Flicken's Blog

Shoulder or Leg Roast: A Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Today I ate what was possibly some of the best roast meat I've had in years, alhamdulillah. This recipe works well for both lamb and kid.

If the leg is frozen, thaw it out completely.

Prepare a marinade of just four ingredients: yogurt, salt, mashed up garlic, and rosemary. Make many little slits in the meat and rub the marinade in. Put the leg in a plastic bag with the remaining marinade and leave it in the fridge overnight.

Remove the leg from the bag and wrap it in aluminum foil, taking with it as much marinade as possible. Bake it on medium heat until tender, then remove it from the oven while still wrapped in foil. Keep it wrapped up to keep it moist and tender. Before serving, remove it from the foil and broil it on both sides until crispy brown. However, be sure not to dry it out.

Etymological Musings: On Camels, Women, and Gulliblity

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:07:00 +0000

There are two common patterns in Arabic etymology:

A root word that has a very concrete meaning branches out into more abstract meanings. Examples of this include: khabra', which originally meant "soft earth" evolving to mean, "news", as a rising cloud of dust in the horizon typically meant some news was arriving; dhikr (remembrance) being derived from dhakar (penis), as that is the means by which a man is remembered (i.e. through his offspring); and `aql, which originally meant "tying down" coming to mean "mind."
A letter is changed in a root word, forming a closely-related new root, such as: hadama, `adama, and haḍama all being related to destroying something; ḥajaba and ḥajaza imparting the meaning of blocking or veiling something; and khabar and ghabar both being related to dust.

However, I learned of yet another mechanism that plays a role in Arabic etymology. But before I spoil it for you with a picture of the destination, let's discuss the journey.

Recently, when I read that the English word hysteria is derived from the Greek word for uterus (and hence hysterectomy) , it got me thinking about the Arabic word for simpleton, ahbal, and whether it was related to the word for vagina: mahbil. As Ibn Faris points out, there are three root meanings derived from the triliteral root hbl:

The first is related to a woman whose child has died. Such a woman is called a habool or habil. This is related to the word mahbil, which most likely originally meant, "uterus" but could also possibly mean vagina or cervix. Ibn Faris says that the original word was likely with a ḥ in place of the h. Maḥbil would literally mean, "the place of pregnancy", as the verb ḥabala, means, "to be pregnant", which is in turn related to ḥamala ("to carry").
The second is related to all things large and heavy. Arabic lexicographers point out that a large man can be called hibil, which is related to the word, ibil, a collective word for camels.
The third meaning is related to gullibility and taking advantage of something: ihtabala al-ṣayda means, "to capture prey."

It is likely that this final meaning is derived from the second, since overcoming prey often means that the predator or hunter is light-footed in relation to the prey, thereby deeming it heavy or bulky; this fits well, as ihtabala would appear to mean exactly that. Another, less likely, possibility is that the Arabs compared the possibly hysterical state of a woman whose child has just died with a simpleton. This is less likely because habal is closer to being simple-minded than hysterical.

Getting back to patterns, what seems to be going on here is phonetic confluence. Unrelated meanings are merging into a single root word because of the phonetic similarity of one of the root letters. In this case, the ha is similar to the glottal stop (hamza) as well as the ḥa; the former brings in the meaning of camels and, by extension, bulkiness, while the latter brings in the meaning of pregnancy.

Finally, it does not appear that there is actually such a word as ahbal in classical Arabic; it appears to be a modernism.

Two Mannerisms of the Salaf

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:16:00 +0000

The early Muslims, our pious predecessors (Al-Salaf Al-Salih), had two attributes that are by-and-large ignored by many Muslims these days, even those who claim to follow their footsteps:

Scrupulousness regarding what one eats. When Saad ibn Abi Waqqas asked the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to ask Allah that his prayers be answered, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, "O Saad, make good that which you eat and and you will be one whose prayers are accepted." There is simply no shortage of examples of the Salaf avoiding food out of scrupulousness. Yet, we find people who claim to fervorishly follow their footsteps, and others who claim to want to reach a high spiritual standing with Allah, ignoring this rule. What am I talking about? I mean stop eating anything you aren't 100% sure of such as: unknown ingredients, food prepared in facilities where impurities (e.g. pork) are also processed, and even the so-called halal meat in the West and in Muslim countries. I know that some or all of these things are halal. This is not about fatwa. This is about following the footsteps of the Salaf, who would avoid nine-tenths of the halal in fear of falling into the haram. Those who consume every permissible thing will undoubtedly fall into doubtful matters while those who consume doubtful things will undoubtedly fall into the haram. The fatwas that say such things are permissible may very well be correct. But you want to be a Salafi or a Sufi, right? Then get serious and clean up your eating act.
Avoiding excessive theology. Knowing one's basic creed is obviously necessary. Furthermore, a bit of formal theology can go a long way in countering doubts that often occur when disucssing Islam with non-Muslims. However, there comes a point where, other than for experts in the field, it is simply bad manners. Talking about Allah as if He is something that we can understand and analyze is disgusting to any heart with awe of the Divine in it. The Salaf, and in particular the Companions, would shun such conversations whenever necessary, sometimes even plugging their ears with their fingers to avoid hearing the discussion. As a Sufi once said, "The least problem with theology is that awe towards the Divine falls from one's heart." Allah is to be worshipped and adored, not argued about.

