just as is done with the collective noun between which and its singular there is no difference other than the addition and removal of the hāʾ, so it is said: "This (masc.) is baqar" and "This (fem.) is baqar," and "This (masc.) is nakhl" and "This (fem.) is nakhl," and the like.
Some of the scholars of the Arabic language used to claim that "heaven" (samāʾ) is singular, except that it indicates the heavens, so it was said: "and fashioned them (fa-sawwāhunna)," intending by that the one that was mentioned and what it indicates of the rest of the heavens that were not mentioned with it (1). He said: It is only masculinized when it is mentioned while being feminine, so it is said: "The heaven will break apart (munfaṭir, masc.) therefrom," just as the feminine is masculinized (2), and just as the poet said:
No raincloud (muznah, fem.) poured down (wadaqat, fem.) its downpour ... nor did any land (arḍ, fem.) sprout (abqala, masc.) its vegetation (3)
And just as A'sha of Banu Tha'laba said:
So if you see my lock of hair (limmatī, fem.) altered ... indeed, calamities (al-ḥawādith, fem.) have mocked (azrā, masc.) it (4)
Notes
- (1) "Some of the linguists" refers to al-Farrāʾ, even if the wording is not verbatim his, in his book Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (1/25), but he adopted this view also in his book on pp. 126–131.
- (2) Thus it is in the manuscripts: "just as the feminine is mentioned in the masculine", and I fear the correct reading of this phrase is: "just as the earth is mentioned, as the poet said: ...". Al-Farrāʾ mentioned that in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, saying: "...for the sky (al-samāʾ) has the meaning of a plural, so He said: {so He proportioned them} based on the known meaning that they are seven heavens. Likewise, the plural applies to the earth (al-arḍ)—even though it is singular. And the singular applies to both of them when they are grouped together; Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: {Lord of the heavens and the earth} then He said: {and whatever is between the two of them}, and He did not say: 'between them [plural]'. This is proof of what I told you." Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (1/25); see also pp. 126–131.
- (3) The verse is from the poetry of ʿĀmir ibn Juwayn al-Ṭāʾī, in Sībawayh (1/240), Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (1/127), al-Khizāna (1/21–26), Sharḥ Shawāhid al-Mughnī (p. 319), and al-Kāmil (1/406, 2/68). Before it, describing an army:
And many a maiden among the daughters of kings, I made her anklets clatter with horses,
Like a dense rain cloud with heavy white clouds, it pelts the clouds and they pelt it,
I threatened her after the stars passed, a dark cloud pouring abundant rain...
So no rain cloud...
- (4) Aʿshā Banī Thaʿlaba, Aʿshā Banī Qays, and al-Aʿshā are all the same person. His Dīwān (1/120); in Sībawayh (1/239), Maʿānī al-Qurʾān by al-Farrāʾ (1/128), and al-Khizāna (4/578). The wording in the Dīwān is:
For if you used to know me while I had a head of hair, misfortunes have carried it away.
The narration in Sībawayh is as in al-Ṭabarī, except that he narrated "destroyed it" (awdā bihā). Alwā bihā means took it away and destroyed it. Awdā bihā also means destroyed it. As for azrā bihā, it means belittled it and brought humiliation upon it, from al-zurāriya, which is belittlement. And all of them are good.
This translation was produced with AI assistance and is part of an ongoing human-review process. Found a mistake? Use the feedback option in the reader menu.
