Suboptimist

Practical.

I read over a few Hadiths the other day. One in particular caught my eye. It was given in the context of after Friday prayer, when Muhammad got up to thank everyone for coming, etc. Here it is in Arabic and English:

و حدثني محمد بن رافع و عبد بن حميد قال عبد اخبرنا و قال ابن رافع حدثنا عبد الرزاق اخبرنا معمر عن الزهري عن ابن المسيب عن ابي هريرة قال

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم من اكل من هذه الشجرة فلا يقربن مسجدنا ولا يؤذينا بريح الثوم

Translation (excluding all the isnad):

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Whoever ate from this plant [raw onion and garlic and this case] should not approach our mosque, thus harming us with the smell of raw garlic.”

Reading this Hadith was followed by a discussion of the practicality of some Ahadith, compared to the more contemplative nature of others. I mentioned isnad above. Isnad is basically a chain of narrator of Hadith, and was probably brought to the study of Hadith by Jewish converts to Islam.

I have one problem with the above citation:

man akala min haðihi ʃ-ʃajara fala: ya-qrabna masjidana:

Who ate.3MS from this the-plant don’t approach.3FP mosque-our

Whoever ate from this plant, don’t approach our mosque.

I am not sure why the verbs don’t agree. One being 3^rd person masculine singular, the other being 3^rd person feminine plural. If anyone has a clearer understanding of this, let me know.

Anyway, classwork is over, and I am now working on finals. I finished my phonology take-home final, in which all the data is Arabic and Biblical Hebrew (I have this test in the bag), and now have to work on a Syntax take-home, a translation, and a short essay for anthropology. Then, I have a month off. Alhamdulillah.