A Bit of Etymology

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:10:00 +0000

My daughter asked me the meaning of zukhruf. Because she was asking in the context of a Qur'anic passage, I didn't want to answer off the top of my head, so I told her to look it up in Mufradat Al-Qur'an, where the author defined it as muzawwaq adornment (الزينة المزوقة). I then proceeded to look up muzawwaq in Lisan Al-Arab. Zawooq and zi'baq are both words for mercury, probably of Persian origin. In ancient times, metal workers would perform fire-gilding by mixing fine gold with mercury, decoratively applying the amalgam to the desired item, and then evaporating off the mercury by applying heat. Such items were then referred to as muzawwaq. Eventually, anything embellished would be referred to as muzawwaq. In fact, when a woman adorns herself, she is referred to as mutazawwiqah. This word is commonly used in colloquial Egyptian speech, but would be rendered mitzawwa'ah in standard Cairene pronunciation.

I've been wondering about the word for the jubbah (long overcoat) worn by the scholars and reciters of Egypt. It is pronounced kakoula, and Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi describes it as a "jubbah with a collar." It appears that this is a corruption of the French cagoule, or raincoat. While a google search for cagoule and the Wikipedia page for it present images that are a far cry from Egyptian sheikhwear, it is likely that the cagoule has changed greatly over time, and that at one point the Egyptian jubbah did in fact resemble it more closely.

Dibbeen Forest: A Photo Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:20:00 +0000

If you've never been to the Dibbeen Forest Reserve in the spring, get over there before the spring wildflowers dry up. They won't last long.

(Click on images to zoom in.)

There's a large enclosure of friendly roe deer. Bring a head of cabbage or lettuce with you, as they expect you to feed them.

This particular type of blue flower seems to grow alone.

A gorgeous bouquet.

One word: idyllic.

This guy is my favourite among the bunch.

Utterly romantic.

If you look closely, you'll notice there are actually three horses in this shot.

Egypt: A Quick & Dirty Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:08:00 +0000

I've explained the main sites to see in Egypt a couple of times. Now that someone asked me about it again, I decided to commit it to writing.

Disclaimer

I should start by saying this is not a substitute for proper planning or a proper visitor's guide. I mainly go to Egypt to visit family, and stay with family. My site seeing is (relatively) limited and my home town is Alexandria, not the capital, Cairo.

What Egypt Is Not

Egypt is not Europe or North America. It's a poor country. Some places are dirty and disgusting. If you're not careful, you're likely to get sick and ripped off. The people are poor. They will see a dollar sign on your head. Some people will try to rip you off. You need to know how to negotiate well.

In general, Egyptians are friendly and hospitable. I've told you the worst. It really shouldn't be that bad, insha' Allah.

Egypt is not Sinai. Yes, Sinai is a part of Egypt, but so many Jordanians claim to have visited Egypt while going no further than Sinai. Claiming that you've visited Egypt after seeing Sinai is like me claiming I've seen Turkey because I've been to Jordan. (Jordan used to be a part of the Ottoman Empire.)

What to See

Egyptian history can be divided into three main time periods: Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, and Islamic.

Pharaonic

The Pyramids & Sphinx. Location: Giza, close to Cairo.
The Egyptian Museum. Location: Cairo.
Saqqara. Location: close to Cairo.

Greco-Roman

The Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria. Check to make sure it's open.
The underground catacombs of Kom El-Shouqafa, also in Alexandria.

Islamic

Muhammad Ali's citadel. Location: Cairo.
Al-Azhar Mosque & University, the oldest university in the world. Location: Cairo.
Al-Hussein Mosque. Location: Cairo.
Khan Al-Khalili market. Location: Cairo.
Abu Al-Abbas Mosque. Location: Alexandria.
The Gates of Ancient Cairo. Location: Cairo.
The Citadel of Qaitbay. Location: Alexandria.
Al-Rifa'i Mosque. Location: Cairo.

There are also innumerable scholars and saints buried in Egypt, such as Imam Shafi'i, Zakariyya Al-Ansari, Al-Shaarani, and many prominent Shadhilis.

If you're a big modern history nut, you might want to also see El Alamein, where Germany and the Allies lost thousands of soldiers in battle during WWII.

Natural Beauty

The best time to visit Egypt is in late April or early May, when the weather is nice and the tourists are few. In the summer, Egypt can be rather hot. In Alexandria, the humidity is high and you'll feel the sweat roll off your body even at night time during the peak of the summer. If you're by the seaside, then you'll be fine.

If one of your goals is to enjoy Egypt's remarkable fresh fruit, such as mangoes and guava, then you need to go in late summer or early fall.

Here's what you have to experience while there:

The Mediterranean Sea. Best seen in Alexandria. Catch a boat ride from the Montazah, King Farouq's former palace. While you're by the corniche, make sure to ride in a horse-drawn carriage. If you have time, go fishing. You can also check out Mersa Matruh, towards the Libyan border, where you can find some secluded beaches.
The Red Sea. It offers great fishing and snorkeling. That's what I hear, anyway. I've never been there on the Egyptian side. (I've only been to the Red Sea via Aqaba, Jordan.)
The Nile, of course. Catch a boat ride in Cairo. If you're adventurous, you may want to catch an extended ride down south into Upper Egypt. Tread with caution.

Food

I really go to Egypt to connect with my inner stomach. I love (most) Egyptian food. I don't have an eating problem: I eat, I get sick, I take medicine; no problem! Don't drink the tap water or anything that's made with tap water (e.g. juice) unless it's been boiled; e.g. tea or coffee.

