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114-409: Qusayr 'Amra or Quseir Amra , sometimes also named Qasr Amra ( Arabic : قصر عمرة , romanized :  Qaṣr ‘Amrah , lit.   'small qasr of 'Amra'), is the best-known of the desert castles located in present-day eastern Jordan . It was built some time between 723 and 743, by Walid Ibn Yazid, the future Umayyad caliph Walid II , whose dominance of the region was rising at

228-599: A Byzantine commander prisoner. Mu'awiya raided Byzantium from 734–737. In 737, al Walid ibn al Qa'qa al-Absi led the raid against the Byzantines. The next year Sulayman ibn Hisham captured Sindira ( Sideroun ). In 738–739, Maslama captured some of Cappadocia and also raided the Avars . Theophanes the Confessor (p. 103) states that while some Arabs raided successfully in 739 and returned home safely, others were soundly defeated at

342-550: A Nilotic scene. There have been a number of visual connections made between the Nile and the River Jordan that could support this claim. The Nile specifically was understood to be a symbol of plenty and a provider of life, and this meaning, which when placed in the context of where in the bathhouse this fresco is located, connects to al-Walid's role as a ruler. Opposite this wall the fresco of al-Walid enthroned sits, and this contrast between

456-442: A bathhouse. The bathhouse is also one of the oldest surviving remains of a hammam in the historic Muslim world . It is most notable for the frescoes that remain mainly on the ceilings inside, which depict, among others, a group of rulers , hunting scenes, dancing scenes containing nude women, working craftsmen, the recently discovered "cycle of Jonah ", and, above one bath chamber , the first known representation of heaven on

570-562: 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

684-435: 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

798-1077: 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

912-417: A flat surface. The radii emerge not from the dome's center but, accurately, from the north celestial pole . The angle of the zodiac is depicted accurately as well. Creating the fresco on the dome was technically difficult, however, based on evidence showing that the artist had to redo several parts, it was clear that he was very skilled and focused on accuracy. The only error discernible in the surviving artwork

1026-480: A hemispherical surface, where the mirror-image of the constellations is accompanied by the figures of the zodiac . This has led to the designation of Qusayr 'Amra as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . That status, and its location along Jordan's major east–west highway, relatively close to Amman , have made it a frequent tourist destination. A preservation project that began in 2010 involves both removing old maintenance attempts and implementing new ones to support

1140-500: A large Berber force surrounded a loyal army at Wadi Sherif, where the loyalists fought to the death. Hisham dispatched a force of 27,000 Syrians, which was destroyed in 741. In 742 Handhala ibn Safwan began successfully, but soon was besieged in Qairawan . He led a desperate sortie from the city that scattered the Berbers, killing thousands and re-establishing Umayyad rule. Hisham also faced

1254-483: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic

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1368-516: A letter to the caliph complaining of his and his brothers' treatment under the caliph's rule. Hisham also held no posts under his brother, Caliph Yazid II ( r.  720–724 ). Upon the counsel of their brother, the prominent general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik , Yazid nominated Hisham as his successor over his own son al-Walid II , whom he had originally intended to designate as first-in-line. Hisham acceded after Yazid died in January 724. He received

1482-677: 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

1596-432: A nude woman swimming. In this fresco, there are fish that appear to be swimming around the woman, and a large flower that is understood to be a lotus flower. It is not known who the woman represents, but due to the apparent classical and late Roman style of depicting her, a number of mythological persons have been suggested. Despite this, due to the imagery surrounding the woman, it is believed that this specific fresco depicts

1710-541: A point to also focus on the architecture outside of the bathhouse, such as the qasr, saqiya , and watch tower, which have not been conserved, since previous projects focused mainly on the frescoes and interior of the bathhouse. The conservation efforts began with documentation of the state of the paintings, frescoes, and the building. Lime mortar was applied to parts of the structure that were showing signs of leaking water and loss of original mortar. Additionally, windows and ceiling covers were added to prevent water from entering

