Arabic Question

[B_M]

Hello everybody, as you can tell, I'm new to the forum.


I was wondering, which will probably make me look very stupid, but I have questions on understanding Arabic so to speak, if anybody could help me it would be extremely appreciated. It all revolves around one word.

ma‘sumah

Sayyidatina Maryam (‘alayhassalam) is one of the four greatest women in Islam along with Sayyidatina Asiya (‘alayhassalam), Sayyidatina Khadija (rady Allahu ‘anha), and Sayyidatina Fatima (rady Allahu ‘anha). When our Beloved Prophet Sayyidina Muhammad (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wa Sallam) mentioned that these are the four greatest women, he mentioned Sayyidatina Maryam (‘alayhassalam) first. Her full name is Sayyidatina Maryam bint ‘Imran (‘alayhassalam) and she was the daughter of Hadrat ‘Imran (‘alayhissalam) and Bibi Hanna (‘alayhassalam). She was a descendant of Nabi Dawud (‘alayhissalam), and her guardian was Nabi Zakariyya (‘alayhissalam). Among her many qualities is that she is ‘adhra’ (virgin), waliyyah (saint), qanitah (devout), sa’imah (one who observes fast), sabirah (patient), shakirah (thankful to Allah), tahirah (pure), siddiqah (sincere, truthful), ma‘sumah (sinless), and kamilah (perfect mother, perfect saint).

Source:

Sayyidatina Maryam (‘alayhassalam)

By: Hafiz Usman Munawwar

Ma’suma: “She who never sinned”. According to the Quran, Allah protected Mary from Satan.(Quran 3:35-36)

Source: Islamic views on Mary
From Wikipedia

How do you write Ma'sumah in Arabic? The English meaning says 'sinless', but 'sinless' doesn't translate in Arabic, correct? And it seems you cannot translate 'She who never sinned' into Arabic either? I'm getting myself confused. I think I understand it, but than I don't. I guess what I'm asking is, what is the equivalent to being sinless in Arabic? Where does 'ma'sumah' come from?

Ya know, basically, just, does anybody here have any knowledge of this word 'Ma'sumah'?

[marwen]

Ma’suma is written in arabic this way : معصومة
It's an adjective [ masculine:Ma'sum(معصوم) , femenine:Ma'suma(معصومة) ]
It means the one who never sin, or who is protected (by God) from sinning, sheltered from sinning.
=> The one who is made sinless (by God's will).


Further explanation: the origin of the word

This adjective (Ma'sum; Ma'suma) is derived from the verb A'sama (عصم) = to protect; to shelter (someone from something); to make him safe from something.

Example : in surat Hud : 43 :
قَالَ سَآوِي إِلَى جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِي مِنَ الْمَاءِ قَالَ لا عَاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَنْ رَحِمَ وَحَالَ بَيْنَهُمَا الْمَوْجُ فَكَانَ مِنَ الْمُغْرَقِينَ

Transliteration
Qala saawee ila jabalin yaAAsimunee mina alma-i qala la AAasima alyawma min amri Allahi illa man rahima wahalabaynahuma almawju fakana mina almughraqeen


English : Sahih International
[But] he said, "I will take refuge on a mountain to protect me from the water." [Noah] said, "There is no protector today from the decree of Allah , except for whom He gives mercy." And the waves came between them, and he was among the drowned.

notice that I put the related arabic words in blue and red, and their equivalent in english and in transliteration :
verb => يَعْصِمُنِي : yaAAsimunee = to protect me
noun => عَاصِمَ : AAasim = protector

[B_M]

Aamzing! Wow. Thank you marwen so much!! That was perfect! Wonderful post, I appreciate it!!!!

[marwen]

^ you're welcome :smile: ; and I'm happy you joined the forum, I hope you find something beneficial here

[B_M]

Thanks :smile:

[Ceeray]

Salam everyone,

I'm new here, and also a new student of Arabic. I'm going through the children's book, Qasas ul Anbiyyah and was hoping I could get a little help here.

1.2 Line 9:

وَكَانَ يَرَى أَنَّ الذُّبَابَ يَجْلِسُ عَلَى الأصْنَامِ فَلا تَدْفَعُ

Is al-thubaab the object of the seeing i.e. the object of the verb yara?

