Arab art, the arabesque and calligraphy (المحور الثاني، الأرابيسك)

Work through this passage the way you would in Paper 1 Section B, where the recommended time is 45 minutes for four questions. لم تكن الزخرفة في العمارة الإسلامية عنصرا مضافا إلى البناء، بل جزءا من تصميمه. فقد غطت الأشكال الهندسية والنباتية المساحات الواسعة، وتكرر النمط الواحد تكرارا يوحي بأنه لا يبدأ ولا ينتهي. أما المقرنص، وهو ذلك التركيب المتدرج الذي يملأ الزوايا والقباب، فقد جمع بين الوظيفة الإنشائية والأثر البصري. وقد انتقلت هذه المهارات من جيل إلى جيل داخل الورش، حيث كان الصانع يتعلم بالممارسة لا بالكتاب

1. 01Find the claim before you find the vocabulary

   The first sentence is built on لم تكن … بل …, was not … but rather …, and that frame tells you the passage's whole thesis before you have understood a single technical noun: ornament was not added to the building, it was part of its design. Reading for the frame first is the most transferable reading habit in this qualification, because Arabic argumentative prose signals its structure with a small closed set of frames — لم … بل, أما … فـ, غير أن, لا … فحسب بل. Learn the set and you can locate a thesis in five seconds.

2. 02Decode the unknown noun from its pattern, not from a dictionary you do not have

   المقرنص is defined for you in the very next clause — وهو ذلك التركيب المتدرج, and it is that tiered structure — which is the commonest way an Arabic text introduces a technical term. Even without that, its shape is informative: the مـ prefix with a following passive shape marks a passive participle, so it is something that has been done to. المتدرج is the same pattern with a Form V verb behind it, so it is something that proceeds in stages. Pattern-reading is a real skill and Appendix 2 names it under roots and word patterns.

3. 03Read the cognate accusative as emphasis, not as a second noun

   وتكرر النمط الواحد تكرارا يوحي بأنه لا يبدأ ولا ينتهي. A beginner sees تكرر and تكرارا and hunts for two ideas. There is only one: تكرارا is the cognate accusative, المفعول المطلق, and its function is to carry the adjective or the relative clause that qualifies the verb. Here the qualification is the whole relative clause يوحي بأنه لا يبدأ ولا ينتهي, suggesting that it neither begins nor ends. The single pattern repeated in a way that suggests it neither begins nor ends.

4. 04Track أما … فـ across a long interruption

   أما المقرنص، وهو ذلك التركيب المتدرج الذي يملأ الزوايا والقباب، فقد جمع بين … . The topic is announced by أما, then a long parenthetical definition intervenes, and only then does the ف resume the sentence. Students lose this sentence by treating the parenthesis as the main clause. Whenever you see أما, find the ف before you decide what the sentence says; everything between them is subordinate. جمع بين … و … is to combine, and it needs both members.

5. 05Answer the likely question in your own words

   A question here would very probably be لماذا يعد المقرنص مثالا جيدا على الزخرفة التي لا تضاف إلى البناء؟ The lifted answer would copy جمع بين الوظيفة الإنشائية والأثر البصري. The recast answer says the same thing without the passage's words: لأنه يؤدي دورا في بناء السقف نفسه في الوقت الذي يزينه فيه، فلا يمكن نزعه من دون أن يتغير المبنى. That final clause — you could not remove it without the building changing — is inference rather than retrieval, and inference is what the reading section is testing.

Result: Ornament in Islamic architecture was not an element added to the building but a part of its design. Geometric and vegetal forms covered wide surfaces, and the single pattern repeated in a way that suggests it neither begins nor ends. As for the muqarnas, that tiered structure which fills corners and domes, it combined a structural function with a visual effect. These skills passed from generation to generation inside the workshops, where the craftsman learned by practice and not from a book.

Translate into English. شكل الفناء الداخلي لقرون طويلة قلب البيت التقليدي في كثير من المدن العربية. فقد كان يوفر الظل والهواء، ويحفظ خصوصية الأسرة في الوقت نفسه. ومع اتساع المدن وارتفاع أسعار الأرض، تراجع هذا الطراز أمام العمارة الرأسية، ولم يعد يبنى إلا نادرا. ويحاول بعض المعماريين اليوم استعادة مبادئه من دون تقليد شكله، فيستعملون المشربية والفتحات المدروسة لتقليل الحاجة إلى التكييف. غير أن هذه المحاولات ما زالت محدودة أمام ضغط السوق

1. 01شكل الفناء الداخلي لقرون طويلة قلب البيت التقليدي في كثير من المدن العربية

   شكل here is Form II and means constituted or formed, not shaped; the object is قلب البيت التقليدي, the heart of the traditional house, in the accusative and heading a construct chain. لقرون طويلة, for long centuries, is لـ plus an indefinite genitive plural with an agreeing feminine singular adjective, because قرون is non-human. The adverbial phrase sits between verb and object, which is normal Arabic word order and awkward English. For long centuries the inner courtyard formed the heart of the traditional house in many Arab cities.

