Media Arabic Booster 03/24

As a journalist, I read Arabic newspapers daily, especially the opinion section. Every month, I want to share with you on Arabic for Nerds what I find interesting from a linguistic perspective and which vocabulary might be worth learning. I call it the Media Arabic Booster.

A close look at a headline

Headlines in Arabic media are generally easy to understand – but there are also some tricky words.

al-Akhbar al-Youm (Egypt): the verb تَلَأْلَأَ

On Saturday, March 30, 2024, the Egyptian weekly state newspaper al-Akhbar al-Youm (الأخبار اليوم) had the following headline on its front page:

Before we get into the Arabic stuff, some background information:

Egypt is working on a big project to create a new city for government work. This idea was started by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to make less crowded conditions in Cairo. The city will be built around 45 kilometers away from Cairo and will cover an area as large as Singapore. The costs for building the new capital city is thought to be more than $45 billion. Work started in 2015.

By 2019, they had finished the second-biggest mosque in the world, called Al-Fattah Al-Aleem Mosque (مسجد الفتاح العليم). It’s huge and can fit 17,000 people inside. The mosque has its own spot for helicopters to land, lots of parking for cars, places for people to get services, and an office building. In that building, 60 people work to take care of the mosque. The mosque itself has four minarets, each 95 meters (approximately 312 feet) high.

If you’re curious about the origin of the name Al-Fattah Al-Aleem (الفتاح العليم) and why it was chosen… Well, it likely refers indirectly to the Egyptian autocratic leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The name الفتاح العليم appears in the Holy Qur’an, in Sura Saba (سبأ), verse 34:26:

قُلْ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا رَبُّنَا ثُمَّ يَفْتَحُ بَيْنَنَا بِلْحَقِّ وَهُوَ ٱلْفَتَّاحُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ

Say, “Our Lord will gather us together, then He will judge justly between us; He alone is the All Knowing Judge.” (Abdel Haleem)

Wait a minute! Why did Abdel Haleem translate ٱلْفَتَّاحُ as Judge?

Literally, it means the opener and is one of the so-called 99 names of Allah, as used in the proper name Abd al-Fattah – عبد الفتاح. However, in the context of Allah, ٱلْفَتَّاحُ should not be understood literally but rather as: He who decides and lays open all matters in truth and justice and who opens the way to victory, success, relief, knowledge, and understanding.

Now, let’s focus on the headline, in particular the word تَلَأْلَأَ:

Headline

الْعاصِمَةُ الْإِدارِيَّةُ تَتَلَأْلَأُ فِي سَماءِ الْجُمْهُورِيَّةِ الْجَدِيدَةِ

The Administrative Capital shines in the sky of the New Republic

The verb تَلَأْلَأَ is based on four root letters and follows the pattern of a II-verb (4 root letters). A common theme in such verbs (II_form) is to repeat the first two root letters. In the case of تَلَأْلَأَ, the root letters are ل-أ-ل-أ.

In the dictionary of Hans Wehr, we find the following translations: to shine; to glitter, to glisten, to sparkle, to gleam, to shimmer, to glimmer, to beam, to radiate. Of this root, you may know the noun لُؤْلُؤ which means pearl (collective noun) and occurs six times in the Holy Qur’an; a pearl (nomen unitatis; a noun denoting an individual) would be لُؤْلُؤةٌ.

The Oxford Arabic dictionary gives the following example: to gleam in the sunlight (تَلَأْلَأَ في الشَمْسِ)

How do you conjugate a II-verb with four root letters?

The task turned out to be simpler than expected. However, the following common noun forms derived from the root can be a bit more challenging because they include a special letter: the Hamza (همزة).

• Infinitive noun (مصدر): تَلَأْلُؤ
• Active Participle (اسم الفاعِل): مُتَلَأْلِئ
• Passive Participle (اسم المفْعُول): مُتَلَأْلَأ

Vocabulary list

All the words marked in yellow above are explained here.

Translation of an article

Let’s focus on certain parts of the text and translate each sentence carefully. The words marked in yellow can be found further down in the vocabulary list.

al-Ghad (Jordan): “Talk about five inclinations in Jordan”

On March 26 2024, the independent Jordanian Al-Ghad (الغَد) newspaper carried the following opinion piece by the writer and columnist Maher Abu Teir (ماهر أبو طير).

Let’s examine a large section of the article more closely.

كلام عن 5 اتجاهات في الأردن

Talk about five trends in Jordan

هناك ارتداد سياسي حاد داخل الأردن على خلفية ملف غزة، وهذا الارتداد أدى إلى تشكل اتجاهات متعاكسة في الرأي العام، قد لا تبدو سرا.

There is a sharp political backlash inside Jordan over the Gaza issue, and this backlash has led to the formation of opposite trends in public opinion, which may not be a secret.

من الاتجاهات التي نراها اتجاه يقول إن الأولوية الأولى هي الأردن، وليس بإمكان الأردن التضحية بوجوده ومصالحه واستقراره وعلاقاته مع واشنطن، من خلال الدخول في صدام مع إسرائيل، ويرى أصحاب هذا الاتجاه أن الأردن يفعل ما يمكنه أن يفعله ضمن حدود، وليس مطلوبا أن يكون ضحية لهذه الازمة، فيما دول أقوى وأغنى تتضامن بشكل منخفض، ويلتزم أصحاب هذا الاتجاه بتشخيص أزمة غزة حصرا، وتأثيراتها الحالية، دون الدخول لملفات أوسع أو مقارنة مع ملفات ثانية، وموقفهم يتعلق فقط بكلفة ملف غزة بشكل محدد.

