Al-Mawrid Or Hans Wehr or Oxford

[mullah]

Assalamua'alaikum,

I have a couple of questions here regarding the different dictionaries out there.
I've done some research and from that I gathered that Al-Mawrid is geared more towards beginners and Hans-Wehr for intermediate users( i heard that Hans-Wehr,requires the user to have the root word, while Al-Mawrid doesn't).
I also heard Oxford is good with no additional information.

As for the price, I've checked AlBalagh and they're selling it for $65(Arabic-English and English-Arabic). Add the international shipping costs and it would total around $80. Thats the lowest I've seen so far (Amazon is charging $90+, w/o shipping).

Could anybody give me any additional information that might be useful(what I should get, where, etc)

[cornelloki]

hans wehr is good. And, Allah knows best.

that's available in many places depending on where you are? call this number and see if you can place a phone order 3019829511

assalamu alaikum

[mullah]

Wa'alaikumussalam, that was fast. But why should I get hans wehr, telling me its good doesn't really help much, because I already knew that. Any additional information would be helpful. Also, can I get any additional info on the phone number. I don't know what time they are open etc and where they are based.

[cornelloki]

Wa'alaikumussalam, that was fast. But why should I get hans wehr, telling me its good doesn't really help much, because I already knew that. Any additional information would be helpful. Also, can I get any additional info on the phone number. I don't know what time they are open etc and where they are based.I'm saying hans wehr from the 3 choices you have posed is the best one. there are other dictionaries like Lane's. actually, my husband said that there is not one dictionary that will suffice what you will need eventually to increase your arabic. at different stages of your development, you may see yourself collecting several dictionaries for different purposes. so if you have studied arabic for sometime, like let's say, you're above beginners but less than advanced, then hans wehr might benefit you in terms of verb forms. it includes broken verb forms, how the verb is used with nouns and prepositions. you shouldn't use it to study islam though, because the meanings of some of the words are derived from modern day definitions and not from islam. ya the best part is, you do need to know the triliteral root words, which is something everyone would need to know eventually and what better way to polish it than by looking up words. Allah knows best.

I think sister labwatullaah (if she sees this post) might be able to answer your question better.

InshAllah call them at Eastern Standard Time. Ask if they have the thick version, tell them it's the one that comes in hardback, which is what you should get if you were to get one.

[Labwatullaah]

In my opinion, al-Mawrid is okay for someone who is reading an Arabic newspaper and wants quick and easy access to the meaning of the words he doesn't understand. Hans Wehr is much better for all else, especially if a person is actively studying Arabic. These are the reasons I can think of off the top of my head (others may add to the list in shaa' Allaah):


It will force you to think about the root of the word, and try to work it out. This in itself is excellent practice for coming to grips with verb/noun patterns and begining to recognise the different patterns and their corresponding plural patterns.

It contains many more meanings of a word than the Mawrid (see for eg the section on verbs with the root qaaf-waw-meem)

All the different forms of a verb are grouped together in one section, so you may compare the meanings of each form and find links, enabling you to appreciate the beauty of the language.

It indicates to you which words are diptotes (mamnoo' min al-sarf), which words are transitive and intransitive (ie whether they can take an object directly or whether they need the use of a preposition), whether the word is masculine or feminine, and the plural of the word, all in one section.

It includes idiomatic expressions in which a word is used, the meaning of which often may not be clear when trying to do a literal translation.

All the words - whether nouns or verbs - are arranged by their roots, in groups. So it has the benefit of also possibly serving as an english-arabic dictionary. For eg. If you want to know the word for 'author' but only know the word for 'book' (kitaab) you may refer to the root kaaf-taa'-baa' with a hunch that the words may be related, and then scan through the different words under the root until you find one you are looking for (ie kaatib).

It has a nicer introduction.


I'm not familiar with the Oxford Arabic-English dictionary, only the English-Arabic.

There is apparently an Islamic Bookshop somewhere in Leicester, UK that sells the Hans Wehr in pakistani print hardback (not as large as the one's sold on Amazon) for 7 pounds. If you know someone living in or coming back from the middle east, the large version hardback versions are sold for no more than 10 or 11 pounds.

But as sister cornelloki said, you will often find that having more than one dictionary to refer to is very useful. And if you really want to go for Gold, check out Lane's Lexicon (http://www.fonsvitae.com/lexicon.html).

Wallaahu a3lam.

[May_We_Achieve]

someones getting employed... inshaa' Allaah.

jazaakh Allaah sister labwatullaah. as always, very beneficial, mashaa' Allaah tabarakallaah.

[mullah]

Ok, very useful stuff. Now I know which one to get. Jazakumallah khair.

[Abu Mundhir]

I have the hans wehr one and have seen al-mawrid. For me, mawrid just offers too little, just a 1 word definition or so. The only problem i had with hans wehr was that it took me a long time to get used to finding out the 3 letter root. Even today I still have problems sometimes.

