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164-629: Abraham ( Arabic : ابراهيم , romanized :  Ibrāhīm ) was a prophet and messenger of God according to Islam, and an ancestor to the Ishmaelite Arabs and Israelites . Abraham plays a prominent role as an example of faith in Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . According to the Islamic perspective, Abraham fulfilled all the commandments and trials wherein God nurtured him throughout his lifetime. As

328-541: A book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church , references "Gemorra an Sedom". In Matthew 10:14–15 (cf. Luke 10:11–12) Jesus says: And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement, than for that city. In Matthew 11:20–24, Jesus warns of

492-475: A boy by Hagar so that you may sacrifice him" So he said to Ishmael: "Let us go offer a sacrifice to God!" So he took a knife and some rope and went with him until they reached a place in the mountains. The boy said to him: "Oh father! Where is your sacrifice?" He replied: "Oh my son, I saw in a dream, that I will slaughter you. So pay attention to what you see". He said, "Oh my father, do what you have been commanded; you will find me, Insha-Allah (if God wills), one of

656-562: 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

820-570: A comparison. Ezekiel 16:48–50 compares Jerusalem to Sodom, saying "As I live, saith the Lord G OD , Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it." In Amos 4:1–11, God tells

984-540: A continually smoking wasteland, plants bearing fruit that does not ripen, and a pillar of salt standing as a monument to an unbelieving soul. For because they passed wisdom by, they not only were hindered from recognizing the good, but also left for mankind a reminder of their folly, so that their failures could never go unnoticed. Wisdom 19:17 says that the Egyptians who enslaved the Israelites were "struck with blindness, like

1148-435: 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

1312-1077: 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

1476-474: A garden, peaceful, his face illuminated, and not a trace of smoke on his clothes. People watched in shock and exclaimed: "Amazing! Abraham's God has saved him from the fire!" The Qur'an discusses a very short conversation between an unrighteous ruler and Abraham. Although the king in the Qur'an is unnamed, and this fact has been recognized as being least important in the narrative, outside of the Qur'an, namely in some of

1640-483: 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

1804-677: 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

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1968-481: A physical miracle, where Abraham was physically shown the entire kingdom of Heaven ( Jannah ), others have felt that it refers to the spiritual understanding of Abraham; these latter scholars maintain that the Chaldeans were skilled in the observance of the stars, but Abraham, who lived amongst them, saw beyond the physical world and into a higher spiritual realm. The second passage has one mainstream interpretation amongst

2132-525: A reference to all the trials that Abraham had succeeded in. In a whole series of chapters, the Qur'an relates how Abraham preached to his community as a youth and how he specifically told his father, named Azar, to leave idol-worship and come to the worship of God . Some passages of the Quran, meanwhile, deal with the story of how God sent angels to Abraham with the announcement of the punishment to be imposed upon Lot's people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Other verses mention

2296-510: A reference to the Sefer Yetzirah , as Jewish tradition generally ascribed its authorship to Abraham. Other scholars, however, wrote of a certain Testament of Abraham , which they explained was available at the time of Muhammad . The Quran contains numerous references to Abraham, his life, prayers, and traditions and has a dedicated chapter named Ibrahim . On a relevant note, Surah al-Kahf

2460-534: A result of his unwavering faith in God , Abraham was promised by God to be a leader to all the nations of the world. The Qur'an extols Abraham as a model and exemplar: obedient and not an idolater. In this sense, Abraham has been described as representing "primordial man in universal surrender to the Divine Reality before its fragmentation into religions separated from each other by differences in form". Muslims believe that

2624-576: 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

2788-466: A righteous son, whereupon an angel appeared to him informing him, that he will get a righteous son, but when he was born and reached puberty, he must be sacrificed for God. Later, the angel appeared to Hagar to inform her about the upcoming child. When Ishmael was grown, someone appeared to Abraham, invites him to keep his vow. When Ishmael was grown, someone appeared to Abraham in a dream and said to him: "Keep your vow which you made! God bestowed upon you

2952-462: 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",

3116-449: A sheep to sacrifice instead. In some cases, some believe these legends in Islamic text may have influenced later Jewish tradition. Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized :  al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )

3280-465: 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

3444-511: A traveler, who intended to leave the town the next day, water. When the scandal was revealed, the woman was stripped naked and covered with honey. This attracted bees as the woman was slowly stung to death. Her cries then went up into the heavens, the turning point that was revealed to have provoked God to enact judgement upon Sodom and Gomorrah in the first place in Genesis 18:20. Lot's wife (who came from Sodom) had disapproved of her husband welcoming

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3608-503: 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

3772-499: 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

3936-563: A volcano have been deemed unlikely. Archibald Sayce translated an Akkadian poem describing cities that were destroyed in a rain of fire and written from the view of a person who escaped the destruction; unfortunately, the names of the cities are not given in the work. Sayce later mentions that the story more closely resembles the doom of Sennacherib 's host. The ancient Greek historiographer Strabo states that locals living near Moasada (as opposed to Masada ) say that "there were once thirteen inhabited cities in that region of which Sodom

4100-470: 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

4264-491: A woman to marry a man who intentionally caused her miscarriage to compensate for the lost child. Because of this, the judges of the two cities were referred to as Shakrai ("Liar"), Shakurai ("Awful Liar"), Zayyafi ("Forger") and Mazle Dina ("Perverter of Justice"). Eliezer was reported to be a victim of such legally unjust conduct, after Sarah sent him to Sodom to report on Lot's welfare. The citizens also regularly tortured foreigners who sought lodging. They did this by providing

