Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to use texts you read to identify communities where Arabic is spoken and to find out about aspects of their cultures. The museum offers one festival and one art of writing. The festivals of other communities, television programmes, songs and comic strips you read, your class brings. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- C3.1 using information from a variety of texts in the target language, identify communities where the target language is spoken, find out about aspects of their cultures, and make connections to personal experiences and their own and other communities […]
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
What does the text tell you about a tradition?
Ask of the text: which tradition does it describe, when does it recur, and what does it resemble in your community's traditions?
Go deeper
The Encyclopaedia of Islam says that Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast, is also called the minor festival, and in Turkish the sugar festival, and that it is celebrated on the first of Shawwal and the days that follow 2. It records two canonical festivals in the Muslim year: Eid al-Adha on the tenth of Dhu al-Hijja and Eid al-Fitr on the first of Shawwal 3. In practice, the article says, the two festivals last three or four days 3.
How do we know?
The record follows two books of different kinds. The Kuwaiti encyclopaedia of jurisprudence says the Muslims have two festivals, the day of fitr on the first of Shawwal and the day of adha on the tenth of Dhu'l-Hijja 4. The Encyclopaedia of Islam says that on both festivals people put on new clothes or at least their best, visit one another, congratulate one another and exchange presents 3.
Think about it
The article gives the festival a name in Turkish, "the sugar festival", beside its names in Arabic 2. Using a festival of your own community, explain why one festival might have different names in different languages. Which of its names would you use with a stranger, and why?
Into the museum
- Eid al-Fitr: its names and days in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, and the takbir of the festival as the jurists describe it.
- Islamic calligraphy: the art of writing and shaping the Arabic letter beautifully, with scripts such as kufic, naskh, thuluth and diwani.
Try this
Read the records on Eid al-Fitr and on Islamic calligraphy. Report to the class what you found about one tradition, then look for an example of Arabic writing and name what you see in it.
4 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Eid al-Fitr have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Eid al-Fitr. The Kuwaiti jurists' encyclopaedia, which the record on Eid al-Fitr follows, explains that 'eid comes from 'awd, returning, because it recurs. It says the Muslims have two: the day of fitr, on the first of Shawwal, and the day of adha, on the tenth of Dhu'l-Hijja. It adds that takbir is prescribed on the way to the prayer, in homes, markets and roads, until the prayer begins. Which festival does your community keep, and when does it recur?
In your own words: what does Islamic calligraphy have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Islamic calligraphy. Islamic calligraphy is the art of writing and shaping the Arabic letter beautifully. Its scripts include Kufic, Naskh, Thuluth and Diwani. Where have you seen Arabic writing, on a poster or in a comic strip, and which script do you see in it?
I can now
Notes
- 1. Ontario Ministry of Education, The Ontario Curriculum: Classical Studies and International Languages
- 2. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes, vol. 3 p. 1040
- 3. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes, vol. 3 p. 1039
- 4. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3), p.11984