If that's correct, why is thubaab ending with a fat'ha? Is this because it is the maf'uul bihi of yara or because it is the ism of 'anna'?

Also, am I right that asnaam is in nasb because of the preposition 'ala?

Jz khair for any help.

[Insaanah]

and welcome to the forum.

Is al-thubaab the object of the seeing i.e. the object of the verb yara?

No. The sentence أَنَّ الذُّبَابَ يَجْلِسُ is in the place of the object.

why is thubaab ending with a fat'ha? Is this because it is the maf'uul bihi of yara or because it is the ism of 'anna'?

Because it is the ism of 'anna'.

Also, am I right that asnaam is in nasb

I think you meant to say jarr rather than nasb here, as the meem has a kasra beneath it.

because of the preposition 'ala?

It is in jarr because of this, correct.

Hope that helped a bit.

[Ceeray]

Wsalam,

and welcome to the forum.

Hope that helped a bit.

Thank you for the welcome and thank you for your help, it cleared up what I was stuck on. Yes, I meant to say jarr, not nasb.

I'll no doubt have more questions as I work through the text, so inshAllah I'll be back!

Bye for now.

[Ceeray]

Salaam,

Me again!

1.3 Line 6:

وَلأَيِّ شَيْءٍ تَضَع لَهَا الطَّعَامَ وَالشرَابَ ؟

Wa li ayyi shayin tada'u lahaa at-ta'aama wa al-sharaaba?

And for what reason do you place for them food and drink?

Why is it 'lahaa at-ta'ama' and not 'lihaa'? I thought 'li' means for? Also, is 'lahaa' a preposition? If so, why did it not cause at-ta'aama to be majroor?

Thanks

[Insaanah]

Why is it 'lahaa at-ta'ama' and not 'lihaa'? I thought 'li' means for?

That would be the meaning of the preposition 'li' in this sentence. It normally has a kasrah on the laam, but takes a fat'ha when prefixed to a pronoun, so becomes lahaa, lakum, lahu, laka etc. It cannot become lihaa, likum etc. That is why it is lahaa at-ta3aama.

Also, is 'lahaa' a preposition?

No.

And at-ta3aama and ash-sharaaba are mansoob because they are the maf3ool bihi of tada3u.

If you rearrange the sentence, you can see the functions of the words a bit clearer:

وَلأَيِّ شَيْءٍ تَضَع الطَّعَامَ وَالشرَابَ لَهَا؟

And for what reason do you place food and drink for them?

Does that help?

[Ceeray]

Salaam,

Thank you sister, that is now perfectly clear.

[Ceeray]

Salaam,

1.3 Line 10

قَال إبْرَاهِيمُ أنَا أَكْسِر الأَصْنَامَ إذَا ذَهَبَ الناس، وَحِينَئِذٍ يَفْهَم النَّاسُ


I have a couple of questions regarding this sentence.


1) Is qaalu a verb? Has it caused Ibraheem to be rafa'?


2) 'ithaa thahaba an-naasu' - when the people go. Why is thahaba in maadi form? In English we would say 'I will break (future tense verb) the idols when the people leave (future tense). But the Arabic seems to render it 'I will break (future tense verb) the idols when the people left (past tense verb)'. I'm wondering why the final verb in the sentence became a perfect verb.


Thanks

[Ceeray]

Salaam,

Also, why does وَحِينَئِذٍ


end in a kasra?

[Insaanah]

1) Is qaalu a verb?

The word is qaala, rather than qaalu, and yes, it is a verb.

Has it caused Ibraheem to be rafa'?

Ibraheem is marfoo3 because it is the faa3il, i.e. the doer of the verb. "Ibraheem said...". Ibraheem is the one who is doing the action of the verb, i.e. saying. The doer of a verb, i.e. the faa3il, is marfoo3.

2) 'ithaa thahaba an-naasu' - when the people go. Why is thahaba in maadi form? In English we would say 'I will break (future tense verb) the idols when the people leave (future tense). But the Arabic seems to render it 'I will break (future tense verb) the idols when the people left (past tense verb)'. I'm wondering why the final verb in the sentence became a perfect verb.

