Selections from the Glorious Quran — Study Session 13
Overview
The main topics covered in this session are:
- Tālūt story concluded; start of Ibrahim vs Nimrod passage (Al-Baqarah 2:258)
- رَأَى — two types: baṣariyyah (physical) vs qalbiyyah (mental/contemplative)
- رَأَى + نَظَرَ combination → to ponder/consider; takes إلى
- حَاجَّ (form III) — to argue with; connection to Hajj; form III = reciprocal
- إِذ — temporal ẓarf for past; always mabni; analysis in iʿrāb
- أَحيَا (form IV) — to bring to life; مُحيِي (giver of life)
- أَتَى يَأتِي — to come (intransitive); with بِـ = to bring (بَاء التَّعدِيَة)
- بُهِتَ — passive: to be confounded/speechless
- أَسفَل / سُفلى — the lowest; opposite of ʿulā
- Jūmlah Ismiyyah vs Fiʿliyyah for file → emphasis nuance
- Exercises: passive voice, ism tafḍīl feminine forms, plurals
1. Story Context — Ibrahim Debates Nimrod
Al-Baqarah 2:258 — The King (Nimrod): - Allāh does not mention the king by name — he is nobody in Allāh's sight. History identifies him as Nimrod. - The king called Ibrahim to his court after hearing that he was calling people to tawḥīd - Ibrahim's argument: "My Lord gives life and death" - King's counter: "I also give life and death" — he released a prisoner and killed an innocent (a rhetorical trick) - Ibrahim's masterstroke: "Allāh brings the Sun from the East — you bring it from the West" - The king was dumbfounded
Two observations: 1. The king did not say "I'll ask my god to reverse the sun" — he had no counter 2. Allāh says He does not guide the ẓālimīn — those who see the truth and refuse it
2. رَأَى — Two Types of Seeing
| Type | Arabic | Meaning | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| رَأَى البَصَرِيَّة | Sight of the eye | Physical seeing — seeing with eyes | أَرَأَيتَ السَّيَّارَة؟ |
| رَأَى القَلبِيَّة | Sight of the heart | Mental/contemplative — to think, consider, ponder | أَلَم تَرَ إِلَى... |
When رَأَى carries the meaning of to think/consider, it takes a preposition إلى (borrowed from نَظَرَ — to look at). This combination رَأَى... إلى means to ponder, to consider.
أَلَم تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبرَاهِيمَ — "Have you not considered the one who argued with Ibrahim…?"
This is not asking if rasulullah physically saw the event — it is asking him to ponder/consider what happened.
3. حَاجَّ — To Argue With (Form III)
حَجَّ يَحُجُّ (Form I, doubled verb) = to make Hajj; to go to the Ḥijāz (pilgrimage)
The word حُجَّة = proof, argument, evidence (same root). Going for Hajj in the early sense involved proving/establishing one's claim — the link between argument and Hajj:
In Hajj, a person is making a declaration before Allāh — it is like the ultimate argument for one's faith.
حَاجَّ يُحَاجُّ (Form III) = to argue with someone; to dispute. Form III always involves reciprocal action — two sides doing the same thing: - One cannot argue alone; an argument requires at least two parties
Maṣdar: حِجَاج (the argument/debate).
4. إِذ — Temporal Ẓarf for Past Time
إِذ = "when" (referring to the past only — not for future). It is a ẓarf of time (ẓarf of time = adverb of when the action occurred).