Here are things you must eat or drink:

Mangoes. zOMG, Egyptian mangoes are awesome. I don't know if they're very good earlier than August, though.
Guava. These ripen even later than mangoes.
Pastirma: fried with eggs or alone, in sandwiches.
In general, most Egyptian meat and dairy is very good. Try water buffalo (gamoosa) steak.
Egyptians do poultry very well. Treat yourself to some duck and stuffed pigeons.
Rabbits in mulukhiyah. If you can't get it with rabbits, eat mulukhiyah (e.g. with chicken) anyways.
Fresh juice, at the stands. Make sure they make it with bottled water. You should also drink some of the ultra-refreshing sugarcane juice. If you get it in a bag and take it to your hotel, it will go brown if you don't drink it very soon afterwards. If you drink from their cups, you risk getting sick. (One of my worst illnesses to date was after I drank sugarcane juice from an improperly-washed glass in Amman; I had a high fever for one solid week.) Take your own portable mug and have them fill it for you. Hey, they already know you're a foreigner and are ripping you off anyways, so you might as well be sanitary about it.
Gateau. Egyptian gateau rocks. You want to make sure the shop you go into is air-conditioned. If it isn't, they're probably not using fresh dairy cream.
Other good Egyptian sweest include: baklawa and kunafa. Make sure to get it from a high quality place that uses real dairy butter and crunchy, freshly roasted nuts.
Although typically a poor man's food, kushari is delicious and satisfying nonetheless.
Seafood. You can buy zillions of types of fresh fish and shellfish and have them cooked for you on the spot in the better restaurants.
If you're not used to Middle-Eastern coffee, you might find Turkish coffee a nice treat. Make sure not to try to drink the sludge at the bottom.
Safe bets in all Middle Eastern countries include: grilled kabobs and kufta, shawerma, felafel, and hummus. The last two are good for vegetarians and those on a budget.

(Note how I've written more about food than any other topic.)

Check the comments section of this post for updates.

Raising, Slaughtering, and Cooking Rabbits

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:35:00 +0000

I've had mixed experiences with rabbit meat. I once purchased (prêt-à-manger) rabbit meat from a halal butcher in Waterloo, and it was very much like run-of-the-mill chicken breast: white, dry, and with little flavour. I also had a similar experience when someone here in Jordan cooked rabbit for me. (She baked it in the oven.) The result was dry and with very little flavour. The rabbits of my childhood, which my father raised himself, were succulent. Their meat was pink (brown when cooked), they were full of tasty, mildly gamey flavour, and they were tender. Not only that, but they also had minimal fat reserves on them. The rabbits I ate while visiting Egypt, which my mother's fellaheen neighbours hand-raised were also succulent and pink. I thought the issue was simply a matter of how the rabbits were fed.

I spoke to a neighbour here in Amman, who raises his own rabbits, about these issues. He said he has never experienced dry rabbit meat. The problem, according to him, was that either that whoever butchered the rabbit tried cooking or cooling it (in the fridge) immediately after slaughter. He told me to hang the carcass for an hour or so before attempting to cook it. Another issue, apparently, was that rabbits had to be cooked in liquid; their lean flesh does not lend well to dry cooking methods.

If you want to buy uncommon, live animals in Amman, the time and place is early Friday morning downtown. I went there with a friend and his two sons. We picked a couple rabbits, which I named molokhiyya and saniyya, after the dishes I was planning to cook them in. My friend's older son (age 5) wanted to come by and watch me butcher them. Being a sassy little boy, he decided to name the rabbits after my daughters. (The gene for being impish must rest on the Y chromosome.) I butchered them, one after the other, in the bathtub, to control the spread of the blood. I then took them to the kitchen, skinned them, and hung them up from my cupboard handles. After a couple hours, we took them down, rinsed them off, cut them up, and soaked them in a mixture of water and vinegar. After another couple hours, we threw them into a pot and cooked them into a molokhiyya dish. (Unfortunately, one rabbit is too small to feed five people.) The aroma of the cooking rabbits was scrumptuous. They took a little longer to cook than chicken. The meat was pink when raw and light brown after fully cooked.

The net result was very good, being definitely better than chicken, but not quite as good as the rabbits that my father raised or the ones I had eaten in Egypt. However, these Ammani rabbits were not home-raised and fattened before slaughtering, so it's not a fair comparison.

Academic Illuminations III: A Grammatical Oxymoron

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:09:00 +0000

The Problem

A hal, according to Hans Wehr's definition, is a circumstantial expression or phrase, like the word, "running" in the expression, "I saw Zaid running." It explains the state of Zaid at the time you saw him, and usually indicates that this state existed before your act of seeing him. The problematic issue is the existence of an intrinsic (Ar. lazimeh) hal in Arabic grammar. How can something that is circumstantial be intrinsic? Even a friend who is fairly advanced in grammar, and teaches it professionally, found the issue problematic. He said that the intrinsic hal seemed to be very close in meaning to an attribute (Ar. na't). Attributes are, after all, intrinsic to an entity while a hal is circumstantial. Yet the hal, whether intrinsic or not, is not inflected in the same way as an attribute. Furthermore, it is unlikely that grammarians would identify it as a circumstantial expression if it was, in fact, an attribute.

The Illumination

According to Abbas Hassan's Al-Nahw Al-Wafi, the intrinsic hal is limited to three cases:

The affirmative hal (Ar. hal mu'akkideh), which takes three forms:

When the sentence consists of two, non-derived nouns and the hal is an affirmation of the sentence's upshot, such as if one says: أنا حاتم جوادا, meaning, "I am Hatim, being generous." "Generous" is an affirmative hal since it merely affirms the upshot of the sentence, for saying, "I am Hatim" implies one is generous.
When the hal is an affirmation of the very action that it is the circumstance of (i.e. it affirms the verb that renders it accusative), such as the statement of Jesus (peace be upon him): ويوم أبعث حيا, meaning, "And the day I am resurrected alive." "Alive" affims the ressurrection.
When the hal is an affirmation of of the noun it describes, such as, جاء كلهم جميعا, meaning, "All of them came, altogether." "Altogether" affirms, "all of them."