2. 02فقد كان يوفر الظل والهواء، ويحفظ خصوصية الأسرة في الوقت نفسه

   قد with كان plus an imperfect gives a past habitual: it used to provide. Both verbs, يوفر and يحفظ, hang off the single كان, which is why the second is not repeated with its own auxiliary. خصوصية الأسرة is a chain. في الوقت نفسه, at the same time, uses نفس in apposition. It used to provide shade and air, and at the same time preserve the family's privacy.

3. 03ومع اتساع المدن وارتفاع أسعار الأرض، تراجع هذا الطراز أمام العمارة الرأسية

   مع plus two verbal nouns is the standard Arabic for with the widening of and the rise of, and English will often prefer the same nominal construction — as cities expanded is also acceptable and may read better. أسعار الأرض is a chain inside a chain, the prices of the land, itself governed by ارتفاع. تراجع أمام is retreated before, and العمارة الرأسية, vertical architecture, is the ordinary Arabic phrase. As cities expanded and land prices rose, this style retreated before vertical building.

4. 04ولم يعد يبنى إلا نادرا

   لم يعد plus an imperfect gives no longer, with the jussive after لم. يبنى is the internal passive imperfect of بنى, a defective verb whose final radical is a weak letter — hence the alif maqsura ending rather than a visible ي. إلا نادرا is except rarely, and the negative plus إلا construction is Arabic's normal way of saying only: no longer built except rarely, that is, only rarely built now. Appendix 2 lists الاستثناء with إلا among the numerals and particles.

5. 05ويحاول بعض المعماريين اليوم استعادة مبادئه من دون تقليد شكله

   حاول takes either أن plus a subjunctive or a bare verbal noun as here: استعادة, recovering. من دون plus a verbal noun is without, and تقليد شكله is imitating its form. Note that Arabic has stacked three verbal nouns in nine words — استعادة, تقليد, and the مبادئ that follows — which English cannot copy and must unpack. Some architects today are trying to recover its principles without imitating its form.

6. 06فيستعملون المشربية والفتحات المدروسة لتقليل الحاجة إلى التكييف. غير أن هذه المحاولات ما زالت محدودة أمام ضغط السوق

   The ف chains the result. يستعملون is a human plural verb agreeing with بعض المعماريين. المدروسة is a passive participle used adjectivally, studied or considered, agreeing as feminine singular with the non-human plural الفتحات. لتقليل is لـ plus a verbal noun of purpose. غير أن takes an accusative subject; ما زالت plus an accusative predicate محدودة gives are still limited; ضغط السوق is market pressure. So they use the mashrabiyya and carefully considered openings to reduce the need for air conditioning. But these attempts remain limited in the face of market pressure.

Result: For long centuries the inner courtyard formed the heart of the traditional house in many Arab cities. It used to provide shade and air, and at the same time preserve the family's privacy. As cities expanded and land prices rose, this style retreated before vertical building, and it is now only rarely built. Some architects today are trying to recover its principles without imitating its form, using the mashrabiyya and carefully considered openings to reduce the need for air conditioning. But these attempts remain limited in the face of market pressure.

Put into Arabic: the decorated wall, the decorating craftsman, the inscribed text, the calligrapher writing the inscription, and a written text that has not been read. Then explain how a reader without vowel marks knows which participle is which.

1. 01Build both participles from a Form I root

   From كتب: the active participle is كاتب, one who writes, on the pattern فاعل; the passive participle is مكتوب, written, on the pattern مفعول. Both are ordinary nouns and adjectives and both decline and agree normally. النص المكتوب, the written text — masculine singular definite adjective agreeing with النص. الكاتب, the writer, used as a noun. This much is regular and the two patterns never overlap in Form I.

2. 02Build both from a derived form, where they look alike

   From the Form II verb زخرف, to decorate, both participles begin with مـ. The active is مزخرِف and the passive مزخرَف, and the only written difference is a vowel mark that unvocalised Arabic does not show. الجدار المزخرف is therefore the decorated wall and الحرفي المزخرف would be a decorated craftsman, which is nonsense — so context resolves it, and Arabic readers resolve it instantly. For the craftsman who decorates you would normally write الحرفي الذي يزخرف or simply الزخرفي or النقاش, choosing a different word rather than relying on an invisible vowel.

