Ahlan wa Sahlan

My friend, "S" calls me an Arabic freak (or did she say Geek?). I see an Arabic lesson everywhere. "Table" only means sarf tables to me - never the writing table. "Joomla" is always ismiyya or fa'eliyya. Sigh! I wish my progress in learning reflected my interest. I've been learning Arabic for almost 2 years now, and haven't gone too far. But Humairah reminded me today, that there's hope. Insha Allah, our learning curve will get steeper everyday.

Last night I was reading "Road to Makkah" by Muhammad Asad, and found an Arabic lesson in it. Here I quote:

" 'Ahlan wa sahlan' - 'Family and plain' - which means "You have now
arrived within your family and may your foot tread on an easy plain"

Often in Arabic, phrases are omitted. Especially a sentence like Ahlan wa sahlan, that is used very frequently, has to be easy on the tongue. That's the beauty of Arabic language. If a word too difficult to say, a letter is dropped. Insha Allah, there will be more examples of such letter and phrase drop on the Arabic Learners Blog. (This was just a trailer ;) )