4428-432: A year Muslims around the world slaughter an animal to commemorate Abraham's sacrifice and to remind themselves of self-abnegation in the way of God, and they would share the meat among friends, family, the poor and the needy. This is called Qurbani ("sacrifice"). The classical Quranic exegete and historian Tabari offered two versions, whom Abraham was ordered to sacrifice. According to the first strand, Abraham wished for

4592-693: Is He who gives life and death." Nimrod then shouted, "I give life and death! I can bring a person from the street and have him executed, and I can grant my pardon to a person who was sentenced to death and save his life." Abraham replied, "Well, my lord God makes the sun rise from the East. Can you make it rise from the West?" Nimrod was confounded. He was beaten at his own game, on his own territory and in front of his own people. Abraham left him there speechless and went back to his mission of calling people to worship God. This event has been noted as particularly important because, in

4756-727: 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

4920-585: 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

5084-423: Is a reference to a lost body of scripture. The Scrolls of Abraham are understood by Muslims to refer to certain revelations Abraham received, which he would have then transmitted to writing. The exact contents of the revelation are not described in the Qur'an. The 87th chapter of the Qur'an, Surah al-A'la , concludes by saying the subject matter of the sura has been in the earlier scriptures of Abraham and Moses. It

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5248-542: 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

5412-469: 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

5576-530: Is considered by some to be a derivation of the patriarch's title, Qal El ( Hebrew : קל-אל , "Voice of God"). Other instances in the Quran which are described in a concise manner are the rescue of Abraham from the fire into which he was thrown by his people'; his pleading for his father; his quarrel with an unrighteous and powerful king and the miracle of the dead birds. All these events and more have been discussed with more details in Muslim tradition, and especially in

5740-408: 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

5904-468: 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

6068-497: Is in the Scripture of Moses , and ˹that of˺ Abraham, who ˹perfectly˺ fulfilled ˹his covenant˺? ˹They state˺ that no soul burdened with sin will bear the burden of another, and that each person will only have what they endeavoured towards, and that ˹the outcome of˺ their endeavours will be seen ˹in their record˺, then they will be fully rewarded, and that to your Lord ˹alone˺ is the ultimate return ˹of all things˺. Moreover, He

6232-454: Is known in the Hebrew Bible as Terah . Abraham had two children, Ishmael and Isaac, who both later became prophets. Abraham's nephew is said to have been the messenger Lut ( Lot ), who was one of the other people who migrated with Abraham out of their community. Abraham himself is said to have been a descendant of Nuh through his son Shem . Abraham's personality and character are one of

6396-566: 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

6560-836: 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

6724-698: Is referred to as the "City of the Prophet [Muhammad]" or simply the "City of Muhammad", Mecca is frequently cited as the "City of Abraham", because Abraham's reformation of the monotheistic faith is believed to have taken place in Mecca. Likewise, Islamic belief links the original sanctuary of Al-Aqsa in the Old City of Jerusalem to Abraham. The Quran refers to certain Scrolls of Abraham . All Muslim scholars have generally agreed that no scrolls of Abraham survive, and therefore this

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6888-477: Is slightly indicative of what were in the previous scriptures, according to Islam: So ˹always˺ remind ˹with the Quran˺—˹even˺ if the reminder is beneficial ˹only to some˺. Those in awe ˹of Allah˺ will be mindful ˹of it˺. But it will be shunned by the most wretched, who will burn in the greatest Fire, where they will not ˹be able to˺ live or die. Successful indeed are those who purify themselves, remember

7052-559: 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

7216-493: Is the One Who brings about joy and sadness. And He is the One Who gives life and causes death. And He created the pairs—males and females— from a sperm-drop when it is emitted. And it is upon Him to bring about re-creation. And He is the One Who enriches and impoverishes. And He alone is the Lord of Sirius . And He destroyed the first ˹people of˺ ʿĀd , and ˹then˺ Thamûd , sparing no one. And before ˹that He destroyed˺

7380-552: Is the biggest and brightest!" But when the sun also set he said, "O my people! I am free from all that you join as partners with God ! I have turned my face towards God who created the heavens and the earth and never shall I associate partners with God. Our Lord is the creator of the heavens and the earth and everything in between. He has the power to make the stars rise and set." After this declaration, Abraham then heard God calling him, "O Abraham" Abraham trembled and said, "Here I am O my Lord!" God replied, "Submit to Me!" Abraham fell to

7544-584: 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

7708-558: Is the way of our forefathers." Ibrahim declared "I am sick of your gods! Truly I am their enemy." After several years, Ibrahim became a young man. He still could not believe that his people were worshipping the statues. He laughed whenever he saw them entering the temple, lowering their heads, silently offering the statues the best of their food, crying and asking forgiveness from them. He started feeling angry towards his people, who could not realize that these are only stones that could neither benefit nor harm them. One night, Abraham went up to

7872-480: Is thrown into it, Abraham walks out unscathed. In Islam, it is debated whether the decision to have Ibrahim burned at the stake came from Nimrod and the temple priests or whether the people themselves became vigilantes and hatched the plan to have him burned at the stake. According to Muslim commentators, after Abraham survived the great fire, his fame in society grew. Nimrod, who was the King of Babylon felt that his throne