1824-576: 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

1938-555: A revolt by the armies of Zayd ibn Ali , grandson of Husayn bin Ali , which was put down because of the betrayal of the Kufans. The Kufans encouraged Zayd to revolt. Zayd was ordered to leave Kufa and though he appeared to set out for Mecca, he returned and dwelt secretly in Kufa moving from house to house and receiving the allegiance of many people. Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi , Iraq's governor, learned of

2052-462: 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",

2166-1001: A series of setbacks, especially in the Caucasus against the Khazars (the Battle of Marj Ardabil ) and in Transoxiana against the Turgesh (the " Day of Thirst " and the Battle of the Pass ). Hisham sent armies to end the Hindu rebellion in Sind , and was successful when the Hindu ruler Jai Singh was killed. This allowed the Umayyads to reassert their rule over some portions of their provinces in India . Some invasions of Indian kingdoms were led by

2280-465: 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

2394-408: A spiritual leader. The inclusion of multiple images of Jonah in the bathhouse alludes to its builder's belief in a predestined right to rule, since Jonah was divinely appointed as a leader. Al-Walid was greatly focused on legitimacy, especially that coming from God, and the connection he made between himself and Jonah enforces this idea. On the north wall of the west aisle, there is a large fresco of

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2508-531: A stricter interpretation of the Sharia as Umar had, and enforced it, even upon his own family. His ability to stand up to the Umayyad clan may have been an important factor in his success, and may point to why his brother Yazid was ineffective. According to tradition, Hisham ordered the hadith scholar Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d.742) to commit the hadith he had memorized to writing. On the military front his empire suffered

2622-556: A triple-vaulted ceiling over the main entrance on the east facade . The western wings feature smaller vaults or domes . The painting of the six kings includes King Roderick of Spain, whose short reign (710–712) has been taken to date of the image, and possibly the building, to around 710. Therefore, for a long time researchers believed that sitting caliph Walid I was the builder and primary user of Qasr Amra, until doubts arose, making specialists believe that one of two princes who later became caliph themselves, Walid or Yazid , were

2736-503: 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

2850-537: A type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history"). Since 1970, there have been multiple conservation projects undertaken at Qusayr 'Amra to address the state of the structure and the frescoes. The first was carried out by the Archaeological Museum of Madrid and spanned three years from 1971 to 1974. While the project involved some architectural restoration, it focused greatly on restoring

2964-499: 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

3078-498: A variety of themes and patterns throughout the frescos and mosaics. One aspect which can be seen through a majority of these mosaics is a focus on repeating and geometric shapes, colors, and patters. One of the major themes in this palace is water. One examples of this theme of water is a mosaic where the Triumph of the Roman god Neptune . This was the god of the sea and his presence accentuates

3192-470: 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

3306-585: 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

3420-542: 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

3534-469: 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

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3648-518: Is credited by al-Tabari for leading an expedition against the Byzantines across the Caliphate's frontier in 706 and capturing a number of their fortified positions. Hisham began to demonstrate aspirations for the caliphate at the death of his brother, Caliph Sulayman ( r.  715–717 ) in 717. On his deathbed, Sulayman had nominated as his successor their paternal first cousin, Umar II , but kept

3762-408: 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

3876-468: 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

3990-566: 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

4104-836: 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

4218-562: Is that the six figures are depicted in supplication, presumably towards the Caliph who would be seated in the hall. The frescoes in all rooms but the caldarium reflect the advice of contemporary Arab physicians . They believed that baths drained the spirits of the bathers, and that to revive "the three vital principles in the body, the animal, the spiritual and the natural," the bath's walls should be covered with pictures of activities like hunting, of lovers, and of gardens and palm trees. There were

4332-559: 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

4446-430: Is the counterclockwise order of the stars, which suggests the image was copied from one on a flat surface. Qasr al-Mushash Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized :  al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] ) is a Central Semitic language of

4560-584: 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

4674-413: 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

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4788-516: 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

