. Even though the Mamluk government of Egypt had a treaty with the county, in March 1289, Tripoli favoured an alliance with the Mongols and as a result Sultan Qalawun of Egypt attacked Tripoli. Despite desperate defense operations, the county fell and was merged with Qalawun's empire. Titular rulers of Tripoli after its fall to Egyptian forces: Tripoli passes to
9010-574: The rest of his family was still in Cairo, but Usama was able to bring them to Damascus, through crusader territory, in 1156. The crusaders promised to transport them safely, but they were attacked and pillaged, and Usama lost his entire library. In 1157, Shaizar was destroyed by an earthquake , killing almost all of Usama's relatives. They were there for the circumcision of the son of his cousin Muhammad, who had recently succeeded Sultan as emir. The only survivor
9116-411: The resulting power vacuum moved the lords of the County of Tripoli to offer Benedetto I Zaccaria (1235–1307), a powerful Genoese merchant, control of the county. In Tripoli, a special non-aristocratic social status had been granted to people from the great mercantile cities of Europe, especially those from the maritime republics of Italy ( e.g. , Venice). The communes elected Bartholomew Embriaco to
9222-464: The role of Mayor of Tripoli. He also promoted trade with the Genoese. Bohemond VII had no issue. His mother, Sibylla of Armenia , was discounted in the succession because she was the friend of Bishop Bartholomew of Tortosa, considered an enemy of Tripoli. Bohemond VII's younger sister, Lucie, established herself at Fort Nephin with the support of the Knights Hospitaller . Eventually, Bartholomew Embriaco and
9328-458: 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
9434-458: 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
9540-569: The south, to Hama, where one of Zengi's generals, al-Yaghisiyani, was appointed governor. He returned to Shaizar when his father died in May 1137, and again in April 1138 when Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus besieged the city . The emperor's siege of Shaizar was unsuccessful, but Shaizar was heavily damaged. After the siege, Usama left Zengi's service and went to Damascus , which was ruled by Mu'in ad-Din Unur ,
9646-556: 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
9752-543: The succession of Bohemond VII. Ernoul wrote, "This was the beginning of war between Bohemond VII and the Templars." Guy II Embriaco (1277–1282) was a former vassal of Bohemond VII in Gibelet ( Byblos ). Grievances between them had led to enmity and this was part of a larger trade war between Genoa and the Venetians . The Templars sought to unseat Bohemond VII by supporting Guy II Embriaco. Bohemond VII responded by sacking
9858-470: The town of Azaz . Pons of Tripoli, Baldwin II and Count Joscelin I of Edessa lured the Turks from Azaz and into an ambush on the plains, where the Turkish forces were defeated. On 29 June 1170, an earthquake struck the region. The defensive forts of Krac des Chevaliers , Chastel Blanc and al-'Ariymah were damaged. The cathedral of St Mary in Tripoli township was destroyed. The earthquake of 1170 resulted in
9964-501: 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
10070-436: The ways of war and hunting. He even favoured him for personal missions and as a representative. However, after Sultan had his own son, he no longer appreciated the presence of Usama and Murshid's other sons. According to Usama, Sultan became jealous after a particularly successful lion-hunt in 1131, when Usama entered the town with a large lion head in his arms as a hunting trophy. When his grandmother saw this she warned him about
10176-451: 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
10282-488: Was Muhammad's wife. Usama had remained in Damascus, and after the destruction of his homeland he remained there in semi-retirement. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1160, then went on campaign against the crusaders with Nur ad-Din in 1162, and was at the Battle of Harim in 1164. That year, Usama left Nur ad-Din's service and went north to the court of Kara Arslan , the Artuqid emir of Hisn Kayfa . Usama's life in Hisn Kayfa
10388-595: Was an important strategic goal as it linked the French in the south with the Normans in the north. It was a fertile and well populated area. In 1102, Raymond IV occupied Tortosa (now Tartus ) and in 1103, he prepared, together with veterans of the 1101 crusade , to take Tripoli. On a natural ridge, which he named "Mons Peregrinus" ( French : Mont Pèlerin , English: Mount Pilgrim ), 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Tripoli, Raymond IV (also known as Raymond de Saint-Gilles) began
10494-478: Was buried in Damascus on Mount Qasiyun , although the tomb is now lost. Usama had three brothers, Muhammad, 'Ali, and Munqidh; his cousin, also named Muhammad, succeeded Usama's uncle Sultan as emir of Shaizar. He had a son, Murhaf, in 1126, and another son, Abu Bakr, who died as a child. He had a daughter, Umm Farwa, in Hisn Kayfa in 1166. He mentions other children, but their names, and the name of his wife or wives, are unknown. The picture he painted of his father
10600-520: Was killed by the Assassins . He was the first recorded non-Muslim victim of this sect. Bohemond VII (1261 – 19 October 1287) was Count of Tripoli and the nominal Prince of Antioch from 1275 until his death. From 1275 to 1277, Bartholomew, Bishop of Tortosa , was Bohemond VII's regent. Paul of Segni , Bishop of Tripoli , who was a friend of the Templar Grandmaster, William of Beaujeu , opposed
10706-526: Was killed in an earthquake at Shaizar in 1157. He died in Damascus in 1188, at the age of 93. Usama was the son of Murshid, and the nephew of Nasr, emir of Shaizar . Shaizar was seen as a strategically important site and the gateway to enter and control inner Syria. The Arabs initially conquered Shaizar during the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 637. Due to its importance it exchanged hands numerous times between
10812-429: Was of a pious religious man who was not interested in the affairs of this world. He would spend most of his time reading the Quran, fasting and hunting during the day and at night would copy the Quran. He also recounted a few battles his father joined against the crusaders in his autobiography Kitab al Itibar. It is sometimes assumed that Usama was Shi'ite , because he often writes about 'Ali , his family cooperated with
10918-693: Was one of the Crusader states . It was founded in the Levant in the modern-day region of Tripoli , northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria . When the Frankish Crusaders , mostly southern French forces – captured the region in 1109, Bertrand of Toulouse became the first count of Tripoli as a vassal of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem . From that time on, the rule of the county was decided not strictly by inheritance but by factors such as military force (external and civil war ), favour and negotiation. In 1289,
11024-419: Was supported by Tancred, Prince of Galilee , but his succession in the Tripoli campaign was challenged by Raymond IV's illegitimate son, Bertrand of Toulouse . Bertrand of Toulouse, who was supported by Baldwin I of Jerusalem , arrived in the Near East with a substantial army and a large Genoese fleet. In order to resolve the succession issue, Baldwin I created a partition treaty. It specified that William
11130-550: Was the instigator of this plot. Usama may also have been behind the assassination of az-Zafir by Abbas, in 1154. Az-Zafir's relatives called upon a supporter, Tala'i ibn Ruzzik , who chased Abbas out of Cairo, and Usama followed him. He lost his possessions in Cairo, and on the way to Damascus his retinue was attacked by the crusaders and Bedouin nomads, but in June 1154 he safely reached Damascus, which had recently been captured by Nur ad-Din. Ibn Ruzzik tried to persuade him to come back, as
11236-492: Was to hold northern Tripoli and pay homage to Tancred, while Bertrand was to hold south Tripoli as a vassal of Baldwin. Under a united Christian onslaught, Tripoli fell on 12 July 1109, completing the Kingdom of Jerusalem . When William died of an arrow through the heart (some claim it was murder), Bertrand became the first count of Tripoli. The extent of the County of Tripoli was determined in part by pre-existing Byzantine borders and in part by victory in battle, tempered by
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