8036-413: 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

8200-413: Is used in a legal context under the label " crimes against nature " to describe anal or oral sex (particularly homosexual) and bestiality . This is based upon Christian exegesis of the biblical text interpreting divine judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah as punishment for the sin of homosexual sex. A number of contemporary scholars dispute this interpretation in light of Ezekiel 16:49–50 ("This

8364-516: 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

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8528-445: 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

8692-651: The Stories of the Prophets and works of universal Islamic theology. Certain episodes from the life of Abraham have been more heavily detailed in Islamic text, such as the arguments between Abraham and the evil king, Nimrod, the near-sacrifice of his son, and the story of Hagar and Ishmael, which Muslims commemorate when performing pilgrimage in Mecca. An important Islamic religious holiday , Eid al-Adha, commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with

8856-435: The tafasir , this king has been suggested to be Nimrod . The Tafsir by Ibn Kathir , a 14th-century scholar, has many embellishments in the narrative, including Nimrod claiming divinity for himself. The Tafsir describes Nimrod's quarrel with Ibrahim, how he (Nimrod) became extremely angry and, in his 'utter disbelief and arrant rebellion,' became a tyrant. According to Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus , Nimrod

9020-556: The Early Bronze Age and not occupational structures. In 1976, Giovanni Pettinato claimed that a cuneiform tablet that had been found in the newly discovered library at Ebla contained the names of all five of the cities of the plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah , Zeboim, and Bela ), listed in the same order as in Genesis. The names si-da-mu [TM.76.G.524] and ì-ma-ar [TM.75.G.1570 and TM.75.G.2233] were identified as representing Sodom and Gomorrah, which gained some acceptance at

9184-496: The Ka'aba in Mecca was built by Abraham and his son Isma'il ( Arabic : إسماعيل or إسمٰعيل , romanized :  ʼIsmāʻīl , lit.   ' Ishmael ') as the first house of worship on Earth. The Islamic holy day, Eid al-Adha , is celebrated partly in commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son on God's command. Muslims believe that Abraham became the leader of

9348-711: The People of the Book , it is also narrated by Abu Hurairah in a hadith: Narrated Abu Huraira: The people of the Scripture (Jews) used to recite the Torah in Hebrew and they used to explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. On that God's Apostle said, "Do not believe the people of the Scripture or disbelieve them, but say: 'We believe in God and what is revealed to us.'" Therefore, relating to any ascription of

9512-515: The Quranic commentators , that Abraham took four birds and cut them up, placing pieces of each on nearby hills; when he called out to them, each piece joined and four birds flew back to Abraham. This miracle, as told by the Quranic passage, was a demonstration by God to show Abraham how God gave life to the dead. As the physical cutting of the birds is not implied in the passage, some commentators have offered alternative interpretations, but all maintain that

9676-481: The Red Sea . In this particular incident, scholars have further commented on Abraham's wisdom in employing "rational, wise and target-oriented" speech, as opposed to pointless arguments. Abraham, in the eyes of many Muslims, also symbolized the highest moral values essential to any person. The Qur'an details the account of the angels coming to Abraham to tell him of the birth of Ismael. It says that, as soon as Abraham saw

9840-561: 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

10004-416: The killing of all newborn babies . However, Abraham's mother escapes into the fields and gives birth secretly. Flavius Josephus mentions that Abraham confronts Nimrod and tells him face-to-face to cease his idolatry, whereupon Nimrod orders him burned at the stake . Nimrod has his subjects gather enough wood so as to burn Abraham in the biggest fire the world had ever seen. Yet when the fire is lit and Abraham

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10168-494: 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

10332-419: 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

10496-727: 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. Sodom and Gomorrah The etymology of

10660-454: 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

10824-562: 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

10988-762: 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

11152-673: The Cave of the Patriarchs in the Old City of Hebron , the West Bank . Known to Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham it is also thought to be the burial site of his son Isaac, his wife Rebecca , their son Jacob, and his wife Leah . There are numerous references to Abraham in the Quran, including, twice, to the Scrolls of Abraham; in the latter passage, it is mentioned that Abraham "fulfilled his engagements?-",

11316-503: The House which could distract the worshipper.)''' Sufyan said, "The horns of the ram remained hanging in the House until it was burned, and they were burned too.'' The Quraysh had inherited the horns of the ram that Abraham sacrificed, and they had been passed down from generation to generation, until the Messenger of God was sent. And God knows best. From that day onwards, every Eid al-Adha once

11480-518: The Israelites that although he treated them like Sodom and Gomorrah, they still did not repent. In Zephaniah 2:9, Zephaniah tells Moab and Ammon that they will end up like Sodom and Gomorrah. Wisdom 10:6–8 refers to the Five Cities : Wisdom rescued a righteous man when the ungodly were perishing; he escaped the fire that descended on the Five Cities. Evidence of their wickedness still remains:

11644-412: 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

11808-505: The Muslim perspective, it almost foreshadowed the prophetic careers of future prophets, most significantly the career of Moses. Abraham's quarrel with the king has been interpreted by some to be a precursor to Moses's preaching to Pharaoh . Just as the ruler who argued against Abraham claimed divinity for himself, so did the Pharaoh of the Exodus , who refused to hear the call of Moses and perished in

11972-553: The Name of their Lord, and pray. But you ˹deniers only˺ prefer the life of this world, even though the Hereafter is far better and more lasting. This is certainly ˹mentioned˺ in the earlier Scriptures— the Scriptures of Abraham and Moses. Chapter 53 of the Qur'an, Surah an-Najm , also describes the earlier scriptures of Abraham and Musa ( Moses ): Or has he not been informed of what

