All About English

I named this Weblog "All About English", because, it is all about English

All About English

I named this Weblog "All About English", because, it is all about English

All About English

The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.

Derek Walcott

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Do You Know That God Exists?


Can You Have Faith in God?

I think I can. There is an explanation I can give to clarify my belief in God. I'd like to share it with you. 


Argument for Existence of God

God is the self-existent being which all dependent beings depend on it. You may doubt the existence of such a self-existent thing. But, there is a conclusive logical argument that proves its existence. The following paragraphs explain the proof. 


If there is something, then, there is a self-existent being. It is because, if there is something, it is either self-existent, or dependent on the self-existent. In either case, there is a self-existent.


We can explain it in the way that:


If the existing thing is a self-existent being, then, itself is self-existent and the self-existent exists.


If it is not a self-existent being, then, it depends on a self-existent being, because, if it doesn't, then, there will be either a chain or a circle. Both the chain and the circle are impossible. As the only result, it does depend on a self-existent being and the self-existent being exists.


The conclusion is that there is a self-existent being; because something that exists is either itself self-existent or depends on an existing self-existent other than itself.


The impossibility of the chain and the circle is self-evident.


A chain means an infinite series of depending things, in which, each posterior member depends on its anterior member without being ended in a self-existent beginning.


A circle means a dependency cycle, in which, "a" depends on "b" while "b" itself depends on "a" either directly or by means of one or more members that go in between them. 


It is not a dependency like one is between two things leaning towards each other. It is something like if you were your father's father. You see that it is undoubtedly impossible.


The conclusion is that there is a self-existent being. This self-existent being is the God which Islam is trying to introduce.


I wrote this post as an answer to atheism fundamental argument. Their fundamental argument against God's existence is that there is no evidence nor proof for God's existence. I wrote this to say that there is something to say.

Click here to see their arguments.


Now, it's your turn. Tell me what you think!


  • Little Student
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Moby Dick


From Oxford Dictionary


Moby Dick, n.


[‘ Something likened to Moby Dick (the great white whale central to Herman Melville's novel), esp. in being very large, important, or impressive.’]


Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌməʊbɪ ˈdɪk/,  U.S. /ˌmoʊbi ˈdɪk/


Etymology: <  Moby Dick, the name of the whale in Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name.


  Something likened to Moby Dick (the great white whale central to Herman Melville's novel), esp. in being very large, important, or impressive.


In quot. 1986 used humorously in place of whale (see whale n. 5c).


a1974  A. Sexton 45 Mercy Street (1977) 62 A man, a Moby Dick of a man, a swimmer going up and down in his brain.


1986  J. Wilson Amber ii. 27, I shall eat cream cakes and meet lots of lovely new men and get asked to all sorts of exciting new clubs and have a Moby Dick of a time.


1990 Economist 24 Mar. 111/3 Minnows who want to become corporate Moby Dicks might take a leaf out of Compaq's book.


1994 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 26 June 30/2 Where is Moby Dick? Whale watchers will be out in force next weekend.


2000 Scotsman 24 June 16/7 Airbus..[announced] the construction of..the world's biggest passenger plane... Who..thought we would now welcome the news that in 2004 the minnows of the sky would be joined by Moby Dick?


Visit the source



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Eid al-fitr or the fast breaking festivity


Structure of the phrase

"Eid al-fitr", "Eid ul-fitr" or "Id al fitr" are deferent spellings of the Arabic phrase ( عید الفطر). The phrase is in the Arabic genitive structure in which the first noun belongs to the second one, in a particular way. Keeping this in mind, if we give the phrase an English structure, it will be "the fitr eid". So, the Arabic phrase "Eid al-fitr" is equal to the English phrase "the fitr eid".


Meaning of the phrase

In terms of its meaning, the phrase means "the festivity of braking fast" or "the fast breaking festivity". It is because the word "eid" means "festivity" and the word "fitr" means "breaking fast". The prefix "al-" or "l-" (in the "ul-" spelling) in Arabic, functions as a definite article, like "the", in English. The phrase's structure is also a linguistic element. In English, the meaning of this form is expressed by the possessive "-'s" or "of" which expresses the genitive relationship between the two nouns. It means that in English, there are two possibilities to express the meaning of this phrase. One is the genitive phrase "the fast breaking festivity" and the other one is the "of" phrase "the festivity of breaking fast"


Read more

Eid al-fitr, Wikipedia

Eid Mubarak, Wikipedia

Eid al-fitr

Eid, Oxford Dictionaries Online

Eid thesaurus, MACMILLAN Dictinary

Eid, Collins English Dictionary


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FAST


Prologue

The most important English word related to the holy month RAMADAN is the word "fast". We say; "we fast", "we are fasting", "she doesn't fast, when she is so", "most children like to pretend to fast", etc.


But remember that the word "fast" is a multi-class English word. It means that it can be either a noun, an adjective, a verb, or an adverb. Each one of its four classes has been defined in the first volume of The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, page 920. Only, when it is a verb or a noun it can be related to the holy Ramadan.


"Fast" as a verb

Meaning

In the case "fast" is a verb, it means "to eat no food for a period of time". MWD defines it as: 

1 : to abstain from food,

or

2 : to eat sparingly or abstain from some foods.


Etymology

Dictionary.com explains its etymology as following: "fast O.E. fæstan "to fast" (as a religious duty), from P.Gmc. *fastejan (cf. O.Fris. festia, O.H.G. fasten, O.N. fasta), from the same root as fast (adj.). The original meaning was "hold firmly," and the sense evolution is via "firm control of oneself," to "holding to observance" (cf. Goth. fastan "to keep, observe," also "to fast"). Presumably the whole group is a Gmc. translation of M.L. observare "to fast." Related: Fasted; fasting."


Explanation of the etymology

This etymology explains that the word "fast" comes from the Old English word "fæstan" which means "to fast" (as a religious duty). 


Then the word "fæstan" comes from Proto-Germanic (language) word *fastejan.


In terms of its origin, the word "fæstan" is the same as the Old Frisian language word "festia", Old High German word "fasten", Old Norse "fasta", from the same root as "fast" (adj.). The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary also equalises them; as it writes: "fast /fɑːst/ v. [OE fæstan = OFris. festia, (M)Du. vasten, OHG fastēn, (G fasten), ON fasta, Goth. fastan, f. Gmc.]". (V:1. P:920)


The original meaning was "hold firmly," and the sense evolution is via "firm control of oneself," to "holding to observance"  ( = when someone obeys a law or does something because it is part of a religion, custom, or ceremony

observance). It is the same as the Gothic word "fastan" which means "to keep, observe," also "to fast". 


Finally it says; presumably the whole group is a Germanic translation of Medieval Latin "observare" meaning "to fast."


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