'Ikhtiyar': Arabic word for choice brims with consequences

The word is heavy with the gravity of every decision faced or taken

Ikhtiyar means 'choice' in Arabic

In Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s nameless protagonist is probably not one we should be referring to for insight.

Bitter, nihilistic and self-aggrandising as much as he is self-deprecating, the underground man is a saturation of misanthropy. He champions free will over reasoning. For him, what human beings want is “simply independent choice, whatever that independence may cost and wherever it may lead. And choice, of course, the devil only knows what choice”.

Of course, the matter is not so reckless. Our decisions reverberate with consequences that teach us, often ruthlessly, that our choices should be handled with responsibility, lest they hurt us and those around us. Dostoevsky intended the underground man as a cautionary figure in many aspects, but it is from these notions of choice that we will cross to this week’s Arabic word.

Ikhtiyar means choice, and the Arabic word is heavy with the gravity of every decision. In verb form, the word becomes ikhtara/ikhtaret (he chose/she chose) or, in the present yakhtar/takhtar (he chooses/she chooses). My choice is ikhtiyari. Ikhtiyar ashwaa'ei is a random selection. Soo'a al ikhtiyar is usually said when a person surrounds themselves with bad company.

The nature of a choice is that it is a decision that is not mandatory (ghayr ijbari). However, there are choices that feel forced, or ikhtiyar id'tirari. An arbitrary choice is an ikhtiyar i’tibati. Hurriyat al ikhtiyar is freedom of choice. Al ikhtiyar al khate'a is the wrong choice.

Students pursuing a higher education enrol for courses that are either mandatory (ilzamiyya) or elective (ikhtiyariyya). Another word for choice in Arabic is khayar. Khayar saeb is a difficult decision. Laisa lahu khayar (he has no choice).

Choice features in numerous popular sayings, for example:

Moazam al anwaa al fashal tahduth bisabab aadam al ikhtiyar wa lays bisabab al ikhtiyar al khate'a – most failures come from the inability to decide and not from a bad decision.

Indama yafqud al insan qudtratahu lil'ikhtiyar yafqud insaniyyatahu – when a person loses their ability to decide, he loses his humanity.

Finally, a line from a poem by Syrian writer Nizar Qabbani that has been adapted by Iraqi Kazem Al Saher in his hit song Inni Khayyartoki.

Inni khayyartoki fa ikhtari ma bayna al mowti ala sadri aw ala dafatiri ash'aari. Ikhtari al hob aw laa, fa jubnun an la takhtari.

I have given you a choice, so choose between dying on my chest or over my poems. Choose between love or non-love for it is cowardice not to choose.