Matn al-Ajurrumiyya Explained

A Seeker of Knowledge Series Live Course | Course Code: AR205

• Systematically read the classical Arabic primer al-Ajurrumiyya
• Highly interactive and dynamic lessons ranging from 1 to 2 hours in length
• Gain a conceptual understanding of the central concepts of classical Arabic grammar (nahw)
• Become comfortable with the core Arabic grammatical terminology
• Gain a practical understanding of the rules of grammar through weekly exercises and a final assignment that requires grammatical analysis of the ten short chapters of the Qur’an

Long Description

It is said that after composing his text on Arabic grammar in front of the blessed Ka’ba, Imam Ibn Ajurrum threw his book into the sea saying, “If this was purely for the sake of Allah Most High, it will not get wet.” The book, miraculously, did not get wet, and henceforth became famous under the name al-Ajurumiyya. Spreading from Syria in the East to Morocco in the West, and being studied extensively until the present day, al-Ajurumiyya is distinguished from other books by its barakah (blessing) and scholarly acceptance.

Al-Ajurumiyya is an extremely brief summary of the most important rules of Arabic grammar. Students who complete the text will have a “map” that they can use to navigate the language. Over the course of thirteen weeks, this course will cover the entire text of the Ajurumiyya. Because a solid grounding in Arabic grammar is a prerequisite for understanding the Quran and tafsir literature, the main aim of this course is to be a first step towards the independent navigation of the classical texts of Arabic grammar and also to gain practical exposure to grammatical analyses of Qur’anic verses and Arabic sentences. There will be another upcoming course that builds upon this class, covering the commentary of Shaykh Hasan al-Kafrawi on the Ajurrumiyya.

Students can participate in this special-topics live course at one of two levels: (1) those seeking mastery of the text and (2) those seeking personal benefit. Both categories of students are welcome. Those of the former category will need to attend all classes and complete all pre-class quizzes, post-class exercises, and the final assignment.

By the end of this course, students will gain a conceptual understanding of the central concepts of classical Arabic grammar (nahw) and become comfortable with the core Arabic grammatical terminology. They will also gain a practical understanding of the rules of grammar through weekly exercises and a final assignment that requires grammatical analysis of the ten short chapters of the Qur’an.

As this course is part of a new series of special-interest courses, all classes will be weekly live sessions that will range from 1 to 2 hours in length. Consequently, one of the major benefits of this course is that it will be highly interactive and dynamic. Students will be able to ask questions during these classes. The structure of the class will be as follows:

1. Preparation before each live class: Students will prepare for each class by completing a pre-lesson assignment at least 24 hours prior to the lesson that covers the contents of the matn.
2. During the live class: Students will be provided with skeleton-notes that highlight key points for each lesson to facilitate note-taking. These notes will be a mixture of Arabic and English.
3. After the live class: Each class will have a short set of practical exercises associated with it. Students will be encouraged to complete these exercises in the week following the class. There will also be a final assignment that requires the students to grammatically analyze ten short chapters of the Qur’an. The forums and live sessions will be used to ensure that students understand the solutions to the exercises and assignments. The exercises and assignments are very valuable because the only way to fully understand grammar is to actually apply the rules, not by merely listening to the rules explained.

Topics covered in this course include: an overview of Arabic morphology; speech; types of inflection; signs of inflection; verbs; the doer; the passive verbal object; the subject and predicate and agents that effect them; the adjective; the conjunction; the corroborative; the appositive; the verbal object; the absolute object; the advert of time and place; the adverb; the specifier; the exception; the exception; the la of negation; the vocative; the adverb of reason; the adverb of accompaniment; and nouns in the khafd state.

Requirements and Recommendations:

• High-speed internet connection

• Microphone

• While the Arabic text will be explained in English, the text will not be completely translated and the English explanation will be interspersed with occasional Arabic words. Thus:

  • it is highly recommended that students be able to understand simple Arabic sentences and follow along an Arabic text as it is explained and translated in English.
  • it is highly recommended that students be able to decipher simple sentences using a dictionary.
  • it is not required that students be fluent in Arabic. The language of instruction is English. In fact, one of the side benefits of this class is that students can improve their Arabic by understanding a complete book in Arabic.

Texts and Related Resources

• All classes will be live, allowing for a highly interactive and dynamic learning environment.

