Salams peeps,
Today I just wanted to mention a convention of language in the Urdu language which I found interesting. When we speak of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) we say aap - which is the Proper term to speak to or speak about someone who is revered or older than you - deserves more respect than you. When we speak about Allah (swt) we say Tum or Tera or Tu which is the more common term when addressing someone - it's used to address those who are younger than you or your friends.
I always found this very confusing...I was always wondered why we don't use the more proper term for Allah (swt) and the more common term for the Prophet (saw). So I asked a semi-Scholar (lol), but someone who knows the Urdu language very well. So he told me that the reason this is done is b/c in Urdu Aap can refer to more than one person - so to make it absolutely clear that Allah is one - the term Tum/Tera/Tu is used to refer to Allah (swt). Tum/Tera/Tu cannot ever refer to more than one person. This makes absolute sense to me. I am sure there are more reasons than just this...which I have also though about. Perhaps it is b/c we should be more personal with Allah (swt) - have a very personal relationship with Him (swt) - so we can call on Him (swt)....So any other thoughts from all of you guys ? All five of you??? :)
-Rabea
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that's cool. I read something like this for "ya" in arabic.
I found it and posted it below.
The word ya, in Arabic, is used to call to someone. For example, if you were in a room and your friend, lets say his name is 'Azam' was in the next room: how would you call him? You would say, "Ya Azam!" However, if Azam was on the other side of a football field and you wanted to call him, how would you do it? You would say, "YA AZAM!" However, if our beloved friend Azam was sitting right next to you, extremely close to you, how would you call him? Of course, you would just turn to him and say, "Azam." THIS is the closeness that we share to Allah SWT! The scholars of Balagah say the ya used for calling of Allah SWT to His servants is hidden in its language to illustrate the intense and extreme closeness Allah SWT shares with them. In fact, if you were to look at every single supplication made to Allah SWT in the Qur'an you would only find the word ya used twice!
From the book, "Khasais Al-T'abir Al-Quran wa Samatuhu Al-Balagha" by Dr. Abdul Matin Al-Mut'i Al-Azhari
hmm that's really cool wafiqah. i may have to 'steal' and post on my blog as well. spread the knowledge ya know...:)
whoa i wondered this as well but attributed my confusion to my ignorance concerning urdu in general. hmm. i just thought sabri bros were mad rude in tajdareharam.. haha.
Assalamualaikum guys,
My question is, when we say "TU" to elders, they get offended. why so??
Why are we allowed to address the word "TU" to those who are younger to us.
Why can't we use "TU,TERA & TUM" for elders also..??? Why do we specifically use TU for Allah???
we use tu for extreme closeness.. you need to understabd that there are two feelings of calling tu.. aap is respect which we should give to everyone and for allah and after that mom we should use tu as a sign of closeness.. its been there in urdu books as well
Call them both Allah and your Mom Aap instead of Tu. It's not hard. Allah is the greatest and you feeling him so close doesn't give you the right to call him tu or Tera etc. Poets started this and it should not be acceptable. We refer tu to those lower than our age or lower in grade of rep as tu. At many places Allah (TWA) calls himself WE in the Holy Quran, it doesn't make him plural. Just call him AAP, it's so simple. Show respect. Who do you think you are?
Visit this to understand better WWW.GODALLAH.COM
It's not relevant since Al means Aye in Urdu E.g. اے اعظم. It has nothing to do with AAP, Tum or Tu. In Arabic one word Anta أنت cover all three just like in English. In the Holy Quran Allah (TWA) called himself "WE" at many places, and that not a plural. We should not refer to Almighty as TU just because poets did for hundreds of years. Islam was introduced in Arabia and Quran in Arabic. Urdu came in existence hundred of years later that. It's the only best way to refer Allah (TWA) as AAP to show respect. I promise you that the closeness to Allah will not decrease by doing so. Go to this site to learn more about it. WWW.GODALLAH.COM
It's not relevant since Al means Aye in Urdu E.g. اے اعظم. It has nothing to do with AAP, Tum or Tu. In Arabic one word Anta أنت cover all three just like in English. In the Holy Quran Allah (TWA) called himself "WE" at many places, and that not a plural. We should not refer to Almighty as TU just because poets did for hundreds of years. Islam was introduced in Arabia and Quran in Arabic. Urdu came in existence hundred of years later that. It's the only best way to refer Allah (TWA) as AAP to show respect. I promise you that the closeness to Allah will not decrease by doing so. Go to this site to learn more about it. WWW.GODALLAH.COM
I promise that your closeness to Allah (SAW) will not decrease by calling him or referring him as AAP آپ. 😊
If you want to show your elders respect, refer them as "AAP" آپ. In Arabic one word Anta أنت cover all three just like in English. In the Holy Quran Allah (TWA) called himself "WE" at many places, and that not a plural. We should not refer to Almighty as TU just because poets did for hundreds of years. Islam was introduced in Arabia and Quran in Arabic. Urdu came in existence hundred of years later that. It's the only best way to refer Allah (TWA) as AAP to show respect. I promise you that the closeness to Allah will not decrease by doing so. Go to this site to learn more about it. WWW.GODALLAH.COM
We have a tabqati nizam, english and arabic have 1 word for all, tu tum tera refers to single
You - AAP TUM TU in urdu language.