4902-523: Is viewed by modern historians and the early Islamic tradition to have overseen a successful reign, on par with the similarly long reigns of the Umayyad Caliphate's founder Mu'awiya I ( r.  661–680 ) and Abd al-Malik. In the summation of the historian Francesco Gabrieli , Hisham's rule "on the whole was glorious for the Arabs and fruitful in the development of Islamic faith and culture " and "marks

5016-445: 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

5130-692: 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

5244-413: The Battle of Akroinon . He records that internal Byzantine strife (the struggle between Constantine V and the usurper Artabasdos ) facilitated Arab raids by Sulayman ibn Hisham in 741–742 (p. 106) that made many Byzantines Arab captives. Al-Tabari refers to the same raid. In North Africa, Kharijite teachings combined with natural local restlessness to produce a significant Berber revolt . In 740,

5358-597: The Sassanid Persian Shah, and the Negus of Ethiopia . The last one was for a long time unidentified, speculated to be the Turkish, Chinese, or Indian ruler, and now known to represent the emperor of China. Its intent was unclear. The Greek word ΝΙΚΗ nike , meaning victory, was discovered nearby, suggesting that the "six kings" image was meant to suggest the caliph's supremacy over his enemies. Another possible interpretation

5472-561: 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

5586-494: 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

5700-419: 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

5814-705: 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. Hisham Hisham

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5928-562: The 10th century. Hisham died on 6 February 743 (6 Rabiʽ al-Thani 125 AH). His son, Maslama , led the funeral prayers. Hisham had attempted to secure Maslama as his successor in place of Yazid II's son, al-Walid II. Hisham's initial attempts, after the Hajj of 735, to persuade al-Walid II to step down in favor of Maslama or, alternatively, to make Maslama al-Walid II's successor were rejected. Afterward, Hisham undermine al-Walid II by secretly gathering support for Maslama. The latter's nomination

6042-454: 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

6156-562: 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

6270-812: 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

6384-559: The Arab governors of Sind but they were unsuccessful. Under Hisham's rule, regular raids against the Byzantine Empire continued. One regular commander of Arab forces was the redoubtable Maslama, Hisham's half-brother. He fought the Byzantines in 725–726 CE (A.H. 107) and the next year captured Caesarea Mazaca . He also fought the Khazars in the Caucasus. In 728, he fought for a month against

6498-657: The Caliphate they suffered the brunt of these wars. The Syrians were mostly Yamani and their dispersal and heavy losses disrupted the factional balance upon which the Umayyad state depended in favor of the Qays/Mudar of the Jazira. The Qays/Mudar became the main component of the army under Marwan II ( r.  744–750 ) and their rout by the Khurasani troops of the Abbasids marked the end of

6612-495: The Caliphate, while also failing to remedy state finances. Meanwhile, the harshness and diminishing material returns from campaigning along the frontiers sapped the enthusiasm of the provincial garrisons and further increased Hisham's dependence on the Syrian army, the bedrock of the dynasty, to the chagrin of the locally-established troops. As Syrian troops were dispatched both to fight on the frontiers and quell major rebellions throughout

6726-418: The Islamic tradition portrays Hisham as "a conscientious and efficient, if severe and tightfisted, administrator", according to Blankinship. In the view of the historian Hugh N. Kennedy , the Umayyad state "had never been as strong as it had been under Hisham only a decade before the final collapse " in 750. Blankinship, on the other hand, concludes that the military disasters of Hisham's reign brought about

6840-685: The Khaqan there and defeated him. Hisham's son Mu'awiya was another Arab commander in the almost-annual raids against the Byzantine Empire. In 728, he took the fort of Samalu in Cilicia . The next year Mu'awiya thrust left and Sa'id ibn Hisham right, in addition to a sea raid. In 731, Mu'awiya captured Kharsianon in Cappadocia. Mu'awiya raided the Byzantine Empire in 731–732 (A.H. 113). The next year he captured Aqrun (Akroinos), while Abdallah al-Battal took

6954-412: 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

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7068-672: 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

7182-561: 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

7296-533: The Umayyad Period. The frescoes depict a wide variety of scenes including: hunting scenes, bathing scenes, animals, vegetal motifs, mythological figures, and religious scenes. The main entry vault has scenes of hunting, fruit and wine consumption, and naked women. Some of the animals shown are not abundant in the region but were more commonly found in Persia , suggesting some influence from that area. One surface depicts