12136-494: The Nations" and father to Muslims, and his narrative records him praying for his offspring. The Qur'an further notes that Abraham's descendants were given "the Book and Wisdom", and this fact is reinforced in another verse which states that Abraham's family was one of those in which the gift of prophecy was established as a generic trait. The Qur'an emphasizes upon Abraham's significance as it states that Abraham's family, Noah, Adam and

12300-626: 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

12464-561: 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

12628-449: The Scrolls of Abraham by the people of the book is not required. Abraham is also extremely important as a leader of Islam and as a patriarch of the Islamic faith. Muslims recognize Abraham as the ancestor through whom many other prophets and saints ( Wali ) came, including Moses, Jesus ( 'Isa ) and Muhammad. The Qur'an lists, in its sixth chapter, Al-An'am , some of the greatest figures to have existed through Abraham's progeny: This

12792-512: The Way of Abraham, the upright? Allah chose Abraham as a close friend. This particular title of Abraham is so famous in Muslim culture and tradition that, in the areas in and around Mecca, Abraham is often referred to solely as Al-Khalil ( Arabic : ألخَلِیْل‌ , romanized :  Al-Ḫalīl , lit.   'The Friend'). The title Friend of God is not exclusive to Islamic theology. Although

12956-455: The angel Gabriel for them. Although the angel Gabriel told Abraham that God's plan was the final word, and therefore Abraham's prayers would be of no effect, the Qur'an nonetheless reinforces Abraham's kind nature through this particular event. Ibrahim was born in a house of idolaters in the ancient city of Ur of the Chaldees , likely the place called ' Ur ' in present-day Iraq , in which case,

13120-489: The angels take Lot, Lot's wife , and his two daughters by the hand and out of the city, and tell him to flee to the hills and not look back . Lot says that the hills are too far away and asks to go to Zoar instead. Then God rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground ( Genesis 19:24–25 ). Lot and his two daughters are saved, but his wife disregards

13284-503: The angels' warning, looks back, and is turned into a pillar of salt. The Hebrew Bible contains several other references to Sodom and Gomorrah. The New Testament also contains passages of parallels to the destruction and surrounding events that pertained to these cities and those who were involved. Later deuterocanonical texts attempt to glean additional insights about these cities of the Jordan Plain and their residents. Additionally,

13448-401: The beggar died of starvation, citizens who initially gave the beggar the coins were permitted to retrieve them, provided that they could recognize it. The beggar's clothing was also provided as a reward for any citizen who could successfully overcome his opponent in a street fight. The provision of bread and water to the poor was also a capital offense (Yalḳ., Gen. 83). Two girls, one poor and

13612-406: The cities. Later, God gives advance notice to Abraham that Sodom had a reputation for wickedness. Abraham asks God "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" ( Genesis 18:23 ). Starting at 50 people, Abraham negotiates with God to spare Sodom if 10 righteous people could be found. God sends two angels to destroy Sodom. Lot welcomes them into his home, but all the men of the town surround

13776-503: The command of God!" So the enemy of God returned exasperated at not being able to influence the family of Abraham as he wished. Abraham encountered several miracles of God during his lifetime. The Quran records a few main miracles, although different interpretations have been attributed to the passages. Some of the miracles recorded in the Quran are: The first passage has been interpreted both literally, allegorically, and otherwise. Although some commentators feel that this passage referred to

13940-567: 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

14104-489: The cruelty and lack of hospitality of the inhabitants of Sodom to the "stranger". Rabbinic writings affirm that the Sodomites also committed economic crimes, blasphemy, and bloodshed. Other extrabiblical crimes committed by Sodom and Gomorrah included extortion on crossing a river, harshly punishing victims for crimes that the perpetrator committed, forcing an assault victim to pay for the perpetrator's "bleeding" and forcing

14268-577: 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

14432-490: The enemy of God, gave up on Abraham but then he encountered Ishmael, who was behind Abraham carrying the wood and the large knife. He said to him: "O young man, do you realize where your father is taking you?" He said: "To gather wood for our family from the mountains". He replied: "By God, his actual intention is to sacrifice you!" He said: "Why?!" Iblis replied: "He claims that his Lord has ordered him to do so!" Ishmael replied: "He must do what his Lord commands, absolutely!" When

14596-728: 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

14760-500: The execution. A huge pit was dug up and a large quantity of wood was piled up. Then the biggest fire that people had ever witnessed since was lit. The flames were so high up in the sky that even the birds could not fly over it for fear of being burnt themselves. Abraham's hands and feet were chained, and he was put in a catapult , ready to be thrown in. During this time, Angel Gabriel came to him and said: "O Abraham! Is there anything you wish for?" Abraham could have asked to be saved from

14924-593: 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

15088-504: The family of Amram were the four selected by God above all the worlds. As a result of his significance as a patriarch, Abraham is sometimes given the title Father of the Prophets. Of Abraham's immediate sons, the Quran repeatedly establishes the gifts God bestowed upon them. Ishmael, along with Elisha and Dhul-Kifl (possibly Ezekiel ), is regarded as being "of the Company of the Good." and one of

15252-411: The fate of some cities where he did some of his works: And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you. In Luke 17:28–30, Jesus says: Likewise also as it

15416-404: The fire or to be taken away, but Ibrahim replied, "God is sufficient for me, He is the best disposer of my affairs." The catapult was released and Ibrahim was thrown into the fire. God then gave an order to the fire, "O fire! Be coolness and safety for Ibrahim." A miracle occurred; the fire obeyed and did not harm Abraham, burning only his chains. Abraham came out from it as if he was coming out from

