‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه), the second khalifa, had four beliefs that made it easier for him to bear calamities: The situation could have been worse. It didn’t strike him in his religion. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) will reward him with Jannah in return inshallah. When he remembered the hardship of losing the Prophet(صلي الله عليه وسلم) everything else faded away. Subhanallah, these are profound beliefs from the second khalifa that we can all benefit from!

The word kaana is the past-tense masculine singular third-person (he) form of the verb to-be. So you can translate it as “he was”. (And the khabr takes the same rules as with any other verb.) So what does it mean when Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) uses kaana to describe Himself? For example, in surah Nisaa, He says: إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ غَفُوراً رَّحِيماً Translation: And seek the Forgiveness of Allah; surely, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful [Surah Nisaa, 4:106]

In Arabic, default kind of sentence is called a nominal sentence. It looks something like this: Ahmad is rich The masjid is big I am a Muslim It has two parts–the mubtada (the subject — eg. Ahmad), and the khabr (the predicate–information about the mubtada — eg. rich, big, a Muslim). What are the rules of grammar as they apply to the mubtada and the khabr? There are three:

Laysa in Arabic means “not” (eg. that is not a pen). Unlike the other negations maa and laa, laysa is conjugated as a verb, depending on what you’re negating. For example: the duck is not big (al-battatu laysat kabiyratan) the cat is not lazy (al-qittu laysa bi kaslaana) Whenever you use laysa, the mubtada and khabr change: the mubtada becomes ismu laysa, and the khabr becomes khabru laysa.

The Messenger of Allah (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said to his cousin: “And know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and ease with hardship. 1 Even in the battle of Qadisiyyah, after fighting through the whole day, the Muslim leader said “just be patient, and keep fighting.” Even into the night, when most armies stop fighting at night! But subhanallah, what happened? By the next morning, the Muslims had won.

Allah says in the Qur’an: فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً Translation: So verily, with the hardship, there is relief; Verily, with the hardship, there is relief! [Surah Ash-Shrah, verses 5-6] Two for the price of one! How’s that for a deal? So if you find yourself in a position of hardship, ask yourself: What ease am I forgetting? And also, the use of with, shows that the two are so closely related as to be companions–they are together!

Allah says in the Qur’an: الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ الرَّحْمـنِ الرَّحِيمِ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ You might ask, why do rabb, Ar-Rahmaan, Ar-Raheem, and Maalik all have kasra on them? Why not dumma (the default), or fatha? The answer is that, wallahu ‘alim, they are na’at (adjactives) for Allah–words that describe His greatness. For example, Ar-Rahmaan means “the source of mercy” (that’s why, scholars say, you cannot name your son Rahman).

Not enough time to do what you want in life? Are you over-worked, over-stressed, and over-tired? Looking for that one key element that’ll make everything fall into place time-wise? Schedule around salaah. Try it–plan your day around your salaah. “I’ll do x, y, z after Fajr.” “I can fit these things in before Dhur …” “Sorry bro, I can’t meet up until after Isha” etc. And see the difference it makes.

One question that plagues many new students of the Arabic language is the difference between hadhaa kitaabun and hadhaal kitaabu … The difference is best demonstrated by example: hadhaa kitaabun kabiyrun means “this is a big book,” and “hadhaal kitaabul kabiyru” means “this big book …” Get the difference? The first (hadhaa kitaabun) is talking about any book. “This is a book.” Nothing special. The second–hadhaal kitaabu–is talking about a specific book.

For those of you studying al-lugatul arabiyyah, inshallah here is an easy visual way to learn six basic colours: red, blue, green, yellow, black, and white. (You can set it as your computer desktop, so every time you pop onto your computer, instant practice!) The top colour is the mascline form, and the bottom colour is the feminine form. (Read more about Arabic word gender here.)