This page is designed to be a resource for interested parents, guardians, and teachers looking for tools to assist them in teaching their students Arabic and the Qur’an. I intend for this page to be a repository for various digital aids, and I will be updating it on a regular basis.
Continue reading “Resources and Games for Qur’an and Arabic learning”Category: General
Kıraathane: The worst semantic change?
One of the worst semantic shifts I have encountered in the Turkish language is in the word Kıraathane.
The word combines the Arabic word for “reading” Qirā’at and the Persian word for “house,” H̱ane, to mean “reading house.”
Historically, a kıraathane has served as a gathering spot for bookworms, casual readers and coffee drinkers alike. Thus, a kıraathane provides reading materials like gazettes, magazines and books to its customers.
But nowadays, when you hear the name ” Kıraathane,” you probably think of a tearoom where young people congregate at night to play board games and where retirees spend the better part of the day.
Trying to concentrate on a book in a Kıraathane today would take a lot of perseverance with all the clattering of game tiles.
Meanwhile, Kahvehane (Coffee house) is another name for Kıraathane, but ironically most customers actually prefer tea to coffee, and some Kahvehane may not even serve coffee at all.
What’s more intriguing is that the Kahve, the Turkish word for “Café,” is the most common name for these spots. The dictionary defines a Kahve as a place where people gather to consume alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, smoke, and play games.
Kahve, çay, ıhlamur, bira, nargile içilen, hafif yiyecekler bulunduran, tavla, domino, bilardo, kâğıt vb. oynanan yer, kahvehane, kıraathane
(TDK)
Even though the dictionary says that Kahve is synonymous with Kıraathane, you won’t find a book in most Kahves.
More than a semantic change🤔
Importance of learning and understanding the acts of worship in Islām
This is a summary of a lecture delivered at the launch of Mallam Musa Abdulhameed Atanda’s book titled “Voluntary Fasting in Islam” on 4TH December 2022 (10th Jumada al-Awwal, 1444) on Zoom.
Continue reading “Importance of learning and understanding the acts of worship in Islām”The male child, as a teenager and youth in the society
An edited transcript of my discussion at Looming Disasters (Unnurtured Males), an online workshop organized by Ogbenese Writes in collaboration with Julaybeeb Initiatives.
I begin in the name of Allah, who created human from one soul and created from it its mate, then dispersed from both men and women. I salute you all present and those that will be reading later. I thank the organizers of this e-workshop for considering the theme to be worthy of discussion and deeming me fit to discuss this session. I pray that we all benefit from it.
I have gone through previous posts and I would like to commend the writers. They have paved the way for me already and I am sure their articles will ease my discussion. Thus, I will not bother to buttress the problems of “unnurtured males” again. Instead, I will focus on the expectations and solutions.
I will be using visual illustrations to discuss. Continue reading “The male child, as a teenager and youth in the society”
Adım Sıddık ama…
Adım Sıddık ama bu benim ne tek adım ne de ilk adım olur. İlk adım İfeoluwa, bundan başka adlarım da var. Bizde isim, kimlik ötesinde bir olgu gibidir. İsim birinin kişiselliğini anlatır. Birinin nasıl bir aileden geldiği, dinleri, bazen memleketleri ve meslekleri isminden anlaşılabilir. Ayrıca birinin doğum zamanında ailesinin durumunu öğrenmek istersen onun ismini bilmen yeterli. Yani bizde isim küçücük bir otobiyografi gibidir. Bir de atalarımız, “Çocuğun ismi hayatını etkiler”[1] der. O yüzden ki orúkọ yani isme çok önem verirler.
Benim adım İfeoluwa, Rab’ımızın sevgisi demek. İsmin anlamı güzel ama bana bu ismi kimin verdiğini tam olarak bilmiyorum. Çünkü bizde isimler bağışlanıyormuş gibidir. Anne “bu isim güzel” diyor. Baba “bu isim de fena değil” diyorken anneanne bu ismi seçsenize diyor. Hepsi de kabul edilebiliyor. Continue reading “Adım Sıddık ama…”
Yorkish episode 4: Interlingua Homonyms in Turkish and Yoruba language
Basically, homonyms are words which have the same spelling or pronunciation, but have different meanings. For example, the word “lie” in English language could mean “untruth” as well as “recline”. In the case of Interlingua homonyms, one of the most interesting I have come across is the word “kafa” which means “head” in Turkish and “leg” in Hausa language.
In this episode, I will like to share with you certain words that appear in both Turkish and Yoruba language. We may call them homonyms but interestingly some of them coincidentally have similar meanings. I wish you a good read! Continue reading “Yorkish episode 4: Interlingua Homonyms in Turkish and Yoruba language”
YORKISH: A comparison between Turkish and Yoruba. (Intro)
It has been ages since I posted here, a situation that is not unconnected to my travel and learning a new language. Yeah! Installing a new language pack into my small head is the true definition of complication. And same is life in diaspora! Despite the hurdles and struggle, it is great to attain the lovely height of being a polyglot, a situation I had never foreseen. Hence you may not be wrong to guess that I suddenly became a language and culture lover! A new hobby that has brought me back here.
Undoubtedly, pouring out all I discovered or learnt in Turkish language or the Turkish society may be utopian. However, I will still love to serve you a part of the gist in the coolest way.
Continue reading “YORKISH: A comparison between Turkish and Yoruba. (Intro)”
Who shaved Jesus’s beard?
The adorable picture of the full bearded Jesus in my catholic primary school class marvels me a lot and was a source of inspiration, that I once told my friends “if my dad lets his beards be, he’d look like Jesus”. Definitely, I looked forward to growing mine too, resembling the bold, bearded and handsome man in the image, so handsome he is, the Jesus of the Catholics unlike that of RCCG.
Unlike that of RCCG? The general overseer of the largest church in Nigeria, Redeemed Christian church of God was reported to have cautioned his pastors from keeping their beards so as not to resemble the “fellows in Al Qaeda camps”. This words took me by surprise and I wondered if the chief-clergy did not think they might be copying Jesus Christ with the beards, then I remembered I grew up seeing the versions of Jesus without beards and sometimes I ask rhetorically who shaved Jesus’s beards?
Continue reading “Who shaved Jesus’s beard?”
FATE IS SANE
Every time that the sun shines,
It brings out the beauty of the lofty skies.
Any time, the rain spanks,
It makes increase the farmer’s thanks.
A subtle touch to the deadly sick,
Would turn the parasitic monsters weak.
A quick stab in the right vein,
Wouldn’t even make the killing vain.
Continue reading “FATE IS SANE”
Go the extra mile… (COPA-TICHA EXTRA)
This piece is a bonus in addition to the copa-ticha episode 1-10. It is dubbed to reflect that it contains some kinds of “over sabi” though they can go a long way in helping you during and even after service year. Some may even give birth to your personal CDS. I have highlighted and briefed some of this tips under the character they fit into. Read and benefit… Continue reading “Go the extra mile… (COPA-TICHA EXTRA)”
Ifeoluwa Siddiq Oyelami 