Arabic vocabulary
How to say “Book” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
وأمثال ذَلِك مِمَّا اسْتعْمل فِيهِ لفظ الْكَلِمَة من الْكتاب وَالسّنة بل وَسَائِر كَلَام الْعَرَب فَإِنَّمَا يُرَاد بِهِ الْجُمْلَة التَّامَّة
And similar uses of the term 'word' in the Book and the Sunnah, as well as in the rest of Arabic speech, refer to a complete sentence.
الْكِتَابِ — the Book. Genitive after 'min' — 'the Book', the Quran. The first source.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وَأَبَان من نَص الْكتاب معنى دق عَن حَدِيد الإلحاظ
And he clarified from the text of the Book a meaning too subtle for sharp eyes.
الْكِتَابِ — the book. 'The Book', the owner completing 'the text of the Book', genitive, definite — the Quran. The scripture's wording.
From: The Prophet's Refuge in the Cave →وَمَا اجْتَمَعَ قَوْمٌ فِي بَيْتٍ مِنْ بُيُوتِ اللَّهِ يَتْلُونَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ، وَيَتَدَارَسُونَهُ فِيمَا بَيْنَهُمْ؛
No people gather in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it among themselves;
كِتَابَ — the Book. 'The Book of', the object of 'recite', in the accusative and heading an 'of' pairing with 'God'. So they recite 'the Book of God', the Qur'an.
From: Easing a Believer's Hardship →وقرن سبحانه بين هذين الأصلين في غير موضع في كتابه
And Allah associated these two principles in various places in His Book.
كِتَابِهِ — His Book. This noun with an attached possessive pronoun means 'His Book' and is governed by the preposition before it. The owner pronoun, glued onto the back, points to God; the noun names the scripture as the place of the pairing.
From: Prayer and Charity →وقوله ﴿تَنْزِيلُ الْكِتَابِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ﴾
And His saying: 'The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.'
الْكِتَابِ — the Book. 'The Book' as the owning noun in 'the revelation of the Book', in the owner form of the chain. The form supplies the 'of' link; the Book here means the Quran.
From: God's Eternal Word →واعتصمت مع ذلك بالكتاب والسنة وأصول السلف،
And you cling with that to the Book and the Sunnah and the principles of the pious predecessors,
بِالْكِتَابِ — to the Book. The preposition 'bi-' here marks what one clings to, taking the genitive, with 'al-' making the Book definite. With the holding-fast verb 'bi-' marks the thing held onto, so it sets up 'held fast to the Book'.
From: Unity Over Partisanship →ويخليه قوي النفس مزدريا بحفاظ كتاب الله تعالى،
And it makes him self-assured, looking down on the keepers of the Book of Allah, the Exalted,
كِتَابِ — the Book of. This noun, Book-of, is the owner half after 'keepers' yet itself heads a further chain owning the divine name, in the genitive. A middle link, owned by 'keepers' and owner of 'Allah', in a stacked possessive chain.
From: When Recitation Breeds Pride →ما هذا الخوض في الفضول إنما هو كتاب وسنة بس،
What is this engagement in trivialities? It is nothing but the Book and the Sunnah.
كِتَابٌ — a book. This is the predicate of the verbless statement, 'a book', and its -un ending marks it as indefinite. Under the restricting particle, it names one of the only two things the matter is declared to be.
From: God's Attributes →ولقد وصينا الذين أوتوا الكتاب من قبلكم وإياكم أن اتقوا الله فبالله ؛
And We have certainly instructed those who were given the Scripture before you and yourselves to fear God;
الكِتَابَ — the Scripture. The al- marks this definite, 'the Scripture', and it is the thing given, in the object ending. Even though the verb is passive, the Book remains its retained object marked by this ending; Arabic shows the role by the word's shape, not by position alone.
From: True Devotion →ولا قوة إلا بالله فاقرأ كتابك كفى بنفسك عليك حسيبا ،
And there is no power except with God, so read your book; sufficient are you as a reckoner against yourself,
كِتَابَكَ — your book. This noun, 'your book, your record', carries the attached -ka 'your' and is the direct object of 'read', in the object ending. The -ka addresses a single male, and one word holds 'book' plus 'your'.
From: True Devotion →وقد روى الطَّبَرَانِيّ فِي كتاب الدُّعَاء عَن النَّبِي قَالَ
And Al-Tabarani narrated in the Book of Supplication from the Prophet who said
كِتَابِ — book of. This noun is the front of a possessive pairing, 'the book of supplication', and it sits in the genitive because the preposition before it governs it. As the head of the pair it stays bare of 'the' and reaches forward to the owner next.
From: Worship and Repentance →وَسَأُدْرِجُ لَكَ فِي هَذَا الْكِتَابِ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مِنْ أَخْبَارِهِمْ،
God willing, I will include in this book for you from their accounts,
الْكِتَابِ — the book. A noun carrying 'al-' (the), the definite book already pointed to, sitting in the form the preposition before it requires. It completes the 'in this book' phrase, naming the container the accounts will be set inside.
From: Guidance for the Seeker →وَلَا يُحِيطُ عِلْمًا بِفَهْمِ كِتَابِهِ أَيْضًا،
Nor can he fully grasp the meaning of his book either.
كِتَابِهِ — his book. A noun 'book' with the attached possessor '-hi' = 'his', the owning half of 'the understanding of his book'. It stands in the genitive as the completing term of that 'of' pairing; the suffix names whose book is meant.
From: Adam, Eve, and the Forbidden Tree →فَمَرَّ أَبُو بَكْرٍ، فَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ آيَةٍ مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ،
Then Abu Bakr passed by, and I asked him about a verse from the Book of Allah.
كِتَابِ — the Book. This noun 'Book' is the first member of a possessive pairing with 'Allah' that follows, so the two together mean 'the Book of Allah'. It deliberately drops its own 'the' and instead draws its definiteness from the owner that follows, a hallmark of Arabic's 'X of Y' construction. The pairing is built by placing the two nouns directly side by side with no word for 'of'.
From: Generosity to the Poor →OpenArabic teaches words like كِتَاب through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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