15580-477: The fire referred to the 'fire of persecution', from which Abraham was saved, as he left his people after this with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot. Abraham is given the title Khalilullah ( Arabic : خَلِیْل‌ ٱلله , romanized :  Ḫalīl Allāḥ , lit.   'Friend of God') in Islam. The Quran says: And who is better in faith than those who ˹fully˺ submit themselves to Allah, do good, and follow

15744-633: The foreigners a standard-sized bed and if they saw that the foreigners were too short for the beds, they would forcibly stretch their limbs but if the foreigners were too tall, they would cut off their legs (the Greek myth of Procrustes tells a similar story). As a result, many people refrained from visiting Sodom and Gomorrah. Beggars who settled into the two cities for refuge were similarly mistreated. The citizens would give them marked coins (presumably used to purchase food) but were nonetheless forbidden, by proclamation, to provide these necessary services. Once

15908-501: 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

16072-623: The gods of our people? Get out of my sight!" Ibrahim replied, "May God forgive you. No more will I live with you and your idols." After this, Ibrahim left his father's home for good. During one of the many festivals that would take place in the city, the people would gather in their temple and place offerings of food before their idols. Ur's most prominent temple is the Great Ziggurat , which can be seen today. Ibrahim would ask them, "What are you worshipping? Do these idols hear when you call them? Can they help you or hurt you?" The people would reply, "It

16236-440: The ground, crying. He said: "I submit to the Lord of the universe!" Abraham kept prostrating himself until nightfall. He then got up and went back to his home, in peace and full of conviction that God has guided him to the truth. The decision to have Abraham burned at the stake was affirmed by the temple priests and the king of Babylon, Nimrod . The news spread throughout the kingdom and people were coming from all places to watch

16400-480: The heat of this great anger?' Isaiah 1:9–10, 3:9 and 13:19–22 address people as from Sodom and Gomorrah, associates Sodom with shameless sinning and tells Babylon that it will end like those two cities. Jeremiah 23:14, 49:17–18, 50:39–40 and Lamentations 4:6 associate Sodom and Gomorrah with adultery and lies, prophesy the fate of Edom (south of the Dead Sea ), predict the fate of Babylon and use Sodom as

16564-430: The house and demand that he surrender the visitors that they may " know " them. Lot offers the mob his virgin daughters to "do to them as you please", but they refuse and threaten to do worse to Lot. The angels strike the crowd blind. The angels tell Lot "...the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it" ( Genesis 19:13 ). The next morning, because Lot had lingered,

16728-624: The idolaters would have been practitioners of the hypothesized Ancient Mesopotamian religion . His father Azar was a well-known idol-sculptor that his people worshiped. As a young child, Ibrahim used to watch his father sculpting these idols from stones or wood. When his father was finished with them, Ibrahim would ask his father why they could not move or respond to any request and then would mock them; therefore, his father would always scold him for not following his ancestors' rituals and mocking their idols. Despite his opposition to idolatry , his father Azar would still send Ibrahim to sell his idols in

16892-579: 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

17056-608: 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

17220-599: 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)

17384-420: 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

17548-587: The locations of the two cities are currently flooded beneath the southern basin of the Dead Sea. In 1973, Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas Schaub discovered or visited a number of possible sites of the cities, including Bab edh-Dhra , which was originally excavated in 1965 by archaeologist Paul Lapp, and later finished by Rast and Schaub following Lapp's death. Other possibilities include Numeira , al-Safi, Feifa (or Fifa, Feifah), and Khirbet al-Khanazir, which were also visited by Schaub and Rast. According to Schaub, Numeira

17712-883: 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

17876-431: The marketplace. Once there, Ibrahim would call out to passersby, "Who will buy my idols? They will not help you and they cannot hurt you! Who will buy my idols?" Then Ibrahim would mock the idols. He would take them to the river, push their faces into the water and command them, "Drink! Drink!" Once again, Ibrahim asked his father, "How can you worship what does not see or hear or do you any good?" Azar replied, "Dare you deny

18040-553: The men of Sodom who came to the door of that righteous man Lot. They found themselves in total darkness, as each one groped around to find his own door." Sirach 16:8 says "[God] did not spare the neighbors of Lot, whom he loathed on account of their insolence." In 3 Maccabees 2:5, the high priest Simon says that God "consumed with fire and sulfur the men of Sodom who acted arrogantly, who were notorious for their vices; and you made them an example to those who should come afterward". 2 Esdras 2:8–9 says "Woe to you, Assyria, who conceal

18204-514: The men who was given "favour above the nations." In addition, Ishmael is described as being "true to what he promised, and he was a messenger (and) a prophet." Likewise, the Qur'an says of Isaac that he was "of the company of the Elect and the Good" and was "a prophet—one of the Righteous," further describing him as "of Power and Vision." Muslims believe that Abraham was buried, along with his wife Sarah, at

18368-466: The messengers, he "hastened to entertain them with a roasted calf." This action has been interpreted by all the scholars as exemplary; many scholars have commentated upon this one action, saying that it symbolizes Abraham's exceedingly high moral level and thus is a model for how men should act in a similar situation. This incident has only further heightened the "compassionate" character of Abraham in Muslim theology . Ibrahim’s dream of sacrificing his son