The renewed intrinsic hal, such as خلق الله الزرافة يداها أطول من رجليها, meaning, "Allah created the giraffe with its front legs longer than its hind legs." The hal here is describing each giraffe at the point of it being created.
The most difficult (and hence most interesting) case, is when the instrinsic hal is limited to cases that have appeared in the canon of Classical Arabic, and cannot be expanded upon. (That Abbas Hassan says they cannot be expanded upon is indeed significant, for he often criticizes the Basrans -- who interdicted post-classical usage of certain classical idioms -- for trapping themselves in their own grammatical prescriptions.) An example of this is:
شهد الله أنه لا إله إلا هو والملائكة وأولوا العلم قائما بالقسط
meaning, "Allah, while maintaining justice, the angels, and those of knowledge bear witness that there is no god but Him."

The affirmative hal doesn't fit the usual definition of a hal at all, as it does not expose the circumstances surrounding x when y occurred, but rather, reiterates them. The renewed intrinsic hal is intrinsic with relation to the class of things it is describing but circumstantial relative to each individual instance.

As for the the final case, Allah's maintenance of justice is intrinsic. However, this is not affirmed by the sentence nor is there any renewal. Rather, the intrinsic nature is known through external factors that are not directly mentioned in this passage. So in what sense can such an intrinsic factor be considered the circumstance of an event? The point here is that Allah is bearing witness that He is One while maintaining justice, and it is specifically because of this that we must accept His testimony. It is like someone who is always truthful saying, "Now listen to me, because I'm telling you the truth." The truthfulness of the said person may be intrinsic, but it is also the circumstance relating to his admonition, and the reason for attending to it carefully.

Another example of the third case is:

قل بل ملة إبراهيم حنثفا

meaning, "Say, [we follow] the path of Abraham as he turned away [from idolatry]." We know from external factors that Abraham's turning away from idolatry (peace be upon him) was an intrinsic state. However, it is this state that we bring to mind when following him.

These are cases where Qur'anic exegetes concur that the hal is intrinsic. However, it is also useful to examine a case which they reject as being a hal:

فالله خير حافظا

meaning, "Allah is the Best in terms of preservation." Exegetes explicitly reject that it is a hal, which would render the meaning closer to, "Allah is the Best while preserving." That the exegetes reject the suggestion that this is a hal -- because it would limit the "bestness" of Allah to the case when He is preserving His creation -- shows that the hal, even if intrinsic, is indeed tied to the circumstances of sentence it exists in.

And Allah knows best.

Academic Illuminations II: Menstruation During Pregnancy

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:33:00 +0000

The Problem

The Shafi'i school states that a pregnant woman can menstruate. (This is relevant to Islamic law because menstruating women have special rulings associated with prayer and fasting.) Medically, menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining, which would negate pregnancy. Initially, I thought I had found a solution to this puzzle, and that is to distinguish between legal menstruation and medical menstruation. The distinction is real: the minimum age for menstruation in the Shafi'i school is approximately nine lunar years of age. If a girl were to precociously menstruate before this age (and there are documented cases of this happening), it would not be considered legal menstruation, and the Islamic rulings related to menstruating women would not apply to her. Legal menstruation, according the Shafi'i school, is any blood that appears in a girl of age that: lasts for 24 hours or more when combined; lasts no more than 15 days; and is preceded by at least 15 days of purity. Thus, the bloody show that pregnant women experience in late pregnancy might very well be considered legal menstruation if it fulfills these conditions, or so I thought.

Two problems emerge with the above approach. First of all, the definition of menstruation in legal texts usually indicates that it is damu jibillah, or "naturally occuring blood"; i.e. not due to illness or some other external factor. Secondly, Shafi'i jurists have issued the fatwa that, if a reliable doctor tells a woman her bleeding is not due to menstruation, then the rules of menstruation do not apply to her. Given then that the distinction between legal and medical menstruation doesn't seem to go beyond the minimal legal age for menstruation, the puzzle remained.

The Illumination

As almost everyone with some background in Islamic Law knows, Islamic legal texts do not only attempt to answer common, day-to-day questions, but also the rare, and even theoretical. We are truly indebted to them for doing so, for what was theoretical during their time (such as a person being able to traverse large areas of the earth in an instant) is looking very likely during our time. The scenario of a pregnant woman menstruating becomes a realistic possibility when you consider that some women have the rare condition of two uteruses. It is therefore possible for a woman to menstruate through one while being pregnant in another. Beyond this, it is also possible for an anatomically normal woman very early in her pregnancy to experience a regular menstrual cycle, such as when a woman becomes pregnant close to the start of her menstrual cycle. (Don't believe me? See this and this.)

Academic Illuminations I: Intention in Divorce

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:52:00 +0000

On occasion, there is an issue that I ponder over for years, and, despite how many people I seem to ask, no one seems to have a very good answer. This continues until one day, someone does more than merely wave their hands and gives a truly convincing answer. When the illumination finally does come, it feels like being reunited with a long lost beloved. I am usually elated for days and subject the usual victims (who will stay listening long enough to hear me through) to the excitement. Over the past year, I have had at least two major illuminations, and a couple minor ones as well, alhamdulillah.

The Problem

The Shafi'i (and probably every other major) school of Islamic Law says that if a man divorces his wife with an explicit expression (e.g. "You're divorced", or "I divorce you"), there is no need for an intention. Thus, even if he did not intend divorce, his wife is actually divorced. There were a number of scenarios that just didn't seem to fit. The clearest of these is as follows: a man divorces his wife, and, during her `iddah, she calls him up and starts to bother him. He tells her, "You are divorced, so why don't you leave me alone?", meaning by this that there is no longer a relationship between them such that she should continue to nag him. Scholars concur that this does not count as a second divorce since he was merely informing her that he had divorced her, and not initiating a new divorce. However, if his intention were different, then the very same statement could indeed mean the initiation of a new divorce. There is no getting around it: intention matters. A number of students of knowledge tried waving their hands around the issue, but the problem remained with me.

