I thought, what if I got that tattoo in Arabic? I'm not into tattoos of words - even in a foreign language, even in a beautifully written one, like Arabic - but if I were into that, the tattoo would say الاهل - al-Ahal. The folks. Family.
Like اهل الكتاب - ahal al-Kitab - people of the Book. Believers. Jews, Christians, Muslims. Family.
Like اهلي - Ahali - my family.
Like اهوال الدنيا - Ahwal al-Dunya - Peoples of the world. Family.
Greetings in Arabic can be extensive. "How are you? How's your health? How are your affairs? How's your family?" all rapid-fire, while the other person says, "Good, thank God, thank God, good."
The word used - at least in my experience - isn't the proper usrah, but the more general اهل. How are your people? Your family?
We're fixing to go see the folks. All the kinfolks were there. Those are the phrases of my youth. "Family" would be a nuclear unit; "folks" would include local relations, parents and so on. "How're your folks?" would trigger a report on parents, grands.
ReplyDeleteYep. Usrah is that nuclear unit. I like the "folks/family/people" connotations of ahal. Like the acknowledgement that "you're my people" - that could be someone not even related to you. A family friend, someone you find you have a deep connection to. It's a nice thought, that "family" can mean people you didn't know you had.
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