18532-435: The miracle was for the same demonstrative purpose to show Abraham the power God has to raise the dead to life. The third passage has also been interpreted both literally and metaphorically, or in some cases both. Commentators state that the 'fire' refers to the main aspects. They maintained that, firstly, the fire referred to the physical flame, from which Abraham was saved unharmed. The commentators further stated that, secondly,

18696-545: The most in-depth in the whole Qur'an, and Abraham is specifically mentioned as being a kind and compassionate man. Abraham's father is understood by Muslims to have been a wicked, ignorant and idolatrous man who ignored all of his son's advice. The relationship between Abraham and his father, who in the Quran is named Azar, is central to Abraham's story as Muslims understand it to establish a large part of Abraham's personality. The Qur'an mentions that Abraham's father threatened to stone his son to death if he did not cease preaching to

18860-430: The mountain, leaned against a rock, and looked up to the sky. He saw a shining star and said to himself, "Could this be my Lord?" But when it set he said: "I don't like those that set." The star had disappeared so it could not be God. God is always present. Then he saw the moon rising in splendor and said, "Could this be my Lord?" but the moon also set. At daybreak, he saw the sun rising and said, "Could this be my Lord? This

19024-508: The names Sodom and Gomorrah is uncertain, and scholars disagree about them. They are known in Hebrew as סְדֹם ( Səḏōm ) and עֲמֹרָה ( 'Ămōrā ). In the Septuagint , these became Σόδομα ( Sódoma ) and Γόμορρᾰ ( Gómorrha ); the Hebrew ghayn was absorbed by ayin sometime after the Septuagint was transcribed. According to Burton MacDonald , the Hebrew term for Gomorrah

19188-446: The near-sacrifice of Abraham's son, whose name is not given but is presumed to be Ishmael as the following verses mention the birth of Isaac. The Quran also repeatedly establishes Abraham's role as patriarch and mentions numerous important descendants who came through his lineage, including Isaac, Jacob and Ishmael. In the later chapters of the Quran, Abraham's role becomes yet more prominent. The Quran mentions that Abraham and Ishmael were

19352-768: 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

19516-424: 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

19680-559: The other religious traditions do not stress upon it, Abraham is called a Friend of God in the second Book of Chronicles and the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible ( Old Testament ) as well as in the New Testament . One of Abraham's most important features in Islamic theology is his role as the constructor of the Ka'aba. Although tradition recounts that Adam constructed the original Kaaba, which

19844-463: The other rich, went to a well, and the former gave the latter her jug of water, receiving in return a vessel containing bread. When this became known, both were burned alive (ib.). According to the Book of Jasher , Paltith, one of Lot's daughters, was burnt alive (in some versions, on a pyre) for giving a poor man bread. Her cries went to the heavens. Another woman was similarly executed in Admah for giving

20008-549: 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

20172-402: The patient". Ishmael then said to him: "Make tight my bonds, so that I will not struggle to pull back your clothes so that none of my blood will be shed on them for Hagar will see it and be grieved. Hurry! Pass the knife over my throat so that death will be easy for me. When you come to Hagar, greet her'. Abraham began to approach him and, while crying, tied him up. Ishmael too was crying such that

20336-595: The people of Noah, who were truly far worse in wrongdoing and transgression. And ˹it was˺ He ˹Who˺ turned the cities ˹of Sodom and Gomorrah˺ upside down. How overwhelming was what covered ˹them˺! Now, which of your Lord’s favours will you dispute? This ˹Prophet˺ is a warner like earlier ones. The approaching ˹Hour˺ has drawn near. None but Allah can disclose it. Do you find this revelation astonishing, laughing ˹at it˺ and not weeping ˹in awe˺, while persisting in heedlessness? Instead, prostrate to Allah and worship ˹Him alone˺! Yet some scholars suggested it to be

20500-453: The people. Despite this, the Qur'an states that Abraham in his later years prayed to God to forgive the sins of all his descendants and his parents. Muslims have frequently cited Abraham's character as an example of how kind one must be towards people, especially one's own parents. A similar example of Abraham's compassionate nature is demonstrated when Abraham began to pray for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah after hearing of God's plan through

20664-483: The plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith the L ORD hath made it sick; and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the L ORD overthrew in His anger, and in His wrath; even all the nations shall say 'Wherefore hath the L ORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth

20828-405: The reason for the cities' destruction: instead assigning the blame to other sins, such as adultery , dishonesty, and uncharitableness. Some Islamic societies incorporate punishments associated with Sodom and Gomorrah into sharia . It has been suggested that if the story does have a historical basis, the cities may have been destroyed by a natural disaster . One such idea is that the Dead Sea

20992-562: The reformers who set up the Ka‘bah in Mecca as a center of pilgrimage for monotheism The Quran consistently refers to Islam as "the Religion of Abraham" ( millat Ibrahim ) and Abraham is given a title as Hanif ( The Pure , "true in Faith" or "upright man"). The Quran also mentions Abraham as one whom God took as a friend ( Khalil ), hence Abraham's title in Islam, Khalil-Allah ( Friend of God ). The term

21156-410: 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

21320-431: The righteous in his time and that it was through him that Adnanite - Arabs and Israelites came. Abraham, in the belief of Islam, was instrumental in cleansing the world of idolatry at his time. Paganism was cleared out by Abraham in both the Arabian Peninsula and Canaan . He spiritually purified both places as well as physically sanctifying the houses of worship. Abraham and Isma'il ( Ishmael ) further established

