fqih فقيه
Algerian Darja · noun
“fqih” (فقيه) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning Quranic school teacher.
Meanings
- Quranic school teacher
- scholar of Islamic law
Usage
The word fqih (often lfqih with the article) mainly means the man who teaches the Quran to children in the neighbourhood or village Quranic school. In this sense it is close to taleb, which is also very common. It is also used, in a more religious and formal register, for a scholar who has mastered Islamic law. This is the Classical Arabic sense, frequent in sermons and religious discussions. In Darja the first vowel often drops: you hear fqih rather than faqih. For an English speaker, the translation "jurist" is misleading in everyday life: it is first of all the children's teacher.
Example
وليدي يقرا القرآن عند الفقيه كل صباح.
wlidi yeqra l9ur'an 3and lfqih koul sbah.
“My son learns the Quran with the Quran teacher every morning.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “fqih” but also “faqih”, “f9ih” and “fa9ih”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “fqih” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “Quranic school teacher”; “imam, religious man”: fqih in Moroccan.