3. 03Use the participle where English uses a relative clause

   النص المنقوش على الجدار — the text inscribed on the wall. English needs which is inscribed; Arabic needs nothing, because منقوش is an adjective agreeing with النص in gender, number, case and definiteness. This is the single most useful compression available in written Arabic and it is worth building a habit around: whenever you are about to write الذي plus a passive verb, ask whether a passive participle would do the job.

4. 04Watch the definiteness rule that governs it

   An adjective, including a participle, must match its noun in definiteness. نص منقوش is an inscribed text, indefinite; النص المنقوش is the inscribed text, definite. What you cannot write is النص منقوش, because that is no longer a noun phrase at all — it is a sentence, the text is inscribed, with the participle as predicate. That distinction between attribute and predicate is carried entirely by the article, and misplacing it changes a phrase into a sentence.

5. 05Handle the negative, which is where the construction breaks

   For a written text that has not been read, the participle cannot be negated directly. Arabic reaches either for غير plus a genitive — نص مكتوب غير مقروء, a written text, unread — which Appendix 2 lists under adjective negation; or for a relative clause, نص مكتوب لم يقرأ, with لم plus the jussive of the passive. Both are correct; غير is more compact and reads as more formal. Knowing that you have two routes, and that the participle route stops at the negative, is what keeps a sentence from going wrong mid-clause.

Result: الجدار المزخرف; الحرفي الذي يزخرف; النص المنقوش; الخطاط الذي يكتب النقش; نص مكتوب غير مقروء. The active participle names the doer and the passive participle the thing done to; in Form I they look different, in the derived forms they differ only by an invisible vowel and context decides; both agree fully and both must match their noun in definiteness or the phrase becomes a sentence; and neither can be negated directly, so use غير plus a genitive or a relative clause with لم.

You have one fact: several historic Arab city centres are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and have been the subject of large restoration programmes. Build it into a paragraph that argues rather than reports.

1. 01State the fact in the passive, because the agent is not the point

   أدرجت مدن قديمة عدة في المنطقة على قائمة التراث العالمي، ونفذت فيها برامج ترميم واسعة. أدرجت is the internal passive of أدرج, Form IV, were inscribed, and نفذت is the internal passive of نفذ, Form II, were carried out. Both are feminine singular: أدرجت agrees with the non-human plural مدن, and نفذت with the non-human plural برامج. Using the passive twice keeps the sentence about the cities rather than about the organisations, which is where you want the reader's attention.

2. 02Deny the conclusion the fact seems to imply

   غير أن الإدراج في حد ذاته لا يجيب عن السؤال الأهم: لمن يرمم الحي القديم؟ غير أن with an accusative subject. في حد ذاته, in itself, is a fixed phrase and a very useful hedge. لا يجيب عن is does not answer, with the preposition عن which أجاب requires. And the question is put in Arabic in five words — لمن يرمم الحي القديم — where لـ plus من fuses to لمن and يرمم is the passive. Denying the easy inference is what turns a fact into a problem.

3. 03Set out two of the positions and attribute both

   يرى بعض المختصين أن الأولوية للنسيج العمراني نفسه، فيدعون إلى تدخل محدود يمكن التراجع عنه. ويرى آخرون أن الحي مكان يسكنه الناس، وأن ترميم المباني مع رحيل سكانها يحفظ الشكل ويفقد المضمون. دعا إلى takes إلى. يمكن التراجع عنه is a relative clause without a pronoun after the indefinite تدخل. يسكنه الناس is another such clause after the indefinite مكان, with the resumptive pronoun ه attached to the verb, which Arabic requires and English does not.

4. 04Give the third position its full strength before answering it

   ويذكر فريق ثالث بحقيقة عملية: الترميم مكلف، والسياحة هي المصدر الواقعي لتمويله، والمبنى الذي لا يزوره أحد لا يجد من يدفع من أجله. Notice that this is the position an essay is most tempted to caricature, and giving it its strongest form is what the AO4 grid means by evaluation. الذي لا يزوره أحد is a relative clause with a definite antecedent, so the pronoun الذي is required and the resumptive ه appears on the verb — the exact mirror of the previous step's indefinite clauses, and worth noticing as a pair.

5. 05Decide, and say what would change your mind

   وأرى أن الحكم يتوقف على شرط واحد: هل ينص المشروع على استعمال المواد والتقنيات التقليدية؟ فإن فعل، خلق طلبا على المهارة نفسها وحفظ الصنعة مع الشكل؛ وإن لم يفعل، بقي الحي واجهة. نص على is to stipulate. إن فعل … وإن لم يفعل … is a paired conditional with the perfect and then لم plus the jussive, and it is the cleanest way in Arabic to make a judgement conditional on a testable criterion. Ending on a criterion rather than an opinion is what separates the top band from the one below it.