21484-463: The righteous. ˹We also guided˺ Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah , and Lot, favouring each over other people ˹of their time˺. And ˹We favoured˺ some of their forefathers, their descendants, and their brothers. We chose them and guided them to the Straight Path. Abraham's narrative in the Qur'an indirectly refers to his role as one of the great patriarchs. The Qur'an states that God made Abraham "an Imam to

21648-550: The rites of pilgrimage , or Ḥajj ('Pilgrimage'), which are still followed by Muslims today. Muslims maintain that Abraham further asked God to bless both the lines of his progeny, of Isma'il and Isḥaq ( Isaac ), and to keep all of his descendants in the protection of God. Muslims maintain that Abraham's father was not Azar, [( Arabic : آزَر , romanized :  Āzar ), which could be derived from Eusebius ' reference to his father Athar in Koine Greek ,] but Tarakh who

21812-513: The sacrifice. Iblis (Satan), who had taken on the form of a man, said: "Where are you going, O Shaikh?" He replied: " I am going to these mountains because I must do something there'. Iblis said: "By God, I have seen that Shaytan has come to you in a dream and ordered you to slaughter this little son of yours. And you intend to do that slaughtering!" Thereupon Abraham recognized him and said: "Get away from me, enemy of God! By God, I will most certainly continue to do what my Lord has commanded". Iblis,

21976-458: 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

22140-461: The sins which triggered the destruction are reminiscent of the Book of Judges ' account of the Levite's concubine . "Sodom and Gomorrah" becomes a byword for destruction and desolation. Deuteronomy 29:21–23 refers to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see

22304-458: 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

22468-556: 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

22632-452: The steadfast." 103. And when they had both submitted and he put him down upon his forehead, 104. We called to him, "O Abraham, 105. You have fulfilled the vision." Indeed, We thus reward the doers of good. 106. Indeed, this was the clear trial. 107. And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice, ( Zibhin azeem )". This great sacrifice denotes the importance of the ram that replaced Ibraheem's son. Tafsir ibn Kathir records Ibn Abbas' explanation of

22796-464: The strangers into their home; her asking for salt from neighbors had alerted the mob which came to Lot's door. As punishment she was turned into a pillar of salt. Jon D. Levenson views a rabbinic tradition described in the Mishnah as postulating that the sin of Sodom was a violation of conventional hospitality in addition to homosexual conduct, describing Sodom's lack of generosity with the saying, "What

22960-478: The street of the great city that is prophetically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Sodom and Gomorrah, or the "cities of the plain", have been used historically and in modern discourse as metaphors for homosexuality , and are the origin of the English words sodomite , a pejorative term for male homosexuals , "sod", a British vulgar slang term for male homosexuals , and sodomy , which

23124-458: The tears gathered by the cheek of Ishmael. He then drew the knife along his throat but the knife did not cut, for God had placed a sheet of copper on the throat of Ishmael. When he saw that, he turned him on his forehead and nicked him on the back of the head just as God has said in Quran 37:103 : When they had both submitted and he flung on his forehead , that is they had submitted the affair to God. A voice called out: 'Abraham, you have fulfilled

23288-535: The time. However, Alfonso Archi states that, judging from the surrounding city names in the cuneiform list, si-da-mu lies in northern Syria and not near the Dead Sea, and ì-ma-ar is a variant of ì-mar , known to represent Emar , an ancient city located near Ebla. Today, the scholarly consensus is that "Ebla has no bearing on ... Sodom and Gomorra." Later Hebrew prophets named the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah as adultery , pridefulness, and uncharitableness. Rictor Norton views classical Jewish texts as stressing

23452-501: 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

23616-501: The unrighteous in your midst! O wicked nation, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomor'rah, whose land lies in lumps of pitch and heaps of ashes. So will I do to those who have not listened to me, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Esdras 5:1–13 describes signs of the end times , one of which is that "the sea of Sodom shall cast up fish". In 2 Esdras 7:106, Ezra says that Abraham prayed for the people of Sodom. Chapter 12 of 1 Meqabyan ,

23780-494: The verse, according to Muhammad's teachings. The explanation is as follows: "And We ransomed him with a great sacrifice" (37:107). It was reported that Ibn `Abbas (may God be pleased with him) said, "A ram which had grazed in Paradise for forty years." The Tafsir further goes on to say that the ram's horns were preserved until the time of Muhammad : Imam Ahmad recorded that Safiyyah bint Shaybah said, "A woman from Bani Sulaym, who

23944-408: The vision!" He turned around and behold, there was a ram. He took it and released his son and he bent over his son saying: "Oh my son, today you have been given to me". That comes in God's saying in Quran 37:107 : We ransomed him with a great sacrifice . The second strand, provided by Tabari, states that Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Ishmael, and Iblis appeared in form of a man to prevent

24108-442: The wicked on Judgement Day . Jude 1:7 records that both Sodom and Gomorrah "indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire." Revelation 11:7–8, regarding the two witnesses , reads: When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in

24272-451: 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

24436-540: The young man had rebuffed him, Iblis went to Hagar, the mother of Ishmael who was still at home. Iblis said to her: "Oh mother of Ishmael! Do you realize where Abraham is going with Ishmael?" She replied: "They have gone to gather wood for us in the mountains". He said: "He has actually gone in order to sacrifice him!" She replied: "It cannot be! He is too kind and too loving towards him to do that!" Iblis said: "He claims that God has ordered him to do that!" Hagar said: "If his Lord has ordered him to do that then he must submit to