7410-408: The Umayyad dynasty's demise. According to him, the state struggled to absorb the significant losses incurred by these defeats. Its treasury was dependent on war booty and it lacked efficient means to collect tax revenue from its subjects. An unprecedented economic crisis ensued, precipitating stringent taxation efforts and a substantial reduction in spending. This caused widespread discontent throughout

7524-499: The Umayyad dynasty. Hisham's favored wife was Umm Hakim , the daughter of Yahya ibn al-Hakam , brother of Hisham's grandfather caliph Marwan I ( r.  684–685 ). Her mother was Zaynab bint Abd al-Rahman, the granddaughter of the Syrian conquest commander al-Harith ibn Hisham of the Banu Makhzum. Umm Hakim, like her mother, was well-known for her beauty and love for wine. She gave Hisham five sons, including Sulayman, Maslama, Yazid al-Afqam , and Mu'awiya . Hisham

7638-469: The Umayyad empire to continue as an entity. His long rule was an effective one, and it saw a rebirth of reforms that were originated by Umar bin Abd al-Aziz . Like a-Walid I, Hisham was a great patron of the arts, and he again encouraged arts in the empire. He also encouraged the growth of education by building more schools, and perhaps most importantly, by overseeing the translation of numerous literary and scientific masterpieces into Arabic . He returned to

7752-407: The bathhouse and to protect it from outside conditions. Removal of more shellac and cleaning of the paintings and frescoes revealed rich colors that had not been visible before. Qusayr 'Amra is most notable for the frescoes on the inside walls. The frescoes are not only appreciated for their artistic value, but also for their role as markers of the birth and evolution of Islamic Art, especially during

7866-558: The ceiling have been thought to represent the stages of life. Christians in the area believe the middle figure is Jesus Christ . On the walls and ceiling of the tepidarium , or warm bath, are scenes of plants and trees similar to those in the mosaic at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus . Out of the three frescoes depicting women bathing in Qusayr 'Amra, two are located in the tepidarium. These frescoes depict women carrying water buckets to bathe their children, and included imagery of erotes as well. These women are depicted completely in

7980-440: The construction of the building. Near the base of one wall a haloed king is shown on a throne. An adjoining section, now in Berlin 's Museum of Islamic Art , shows attendants as well as a boat in waters abundant with fish and fowl. The story of Jonah and the whale is depicted four times in the frescoes of the west aisle; these are the earliest known images of Jonah in Islamic art. It is difficult to tell whether they illustrate

8094-509: 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

8208-635: 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

8322-424: The enclosed area, below a small rise. Traces of stone walls used to enclose the site suggest it was part of a 25-hectare (62-acre) complex; there are remains of a castle which could have temporarily housed a garrison of soldiers. Just to the southeast of the building is a well , 40 metres (130 ft) deep, and traces of the animal-driven lifting mechanism and a dam have been found as well. The architecture of

8436-728: 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

8550-593: 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

8664-422: The final period of prosperity and splendour of the Umayyad caliphate". By dint of his sobriety, austerity and work ethic, Hisham is held by most modern historians to have kept the Caliphate in good-standing. They largely assign blame to his successor al-Walid II and longer-standing internal factors, which Hisham could not resolve, for the Umayyad dynasty's unraveling in the few years after Hisham's death. Similarly,

8778-501: 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

8892-462: The frescoes throughout the bathhouse. The frescoes were cleaned of soot, as well as covered with a layer of shellac to protect the paintings. However, this shellac was more damaging than protective, and was removed during a conservation project in 1996 carried out by the University of Granada . Over the years, the color of the shellac turned and covered the paintings. During and after the removal process,

9006-513: The history of al-Tabari (d. 923), Hisham was given the kunya (patronymic) of Abu al-Walid. There is little information about Hisham's early life. He was too young to play any political or military role during his father's reign. He supposedly led the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca once during his brother al-Walid I 's reign ( r.  705–715 ) and while there, met a respected descendant of Caliph Ali ( r.  656–661 ), Zayn al-Abidin . Hisham