I know exactly what you are saying here, and it is because we are thinking in English. This can equally be translated, "I will break the idols when the people have gone." Here, the action of the verb has already been done. If you translate it in the present tense in Arabic, it would mean, "I will kill the idols when the people are going", or "when the people will go". But, something tells us that one would wait til people had actually gone, rather than as they are going, which is far more risky. That is why the past tense is being used in the Arabic. So, although in English we would say, "when the people go", in Arabic it can translate as when the people have gone.

Also, why does وَحِينَئِذٍ end in a kasra?

It is mabni (it's ending never changes), so it can never end in a fat'ha or damma. You can't have heena'ithan or heena'ithun, only heena'ithin.

Hope that helped a bit.

[Ceeray]

The word is qaala, rather than qaalu, and yes, it is a verb.



Ibraheem is marfoo3 because is it the faa3il, i.e. the doer of the verb. "Ibraheem said...". Ibraheem is the one who is doing the action of the verb, i.e. saying. The doer of a verb, i.e. the faa3il, is marfoo3.



I know exactly what you are saying here, and it is because we are thinking in English. This can equally be translated, "I will break the idols when the people have gone." Here, the acton of the verb has already been done. If you translate it in the present tense in Arabic, it would mean, "I will kill the idols when the people are going." But, something tells us that one would wait til people had actually gone, rather than as they are going, which is far more risky. That is why the past tense is being used in the Arabic. So, although in English we would say, "when the people go", in Arabic it can translate as when the people have gone.



It is mabni (it's ending never changes), meaning it can never end in a fat'ha or damma. You can't have heena'ithan or heena'ithun, only heena'ithin.

Hope that helped a bit.

Salaam,

It helped more than a bit! Thanks.

[Ceeray]

If you rearrange the sentence, you can see the functions of the words a bit clearer:

وَلأَيِّ شَيْءٍ تَضَع الطَّعَامَ وَالشرَابَ لَهَا؟

And for what reason do you place food and drink for them?

Salaam Insaanah,

I forgot to ask something about this sentence.

Is شَيْءٍ in a grammatical state? Meaning is it in jarr, or does the word end in a kasra anyway?

If it is in jarr, what caused it?

If it's not in jarr, why does it end in tanween? Is it because it is empty of 'al'?

Thanks

[gohar98]

I can tell you some words:
Near=qareeb
far=baeed
opposite=muqabil
beside=bajaanib
nearer=aqrab
farther=Ab`ad
In front=amaam
behind=khalf

[Insaanah]

Salaam Insaanah

Is شَيْءٍ in a grammatical state? Meaning is it in jarr?

Yes it is in a grammatical state. It is in jarr, thus the two kasrahs (tanween kasrah) beneath the hamza.

or does the word end in a kasra anyway?

The actual word is marfoo3 (i.e. in raf'). Most nouns are marfoo3 in their basic state when unaffected by any word/preposition. So the actual word in it's raw state is shay'un شَيْءٌ

If it is in jarr, what caused it?

أَيِّ caused it to be jarr.

And أَيِّ itself is in jarr because of لِ, otherwise it would be ayyu أَيُّ.

why does it end in tanween? Is it because it is empty of 'al'?

Yes. When the الْ is removed, a noun takes tanween in most cases. This can be tanween kasrah, tanween fat'hah, or tanween dammah, depending on what came before the word (if anything), and it's function in the sentence.

[Ceeray]

Salaam,

أَيِّ caused it to be jarr.

Is that because 'ayy' is a preposition or because 'ayy' and 'shayyun' are forming a mudaaf/mudaaf-ilayh structure?

In English, 'what' is generally used as either a noun, adjective and sometimes an adverb. So I'm guessing that makes 'ayy' an ism?

[Insaanah]

Is that because 'ayy' is a preposition or because 'ayy' and 'shayyun' are forming a mudaaf/mudaaf-ilayh structure?

It is because ayy and shay'un form a mudaaf/mudaaf-ilayhi structure. Ayy is always mudaaf, and the noun following it is majroor because it is mudaaf ilayhi.

I'm guessing that makes 'ayy' an ism?

Yes. Ayy is an ism.