24600-522: Was a command by God. The Qur'anic verses which describe this dream are in Surah As-Saffat , 37:100–107: "100. My Lord, grant me [a child] from among the righteous." 101. So We gave him good tidings of a forbearing boy. 102. And when he reached with him [the age of] exertion, he said, "O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I [must] sacrifice you, so see what you think." He said, "O my father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, if Allah wills, of

24764-406: Was a man who set his will against that of God. Nimrod proclaimed himself as a living god and was worshipped as such by his subjects. Nimrod's consort Semiramis was also worshipped as a goddess at his side. (See also Ninus .) Before Abraham was born, a portent in the stars tells Nimrod and his astrologers of the impending birth of Abraham, who would put an end to idolatry . Nimrod therefore orders

24928-607: Was based on the Semitic root ʿ-m-r , which means "be deep", "copious (water)". Sodom and Gomorrah are two of the five "cities of the plain" referred to in Genesis 13:12 and Genesis 19:29 that rebel against Chedorlaomer of Elam , to whom they were subject. At the Battle of Siddim , Chedorlaomer defeats them and takes many captives, including Lot , the nephew of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham . Abraham gathers his men, rescues Lot, and frees

25092-463: Was demolished by the Great Flood at the time of Noah, Abraham—alongside his son, Ismael—is believed to have rebuilt it in its original form. The Quran, in the Muslim perspective, merely confirms or reinforces the laws of pilgrimage . The rites were instituted by Abraham and for all Muslims, as they perform the pilgrimage, the event is a way to return to the perfection of Abraham's faith. Just as Medina

25256-601: Was destroyed in 2600 BC at a different time period than Bab edh-Dhra (2350–2067 BC). In 1993 Nancy Lapp , from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary , reported that Feifa had no Bronze Age occupation and merely an Early Bronze Age cemetery with Iron Age walls. She reports: In the final season of the present series of excavations of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain (1990–1991), the walled site of Feifa

25420-465: Was devastated by an earthquake between 2100 and 1900 BC. This might have unleashed showers of steaming tar. It is possible that the towns were destroyed by an earthquake, especially as they lay along a major fault such as the Jordan Rift Valley ; however, there are no known contemporary accounts of seismic activity that corroborate this theory, and this and the suggestion that they were destroyed by

25584-470: Was in danger, and that he was losing power because, upon witnessing Ibrahim coming out of the fire unharmed, a large part of society started believing in God and Abraham being a prophet of God . Up until this point, Nimrod was pretending that he himself was a god. Nimrod wanted to debate with him and show his people that he, the king is indeed the god and that Ibrahim was a liar. Nimrod asked Ibrahim, "What can your God do that I cannot?" Ibrahim replied, "My Lord

25748-639: Was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded, but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus will it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. Romans 9:29 references Isaiah 1:9: "And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah." 2 Peter 2:4–10 says that just as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and saved Lot, he will deliver godly people from temptations and punish

25912-496: Was investigated and the EB [Early Bronze Age] cemetery that stretched to its east was excavated. The most recent surveys suggested that the visible structures of the walled site belonged to the Iron Age or Roman period . At Khirbet al-Khanazir, the walls which Rast and Schaub had identified in 1973 as houses were in reality rectangular charnel houses marking shaft tombs from near the end of

26076-529: Was revealed as an answer from God to the Jews who inquired of Muhammad about past events. Here God directly instructed Muhammad in surah Al-Kahf, not to consult the Jews for verifying the three stories about which they inquired. Some will say, “They were three, their dog was the fourth,” while others will say, “They were five, their dog was the sixth,” ˹only˺ guessing blindly. And others will say, “They were seven and their dog

26240-433: Was the argument We gave Abraham against his people. We elevate in rank whoever We please. Surely your Lord is All-Wise, All-Knowing. And We blessed him with Isaac and Jacob. We guided them all as We previously guided Noah and those among his descendants: David , Solomon , Job , Joseph , Moses, and Aaron . This is how We reward the good-doers. Likewise, ˹We guided˺ Zachariah , John , Jesus, and Elias , who were all of

26404-493: Was the eighth.” Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “My Lord knows best their ˹exact˺ number. Only a few people know as well.” So do not argue about them except with sure knowledge,1 nor consult any of those ˹who debate˺ about them. The reason being God declaring He Himself is relating what needs to be verified in another verse of al-Kahf: We relate to you ˹O Prophet˺ their story in truth. They were youths who truly believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. Regarding consultation with

26568-437: Was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it."), interpreting the sin as arrogance and the lack of hospitality. As with Ezekiel, later prophetic reproaches of Sodom and Gomorrah do not condemn, implicate, or even mention homosexual conduct as

26732-457: Was the metropolis". Strabo identifies a limestone and salt hill at the southwestern tip of the Dead Sea, and Kharbet Usdum ( Hebrew : הר סדום , Har Sedom or Arabic : جبل السدوم , Jabal(u) 'ssudūm ) ruins nearby as the site of biblical Sodom. The Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Dead Sea in geographic proximity to the ancient biblical city of Sodom. He refers to the lake by its Greek name, Asphaltites. Some scholars believe that

26896-531: Was the midwife of most of the people in our household, told me that the Messenger of God sent for `Uthman bin Talhah, may God be pleased with him.'' On one occasion she said, "I asked `Uthman, `Why did the Prophet call you' He said, `The Messenger of God said to me, I saw the horns of the ram when I entered the House (i.e., the Ka`bah), and I forgot to tell you to cover them up; cover them up, for there should not be anything in

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