The Illumination

Finally, Sheikh Amjad Rasheed visited from Hadramaut and clarified the issue. The Shafi'is say that, with regards to divorce, intention is of three types: intending to utter the words of divorce, intending their meaning, and intending their effectiveness. Of these, only the third is irrelevant. Thus, if a man mistakenly utters an explicit pronouncement of divorce, or utters it explicitly, but intends some other meaning that can be borne out lexically or semantically, then the divorce is not effective. However, if a man intentionally utters an explicitly pronouncement of divorce and does not intend any other meaning, yet does not intend the divorce to actually be effective, because, for example, he was just joking, then this is irrelevant, and his wife is divorced from him. All of this is the moral ruling (Ar. al-hukm diyanatan). If the issue is raised to an Islamic judge, he looks for diverting evidence (Ar. sarif) to support the man's claim that the utterance or meaning of the statement did not entail the initiation of a divorce.

Dreaming of Poetry & Grammar

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:27:00 +0000

Not last night but the night before, I dreamt of a line of poetry:

آليت أي أقسمت والقسم بر لو تاب من عصى لعز وانتصر

Meaning:

I swear (i.e. I take an oath), and an oath is piety,
If he who sins repents, he would become dignified and attain victory.

While externally this line seems to be talking about sin, it is actually about grammar. In Arabic, as in English, sentences can sometimes take the place of individual nouns. However, there are also places where a sentence could never be replaced by a noun, or any other single word for that matter. Arabic is a highly inflected language, and almost all nouns and adjectives are subject to inflection. Since a word can never replace sentences in these cases, inflection can never be ascribed to such sentences. Such sentences in Arabic are referred to as, "having no grammatical place" (لا محل له من الإعراب); they are:

Independent sentences, such as, "I swear" (آليت);
Explanatory sentences, such as, "(i.e. I tak an oath)" (أي أقسمت);
Parenthetical sentences, such as, "and an oath is piety" (والقسم بر);
The subject of an oath, such as, "If he he sins" (لو تاب);
Sentences containing the cause of a non-genitive conditional, such as, "he who sins repents" (تاب من عصى);
The clauses of relative pronouns, such as, "[he] sins" (عصى), as these contain an implicit pronoun that is their subject and thereby compromise a full sentence;
The effect of a non-genitive conditional, such as, "he would become dignified" (لعز);
Any sentence that is conjoined to a sentence that has no grammatical place, such as, "[he would] attain victory" (وانتصر), which is once again, a complete sentence.

Orientalist Ignorace Regarding Qur'anic Sources

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:38:00 +0000

The basic ignorance of non-Muslim "experts" on Islam doesn't seem to end. If they just swallowed their pride and studied with some qualified scholars, they would save themselves embarrassment. In 1300-year-old Islamic note may solve mystery, they make the unremarkable observation that perhaps the Qur'an was originally written without diacritical marks so that its written form would support variants in recitation. First of all, this is common knowledge. Had these experts read books written hundreds of years ago, they would have known this already. Secondly, there was not just one canonical mushaf (a printed Qur'an) written under Uthman's guidance, but at least five. A necessary but insufficient condition for an established Qur'anic variant is that it must agree with one of these masahif (sing. mushaf). This presents the possibility that, in addition to leaving out diacritical marks to accomodate multiple variants, Uthman's scribes also produced masahif that varied more significantly in order to allow for variants that could not be combined simply by omitting diacritical marks. For example, in the variants of Nafi`, the word هو does not appear in ayah 24 of surah 57 whereas it does appear in the most common variant of Hafs. It is very difficult to imagine that this entire word would have been reduced to a diacritical mark.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the word "Qur'an" means "recitation." As every qualified Qur'anic reciter knows, Qur'anic recitation never was and never will be taken from the mushaf alone. Rather, the mushaf is an aid. Authentic Qur'anic recitation only comes from the mouth of someone who has memorized the Qur'an at the hands of a teacher with an unbroken chain of transmission returning to the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). There are at least 20 major variants in Qur'anic recitation, and within these major variants are many minor variations. If all the printed Qur'ans in the world were to be burned or altered, Muslims would still be able to reproduce all variations. Truly, Allah has revealed the Qur'an and it is He Who protects it. Alhamdulillah.

Alternative Meats

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:50:00 +0000

All they need is a zabiha section.

A Couple Qur'anic Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:10:00 +0000

Today, I stumbled by the Art of Recitation and Maqamat Section.

Enjoy!

Olive My Love

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:46:00 +0000

On October 18, we partook in Jordan's autumn activity: olive picking. The area of Jordan and Palestine boasts one of the finest oil-producing olive cultivars in the world: the revered Nabali (referred to as baladi, or "local", locally). We drove out to Mafraq, close to where my brother-in-law bought some land. There was a large orchard of olive trees. Being a much better negotiator than me, my brother-in-law managed to convince them to sell the olives to us for 0.35 JD/kg. We picked 100 kg worth of olives that day, but only 20 kg was for us.

Olives start out green and then eventually ripen to dark brown, purplish-black, or pure black. Commercial black olives are often artificially blackened. Raw green olives taste horribly bitter and dry out one's mouth to the point where it is difficult to even swallow. Raw black olives are not quite as bad. Nonetheless, all olives require a lot of work before they are ready for consumption.

We placed a large, firm sheet underneath us and proceeded to gently tug along olive-laden branches until all the branches on one side of the tree were empty. We then moved to the next side of the tree.

After picking olives, the next step is to crack them open using a hand mill (Ar. jaroosheh). On the way back, we found a shop with a mill outside and cracked up our 20 kg.

Next, we soaked the cracked olives in water until the morning of October 23, changing the water periodically. We then put them in their vats along with fresh water, salt, peppers, quartered limes, and a couple grape leaves.