When we as urdu speaking community interact with elders or the respected ones, we use AAP. When we interact with our close friends with no formalities, we refer them by TUM.
When we interact with a child, we use TU. Sometimes with close friends too we use TU.
One important fact to be noticed is initital people in normal conversations with a stranger or elder keep using AAP as long as discussion is smooth. When we run into an argument we lower the level and come down to TUM.... TU.... TADAK. This is a fact and no one can deny from urdu speaking community.
For Alah, people justify use of word TU usage for a singular entity but ignore the TU used when in altercation or argument when we try to put down people by using TU... There are some examples like tu tu mai mai, tu tadak par uatar aya and so on.
My point is even if use of TU is meant for a single entity then we all have a single biological father and a single mother but we never using the single entity logic with parents. I think Arabic is a beautiful and rich language where there are more than 5000 synonims for sword. We do not find these respect levels in Arabic or English. In english it is just YOU no matter who the person is and this is all fine. We need to come out of the stereotypes and carry a broader vision than remain confined within our so called rules in urdu language.
Also with respect to languages, people do not realise that most of the urdu words we speak specifically related to deen are persian words, the language spoken in Iran. I got nothing against Iran but people here have no idea about the origin of words used in urdu, where they come from. Words like Musalman, Namaz, Roza, Khuda, Paighambar, Farishtay, Dozakh, Bahisht, Aadab, Khurda, Tabarruk, Niyaz, Nazar, Hujra, Mazaar and so on, the list is long. All these words commonly used by urdu speaking Muslims got nothing to do with Arabic language. These are Farsi (Persian) words from Iran. There is a popular saying in urdu "hath kangan ko arsi kia, oarhe likhe ko farsi kia" where people used to boast thay learned and educated people know Farsi (the Persian Iranian language. This is our root cause of our problem when it comes to understanding the basics of deen. I come from this community so I know my people better than any other outside. The language of our elders, specifically the educated and learned ones was Farsi instead of Arabic, the language of Quran and Hadith and our propher Muhammah sallallahu alayhe wassallam, we struggle to understand the very basics of deen Islam like Tauheed, Shirk, Kufr, Biddah, Tawakkal Allah, Tahara, Taqwa, Khushu etc. Failing to understand the basics, the community at large face the risk of stripped off all or good deeds performed in this dunya as shirk is the biggest unforgiven sin as declared in Quran abd from Biddah originates ignorance and all ignrance leading to jahhannam. May Allah SWT provide us the hunger to seek ilm as Quran too says so. Jazakallah Khair.
June 24th 2023 post is irrelevant to the subject.
اللہ تبارک و تعالیٰ اپنے تمام بندوں کی نیات سے واقف ہیں, اور اعمال پر ثواب اور گناہ کا دار و مدار بھی ان نیتوں پر ہے.
اللہ کو "آپ" کہہ کر پکارنا جائز ہے اور بہترین طریقہ ہے.
تمام اردو بولنے والوں کو علم ہونا چاہئے کہ اردو کا مطلب "لشکر" ہے کیونکہ یہ لشکری زبان کہلاتی ہے جو کہ عربی, ترکی, فارسی اور ہندی زبانوں کا مرکب ہے مگر یہاں اس بلاگ میں اس بات سے کوئی تعلق نہیں ہے.
اگر اپنائیت کی وجہ سے اللہ سے "تو" کر کے بات کرتے ہو تو اپنے اما ابا سے بھی تو کر کے بات کر لیا کرو. وہ اپنے نہیں ہیں کیا, اُن سے اُنسیئت نہیں ہے کیا ؟ اللہ کی ذات سب سے زیادہ احترام کے قابل ہے, بنی محمد صل اللہ علیہ و آلہ و سلم سے بھی زیادہ,,,, نبی سے بھی بہت محبت ہے نا؟ یا نہیں؟؟
In the Holy Quran, Allah also orders us humans NOT TO BE ARROGANT.
May Allah guide us all.
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