>[!NOTE]+ Record > Author:: [[Laila Al-Hamad]] > Date:: 2023-06-02 > Tags:: #Arab #craftWords > WeftLinks:: [[World Craft Dictionary]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > In Arabic, craft can be anything related to skill. ### Text Two Arabic words denote the concept of craft: _sina’a_ (صناعة ) and _hirfa_ (حرفة). Essentially, the first refers to process while the second refers to skill. Both are valid in describing craft. ‌All Arabic words are born from a three-letter root, and those three letters give birth to different configurations of the same word. _Sina’a_ ((صناعة - the first of the two words mentioned above - derives from the root word _sana’a (_صنع),_ which can be defined as created or produced. From this root other related words are born such as *sane* (صانع), _masna_’_a_ (مصنع), and _masnoo_’ (مصنوع). These can be defined - respectively - as maker, factory, and manufactured. _Sina’a_ is the term used by Ikhwan Al Safa (Brethren of Purity) in their famous and comprehensive _Epistles_ رسائل اخوان الصفا)) around the 10th century, where they describe craft as anything that involves the body, and/or the mind, and/or external tools. It is also the word adopted by Ibn Khaldoun in his 14th Century magnum opus, the _muqaddimah_ - the Prolegomena - where he refers to crafts as a “habit firmly rooted in the soul”. In the modern era, the term _sina’a_ (صناعة ) came to be associated with industrial rather than artisanal production. To be understood as handcrafted production, one would need to add the word hand, as in _sina’a yadawiyah_ (صناعة يدوية). The second word, _hirfa_ refers to a skill, an expertise. A skilled person is a _mihtirrif_ (محترف) or a _hirafi (_حرفي_) or a *sahib hirfa* (_صاحب حرفة_)._ Because of this loose definition, craft could encompass anything related to skill, but skill could transcend craft; i.e. you could be _mihtiriff_ - an expert - in law or in weaving. Similar to the term _sina’a_, adding the word hand to _hirfa_ defines it as handmade craft. Today, this term is predominantly used to denote the handmade. Nonetheless, it is not in any way exclusive to the world of craft.