11-13-2003, 07:33 PM
Cheese is for Cowards!
Jubn: Cheese and also Cowardice; weak-heartedness
The vast majority of words in Arabic that share the same root - let alone being the same word itself - have a distinct link between them, and it is noticeable how the different meanings came about.
I tried to find this link for the two meanings of the word jubn and this is what I found:
The verb tajabbana that is also derived from the same root, can be used to mean one
of two things:
1. [the milk] became like cheese.
2. [the man] became thick, coarse, gross or big.
When milk is still in the form of milk, it is fluid, it will go anywhere, it will take the form of the container it is in. When it becomes cheese, it solidifies, and is fixed. It will go nowhere. It remains in one place.
Similarly, the natural state of man is that he is courageous, willing to face any situation as it is called for, go where he is needed, do what he has to do. When he does not do this, and instead becomes cowardly, he is similar to cheese, in that he is fixed and solid and will go nowhere. He ‘freezes in his tracks’. He crumbles when courage is needed. Hence the relationship, wallaahu a3lam
.
I also came across an interesting phrase using a word from the same root:
Majbanah : A cause of cowardice, or weak-heartedness
The phrase is:
al-waladu majbanatun mabkhalatun : Children are a cause of cowardice and a cause of niggardliness, because one loves continuance of life and property, on account of them.
Wallaahu a3lam.