[abu abdulillah]

as salaam alykum wa rahmatullahu
n3m
ikwa & sisters fil lah
I wonder if someone has the lane dictionary, if it is possible that they burn it and send it.
By the way what is the hukum on coping tapes or burning cd which are produced by muslim &/or kuffars with copyrights?

[Labwatullaah]

The only problem i had with hans wehr was that it took me a long time to get used to finding out the 3 letter root. Even today I still have problems sometimes.

One way to learn how to figure out the roots of words is by familiarising yourselves with the various patterns a word may take in Arabic, and training yourself to always think in terms of these patterns.

A good way to do this is by writing out all the different verbal patterns - of which ten are the most common - (ie fa3ala, fa33ala, faa3ala, af3ala, tafa33ala, tafaa3ala, infa3ala, ifta3ala, if3alla, istaf3ala), in the past and present tenses. Whenever you come across a verb try to see which pattern it fits into. Then whenever you come across a new pattern of noun, write that down in itsfa3ala form. (eg faa3il, fi3aal, infi3aal etc). Whenever you come across a new noun, figure out which of the patterns it fits into.

An aid to this is knowing that the 'extra' letters that can be added to a root are limited. They are: alif, hamzah, taa', seen, daal and Taa' in the pattern ifti3aal (they get turned over from a taa' for ease of pronounciation sometimes), meem, noon, waw, yaa', taa' marbootah.

But it is more complicated than this of course. The best way to know roots of words is by learning about sarf.

Wallaahu a3lam.

If I have been unclear in places, please let me know.

[aish]

sallaam
i too have looked for lanes lexicon everywhere............does anyone have it

[Stuck in Prison]

http://www.worldlanguage.com/Products/104805.htm
http://www.fonsvitae.com/laneslexicon.html
http://store.yahoo.com/islamicbookstore-com/b2261.html

[aish]

saallaam dont have a credit card so cant buy off the net and it is not available where i live

[mujahid]

Asalamu alaikum

Im a little late but hope that I can provide some useful tips for whoever inshallah

The Hans Wehr is definately the way to go. Anyone who wishes to learn the arabic language by default has to use it as their guide. This is more useful But the atch is that someone would have to teach the student sarf. Once one has the ability to understand much of the mufradaat in sarf then this will be very usefull in anyone's growth of learning arabic.

The Mawrid is also very useful as if anyone who wishes to learn the reality or definitions of words can go directly to it and is good for those who wish to learn many words. Otherwise it wouldnt be that useful

I think one of the beginning books to learn arabic is Bilal Philips Arabic Grammer Made Easy. In it one learns the basic and mostly used prepositions in the language suitable for not only everyday language but also to undertsand the texts.

One should learn though this or through the medina books 1,2,3 but one would need an instructor for that.

No one should supercede themselves and start learning ajrumiyyah and balagha until they become like super arabic speakers and readers otherwise one would get lost in such sophisticated tools of learning

asalamu alaikum

[Shajaa3ah]

I have the hans wehr one and have seen al-mawrid. For me, mawrid just offers too little, just a 1 word definition or so. The only problem i had with hans wehr was that it took me a long time to get used to finding out the 3 letter root. Even today I still have problems sometimes.

I just found this programme:


Arabic word forms

I started studying Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in October 2001, and have meanwhile progressed to the point where I can “decipher” texts with the help of a dictionary. This is not a trivial matter, since the entries in a standard dictionary[/url] are arranged according to root consonants, so that the user has to have determined the root of a word before being able to look it up! For this, in turn, one has to know a fair amount of morphology. It was more or less to prove to myself that I understand (verb) morphology, that I produced a small application to generate (almost) any Arabic verb form and very many other word forms. I offer this application for use by other students of MSA.

Download [url="http://home.tiscali.be/rwmeijer/arabic/wordform.zip"]version 2.1 (August 2004) (http://www.spokenlanguage.com/) of the application (ZIPped file, ca. 250k, save to disk and unpack) or consult the help file (http://home.tiscali.be/rwmeijer/arabic/genhelpe.htm) on-line.



It is fantastic http://talk.islamicnetwork.com/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif I recommend it to everyone.

The only problem is the transliteration system needs some getting used to.

[ismiyy]

assalaamu alaikum

could you please upload it to the forums, the link is dead.

wassalaamu alaikum

[May_We_Achieve]

no it aint. its live. sister... do u need internet connection for it?

[ismiyy]

sister? (was that in reference to me?)

Allaahul musta'aan...btw i just checked the link and it is working now, i don't know why it didn't work earlier.

JazaakumAllaah khair.

Wassalaamu alaikum

[Shajaa3ah]

no it aint. its live. sister... do u need internet connection for it?

At the risk of stating the obvious, you will need internet connection to download it. You don't need to be connected to use it though.

[aish]

sallaam
jazakallaahu khayraan
a reminder about lanes lexicon does anyone have it and can upload it

[talibatun ul ilm]

i thought i would bump this up....it contains a lot of useful information, esp the tips by sister on how to get the most out of the dictionaries. I have just completeed stage one of my grammer and subhanallah i know that other ppl will bebenfit from this tread asas much as i have.