Translation: Is not Allah the best of judges?

What’s going on in this ayah under the hood?

• أَ: this is the interrogative particle, which means this ayah is a question.
• لَيْسَ: laysa is in the form of he (third-person singular masculine), i.e. “he is not.” Who’s he?
• اللَّهُ: Lafdhuw Jalaala here is marfoo’ (because it has dumma); therefore, it’s ismu-laysa. So, so far, we have “Is Allah not … ?” Notice that the interrogative particle, along with laysa, denote a negative question.
• بِ: Bi is harfu-jarr. If you recall, khabaru laysa either uses bi, or becomes mansoob; so this is telling us “the next part is khabaru laysa.”
• أَحْكَمِ: ahkami is majruwr because of bi. The original (marfoo’) form is ahkamu (أَحْكَمُ), which is ism tafdeel. But is it the comparative, or superlative?
• الْحَاكِمِينَ: Al-hakimiyn is the sound masculine plural of haakim (judge), in the majruwr or mansoob form. Notice, ahkamu and al-hakimiyn together define a superlative ism tafdeel, “the wisest of judges.” We know Al-Hakimiyn is majruwr, because this is the structure of ism tafdeel!

Translation: O humankind! Be conscious your Lord and be dutiful to Him! Verily, the earthquake of the Hour (of Judgement) is a terrible thing.

Ok, so, flaky translation aside, let’s figure out what exactly is going on here under-the-hood Arabic Tree style!

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ: Aside from the fact that the ya here is the calling ya, all you really need to notice is that the person called here is humankind (An-Naas), which is why it’s definite and marfoo’.

اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ: Ittaqu is a fi’l amri (commanding verb), and it has waw-jam’aah, so it’s addressing 3+ people. The verb is taqwa (تقو). While taqwa is a difficult concept to explain, the best way to understand it is that it means to be conscious of something, with the intention of protecting yourself from it. ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab (رضالله عنه) described it as holding your garments close to you as you tread through a thorn-bush.

Since taqwa is the verb, what’s the maf’ool? The answer is “rabb” (which you can tell because it’s mansoob). Rabbakum is “your Rabb.” (Rabb is also a difficult concept; for more details, consult this post on Tawhid-Ar-Rububiyyah.) Actually, our rabb is Allah!

So what does it mean to have taqwa of Allah? It means to do those actions which will protect us from His wrath, and which will earn His mercy.

إِنَّ: Inna is a form of emphasis. So where are ismu inna and khabru inna?

زَلْزَلَةَ: Zalzalah (earthquake) is ismu-inna. How do we know? Because it’s mansoob! Remember, inna and her sisters all make ismu-inna mansoob.

But why zalzalata, without tanween? Because it’s mudaaf.

السَّاعَةِ: As-saa’ati is mudaaf ilayh; it’s majruwr, the mudaaf ilayh.

شَيْءٌ عَظِي: Shayun ‘athiymun takes damma, but it’s not the fa’il; rather, it’s khabru inna. Also, you will notice that these two words match in gender (masculine), number (singular), case (marfoo’), and definitivity (indefinite)–all the conditions of na’at and man’oot, which is what they are!

For example:

1. “I saw muslimahs” is ra’aytu muslimaatin (رَأيتُ مُسلِمَاتٍ) NOT ra’aytu muslimaatan (رَأيتُ مُسلِمَاتً).
2. “I love ducks” is uhibbu battaatin (أُحِبُّ بَطَّاتٍ)
3. “Allah created the heavens” is khalaqa Allahu as-samawaati (خَلَقَ الَّلهُ السَمَوَاتِ)

And indeed, Allah says in Suratul ‘Araaf:

إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ

Translation: Indeed your Lord is Allah, the one who created the heavens and the earth in six days … [Surah 'Aaraaf, verse 54]

So the question arises, how can you tell what case a sound feminine plural noun is in when it has kasra? Is it majruwr, or mansoob? The answer is, you must know Arabic grammar to understand.