Both These Lights — Study Session 8
Overview
The main topics covered in this session are:
- Grammar: مُتَعَلِّق — Rule 2: can attach to اسم فاعل, مصدر, اسم تفضيل (wasf — derivatives that resemble a verb)
- Grammar: أَمَرَ — usually takes بِـ before a noun; omission of بِـ before أَن + مُضَارِع
- Grammar: كَان as a complete (تَامَّة) verb — taking only a subject, no predicate
- Grammar: المصدر as a muḍāf — its subject is مُضَاف إِلَيه (فَاعِل) or muḍāf ilayh as mafʿūl
- Reading: Jaʿfar's speech concludes; Najāshī hears Sūrat Maryam; "Both These Lights"
- Vocabulary: مَحَارِم (sacred things/forbidden things), وَصَل/صِلَة الرَّحِم, كَفَّ عَن (to abstain from)
1. مُتَعَلِّق — Rule 2: Attachment to Derivatives
Beyond verbs, a mutalliق (prepositional phrase / ẓarf) can sometimes attach to certain اسم types that function like verbs. The three relevant types:
| Type | Example | Why it can take a mutalliق |
|---|---|---|
| اسم الفاعل (active participle) | أَنَا ذَاهِبٌ إِلَى السُّوقِ | resembles a verb in meaning |
| اسم التفضيل (elative) | أَنتَ أَعلَمُ مِنِّي بِهِ | resembles a verb in function |
| اسم المصدر / المصدر (verbal noun) | بِالله تَوَكُّلِي | acts as an action noun |
Connecting to اسم فاعل
أَنَا ذَاهِبٌ مِن بَيتِي إِلَى المَدرَسَةِ — two mutalliqāt, both attached to ذَاهِب (not to a verb, because there is none). ذَاهِب is an active participle acting like a verb.
Connecting to مصدر
بِسمِ اللهِ — the بِسمِ (preposition + noun) is the mutalliق. The hidden verb is something like أَبدَأُ (I begin), and the اسم is connected to ابتِدَائِي (my beginning) — a masdar. This is why the phrase is بِسمِ الله and the full analysis involves an assumed masdar.
2. أَمَرَ — The Preposition بِـ and Its Omission
أَمَرَ (to command) normally takes بِـ before its object:
أَمَرَهُ بِالصَّلَاةِ — he commanded him with prayer (= to pray)
However, when the object is أَن + مُضَارِع (a constructed masdar), dropping بِـ is permissible but not obligatory:
| Form | Correctness | Note |
|---|---|---|
| أَمَرَهُ بِأَن يُصَلِّيَ | ✓ correct (with بِـ) | |
| أَمَرَهُ أَن يُصَلِّيَ | ✓ also correct (بِـ omitted) | more common in Quran |
Quranic example — بِـ retained
يَأمُرُكُم بِذَبحِ بَقَرَةٍ — He commands you to slaughter a cow — the بِـ is present before the masdar ذَبح.
Eloquence and choice
Grammar says both forms are correct. As for which is more eloquent in a given context — that depends on the speaker, audience, and rhetorical goal. This is the domain of بَلَاغَة, not grammar. We develop this intuition by extensive exposure to native speech and Quranic Arabic.
3. كَان التَّامَّة — Complete كَان
In كَان التَّامَّة, the verb simply asserts existence or occurrence with no predicate:
كَانَ اللَّيلُ — Night fell / It was night
This is not "Bilal was sick" (where something is said about Bilal). It is purely "something happened/existed." Common contexts: - Temporal: كَانَ يَوم الجُمُعَة — it was Friday - Existential: كَانَت هُنَاكَ مَشكِلَة — there was a problem there
4. المصدر as Muḍāf — Subject or Object?
When a masdar is in iḍāfa, the muḍāf ilayh can be either:
| Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| مُضَاف إِلَيه = فَاعِل | the subject of the action | قُدُومُ زَيدٍ — Zayd's arrival (Zayd arrived) |
| مُضَاف إِلَيه = مَفعُول بِهِ | the object of the action | ضَربُ زَيدٍ — the striking of Zayd (someone struck Zayd) |
Context determines which reading is intended. The masdar itself does not change form; only logic and context disambiguate.