By October 26, the cracked up olives (as some of them made it through the mill unscathed) were ready. (The uncracked ones are still bitter.) The result has to be the best tasting olives I've ever eaten, alhamdulillah.

From Qurrah Al-Absar I

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:17:00 +0000

Someone asked me to translate a section from Qurrah Al-Absar, a poem about the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). After attempting to translate the lines as heroic couplets and then as blank verse, I finally gave up and decided to just translate them in no particular metre. The first selection is below:

(Yes, I realize that pasting an image for Arabic instead of typing it is so pre-2000, but there still isn't a wysiwyg, cross-browser-compatible way of typing up Arabic poetry and it's 2008. I wrote this in Word and did a screen shot. Sorry, OSS and WWW, your Arabic capabilities are pitiful.)

The approximate translation is as follows:

A clarification of his names
And a mention of some of his qualities and praise.

He was the comeliest of creation and most commensurate
In terms of form and character; rather, by my life, better!

You would be wrong to compare him to the full moon
In beauty or to say he is like the sea

In generosity, or to liken him to flowers
In luxury, or if you said he was like time

In resolve. But if you were to reverse the simile
It would be an error, or even nonsense.

From whence does the full moon have the radiance of his cheek?
From whence does time have his fidelity to his pledge?

From whence does the sea have the generosity of his palm?
From whence do flowers have the softness of his sympathy?

By Him Who gave him every beauty
He has no comparison in existence.

Kick Me Contributions

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:17:00 +0000

Probably any boy who went to school in North America had his schoolmates tape a, "Kick Me" sign on his back as a practical joke. It seems that the trend continues in Amman's second hand market (baleh), where one finds clothing that is cheap and better quality than is generally available elsewhere, but not without the occasional easter egg. Yesterday after the dawn prayer, a respectable, uncle-figure was standing outside the mosque wearing a Coors Light sweater. Since he's my neighbour and knows me well, I explained to him that his sweatshirt was advertising a brand of beer. As expected, he was surprised. Earlier, a young chap that works at the corner store by my work was wearing a shirt that was making fun of Creationism. He too was shocked when I explained to him what it said. Then there's the case of the guy who was praying in the row ahead of me with a shirt that was glorifying moonshine. Since I didn't know him, I didn't talk to him about the shirt. Perhaps the worst case was a young man sitting with his friends outside the mosque with a shirt that had, "HIJO DE PUTA" printed on the back; he actually did know what it meant.

The fine contributions from the West should be viewed with suspicion. They're not limited to clothing with un-Islamic messages, either. Back in 70's, the US poured subsidized grain into Egypt's economy as a form of aid. Egypt went from self-sufficiency in the early 70's to being the greatest importer of grain in 2008. Taking handouts from one's spiritual and economic enemies is like shaking hands with a leper: even if it's a friendly gesture, you're going to get hurt. According to a hadith, the Black Stone of the Kaaba was originally white but turned black as a result of the touch of the polytheists. Allah has promised to eradicate interest and has sent His religion to dominate over all others. How is it that we can expect any sort of long-term value in handouts from an interest-based system or one that advertises un-Islamic messages without a care in the world?

Random Foodisms

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:26:00 +0000

The good news: canned, boiled oysters are available for sale in Amman at Carrefour and C-Town. Of course, Carrefour is cheaper, where an 8 oz can goes for 2.70 JD. Aside from the obvious pan frying in a garlic butter sauce, I tossed a bunch in a bechamel sauce with mushrooms and ate it over spaghetti. I am meaning to try them breaded and deep fried. I tried finding boiled oysters in Vancouver's supermarkets. Not having a car at my disposal, I just went to the big outlets: The Real Canadian Superstore, Safeway, Save On Foods, and even Zellers. None had boiled oysters. Kroger, the very first supermarket I visited in Columbus, OH did have them.

Another thing that Vancouver's supermarkets lack is a good selection of natural dairy. Sorry, but, "milk ingredients", "milk serum", "milk powder", and "milk protein" don't have entries in my dictionary of natural dairy ingredients. I'm look for, "milk": straight, simple, and unqualified (just like me). As soon as I visited Kroger in Columbus, I found a wonderful product that is unfortunately lacking in Vancouver's supermarkets: Daisy Brand Sour Cream. The sole ingredient is: Cultured Grade A Cream.

And finally on my list of things I dislike about Vancouver's major supermarkets is the lack of natural breads. I generally try to follow the five-year-old rule of ingredients: if a five-year-old doesn't know what it is, I don't eat it. L-cysteine, propylene glycol, and calcium proprionate are not what I think of when it comes to my daily bread. For natural bread, Kroger wasn't any better.

Fast forward back to Amman.

It seems that most restaurants in Amman use imported meat. I am not a baladi meat snob; I will eat Romanian or Australian beef and mutton if the animal is slaughtered in Amman's abattoirs. However, I'm not comfortable eating meat that is imported from non-Muslim countries, even if it's labeled, "halal." (I'm not claiming that it is not halal, but merely that I'm uncomfortable with it.) I've spoken to a number of restaurants who told me their meat is Chinese or Indian. I also spoke to Nabil, the Jordanian food company. After being forwarded to another employee, I had the following conversation:

Me: I'd like to know the source of the meat you use in your products.
Nabil Employee: Who are you?
Me: I am Abu Fluffy. You don't know me. I don't know you.
Nabil Employee: Why do you want to know?
Me: Because I'd like to know what I'm eating.
Nabil Employee: It's Australian.
Me: As in, Australian animals slaughtered in Amman's abattoirs or imported as meat?
Nabil Employee: Imported as halal meat.