Rules: - Always mabni (never changes form) — even though a ẓarf would normally be manṣūb, إِذ is mabni on sukūn - The sentence after it is its muḍāf ilayhi (it forms an iḍāfah relationship) - The sentence after إِذ has no place in the iʿrāb of the main clause (it is the ẓarfiyyah clause) - Can be followed by: fiʿl (verbal sentence) or ism (nominal sentence)
| Type | Example | Construction |
|---|---|---|
| Followed by fiʿl | إِذ قَالَ إِبرَاهِيم | إِذ + verbal sentence |
| Followed by ism | إِذ هُمَا فِي الغَار | إِذ + nominal sentence |
In iʿrāb: - إِذ = ẓarf zamān, mabni on sukūn, in maḥall naṣb - The following sentence = jūmlah fī maḥall jarr (muḍāf ilayh of إِذ)
5. أَتَى and بَاء التَّعدِيَة
أَتَى يَأتِي = to come (intransitive — action does not extend to an object)
When بِـ is prefixed to the following noun: أَتَى بِـ = to bring, to fetch (transitive via the preposition):
أَتَى بِالشَّمسِ مِنَ المَشرِق = He brings the Sun from the East
The بَاء التَّعدِيَة = the bāʾ of transitivity — a bāʾ that makes an otherwise intransitive verb act on an object. The thing being "brought" is the mafʿūl bih (in meaning), even though grammatically it is a majrūr.
Imperative of أَتَى
Forming Amr from أَتَى يَأتِي: 1. Start with يَأتِي (muḍāriʿ) 2. Drop the pronoun marker and give the last letter sukūn → يَأتِـ 3. Last letter is يَا (nāqiṣ verb) → drop the يَا → يَأتِ 4. Cannot start with sukūn → add hamzat al-waṣl → اِئتِ 5. But two hamzas side by side is phonetically avoided → the hamza turns into يَا → إِيتِ
When preceded by فَـ or وَـ: the hamzat al-waṣl drops AND in writing the hamza is also omitted → فَأتِ (written without alif)
فَأتِيَا بِآيَةٍ — "So bring a sign"
6. بُهِتَ — To Be Confounded (Passive)
بَهَتَ يَبهَتُ = to confound someone; to render speechless
Passive: بُهِتَ (past passive) = he was confounded / struck speechless
The naib al-fāʿil = hidden هُوَ (the king). In the passive, the doer is completely absent — we don't know (or need to know) what rendered him speechless.
7. Jūmlah Ismiyyah vs Fiʿliyyah — File as Subject
When the fāʿil of a verb is expressed as an independent mubtadaʾ (nominal sentence instead of verbal), it adds emphasis — it was specifically X who did it:
| Construction | Type | Nuance |
|---|---|---|
| ذَهَبَ بِلَالٌ | Jūmlah fiʿliyyah | Bilal went (neutral) |
| بِلَالٌ ذَهَبَ | Jūmlah ismiyyah | It was Bilal who went (emphasis on who) |
In the passage: the king's أَنَا أُحيِي وَأُمِيت uses جملة إسمية to emphasize that even he claims to give life and death — the emphasis is on أَنَا (I, even I).
8. أَسفَل / سُفلى
سَفَلَ يَسفُلُ = to be low/below. Pattern أَفعَل / فُعلَى (ism tafḍīl pair): - Masculine: أَسفَل = lower/lowest - Feminine: سُفلَى = lower/lowest (f.) - Plural: سَافِلُون = those who are low
ثُمَّ رَدَدنَاهُ أَسفَلَ سَافِلِين — "Then We returned him to the lowest of the low." (Al-Tīn 95:5)
Opposite of: عَلَا / عُليَا (high/highest).
The people of Lūṭ (AS) — Allāh turned their high places into the lowest: their city may now be under the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on earth.
9. Key Lessons from This Session
Summary of Lessons
- رَأَى al-qalbiyyah + إلى = to ponder/consider — different from physical seeing.
- Form III (فَاعَلَ) = reciprocal action between two parties; can't argue alone.
- إِذ = temporal ẓarf for past; mabni; followed by its sentence as muḍāf ilayhi.
- بَاء التَّعدِيَة makes intransitive verbs take an object via the preposition بِـ.
- Jūmlah ismiyyah vs fiʿliyyah: when the fāʿil is brought forward as a mubtadaʾ, it adds emphasis (it was specifically X who did it).
- أَسفَل / سُفلى = lowest; opposite of أَعلَى / عُليَا.
Next session: Lesson 4 — Sūrat Āl ʿImrān 3:103 — "Hold fast to the rope of Allāh".