Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Foreign Languages)

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Browsing by Author "Mohamed, Yasien"

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    An examination of the correspondence between sound and meaning in certain chapters of the holy Qur'an
    (University of the Western Cape, 2010) Mutawali, Male Farouk Ali; Mohamed, Yasien
    The study of sound symbolism, phonetics and semantics has been of major concern for linguists since the Greeks and the Romans in the fifth century before AD. The idea of sound symbolism - the existence of correspondence between the sound of letters (or linguists, such as Ibn Jinni (942-1002 AD), and modern Arabic linguists, including al- Badr�wi (1999), and Na'aim Alwia (1984), have attempted to elucidate this phenomenon, providing detailed description and some examples from Arabic and the Holy Qur'an. Modern Western linguists such as Magnus (1999) have discussed the correspondence between the sounds of letters and the sense in Western languages. Jespersen (1962) and Badr�wi (1999) have recommended that this phenomenon needs further detailed study and have indicated the need of more examples to be used as reference theory. Using Ibn Jinni's model, this study is an attempt to build on the theory of the correspondence between sound and meaning using the Holy Qur'an as an example. While Jinni's focus was on the correspondence of sound and meaning at the word level, this study will focus on the individual sound segments within the word, and the effect of the word within the Surat. The argument is that it is the individual distinctive features of each phoneme in a word that give the word its distinctive sound quality, and also has have an impact on the meaning of the word. Any correspondence between sound and meaning in a word should therefore be assigned to a particular significant distinctive feature. Given that the focus on the presumed direct relationship between sound and meaning, recourse will be made to the principal of onomatopoeia. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between the distinctive features of the sounds that form Arabic words and the meaning of such words as used in the Holy Qur'an. In particular, the study will analyze the distinctive features, such as a sound being a consonant or a vowel, voicing, manner and place of articulation, airstream mechanism, among others (singly or combined) of the sounds in Arabic words, and relate this to the meaning of the words. This phenomenon will be investigated using descriptive methods and the Holy Qur' an as the object of study.
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    The Qur�?nic Sufi Hermeneutics of Shaykh Mu??af?� al-�Al?w?: A critical study of his Lub?b al- �Ilm F? S?rah al-Najm
    (University of the Western Cape, 2018) Hendricks, Mogamat Mahgadien; Mohamed, Yasien
    The main focus of this dissertation is a critical study of the Arabic text, titled: Lub?b al �Ilm F? S?rah al-Najm (The Kernel of Knowledge in the Chapter of the Star) by Shaykh Ahmad bin Mu??af?� al-�Al?w?. Due to the lack of research on esoteric commentaries of the Qur??n in the English language, there is a need to embark upon an in-depth study of such texts. An important work on Shaykh al-�Al?w? in English is Martin Lings� A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century. This book is an excellent introduction to the life, works and thought of Shaykh al-�Al?w?, but it does not deal with a specific text in any detail. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to examine closely the above-mentioned text of Shaykh al-�Al?w? as a sample of his esoteric interpretation of the Qur??n. For the purpose of this thesis, I shall undertake a translation of his exegesis (tafs?r) on S?rah al-Najm (the Chapter of the Star). I will include with it explanatory notes and identification of key quotations and sources. This sample from Shaykh al-�Al?w?�s work will form the basis of my critical analyses. It will also provide a means for comparison with some of his other works, and with Qur??nic commentaries of the same genre by other Sufi scholars, both classical and modern. In this dissertation, I also seek to offer some answers and proofs concerning the validity of the existence of esoteric tafs?r and why it is needed. I will do this by examining key verses in the Qur�?n and the Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet Mu?ammad). The distinction between esoteric and exoteric interpretations of the Qur??n will also be dealt with in this dissertation. Although the emphasis will be on the esoteric dimension, neither the esoteric nor the exoteric dimension will be treated in a mutually exclusive way. Most Arabic commentaries on the Qur??n tend towards the exoteric and literal meanings of the text, but the exoteric form also has an inner dimension which Shaykh al-�Al?w? demonstrates in his commentary on S?rah al-Najm.
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    Using the first language to improve Arabic-speaking students' speaking skills in English as a second language
    (University of the Western Cape, 2017) Etbaigha, Intisar Alsagier; Mohamed, Yasien
    For several decades since the advent of Communicative Language Teaching and the Direct Method, using the first language (L1) in second-language (L2) teaching has been out of favour. However, arguments for using the L1as a resource for L2 learning are becoming increasingly widespread (Cummins, 2014; Widdowson, 2001). This study aims to examine both the role the L1 plays in improving students' L2 speaking skills and their attitudes towards the use of their L1 in the process of learning a second language. A qualitative action research study was thus applied. The research was conducted in an English Language School over a period of six months. Observation, diaries, field-notes, social media, interviews, pre- and post-tests, as well as language biographies constituted the tools for data collection. Data were analysed through coding using critical discourse analysis, the Atlas TI software program and statistical analysis. The analysis was informed by Cummins' hypothesis of transfer and Vygotsky's activity theory. Findings of the study highlighted the effective role played by the L1 in learning the L2, and the effective approach that the L1 can constitute as a scaffold to improve students' L2 speaking skills, their interaction, engagement and participation. Another conclusion was that students possessed a positive attitude towards the use of their L1 in L2 teaching and learning.
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    Women & Leadership in Islam
    (2013) Jalajel, David Solomon; Mohamed, Yasien
    The present research examines the post-formative Islamic legal literature surrounding the question of women�s leadership to gauge whether and to what extent the development of Islamic legislation pertaining to women was determined by genderattitudes prevalent in Muslim society. There are three main theories to explain the prevalence of Islamic legal rulings divesting women of leadership roles. The first is the traditional view that these rulings are best explained by the application of the theoretical and hermeneutical approaches of classical Islamic legal theory to the Islamic source texts, the Qur�?n and Sunnah. The second is that the rulings are best explained as the consequence of the widespread gender attitudes in near-eastern society during the formative and early post-formative period of Islamic Law. The third is that legal inertia is the primary factor in explaining the existing post-formative Islamic legal corpus and little can be determined from it regarding the origin and early perpetuation of the laws. These competing theories are tested and explored by returning to a broad survey of Islamic legal texts from the four canonical schools of thought. The relevant passages from these texts are first translated and then examined according to three separate analytical approaches � a legal-hermeneutical analysis, an analysis of gender motifs, and a diachronic analysis of legal arguments � to explore the ways in which classical legal scholars arrived at and justified the prohibition of female leadership in politics, the judiciary, and congregational prayer. Key