Index

‘IT’S ARABIC’

‘IT’S ARABIC’

‘IT’S ARABIC’

SHUFTI

Shufti: “Take a shufti” is how thousands of English soldiers described ‘taking a look’ when they were posted to Second World War Cairo or later in South Yemen in the 1950s and 1960s, taking the word back to Britain with them. It is derived from the Arabic word shofti.

 

LUTE

Lute is a direct transliteration of oud, which is the Arabic for the same instrument. Musicians might argue about how many strings are appropriate, but Spain had its alod in the 1200s, and the first definite English reference was by the late 1300s.

 

CHEMISTRY

Started with al kimya'a, meaning alchemy, which is how it arrived in Europe in a book by Plato Tiburtinus, after which the medieval skills of alchemy gave way to the modern disciplines of chemistry.

 

ARSENAL

Arsenal is based on Dar Al Sina’a, the House of Manufacturing, and was first used in English in the Fifteenth Century, when it described a dock-yard for repairing ships, which meaning is still used by the Italians with the fuller word darsana.

 

ALGEBRA

Algebra comes from Al Jabr, meaning to restore broken parts. Its mathematical meaning started with the definitive tome, Al-kitāb al-mukhta’ar fī’isāb al-jabr wa al-muqābala, by the 9th century mathematician Al Khawarizmi.

 

GIRAFFE

Giraffe - was known to the Arabic lexicographer, Jawahiri, as Al Zarafa, which he rather briefly dismissed as “a type of creature’. Later biologists linked the name more firmly to the long-necked beast of Africa which we all know today.

 

ADMIRAL

Admiral - comes from the Arabic word Amir Al Bihar, meaning Commander of the Seas, which was a first title used in Norman Sicily. The ‘D’ was added in Elizabethan England, by court officials ignorant of Arabic. The French still use amiral.

 

Adil Salami

As-Salam correspondent

2026-05-01 (Dhul-Qaida 1447) №5.


Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali (Zayn al-‘Abidin)

“I have never seen a Quraysh better than Ali ibn al-Husayn.” (az-Zuhri).   In a special year, the final page in the history of the Persian kings was turned. Yazdegerd, the last Persian king, died homeless and persecuted. His generals, guards and members of his family were...


When a mother has no more strength

Being a mother is a serious science You can read dozens of books on raising children but until you raise your own little one, you are just a theorist. Being a mother is a practice. And each of us has moments when we want to lock ourselves in a back room, go for a walk through the streets at night...


The Ideal Husband’s Commandments

Family is a daily effort. And for any family to be successful, both spouses must work hard, for, as the saying goes, one man is no match for another. To be happy in marriage, a woman does not need much... Although it is not... In fact, she needs much... But in this article, we will limit ourselves...


The First of the Sacred Months

Dhul-Qaida is one of the four sacred months in Islam. It is the second month after Shawwal when pilgrims can perform the rites of Hajj. The Almighty Lord said in the Koran (interpretation of the meaning): “Hajj is performed in the known months (Shawwal, Dhul-Qaida and the first ten days of...


Escape from silence

Why when we alone, we immediately reach for our phones, turn on a series, or other stuff, or do anything to avoid encountering our own thoughts? What are we so afraid of hearing in that silence, and how can we learn to bear it in order to finally hear our true selves?   This is not just a...