Alfiya: Ibn Malik [best]

It is not a love sonnet, nor a epic of war. It is a grammar book.

If you have ever walked through the bustling alleyways of Al-Azhar in Cairo, or sat in a traditional halqa (study circle) in Indonesia or Mauritania, you have likely heard a sound that has echoed for seven centuries: the rhythmic chanting of a man named Ibn Malik, set to the meter of his famous poem. alfiya ibn malik

Why poetry? Memory.

The next time you struggle with why a fatha became a damma , remember: Somewhere, a student is chanting: وَأَخَذَ الْعِلْمَ عَنِ الأَمَاجِدِ مِنْ قَبْلِ تَدْوِينِ الْكِتَابِ الْوَاحِدِ ("And he took knowledge from the noble ones, before the writing of a single book.") It is not a love sonnet, nor a epic of war