9120-579: 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

9234-630: The internal conflicts of the years past were ended, and Hisham's governor, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abdallah , assembled a large army that went into France . He besieged Bordeaux and pushed to the Loire . This marked the limit of Arabic conquest in Western Europe. The wave was halted at the Battle of Tours by Charles Martel who ruled the kingdom of the Franks, with exception of the Fraxinetum enclave which lasted until

9348-608: 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

9462-527: The large fresco of al-Walid and the fresco of the woman swimming implies that as caliph, al-Walid saw himself as a provider of life to the people he ruled over. An image known as the "six kings" depicts the Umayyad caliph and the rulers of realms near and far. Based on details and inscriptions in the image, four of the depicted kings are identified as the Byzantine Emperor , the Visigothic king Roderic ,

9576-599: 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)

9690-479: The late 730s was a major setback to Hisham's succession plans, as it represented the loss of the plan's key supporter in the Umayyad dynasty. Al-Walid II acceded and immediately ordered his cousin, the veteran commander al-Abbas ibn al-Walid , to arrest Hisham's sons at Rusafa , near Palmyra , but expressly forbade that Maslama or his household be disturbed in deference to their old companionship and Maslama's defense of al-Walid II from Hisham. In general, Hisham

9804-420: 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

9918-883: 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

10032-470: The more likely candidates for that role. The discovery of an inscription during work in 2012 has allowed for the dating of the structure to the two decades between 723 and 743, when it was commissioned by Walid Ibn Yazid, crown prince under caliph Hisham and his successor during a short reign as caliph in 743–744. Both princes spent long periods of time away from Damascus , the Umayyad capital, before assuming

10146-768: 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

10260-479: The news while at his Syrian desert estate, al-Zaytuna, which is identified as Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi , near Hisham's favored residence, al-Rusafa, which is identified as Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi . He was given the caliphal ring and staff by a postal messenger, after which he rode to Damascus, where he was publicly acclaimed as caliph. Hisham inherited an empire with many different problems. He would, however, be effective in attending to these problems, and in allowing

10374-456: The nude, which was not uncommon since the Umayyads accepted depictions of nudity, and since this building is not a religious one, depictions of humans was also approved. These frescoes have clear Roman influence with not only the inclusion of the erotes, but also the Roman-esque backgrounds and the belief that the scenes depicted could be part of a Dionysiac infant cycle. It is accurate to say that

10488-424: 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

10602-445: The order secret, entrusting the revelation to his chief adviser Raja ibn Haywa . When Raja informed the Umayyad family of the decision, Hisham protested that the caliphal office was the preserve of Abd al-Malik's direct descendants and only relented from his opposition when threatened by force. He played no political or military role under Umar ( r.  717–720 ) but is mentioned in a 10th-century biography of Umar as having issued

10716-549: 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

10830-417: The plot, commanded the people to gather at the great mosque, locked them inside and began a search for Zayd. Zayd with some troops fought his way to the mosque and called on people to come out. He then pushed back Yusuf's troops, but was felled by an arrow. Although his body was initially buried, the spot was pointed out and it was extracted, beheaded and the head sent to Hisham and later to Medina. In Spain ,

10944-603: The reception-hall-cum-bathhouse is identical to that of Hammam al-Sarah , also in Jordan, except the latter was erected using finely-cut limestone ashlars (based on the Late Roman architectural tradition), while Amra's bath was erected using rough masonry held together by gypsum-lime mortar (based on the Sasanian architectural tradition). It is a low building made from limestone and basalt . The northern block, two stories high, features

11058-410: 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

11172-458: 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

11286-598: The shellac also caused some of the paint to come off of the wall. In 2010, a new conservation project began and is currently still active. This project has been conducted by the World Monuments Fund , the Italian Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro , and the Department of Antiquities of Jordan . While this project works on the bathhouse itself as well as restoring the frescoes, it makes