The pattern of: not understanding the question, forwarding me to another employee, asking me who I am, and finally asking why I want to know is very common when asking restaurants and shops about their ingredients. However, often I don't get a satisfactory answer in the end. At least Nabil was able to answer my question.

Recently, my wife and I went for dinner downtown at Al-Quds restaurant. We ordered mansaf and some appetizers, which included fried lamb brains with salad. I asked them the source of their meat: it was Romanian mutton slaughtered in Amman's abattoirs. The lamb brains were disgusting: they tasted like they were fried in oil that was used to fry fish. The mansaf was acceptable: the meat was tender and tasty; the sauce was good (but not great) and it didn't give me a stomach ache the next day. The meat wasn't cooked in the sauce, which kind of makes sense when you're cooking Romanian mutton, for the sauce is acidic and will dry out all but very tender lamb, which is why locals prefer young local lambs for mansaf. Romanian lamb is much cheaper, of course. Overall, Jabri's mansaf is much more authentic: the baladi meat is cooked in the sauce, the sauce is tangier, and they give you two pieces of meat, not one.

After dinner, we decided to go for dessert at Habiba's. Again, I was pleasantly surprised that they (eventually) understood my questions and told me the cakes were topped with fresh cream and made with butter. We had a few pieces. While they weren't as disgusting as most Jordanian cakes, they definitely did not match up to Al-Wadees. Still, I have yet to find a single cake joint in Jordan that can hold a candle to La Poire or Classique of Egypt. (I go to Egypt to become one with my inner stomach.)

And now for drinks: back around Eid time, I was avidly searching for root beer and cream soda. The former was primarily for my children while the latter was mainly for me. After several phone calls, including one very inappropriate one, and asking at a number of shops, only to be told they don't carry beer, I managed to find a place that sold them both and yet didn't sell alcohol or pork: a supermarket called Miles, downstairs in Mecca Mall. They carried A&W brand for both, as well as Mug brand root beer. I settled for the A&W brand of both and they met expectations: the root beer tasted like bubble gum and the cream soda was very creamy and delicious. (I'm not a fan of root beer.) I then learned that the corner store next to us carries Canada Dry brand Cream Soda, but it can't match A&W's elixir. (In case you're wondering how someone who cares so much about healthy eating would actually consume soft drinks, let it be known that I binge twice a year on eids. Other than that, I maintain a healthy diet, alhamdulillah.)

The Miracle of Google Translation

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:58:00 +0000

A while back, a brother added me as a friend through Yahoo Messenger. I confirmed my acceptance of his friendship without actually being sure if or how I knew him. Today, he finally wrote to me:

Ahmad Mubarak: hola quien eres?
Abu Fluffy: i only speak english
Abu Fluffy: and arabic
Ahmad Mubarak: no speak english and arabic
Ahmad Mubarak: jeje
Ahmad Mubarak: only spanish
Abu Fluffy: :)
Abu Fluffy: mi nombre es Abu Fluffy
Ahmad Mubarak: aaa y como es que tienes mi correo?
Abu Fluffy: me ha añadido como amigo
Ahmad Mubarak: yo?
Ahmad Mubarak: mmm
Ahmad Mubarak: aaaa perdonnnnnn
Ahmad Mubarak: sabes?
Ahmad Mubarak: este no es mi correo
Ahmad Mubarak: olvide que entre al correo de mi esposo
Ahmad Mubarak: a ver unas cosas y por un momento pense que era el mio
Ahmad Mubarak: seguro que el lo agreggo
Ahmad Mubarak: diculpe
Ahmad Mubarak: le dire que usted estaba aqui
Abu Fluffy: No estoy seguro si lo conozco
Abu Fluffy: :)
Ahmad Mubarak: aaa se llama Ahmad
Ahmad Mubarak: vivimo en argentina
Ahmad Mubarak: yo soy su esposa y soy Sara y soy de mexico
Abu Fluffy: donde es originalmente de él?
Ahmad Mubarak: es Argentino
Ahmad Mubarak: musulman
Abu Fluffy: alhamdulillah
Ahmad Mubarak: con familia de Siria
Abu Fluffy: He estado utilizando traducción de Google para hablar con usted.
Ahmad Mubarak: jejejej, pense que habla muy bien es español
Ahmad Mubarak: muy bien por Google
Ahmad Mubarak: mi esposo si habla arabe
Hassan Maggi: Alhamdulillah
Abu Fluffy: alhamdulillah

The upshot is that I don't know any Spanish and the person on the other end doesn't know Arabic or English, so I used Google Translation to communicate with her. The conversation is really about clarifying who's whom and how we were added to each other's IM friend lists. (It turns out she uses her husband's account). The amazing thing is that Google Translation is accurate and fast enough to fool a person. It's not 100% accurate, of course, but the fact that it works as well as it does is still impressive.

Islamic Audio Links

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:21:00 +0000

I recently discovered the Sufi Sound site. While I don't personally vouch for all the content of the site, it certainly has a large collection of wonderful qasidas. Of course, there is the audio section of the Rayaheen site.

Women's Sexuality in Classical Fiqh

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:00:00 +0000

This entry is going to make some people uncomfortable, and justifiably so I must add. The reason I chose to post this is to counter the tsunami of misinformation (both intentional and unintentional) that is being spewed around the Internet, in newspapers, and on television. Many people seem to believe that recognition of women's sexual rights was born in the United States circa 1960. On the contrary, if we are to believe much of what we hear and read, Muslims have brought nothing but repression and suffering for women. Thus, in order to dispel some of these myths, I choose to quote from Fath Al-Mu'een, a classical manual of Shafi'i fiqh, whose author, Al-Milibari, died in 1579 CE (987 AH). Whenever the text was ambiguous, I relied on Abu Bakr Shata's (d. 1893 CE/1310 AH) supercommentary, I'anat Al-Talibeen.