Among the trends we see is the one saying that the first priority is Jordan and that Jordan could not sacrifice its existence, interests, stability, and relations with Washington by engaging in a confrontation with Israel. Those defending this opinion believe that Jordan was doing whatever it could within limits, and was not required to be the victim of this crisis at a time when stronger and richer states were barely showing solidarity. Those adhering to this perspective focus exclusively on diagnosing the Gaza crisis and its current impact, without delving into broader issues or comparing it to other files. Their stance is solely concerned with the specific cost of the Gaza file.

هناك اتجاه ثان يتعاطف مع قطاع غزة بشكل كبير، ويأتي تعاطفه لاعتبارات دينية فطرية غير منظمة بالمعنى الحزبي، وهذا الاتجاه موجود في المدن والمحافظات، ويرى في الشعار الديني في قطاع غزة، نقطة جذب. ولديهم تحفظات جزئية على طريقة ادارة بعض الامور بشأن غزة، مع كل الضخ الإعلامي الجائر الذي يَمَسُّ الأُرْدُنَّ بوسائل مختلفة…

There is another inclination that sympathizes significantly with the Gaza Strip for inherent religious considerations, which are non-organized in the partisan sense of the word. This inclination exists in the cities and governorates and views the religious mantra in the Gaza Strip as a point of attraction. … They have partial reservations over the way some things were being managed regarding Gaza, with all the unjust media pumping that affects Jordan through various means…

هناك اتجاه ثالث يذهب بعيدا في تعبيراته ويقول إن الأردن تحول إلى بلد يدفع كلف اللاجئين والنازحين من كل الجنسيات، وأن الأردن عالق بين قضية فلسطين، والملف السوري، وغير ذلك، وان كل الحكومات لم تحم الأردن من كلف أزمات شعوب الجوار، وهؤلاء يرغبون بسد الباب تماما في وجه الاشتباك الأردني مع كل ملفات الاقليم،… وأن على كل شعب أن يخلع شوكه بيديه، يجب أن يكون الأردن في المقام الأول دون أي انحياز يمينًا أو يسارًا. أصبحت البلاد مأوىًا مكتظًا بالسكان، مما يعني أعباءً كبيرة. وليس معروفا حجم هذا الاتجاه لكنه بالتأكيد موجود وأن كان لا يجاهر برايه بشكل علني، في ظل مناخات لا تحتمل إثارة الجدل.

The third inclination goes far in saying that Jordan has been paying the cost of the refugees and displaced from all nationalities, and was caught between the Palestinian cause, the Syrian file, and others. Moreover, it insists that all the governments failed to protect Jordan from the cost of the crises in the neighboring countries, thus wishing to close the door completely in the face of the Jordanian interaction with the region’s file…, and have every population deal with its own problems… Jordan, they believe, must prioritize its own interests without leaning left or right. The country has become a densely populated refuge, burdened by the implications of this situation. The extent of this inclination is unknown, but it definitely exists, though it is not openly mentioned amid a climate that cannot tolerate controversies.

اتجاه رابع يذهب بعيدا أيضا فهو ينتقد الأردن بشكل علني، ولا يوفر وسيلة إلا ويسيء للأردن، عبر التواصل الاجتماعي، أو شعارت تطرح في بعض المظاهرات، أو في المجالس ويستصغر البلد بشكل ظالم …، ويرى أن الأردن مرتهن للولايات المتحدة، وإسرائيل، وان تغطية الارتهان بمساعدات أو بتصريحات أمر غير كاف، وأن على الأردن أن يعيد كل حساباته، وأن لا يبقى في خانة إدارة التوازن بين مصالحه ومخاوفه واحتياجات جواره، وهذا الاتجاه يصب أيضا في حسابات داخلية سياسية، على صلة ربما بعمليات تحشيد تتعلق باستحقاقات داخلية، مثل الانتخابات …

The fourth inclination also goes far in publicly criticizing Jordan and using every possible means to harm the country, whether on social media or through slogans chanted in some demonstrations or meetings and unfairly belittles the country.… To the latter inclination, Jordan is submissive to the United States and Israel. And covering up this submission with aid or statements is not enough. Therefore, Jordan must redo its calculations and stop trying to establish a balance between its interests, fears, and the needs of its neighbors. This inclination may also fall in the context of internal political calculations, related to mobilization prior to internal developments such as the elections…

الاتجاه الخامس الغالب والمعتدل حيث الكل مع قطاع غزة، ويتأثرون بشدة، ويتعاطفون مع ما يجري، وليسوا ضد مساعدة الغزيين، لكنهم أيضا يواجهون هواجس الحياة، والخوف من المستقبل، ويريدون لفلسطين أن تنجو من الاحتلال، ولا يريدون إضاعة الأردن وسط هذا الحريق، ويمكن القول صراحة إن هذا هو الفريق الغالب، ويتأثر بشكل غير مباشر، بحالة التباين التي تمثلها الاتجاهات السابقة، ويتنقل كأفراد ومجموعات أحيانا بين الحزم السابقة.

The fifth trend is the most prevalent and moderate. Its advocators all support Gaza and are strongly affected by and sympathetic toward what is happening, and not opposed to helping the Gazans. However, they are also facing livelihood concerns and fear of the future. They want Palestine to survive the occupation but do not want to lose Jordan in this fire. And we can honestly say that this team constitutes a majority, though it is indirectly affected by the previously mentioned inclinations, causing its advocates to sometimes move as individuals or groups between them.

Vocabulary list

All the words in the above article marked in yellow can be found in this table with explanations.

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