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Jabal al-Lughat has some interesting things to say about the statement issued by the group claiming responsibility for the London terror attacks. The group, which calls itself Qa’idat al-Jihad in Europe, posted a statement that uses some interesting language:

The first interesting thing about this statement is the bizarre phrasing of its opening: والصلاة والسلام على الضحوك القتال سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم. The Guardian renders this as “may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Muhammad, God’s peace be upon him.” The doubling of “peace be upon him” (a formula added to the prophet’s name as a matter of course) is unusual and stylistically flawed, suggesting an imperfect command of Arabic literary style. The phrase الضحوك القتال (ad-Ḍaḥûk al-Qattâl), rendered by the Guardian as “the cheerful one and undaunted fighter”, is composed of two words in apposition which Hans Wehr’s dictionary renders as “frequently, or constantly, laughing; laugher” and “murderous, deadly, lethal”. This extremely unusual epithet is so weird that at first sight I assumed it must be some kind of prank; it may potentially provide some clues to the identity of the killers.

I want to look at the opening in more detail:

والصلاة والسلام على الضحوك القتال سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم

Transliterated: waS-Salah was-salaam ‘ala dh-dhaHuuki l-qattaali sayyidinaa muhammad Salaa llaahu ‘alayhi wa-sallam

Literally: (and) the-blessing and the-peace [be] upon the-constantly-laughing-one the-lethal-one our-master Muhammad [may] bless God on-him and-grant[-him]-salvation

My English version: Blessings and peace be upon the merry lethal one, our master Muhammad, God bless him and grant him salvation

(When a Muslim refers to the prophet Muhammad by name, the usual formula is [an-nabiy muhammad] Salaa llaahu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Hans Wehr translates it as “God bless him and grant him salvation”; you’ll often see it simplified and abbreviated in English as “pbuh,” for “peace be upon him.”)

I’ve never seen or heard the “aS-Salah was-salaam ‘ala” (blessings and peace be upon…) formula before, but I’m a rank amateur at Arabic and have no background at all in Islam, so that means nothing. It could be a formula every Muslim learns in infancy, for all I know; however, Jabal al-Lughat calls it “unusual and stylistically flawed,” so it must not be.

Jabal al-Lughat continues:

Such an opening has been used at least once before in Europe: the assassin of Theo van Gogh left a note on the body opening after the standard invocation of God’s name, with Vrede en zegeningen op de Emir van de Mujahideen, de lachende doder Mohammed Rasoeloe Allah (Sala Allaho alaihie wa Sallam), ie “Peace and Blessings from the Amir of the Mujahidin, the laughing killer Mohammed the Prophet of God (God’s peace be upon him)”, which is almost identical, right down to the doubled “peace be upon him”. A similar but less repetitive formula was used by Zarqawi in a purported claim of responsibility for the killing of the governor of Nineveh last year on CNN, and a Google search suggests that (again without the repetition) it occurs in other Iraqi insurgent notices. The term itself is probably copied from the 14th-century Hanbali writer Ibn Taymiyya’s as-Siyasa ash-Shar’iyya, whose author, living at the height of the Mongol threat, spent much of his time urging people to fight; it does not seem to occur in any of the accepted hadith books.

For all intents and purposes, there is no difference in Arabic between a noun and an adjective. Hence, a word such as dhaHuuk (”constantly-laughing”) can be used in two ways:

1. Noun: dhahaba dh-dhaHuuku illa madiinati l-qaahira “The person who laughs all the time went to the city of Cairo” (lit. “went the-constantly-laughing-one to [the] city [of] Cairo”)
2. Adjective: ar-rajulu dh-dhaHuuku fi l-ghurfa “The constantly-laughing man is in the room” (lit. “the-man the-constantly-laughing [is] in the-room”)

So, adh-dhaHuuk al-qattaal would mean something like “the-constantly-laughing-one, the-deadly-one.” Is there a good English word for somebody who never quits laughing? Does “merry” fit here? Actually, “the laughing killer” (cf. de lachende doder) might be the best translation after all.

There’s more to read, if you care about such things, at Language Log, and Juan Cole has posted an English translation of the statement.