questions on muhammad, sufism, etc.
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Without saying Allahu Akbar, Allah has been Al Kabir. Allahu Akbar means you men do not just say that Allah is Akbar but make prove that Allah is Akbar i.e. Allah has a real authority to command you in every aspect of life. That will be true if men establish Allah's kingdom in earth, if other wise, you just say a meangingless word to Allah very time.
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Salaam JM
I notice that you have two questions
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the meaning of the "laam" in "la'kbar"
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Whether "akbar" means "greater" or "greatest".
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the laam is never used to mean "but"; it is used as a preposition to mean different things, but also as emphasis (before a verb or a noun). Here it is emphasis (indeed) as you put it.
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The (min = than) is not indespensible for the comparative. I think Ahmed gave you a good example of a comparative without (min). The difference between superlative and comparative in Arabic is that the former is definite and the latter is indefinte
Akber comparative
Alakbar Superlative.
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- The (min = than) is not indespensible for the comparative. I think Ahmed gave you a good example of a comparative without (min). The difference between superlative and comparative in Arabic is that the former is definite and the latter is indefinte
Akber comparative
Alakbar Superlative.
Could you check this link http//user.uni-frankfurt.de/~kremers/papers/thesis.pdf, page 123 ?
Peace
- The (min = than) is not indespensible for the comparative. I think Ahmed gave you a good example of a comparative without (min). The difference between superlative and comparative in Arabic is that the former is definite and the latter is indefinte
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The example given is hathihi aqdamul muduni This is the oldest among the cities.
or
hathihi aqdamu madinatin this is the oldest city"aqdamu" in both sentenses is definite by "idafa".
Is this what you mean?
You said that an elative needs a al ("the" to be a superlative.
Example akbar (without al) = "greater" (comparative) ; alakbar (with al) = "greatest" (superlative)But, in these 2 examples, aqdam is a superlative, and there is no al.
Peace
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You said that an elative needs a al ("the" to be a superlative
No, I did not say that. I said
The difference between superlative and comparative in Arabic is that the former is definite and the latter is indefinte
al is a tool of defining a noun, but not the only tool. Idafa is another one, hence
hathihi aqdamul muduni This is the oldest among the cities.
or
hathihi aqdamu madinatin this is the oldest city"aqdamu" in both sentenses is definite by "idafa".
...and therefore no need for an extra tool (al)
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Peace Samia,
Could you provide your source for the grammar rule you are quoting ?
Now, let me ask you the same questions as I asked to AB.
- How would you translate the popular sentence Allahakbar ?
- How would you translate waridwanun mina Allahiakbaru (from ) ?
Peace
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- God/Allah is Greater
I don't understand this sentence. God is greater that what ? ? ?
Is it good english ?What do you think of this
Allahu Akbar is a shortened form of the Arabic phrase Allahu Akbar min kulli shay, which means "God is greater than everything."
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TakbirAnd this
Allahu Akbar is Arabic for "God is the greatest." Akbar is the elative form of the adjective kabr (great, big, important), meaning "greater, greatest, or very great." The elative combines the meanings of comparative (greater than) and superlative (most great). However, the elative is only explicitly a term of comparison when used with the preposition min, e.g. Allhu akbar min mala'ikatihi, "Allah is greater than His angels", Allhu Akbar min kulli shay "God is greater than all". Without a term of comparison, the elative conveys the superlative quality "greatest", "supreme."
http//experts.about.com/e/a/al/Allahu_Akbar.htmAnd this
In Arabic elatives have the vowel pattern ?aCCaCu (masculine) and CuCCaa (feminine), so from kabiir 'big' we get ?akbaru and kubraa, which mean bigger, biggest, or very big. The word min 'from' is used as the equivalent of 'than' ?inna-l-walada ?akbaru mina-l-bint 'the boy is bigger than the girl'. With no object of comparison, ?inna-l-walada ?akbaru means 'the boy is biggest' or 'the boy is very big'. Equivalently, you can compare him to 'all' or add al- 'the' for an explicit superlative meaning.
http//everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=229737- And a greater favour/approval from God/Allah
Same question? Greater than what ?
In FM?s translation, it is rendered by a superlative ?And the acceptance from God is the most important.?. Is it a mistake?
In the verse , the dhikr is greater that what ? Greater than salat ?
Are you sure the grammar rule you are referring to avails for old Arabic ?
Peace
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Salaam JM
Allahu Akbar is a shortened form of the Arabic phrase Allahu Akbar min kulli shay, which means "God is greater than everything."
Yes that could be a valid explanation. If we say Allah is the Greatest; the same question is Greatest among what?
Same goes for dhikr. What is dhikr good for? Why do we always have to remember Allah? Some people do good things although they do not believe in God, but they abide with law, reputation, principles, ego, human rights..etc. dhikrul-laah is greater than whatever dictates our behaviour.
As for linguistics rules, I am a bit cautious about always applying them to the Qur'aan, because I believe that they should answer to the Qur'aan, not the other way round. But so far, I do not see a problem with the rules of the elative as demonstrated in the Qur'aan.
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In FM?s translation, it is rendered by a superlative ?And the acceptance from God is the most important.?. Is it a mistake?
Most important of what?
Not really a mistake, but not literal and not solving the problem. But if I am correcting a translation, I will go for the literal as long as the meaning is preserved. -
Same goes for dhikr. What is dhikr good for? Why do we always have to remember Allah? Some people do good things although they do not believe in God, but they abide with law, reputation, principles, ego, human rights..etc. dhikrul-laah is greater than whatever dictates our behaviour.
OK.
If you don't claim that implies that dhikr is greater than salat, then there is no need for further arguments between us.Peace