5. Reading: The Climax — Najāshī Hears Sūrat Maryam
Najāshī asked: "Do you have anything that came down [from Allah] to your prophet?"
Jaʿfar replied: "Yes."
Najāshī: "Then recite it to me."
Jaʿfar recited the opening of Sūrat Maryam — the passage describing Yaḥyā (عليه السلام), Maryam (عليها السلام), and Isa (عليه السلام). Umm Salama describes what happened:
فَبَكَى وَاللهِ النَّجَاشِيُّ حَتَّى اِبتَلَّت لِحيَتُهُ مِن دُمُوعِهِ، وَبَكَت أَسَاقِفَتُهُ حَتَّى بَلَّلُوا مَصَاحِفَهُم
"By Allah, Najāshī wept until his beard was wet with tears, and his bishops wept until their scriptures were soaked."
Then Najāshī declared:
إِنَّ هَذَا وَالَّذِي جَاءَ بِهِ عِيسَى لَيَخرُجُ مِن مِشكَاةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ
"Indeed this [Quran] and what Isa brought [the Injīl] emanate from the same niche."
This is the title of the series — "Both These Lights from One Niche." The مِشكَاة is a niche in the wall where a lamp was placed (no window, just a shelf-recess that amplifies the lamp's light). Both scriptures come from the same divine source: Allah.
Then, to the two Quraysh envoys:
اِذهَبَا، فَلَا وَاللهِ لَا أُسلِمُهُم إِلَيكُم أَبَدًا
"Go, both of you — by Allah, I will never hand them over to you."
Key grammatical notes: - اِذهَبَا — the alif indicates dual (addressing two people); this is an amr verb for the dual - فَلَا وَاللهِ — a قَسَم (oath) as a parenthetical sentence; because the jawāb al-qasam is negative, there is no emphasis particle - بَكَت أَسَاقِفَتُهُ — broken plural (bishops = masculine) referred to with بَكَت (feminine) because literary Arabic uses feminine singular for the plural of non-human things and in higher registers for human plural nouns as well
6. Vocabulary
| Arabic | Root | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| كَفَّ عَن | ك-ف-ف | to keep one's hands off; to abstain from |
| الكَفُّ | ك-ف-ف | the palm of the hand; hence "to hold back the hand" |
| صِلَة الرَّحِم | و-ص-ل | to maintain ties of kinship (lit. to connect the womb) |
| قَطعُ الرَّحِم | ق-ط-ع | to cut family ties (the opposite) |
| مَحَارِم | ح-ر-م | things whose sanctity is not to be violated; forbidden relationships |
| الحَصَان / الحَصَانَة | ح-ص-ن | fortified; chaste woman (protected behind her chastity like a fortress) |
| الدِّمَاء | د-م-و | blood; bloodshed |
كَفَّ عَن — the palm restrains
كَفَّ عَنِ الشَّيءِ literally means to pull back one's palm from something — to keep one's hands off it. A beautiful image of restraint. Isa (عليه السلام) said of himself: وَأَوصَانِي بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ مَا دُمتُ حَيًّا — connected with the same theme of wholeness that the speech expresses.
7. Key Lessons from This Session
Summary of Lessons
- A مُتَعَلِّق attaches most commonly to a verb — but can attach to اسم فاعل, اسم تفضيل, and مصدر, which function verb-like.
- أَمَرَ + بِـ is the norm; omitting بِـ before أَن + مُضَارِع is common and correct. Both are valid — eloquence determines the better choice.
- The sermon of Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib is one of the finest examples of classical Arabic oratory: parallel structure, concrete images, honest admission of past state, and a clear declaration of the new.
- The title of this series — Both These Lights — comes from Najāshī's declaration: both the Quran and the original Injīl come from the same divine source, the same niche.
Next session: مُتَعَلِّق with the hidden khabar; مِن الزيادة (extra min) — two conditions; لَام المُزَعلَقة and the rules of jawāb al-qasam.