Grammar is often viewed as a tedious and unimaginative subject, pertaining merely to our means of mundane communication. Squeezed dry of any life, outwardly it appears to be an endeavor devoid of any inspiration. Even moreso, for a traditional student of knowledge, memorizing obscure aberrant verses of poetry to deliver grammatical points, parsing the construction of sentences (al-iʿrāb) and dwelling on the niceties of the disagreement between grammarians can seem daunting. Understanding the grammatical cases of sentences, be it nominative, accusative, or genitive may not be the most important thing that pops out of an English grammar textbook. However, for a student of classical Arabic, it is all that matters.  Continue reading The Grammar of Reality