Fard? Really?

['Abd-al Latif]

Everyone is in the habit of transliterating countless Arabic terms into English all the time, saying words such as 'waajib' and 'mashaa'Allah' instead of translating them into their English equivalent of 'compulsory' and 'Allah has willed' respectively. Well that may be all well and good, until it comes to words like 'fard'. Fard means obligatory, right? Wrong!

The world 'fard' in English means "noun 1. facial cosmetics. verb (used with object) 2. to apply cosmetics to (the face)". So next time you try to transliterate a word, find out first if that transliteration is an actual word in the language you are transliterating in. This will avoid embarrassment when telling a revert, or even a non-Muslim, "Salaah (prayer) is fard (facial cosmetic(?))!"

[جوري]

interesting.. never heard of that before.. for what it is worth in Arabic..
فرض=
v. assess, enjoy, engage, force, direct, impel, oblige, predicate, commit, put, impose, require


n. imposition, order, prescription

of course fard with a daal is different than fard with daad..

فرد =
v. seclude, isolate, consign, design, allow


n. one



n. demarcation, individual, person, personage

[CosmicPathos]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm here as well. :S

[جوري]

Ok I see what you mean

Etymology

From Middle English, from Middle French, from Old French fard (“make-up, cosmetics”), from farder (“to apply make-up, use cosmetics”), from Old Frankish *farwidōn (“to dye, colour”), from Proto-Germanic *farwiþōnan (“to colour”), from Proto-Germanic *farwō (“colour”), from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“motley, coloured”). Cognate with Old High German farwjan (“to colour”) (High German Farbe (“colour”)), Middle Low German varwe (“colour”) (Low German Farwe (“colour”)), Latin pulcher (“beautiful”), Welsh erch (“dark brown”).
[edit] Noun

fard (uncountable)

1. Colour or paint used on the face; makeup, war-paint.

[edit] Translations

[dqsunday]

Well.. until you posted this, I never knew fard was an English word. To be honest, I don't think its much an issue when its a rarely used English word anyway. Given the fact Arabian isn't easily translated into English to begin with, lets not be too picky about the transliterations. Eventually Arabic may replace English as the dominant language of the planet and inshallah, Islam will replace Christianity as the dominant religion. Unlikely but it certainly could mean a whole different world. Powers come and powers go, what will the future hold? Only Allah knows.

['Abd-al Latif]

Ana (I – in Arabic)

noun
1.
a collection of miscellaneous information about a particular subject, person, place, or thing.
2.
an item in such a collection, as an anecdote, a memorable saying, etc.

[Periwinkle18]

Well.. until you posted this, I never knew fard was an English word

lol same hea its the first time i heard of it

[Sunnie Ameena]

Asalam Alaikum

I have never even heard the word "fard" in my life, and I am very sure there are many many more words I don't know. The only words I say with confidence are "Asalam Alaikum", and I hope I have spelled it correctly. Thank you so much for pointing it out Brother 'Abd-al Latif, because, I would really not want to read a post and think I understand, and only come to find out that it was incorrect. That for sure is no way to learn about Islam. Sunnie Ameena

[Beardo]

Whereas I understand where you are coming from, but I can't help but think... Anyone with the least bit of common sense will know that Fard means compulsory when you're talking about religious issues. As for when talking to a revert, we tend to use English words anyway. Like we might say "prayer" instead of "salaah" and we might even say "God" instead of "Allah" just to ease them into it.

Just thinking aloud.

['Abd-al Latif]

Whereas I understand where you are coming from, but I can't help but think... Anyone with the least bit of common sense will know that Fard means compulsory when you're talking about religious issues. As for when talking to a revert, we tend to use English words anyway. Like we might say "prayer" instead of "salaah" and we might even say "God" instead of "Allah" just to ease them into it.

Just thinking aloud.

That's why I said reverts and non-Muslims.

[Periwinkle18]

As for when talking to a revert, we tend to use English words anyway. Like we might say "prayer" instead of "salaah" and we might even say "God" instead of "Allah" just to ease them into it.

hmm true we mite say compulsory instead of fard