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Surah Tiyn, Verse 8
By ArabicTree | August 15, 2007
In Surah Tiyn, Allah says:
أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ الْحَاكِمِينَ
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!
Topics: Analysis, Grammar, Intermediate, Qur'an | 8 Comments »
October 1st, 2007 at 9:26 am
assalamu alaykum,
Jazak Allah for the informative explanation.
IMHO, With tarkeeb’s, creating a table helps. It’s just more visual.
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:13 am
Might I suggest a small correction?
You have said:
Lafdhuw Jalaala here is marfoo‘ (because it has dumma); therefore, it’s ismu-laysa.
In my opinion it is the other way round: since it is the Ism u laysa therefore it is marfoo
Jazak Allah!
January 17th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Assalaamu alaikum!
Mashaa Allah very well explained, for better understanding, “Al-Haakimeen” is majroor because of Idafa construction (Ahkamul Haakimeen), because of preposition “bi” the first term of Idafa (Ahkam)becomes majroor from its original case marfoo, and the 2nd term of idafa (Al-Haakimeen) is always majroor and definite by Al or possessive suffixes.
I hope this helps for better understanding.
Jazaak Allah Khair.
August 8th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Assalaamu alaikum!
I am new to Arabic, so I couldn’t understand some points. Please help me.
it is written that “Al-Haakimeen” is majroor but I see the word took fatha rather that kasra. the rule says “If the word is genitive (majruwr), it takes the kasra case”
or is there something I miss?
August 27th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
@Naoman Jazakumullahu khayran.
@Syeed sound masculine plurals always end in fatha. The way they show case is by the waw or yaa. So “Al-Haakimoon” is marfoo’, and Al-Haakimeen is majroor or mansoob.
Similar with Al-Muslimeen vs. Al-Muslimoon, Al-Kaafireen vs. Al-Kaafiroon, etc.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:31 am
[...] the last verse, I’m going to again refer to an existing post on Arabic Tree for the sake of [...]
December 5th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
It is interesting to note that بِ: Bi the harfu-jarr in this verse is called an “addition بِ ” since the verse would still make sense and be grammatically correct without it. The بِ in this vesre as arabic scholars say is used for emphasis.
Also I’m still trying to figure out why أَحْكَمِ has a kasra since an ISm Tafdeel is Ghary munsarif.
February 9th, 2010 at 9:20 am
i am learning arabic at the moment and your email address wld be much appreciated, so i can email you for quick replies, if you dont mind, i am in egypt learning. jazakalahair may allah (swt) reward you.
ws