malik or maalik in "Fatiha", different recitations ?

[ilker]

Assalamu alaikum everyone,

I've come across different recitations for "Maaliki yaumid Deen" in Fatiha. Is it "malik (melik) " or "maalik" ? Because I guess they have a difference in meaning. Like a difference between "a king" and "a owner". Nouman Ali Khan has a video about these two meanings. However, which one is there in the fourth ayat of Fatiha ? Recitations of this ayat are not the same ! Brother Joseph or any brother who knows the answer, can you please inform me about this ?

Salam.

[Sardar Miyan]

Assam Bro The meaning of Malik and Maalik are the same but pronounced differently which is permissible

[ilker]

salam. thanks for your reply.

On what proof do you think they are exactly the same ? all over the internet i see that they have a subtle difference: one being the owner of a property and other one being the ruler of the property...

[Nura]

Salam Ilker

Even though ruler and owner have a difference in meaning, but if u take a close look at the message that is being transmitted, the message remains the same, someone to whom humans answer to, we answer to our land owners as well as our bosses and we may sometimes be in a situation where we have to answer to a king or leader of a nation. In all cases answering to someone in authority, so if u think about it, it comes down to we r accountable to God, who is all powerful, all merciful, the ultimate king and owner of everything created, including humans. Hope this helps!

[ilker]

salam

I get your point Nura. The message is clear. What i really want to know is the grammatical aspect of it or an Arabic speaker perspective. How can it be "malik or maalik both" when there is a difference in meaning ?

For example; If these two words have the same meaning, why it is recitated as "maalik" in Fatiha but "malik (melik)" in Nas (... malikinnas...) ?

[deleted]

سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ,

You're right, it's مَالِكِ in chapter 1,  and مَلِكِ in chapter 114. So in Fatiha it is pronounced "Maalik".

[deleted]

And Nura, if it were the "message is the same", then wouldn't the God have inspired just مَالِكِ, or just مَلِكِ to be written?

[Nura]

Salam Elilah

I did acknowledge that there is a difference in meaning in my previous reply to Ilker! But the message remains that we answer to Allah, God is our ruler and owner. If we take a look at the word 'ruler', we usually see the meaning one who rules over a sovereign or someone who makes the rules, God does make the rules, If we take the word 'owner', it also holds the meaning as someone who controls or is in a position of authority, as were in the days of slavery, when some humans did have to answer to others. And our lives and actions are going to be judged and we have been reffered to as slaves of God. I do not see why there is a conflict

[Nura]

And another thing that I wanted to add, God can use whichever words He wants to, He used both of these in two surahs He could have used them in one surah as well, I mean He can use any Arabic word to convey the message! The message is of most importance cos if the message is incoherent there is no purpose, we wouldn't be able to follow it! The same message of monotheism was conveyed in other revelations, Torah, Zabur etc. They were revealed in a different language than Arabic and God had used different words. God is not restricted by languages or words , there is no law where God can't make use of synonyms. So forgive me if I think that the message is of utmost importance. And sometimes words with the same spelling are pronounced differently by different people and also depending on the context, i.e I will read or I have read, albeit there is a grammatical difference, but the word is pronounced differently but it is spelled the same way! Whether we choose to translate the word as ruler or owner, the answer to your question as to Why God uses a particular word is to convey something, but why He chose to use those words exactly, only He knows!

[deleted]

I think you're right. مَالِكِ is an adjective isn't it? And مَلِكِ isn't.

[ilker]

salam eliiah,

I don't understand how the word "owner" is an adjective. Both "owner" and "king" are nouns. For me, one thing still needs to be clarified is why do some people pronounce them differently ? One group says "maalik" is more suitable for Allah in Fatiha, other group says "melik" is more appropriate. Are there any other examples in the Quran such as this ?

[deleted]

That's just how it's translated. So the letters م ل ك mean with "to possess", and the words derived from them have to do with "possession" (or "what is yours"). Again I think مَالِكِ is an adjective, and مَلِكِ isn't. And I think it's how the word's used that people derive a more particular interpretation of what the word means, and that's how you get مَلِكِ to be translated in a manner, and مَالِكِ in another.

Same reason people in Australia don't pronounce all words the same as people in the US perhaps? As to what is more appropriate? 

The word is مَالِكِ, how you pronounce that is up to you.

And I'm unsure what you mean, if you mean of the words مَالِكِ, and مَلِكِ, then no.

[deleted]

The word مَالِكِ is just mentioned once. The word مَلِكِ however is mentioned 4 times (this includes الْمَلِكِ).  Is this what you meant?

سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ

[ilker]

Salam.

I was asking, "are there any other word examples such as "maalik and malik" , different pronunciation with almost (but not completely) same meaning. (i don't think "owner" and "king" is 100% same in meaning. you can own a company but you are not necessarily the manager !)

In my opinion different pronunciations of this word can change the meaning of the ayat.

[Nura]

salam Ilker


Words of Quran originate mostly from 3-lettered words. These are called the roots. Just by knowing one simple 3-lettered root, a vast combination of words can be understood.

Here are the important facts about the mechanism of Arabic words.

This 3-lettered or 4 lettered root acts as the skeleton of the word.
Different patterns are added to this "root (skeleton)" to form a variety of words.
Pattern can be suffix, prefix, vowel markings (jabar, jer, pesh, etc).
Pattern represents grammatical term.

 Identifying the root in an Arabic word is a most important step. To do that
Take off all the vowel markings (jabar, jer), tashdeed, jajam, etc.
Take off "Al" which is placed in the front OR "alif" inserted in the middle.
Simply find the core 3 or 4 letters. These root consisting of 3 or 4 letters give us the meaning of an Arabic word.
So, if these steps are used and the root is found out , we see that both maalik and malik have the same root. Hence similar meaning, but depending on context a slight difference is assigned, owner and king is essentially carrying same meaning even in english, which is someone with authority! 

Different pronounciation does not change the meaning in Arabic words. Different roots have different meaning. Arabic words are assigned their meaning based on their roots, grammatical significance of verb, noun, past tense present tense these are changed with spelling not the meaning.