A thank-you note

This lesson asks you to write a note in Arabic that uses conventions of courtesy, among them expressions of gratitude and appreciation. The museum offers only what the record on shukr says about its meaning. The Arabic expressions of thanks themselves, the salutations and closings of letters, and date and currency formats, your class brings. ¹

Decide whom you thank and for which kindness, then choose from the expressions you have learned those that suit the formality between you and the reader.

The record on shukr has a section on thanking people for a kindness, taken from the Kuwaiti encyclopaedia of jurisprudence. It says that thanking a benefactor is approved by all sensible people, even for a small favour, since, as it puts it, whoever does not thank the little does not thank the much ^{2 3 4}. Thanks in deed is the root, paying a kindness with a kindness; if that is not possible, a good word is enough ^{2 3 4}. It says that asking the beneficiary for thanks is disliked ^{2 3 4}.

These are rulings reported by a jurists' encyclopaedia, not letters or notes that people wrote ^{2 3 4}. How a note of thanks is worded in your language you learn from the texts your class reads.

The encyclopaedia says thanking a benefactor is approved even for a small favour ^{2 3 4}. Give a reason from your own experience: why might a small kindness deserve thanks as much as a large one?

• Shukr: its definition, how it differs from praise and commendation, and the section on thanking people.
• Greeting with peace: the meaning of taslim in the language and in the jurists' usage.

Read the record on shukr. Write a short thank-you note in Arabic using expressions you learned in class, and tell a classmate which kindness you acknowledged in it.