Question
Salaam,
1. I just want to confirm that tajweed was the spoken language of the prophet
and the Arabic speaking world at that time when the Qur'an was revealed to
guide mankind?
2. Classical Arabic is the equivalent to tajweed and that tajweed is not a
later innovation to how the Qur'an was revealed, recited and understood?
3. Lastly, when the companions addressed the prophet by his first name they pronounced
his name as Muhammadun and not Muhammad? Allahu Akbar is properly
pronounced Allahu Akbaru?
4. Is classical Arabic the spoken language at that time. Your answers
will be a great help in my studies.
Answer
Wa
alaikum assalaam wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh.
1.
The natural Arabic that the Prophet,
, the Companions, even the
polytheists, spoke used the same basic rules that we now learn as
“tajweed” to a far extent. The Arabs spoke with a qalqalah on the
letters
when they were saakinah, they made idghaam of the
saakinah
when followed by one of the letters of the group of
, they made tafkheem of the
letters of the letters in the group
, etc.
What they did not necessarily do in speech was lengthen a medd letter
for 4, 5, or 6 counts. The revelation had these elongations, and was passed
down from the Prophet,
, to the companions, on to
us, with these elongations.
2.
Classical Arabic is more than just tajweed, but what is now known as
“tajweed” is part of Classical Arabic.
Classical Arabic involves grammar, vocabulary, and how letters are
pronounced (this last part being tajweed).
3.
The name Muhammed
is
a proper name that can take a tanween. Not
all proper Arabic names take a tanween, for example, the name Ahmed does not.
Some names do not take even a dhammah, such as:
and
.
In Classical Arabic, when you are addressing someone, or calling them, the
calling
is either used
directly, or implied. The proper
name after the ya’ of calling becomes marfoo’ in grammar, and usually (but
not always) acquires a dhammah. If
an Arab in that time wanted to call the Prophet’s attention, they would have
said
(yaa Muhammedu), but the Muslims
addressed him by
(yaa
Rasoolu-llah). Notice, the
proper name after the
of
calling doesn’t acquire a tanween.
The same name though can take a fat-h or a kasrah,
as well as the dhammah depending on its
grammatical place in the sentence. We,
in the present day, refer to Prophet Muhammed,
, with the tanween dhammah
when it is grammatically correct. There
are times when the fat-h and kasrah are the appropriate endings, and sometimes
a tanween is appropriate and sometimes not.
We don’t know how much grammar you know, but we just want to make
clear that grammar is the key to which vowel is on the end of the name.
Secondly, the Arabic language has a specific rule that they only start a
phrase or sentence with a vowel, and only end a phrase or sentence with a
sukoon (the absence of a vowel). If,
one is making the proclamation: “
”
(Allahu Akbaru), then the
dhammah on the ra’ would be dropped in pronunciation, because that is the end of the phrase.
If however, the phrase was continued, as in: "
,"
(Allahu Akbaru Kabeeraa), then the dhammah on the end of Akbar(u) would be used.
4.
Classical Arabic is what will bring you closest to the Arabic spoken at the
time of the Prophet,
.
The grammar is the same, and that is one of the most important parts of
Arabic to study, the vocabulary is not always the same in present day
Classical Arabic as it was in the time of the Prophet,
, but studying old works
written by famous scholars of old, will pretty much take you to the Arabic of
the time of our beloved Prophet Muhammed,
.
