Warning: Having a non-Arabic name granmmatically doesn't proof that ethnicity is also non-Arabic but it is a good tool in the box to start investigation.
(Native) Arabic vs Non-Arabic Names (Nouns):
Grammatically, it is fairly easy to tell a Name which has a "Non-Arabic" origin, lets start with an example.
Lets say
@finalfantasy7 and
@Champ_Pal get into a fight and
@finalfantasy7 HIT
@Champ_Pal, in English and in most languages in order to described this event the sequence is most important and we will write like this (in active voice).
@finalfantasy7 HIT @Champ_Pal
In the sentence above, it is fairly obvious as to who hit who and if the sequence is changed and sentence is turned into
@Champ_Pal HIT @finalfantasy7 then the meaning changes.
Arabic is extremely flexible and modular and doesn't require sequencing rather it relies on the ending (vowel on the last letter).
Arabic Nouns are always TRIP-TOTES
I am going to give you examples of male names because it is easier to grasp this technique using male names.
To students who are familiar with English language, we use this term called "TRIP-TOTE", it means that a proper Arabic Noun will change shapes 3 times, observe:
NOMINATIVE (SUBJECT or the DOER): This is the default form and it is identified by the last letter having two Paish (or two Damma) on the last letter so the name "Muhammad" is written as "Muhammadun" or like this in Arabic مُحَمَّدٌ an original Arabic Noun (or name) must be in this setting by default and if it missing this ending it isn't natively Arabic!
ACCUSATIVE (OBJECT): It is identified by the last letter having two Zabar (or two Fatha) on the last letter so the name "Muhammad" is written as "Muhammadan" or like this in Arabic , مُحَمَّدًا ignore the last "Alif" in this example and concentrate on the original last letter of "Daal"
GENITIVE (POSSESSION): It is identified by the last letter having two Zaer (or two Kasrah) on the last letter so the name "Muhammad" is written as "Muhammadin" or like this in Arabic مُحَمَّدٍ
The default state vowel is always Paish (or Damma). The vowels on the last letter are
changing 3 times. and also notice the vowel is
DOUBLE so it will always look like this in default state on the last letter, in my example the last letter is
Daal =
دٌ
Demonstration:
لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللهِ
There is no deity/god worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad ﷺ is the Messenger of Allah
Notice the ending on the word Muhammad ﷺ in its default form and notice that it is pronounced differently.
أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللهِ
I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad ﷺ is the Messenger of Allah
Notice the ending on the word Muhammad ﷺ in its default form and notice that it is pronounced differently.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ
O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad ﷺ
Notice the ending on the word Muhammad ﷺ in its third form and notice that it is pronounced differently.
Non-Arabic Nouns are DIP-TOTES
Meaning the vowels on the last letter
only change 2 times! So how do you casually identify a non-Arabic Noun? It
NEVER takes 2 vowels and always has a
SINGLE vowel.
Lets casually read the Qur'aan and see what your eyes notice.
وَاِذْ یَرْفَعُ اِبْرٰهٖمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَیْتِ وَاِسْمٰعِیْلُ ؕ— رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا ؕ— اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ السَّمِیْعُ الْعَلِیْمُ
The vowel on the last letter is Paish (or Damma) so we know it is in its default state
But the vowel on the last letter of Ibraheem (AS) is a single vowel so we know that it is against the rule as it should be DOUBLE and not SINGLE vowel.
Therefore, we conclude that Ibraheem (AS) is not an Arabic origin name! When reading the Qur'aan whenever you see a name with this pattern it is a "non-Arabic" name grammatically
Extra Material (Not Important to the Concept but advance Grammar):
So how does a diptote work because we know that the noun has to change into 3 forms?
- NOMINATIVE (SUBJECT or the DOER): The last letter has a single Paish (or Dammah) e.g. اِبْرٰهٖمُ
- ACCUSATIVE (OBJECT): The last letter has a single Zabar (or Fatha) e.g. اِبْرٰهٖمَ
- GENITIVE (POSSESSION): The above form is simply repeated and the last letter has a single Zabar (or Fatha) e.g. اِبْرٰهٖمَ
Let's compare Pakistan and India?
بَاكستانُ
هندٌ
What can you tell just by eyeballing the two words? Which noun is native to Arabic and which one is "Non-Arabic" import into the Arabic language?
Verbal Sentences in Qur'aan
If you understand this concept, it is dead easy to construct and understand simple Arabic verbal sentences
VERB: The Action word in my example (below) I will use the verb MURDERED قَتَلَ
SUBJECT: The last letter will always have a Paish (Damma)
OBJECT: The last letter will always have a Zabar (Fatha)
Lets look at the Quraan:
قَتَلَ دَاوٗدُ جَالُوْتَ
David (AS) MURDERED Goliath [2:250]
- Due to the vowel on the last letter, it is impossible to misunderstand the Qur'aan
- We also know by a SINGLE vowel that both characters David (AS) and Goliath are non-Arabic characters (grammatically)
Lets imagine that the real name of
@sweep_shot is Khalid and real name of
@KingKhanWC is Muhammad and one of them HIT
ضَرَبَ the other, it will simply be
ضَرَبَ خَالِدٌ مُحَمَّدًا
- Due to the vowel on the last letter, it is impossible to misunderstand the sentence
- We also know by DOUBLE vowel that both characters Khalid (aka @sweep_shot ) and Muhammad (@KingKhanWC) have names which are original Arabic nouns
Vowels Added to the Quraan
Qur'aan was revealed to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in Arabic and recited EXACTLY with the letter endings (with sounds), the companions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and early converts to Islam natively knew what these letter endings meant but as Islam grew and "Non-Arabs"converted to Islam it was important to preserve the reading and hence vowels were added for easier reading. Today, majority of ordinary Arabs don't know Arabic either and don't know how to read the Qur'aan without vowels either.
So everyone today reads:
قَتَلَ دَاوٗدُ جَالُوْتَ
David (AS) MURDERED Goliath [2:250]
- Qur'aan is preseved auditorily (by sound) and that's why during prayers peopel correct each other when a single letter is OFF
- Quraan is also preseved in the book form for those who don't know
BUT
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعٰلَمِیْنَ
What Hindutva and Christian Missionaries don't understand is that almost all Muslims know that it is without
Grammar or rules:
- al-ḥamdu lillāhi and not
- al-ḥamdu lillāha or
- al-ḥamdu lillāhu
The
rhythm of the Qur'aan will prevent you from reading 2 & 3 instinctly once you have read it a few times, try reading it wrong and you will see that your tongue won't settle.
It is because Qur'aan is an Auditory miracle. That's why many times Imams catch their own mistakes, they may not know the right word but they know that they have made a mistake because the
rhythm of the Qur'aan breaks!