Al-Milibari says:

يجوز للزوج كل تمتع منها بما سوى حلقة دبرها ولو بمص بظرها أو استمناء بيدها، لا بيده، وإن خاف الزنا، خلافا لاحمد، ولا افتضاض بأصبع. ويسن ملاعبة الزوجة إيناسا، وأن لا يخليها عن الجماع كل أربع ليال مرة بلا عذر، وأن يتحرى بالجماع وقت السحر، وأن يمهل لتنزل إذا تقدم إنزاله، وأن يجامعها عند القدوم من سفره، وأن يتطيبا للغشيان، وأن يقول كل، ولو مع اليأس من الولد، بسم الله اللهم جنبنا الشيطان. وجنب الشيطان ما رزقتنا. وأن يناما في فراش واحد والتقوي له بأدوية مباحة بقصد صالح: كعفة ونسل وسيلة لمحبوب فليكن محبوبا فيما يظهر.

It is permissible for the husband to enjoy his wife in every way (except for her anus), even if by sucking her clitoris or having her manually stimulating him to orgasm, but not by him manually stimulating himself, even if he fears illicit sex, contrary to Ahmad [ibn Hanbal]. It is impermissible to perform defloration with a finger.

It is recommended:
To fondle one's wife in order to increase intimacy,
Not to leave her more than four nights without intercourse without an excuse [such as menstruation],
To seek out the pre-dawn hours for intercourse,
To slow down so that she can experience orgasm if one's orgasm precedes hers,
To have intercourse with her upon returning from travel,
That both apply perfume for the embrace,
That each of them say, even if they despair from having a child, "In the name of Allah. Oh Allah, ward off the Devil from us and ward off the Devil from that which you provide us with", and
That they sleep together on a single spread (or mattress).
Using permissible medication to gain strength for lovemaking with a noble aim (such as chastity or procreation) is a means to something desirable, so it would appear to be desirable as well.

It is worth noting that the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence holds that female circumcision is obligatory. It is quite clear from the above that the understanding was that a woman's clitoris would at least still be partially intact in normal circumstances and that women were expected to experience orgasm. If Islamic Law really was about repressing women, why are men being told to sleep with their wives at least every four nights and to slow down if they reach orgasm first?

TV as a Form of Social Programming

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:22:00 +0000

Noor is doing peacefully what Bush was never able to accomplish: colonizing people effectively by entertaining them instead of bombing them. Had Bush been smart about it and opened a cross-cultural exchange with Iraqis, he could have probably had all the oil he's currently getting at a fraction of the price and with more security. Then again, Bush did Iraqi Muslims a favour by bombing them; they wouldn't have returned to our religion otherwise. I'm now beginning to appreciate the subtle, forward-seeing intelligence of the Muslim Electorate of US Elections 2000.

Another show that was an obvious case of social programming was Three's Company. Mr. Roper was the anti-homosexual straw man that we could all laugh at for being a backwards prude. The idea is that if you portray your enemy as a dolt, people will stop relating to him and everything he stands for. Mr. Roper was essentially Hollywood's representation of what it meant to oppose homosexuality. In a classic straw man argument, Hollywood attacked a weakened opponent.

Health Stories

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:58:00 +0000

In case you didn't know already, soy is bad for men's virility. I think this story should be tagged as, "Duh!" Doesn't everyone know this by now?

Also in the news, detox gone wrong.

I keep wondering when people are going to put away their fads and just eat a traditional diet.

Frugal Fat Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:45:00 +0000

I don't eat vegetable oils (with a few exceptions, such as olive and sesame seed oils) for health reasons. (Yes, I know that everything you've heard so far is that vegetable oils are better for you than naturally saturated fats, so maybe it's time you read Know Your Fats, put together by the Weston A. Price Foundation. The whole philosophy of the WAPF is to follow a traditional diet.)

The problem these days is that affordable naturally saturated fat is getting harder to come by. Super Market Al-Madina Al-Riyadiyya used to carry clarified butter from Egypt but they're out of stock now. (I'm not sure if this is permanent or temporary.) All they carry now is European or Australian, which is about 11 JD for 2 kg or less; the Egyptian equivalent was under 6 JD. There is no local clarified cow butter, only clarified sheep butter, which is also pricey.

An alternative is to buy fatty sheep tail (Ar. layyah, or ilyah/alyah if you want to be pedantic), which the butcher shops currently sell at 2 JD/kg. Ask them to get you a bunch of them and grind them up in their meat grinders. You can then melt them down in a pot on low heat. Leave it until you get a pot full of pure, rendered liquid fat with some cracklings floating on top. Scoop off the cracklings with a perforated serving spoon or filter them out using a metal filter. Add salt to the cracklings and enjoy. The liquid fat delivers an extremely nasty burn, so be careful. Be sure to avoid having the fat come into contact with water so it doesn't splatter. Also, if the fat is kept away from moisture, it won't need to be refrigerated for months. Don't pour hot liquids into plastic as it can release unhealthy chemicals. Instead, use metal or glass. Glass will generally not shatter if you put a long metal object in it while pouring a hot liquid into it. Once the fat cools, it will be a solid, white substance called, "tallow." (The equivalent product from pig fat is called, "lard.")

You might wonder how anyone in their right mind would consider using such a substance as a substitute for butter. In fact, gourmet European and American baked goods are often made with lard, so tallow presents a halal substitute.

How to Ripen Fruit

noreply@blogger.com (Flicken) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:43:00 +0000

To help your fruit ripen, try any of the following:

Put it in a brown paper bag and roll the top of the bag shut on it.
Wrap the fruit in newspaper.
Burn a kerosene lamp next to it.

I've tried the first two; the third I heard about in high school but never tried.