11400-407: The site better. Qusayr 'Amra is located on the north side of Jordan's Highway 40, roughly 85 kilometres (53 mi) from Amman and 21 kilometres (13 mi) southwest of Al-Azraq . It is within a large area fenced off in barbed wire . A paved parking lot is located at the southeast corner, just off the road. A small visitor's center collects admission fees. The castle is located in the west of

11514-458: 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

11628-556: 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

11742-519: The story as told in the Quran or in the Bible, since these two tellings are very similar. The inclusion of amphorae in the frescoes puts them closer to the Biblical version, but this detail could indicate that the artists based their pictures on third-party models rather than working directly from religious texts. In the Quran, Jonah had many roles and was often seen as an example of good and bad behavior as well as

11856-440: The theme of water. These themes emphasize the water within the bathhouses. The apodyterium , or changing room, is decorated with scenes of animals engaging in human activities , particularly performing music. One ambiguous image has an angel gazing down on a shrouded human form. It has often been thought to be a death scene, but some other interpretations have suggested the shroud covers a pair of lovers. Three blackened faces on

11970-405: The throne. Walid was known to indulge in the sort of sybaritic activities depicted on the frescoes, particularly sitting on the edge of pools listening to music or poetry. He was once entertained by performers dressed as stars and constellations, suggesting a connection to the sky painting in the caldarium. Yazid's mother was a Persian princess, suggesting a familiarity with that culture, and he too

12084-433: The time. It is considered one of the most important examples of early Islamic art and architecture . The building is actually the remnant of a larger complex that included an actual castle, meant as a royal retreat, without any military function, of which only the foundation remains. What stands today is a small country cabin. The foundation has a simple layout with a rectangular audience hall, hydraulic structures , and

12198-501: 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

12312-443: The women depicted were most likely goddesses of some kind since women were not allowed to enter bathhouses. Additionally, men were only allowed to enter if they were covered, which is reflected by the images of men somewhat covered in the bathhouse, so depictions of nudity of women would only be acceptable if the subjects were not human. Since the frescoes only have a few figures, it made it so viewers could focus on them more and on what

12426-451: 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

12540-607: Was born in Damascus , the administrative capital of the Umayyad Caliphate , in AH 72 (691–692 CE). His father was the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ( r.  685–705 ). His mother, A'isha, was a daughter of Hisham ibn Isma'il of the Banu Makhzum , a prominent family of the Quraysh , and Abd al-Malik's longtime governor of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina . According to

12654-443: Was happening in the scene. The scene of a woman pouring water over another person's head would have mimicked what occurred in the room and further connects the frescoes to the viewer. The caldarium or hot bath's hemispheric dome has a representation of the heavens in which the zodiac is depicted, among 35 separate identifiable constellations . It is believed to be the earliest image of the night sky painted on anything other than

12768-497: Was known for similar pleasure-seeking. Key considerations in the placement of the desert castles centered on access and proximity to the ancient routes running north from Arabia to Syria. A major route ran from the Arabian city of Tayma via Wadi Sirhan toward the plain of Balqa in Jordan and accounts for the location of Qusayr 'Amra and other similar fortifications such as Qasr Al-Kharanah and Qasr al-tuba. The abandoned structure

12882-494: Was re-discovered by Alois Musil in 1898, with the frescoes made famous in drawings by the Austrian artist Alphons Leopold Mielich for Musil's book. In the late 1970s a Spanish team restored the frescoes. The castle was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 under criteria i), iii), and iv) ("masterpiece of human creative genius", "unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition" and "an outstanding example of

12996-507: Was supported by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik and Hisham's maternal grandfather, Hisham ibn Isma'il, the latter's sons Ibrahim and Muhammad , as well as the sons of the tribal chief al-Qa'qa' ibn Khulayd , who were an influential family in northern Syria . Maslama's mother, Umm Hakim, also lobbied for him. Opposed to Maslama's proposed succession was Khalid al-Qasri , the governor of Iraq, to which Maslama responded by insulting him and his dead brother Asad . Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik's death in

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