• Skeleton notes of each lesson with a summary of key points will add structure and facilitate note-taking.

• The full text of al-Ajurumiyya will be provided in PDF format in Arabic.

• Students can post questions and engage in discussion in the course forum.

• The teacher and the teaching assistant will be available to answer personal questions via email.

• Assignments and quizzes will be used to help further understanding of the material.

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My attempts at studying the Arabic language has been less than stellar. Over the past two years, I’ve had three different Arabic teachers. One of my teachers was trying to teach out of al-Ajurumiyya, but lets just say . . . after none of us did our work or showed up to class . . . the teachers dropped its like hot. Anyhow, I found out last semester that Sunnipath was teaching a class on this text and got really excited about it. Unfortunately, the class got full. Then they opened up another class. Again, I got excited. Unfortunately, again, the class got full. So instead I decided to take the tafsir class and, alhumdillah, I’m actually glad I did. After all, the main reason why we study the Arabic language is to understand the Qur’an. Why not go directly to the source? Out of all the classes I would recommend on sunnipath, the tafsir class and the aqidah class are the ones that I would recommend the most.

I’m looking very forward to this class. I’ve done some of the preliminary work and its apparent that this is going to be, by far, the most demanding subject I will ever take. This time I’m ready. I’m not running around for the MSA or for school or work or trying to get married or any other distraction. I’ve been working on my discipline in my spiritual matters, academic matters, and I’ve forced myself to even start working out more. InshaAllah, I will give my utmost for this class. One of my former teachers, Maulana Hasan Sheikh said “Knowledge will not give you anything, until and unless you give it everything.” O Allah ! Please assist me in this matter and grant me a knowledge which benefits! Ameen.

As a special treat (hint hint: subliminal message to take the class), I am sharing with you my ROUGH Notes I took from the Orientation today. I take full responsibility for all errors in the dictation of the notes.

Certain Principles of Traditional Learning
-Sidi Hamza Karamali

What is meant by “Traditional learning”? Tradition- takes place from one generation to the next beginning with the Prophet (saw)

This is based on the hadeeth:
“Al ‘Ulema wa rafatu al anbiyah”
-(t:”The Scholars are the Heirs of the Prophets “)

This a hadeeth serves as a metaphor for inheritence regarding knowledge since knowledege is acquired through inheriting it from somebody else.

In the real world, there are several ways to inherit something:

Secondly, there is somebody who executes the inheritance (i.e. distributes the wealth). From the Prophet (saw) himself, knowledge has always been transmitted through a teacher. The teacher of the Prophet (saw) was Jibrail (as). The teacher of the Sahabah (ra) was the Prophet (saw). If one wants to learn Islamic law, it is not sufficient to buy a book. Rather, one must take this book and study with it to someone who studied the book from someone who studied the book from someone who studied the book all the way back to the author. All Islamic knowledge is traced back to the Prophet (saw). Without the teacher-student relationship, knowledge is never acquired. Imam Shatibi said ‘Knowledge used to be in the breasts of people (i.e. in the early days of Islam, knowledge was in the hearts of the Sahabah (ra)), but then it was written down (i.e. because it was too much to keep in their hearts). However, its keys were kept in the breasts of people. (i.e. the keys to knowledge are still locked and require teachers to unlock knowledge). There is far more direct teacher-student interaction on Sunnipath than in a university setting.

Thirdly, only an heir of the deceased can inherit due to his lineage. One’s teacher becomes like one’s father or mother because they have given birth to you in knowledge. Imam Nawawi (r) would specifically use such terminology in describing where he procured his knowledge from. One takes knowledge from a teacher who has a lineage, their is a connected chain from teacher to student in the transfer of knowledge. In order for one to become an heir of the knowledge, the teacher needs to approve of one in a manner that confirms that the teacher recognizes that the student may teach others. When a student recieves the ijazeh, then he becomes part of the lineage and he can be the father of another in knowledge. This is the driving force behind sunnipath. The various technologies of today may assist in the promulgation of such knowledge. This is a mercy of Allah (swt) because ‘Ulema are few today and it is very difficult to get access to them. This is a sign of the mercy of Allah (swt) for another reason because whenever an obstacle is raised for meeting the ‘Ulema, then He (swt) opens another path. __________________

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