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Arabic Quotes

Browse 64 quotes about Arabic.

Arabic Quotes

“But the most radical act, really, is the preservation of memories in the telling itself. A folk story or song is often extremely local—reflected in the many Arabics in this issue. A folk story or song can charm, delight, warn, lament, celebrate—it can do all that and more. With each retelling, it reasserts itself. The name of the original storyteller may be lost, but their love for people and place, their deep humanity, is passed onto new audiences time and again.”

“Haramis.” Harami, meaning a “sinner, thief, someone born illicitly.” The word carries a lot of meaning and the Iranians adopted it as well from the Arabic language. Tara was unzipping her suitcase, ready to take some clothes to take a shower. “Tell that to a trader and he might get a chuckle out of what you said,” Tara said. “Huh?” Amir had no idea what she meant. “The word harami, it’s a candlestick pattern.” “A candlestick pattern? What are you talking about?” Amir was now even more dumbfounded. “I was bored one day so I read and learned about trading. Stock trading,” Tara said as she started to take a set of clothes out of her suitcase. “Candlestick charts are patterns used by traders to look at price movements in stocks and stuff.” She closed her suitcase up and looked up at Amir. “Harami is a candlestick pattern. It means “skirt steak” in Japanese but it also derives its meaning from the word pregnant. And it basically shows one candlestick engulfing a smaller one. A pattern for traders to analyze which direction the stock or security will go.”

“Mujāhada, a collateral form of jihād (the so-called "holy war"), taken [by Sufis] to mean "earnest striving after the mystical life." The term is based on the Koranic text, "And they that strive earnestly in Our cause, them We surely guide upon Our paths." A Tradition makes the Prophet rank the "greater warfare" (al jihad al-akbar) above the "lesser warfare" (al jihad al-asghar, i.e., the war against infidelity), and explain the "greater warfare" as meaning "earnest striving with the carnal soul" (mujāhadat al-nafs).”

“In Egyptian Arabic, the word 'insan' means 'human'. If we remove the 'n', the word becomes 'insa', which means 'to forget'. So you see, the word 'forget' is taken from the word 'human'. And since it was God who created our minds and hearts, He knew from the very beginning that we would quickly forget our history, only to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. So the ultimate test of every human is to seek wisdom. After all, wisdom is gained from having a good memory. Only after we have passed this test will we evolve to become better humans. Man is only a forgetful mortal, but God — He sees, hears and remembers everything.”

“طريق الجًلجًلة لم أكن يوماً راعياً ينزل من هضبة. أنا كالمسيح، مشيت طريق الجلجلة. أنا كالمسيح، ذهبت الى الصحراء للصوم أربعين يوماً. وأربعين ليلة. ونسيت من بعدها كيفية الأكل. ونسيت من بعدها تناول البلح. عندما التقيتك تراءى لي أنك تقود مواكب الملائكة. تراءى لي ان وجه الله سيبان وأن رضوان يفتح لي باب الجنة. وها بوجه القمر يسود أمامي وها بيهوذا يضحك لي مبتعداً. أنا ما طلبت منك يوماً أن تنزلني من صليبي. أنا ككل مسيح أعشق وأصون صليبي. أنا ككل مسيح وجعي علة وجودي. ما ام أطلبه ولم تبخل عنه هو غرز أشواك ورودك في عنقي. كي أتذكر وجودك كلما رفعت برأسي نحو السماء. كي أستشعر بالشمس تحرق خدودي امتداد الشاطئ. كي اغرق بعرقي المالح كلما هززت برأسي نحو الأسفل.”

“صخبُ الصمت الصمت لغة الحاضر. صوت الأنين يمزّق الجرح .. صوت الانين يوقظ باقي الأنداب.. في الجمود عزاؤنا. الضحكة الكاذبة تحرق بضوضائها بقايا قلب أكلته النار.. الدمعة التي تنام في الأحداق وتتدحرج لا تنقذنا من الدمار.. الصمت لغة من بات ألمه من دون ذكرى.. الجمود قناع من فقد عينه وفمه.. في آخر الليلة الماطرة، مركب يغرق.. في آخر السالسا، رمح في الخاصرة.. في بداية العشق، اظافرحمراء في العنق.. بعد آخر نقطة حمراء، تنتبه أنك خسرت اصابعك العشرة.. ناسك يمشي طريق العودة الى ذاته.. ناسك مقتول ويرفض ان يلجأ الى الثأر.. ناسك يردد لنفسه: " الصمت مقبرة الضعف " " الجمود مقبرة الخذلان " أنا الناسك الذي فقد أصابعه العشرة.. أنا المتصوف في حبك أعتنق الصمت.. الصمت مقبرة آلام الحاضر.. الصمت مقبرة ذكريات الماضي.. الصمت ديانتي. ويا ليتني أصمت وتكف شفاهي عن قول " بلى "..”