Result: أدرجت مدن قديمة عدة في المنطقة على قائمة التراث العالمي، ونفذت فيها برامج ترميم واسعة. غير أن الإدراج في حد ذاته لا يجيب عن السؤال الأهم: لمن يرمم الحي القديم؟ يرى بعض المختصين أن الأولوية للنسيج العمراني نفسه، فيدعون إلى تدخل محدود يمكن التراجع عنه. ويرى آخرون أن الحي مكان يسكنه الناس، وأن ترميم المباني مع رحيل سكانها يحفظ الشكل ويفقد المضمون. ويذكر فريق ثالث بحقيقة عملية: الترميم مكلف، والسياحة هي المصدر الواقعي لتمويله، والمبنى الذي لا يزوره أحد لا يجد من يدفع من أجله. وأرى أن الحكم يتوقف على شرط واحد: هل ينص المشروع على استعمال المواد والتقنيات التقليدية؟ فإن فعل، خلق طلبا على المهارة نفسها وحفظ الصنعة مع الشكل؛ وإن لم يفعل، بقي الحي واجهة

Two versions of a paragraph on Arabic calligraphy. The content is identical. Compare them structure by structure and see exactly where the 15-mark range grid finds something to reward.

1. 01The flat version, and what the grid sees

   الخط العربي فن قديم. الناس يحبونه. هو موجود في المساجد وفي الكتب. اليوم بعض الفنانين يستعملون الحروف في اللوحات. هذا شيء جيد. Every sentence is accurate; nothing here would lose an accuracy mark. But there are five nominal or simple verbal sentences in a row, no subordination of any kind, no passive, no verbal noun, no conditional, no contrast, and the evaluative vocabulary is جيد. The range grid reads this as limited variation of straightforward structures with repetitive expression, which is its bottom band, however clean the accuracy is.

2. 02Move one: open with a superlative and a tamyiz

   يعد الخط العربي من أقدم الفنون الإسلامية وأكثرها انتشارا. يعد, is considered, is more formal than هو. من أقدم plus a definite genitive plural is the standard Arabic superlative-of-a-group construction. And أكثرها انتشارا is a comparative followed by the accusative of specification, التمييز — greater in respect of spread — which Appendix 2 names explicitly and which does in three words what a relative clause would need eight for.

3. 03Move two: passive, plus a result clause with حتى

   وقد استعمل في تزيين المساجد والمخطوطات على السواء، حتى صار الحرف نفسه عنصرا زخرفيا لا وسيلة كتابة فحسب. استعمل is the internal passive; تزيين is a verbal noun in the genitive after في; على السواء is alike. حتى with a perfect verb expresses result, to the point that. صار takes the accusative predicate عنصرا زخرفيا. And لا … فحسب, not merely, sets up a contrast without needing a second sentence. That is four structures in one sentence and none of them is ornamental.

4. 04Move three: a negative, a time clause, and a relative clause after an indefinite

   ولم يقتصر الأمر على الماضي: فمنذ منتصف القرن العشرين ظهر فنانون جعلوا من الحرف مادة للوحة، فيما عرف بالحروفية. لم plus the jussive. منذ plus a genitive time expression. فنانون is a sound masculine plural in the nominative as subject, so ون and not ين — one of the most visible case decisions available. جعلوا من الحرف مادة is a relative clause with no pronoun because فنانون is indefinite. فيما عرف بـ, in what became known as, uses the passive again.

5. 05Move four: a concessive with two attributed positions, and a relative clause inside it

   ورغم أن بعض النقاد رأوا في ذلك تفريغا للحرف من معناه، فإن آخرين اعتبروه امتدادا طبيعيا لتقليد كان الحرف فيه دائما أكثر من صوت. رغم أن takes an accusative subject and its main clause is resumed with فإن, the emphatic إن, also with an accusative subject. رأى في … تفريغا and اعتبره امتدادا are both double-object constructions. لتقليد كان الحرف فيه … is a relative clause after an indefinite antecedent with the resumptive فيه. The paragraph now carries a superlative, a tamyiz, two passives, a result clause, a negative jussive, a sound masculine plural in the nominative, three relative clauses of two different kinds, and a concessive with attribution — with no more content than the flat version had.

Result: يعد الخط العربي من أقدم الفنون الإسلامية وأكثرها انتشارا. وقد استعمل في تزيين المساجد والمخطوطات على السواء، حتى صار الحرف نفسه عنصرا زخرفيا لا وسيلة كتابة فحسب. ولم يقتصر الأمر على الماضي: فمنذ منتصف القرن العشرين ظهر فنانون جعلوا من الحرف مادة للوحة، فيما عرف بالحروفية. ورغم أن بعض النقاد رأوا في ذلك تفريغا للحرف من معناه، فإن آخرين اعتبروه امتدادا طبيعيا لتقليد كان الحرف فيه دائما أكثر من صوت