Chapter 1.2 Part 2
Haal, Dhul Haal, An and Anna
وَ كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ يَرَى النَّاسَ يَسْجُدُوْنَ لِلْأَصْنَامِ.
وَ يَرَى النَّاسَ يَعْبُدُوْنَ الْأَصْنَامَ.
وَ كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ يَعْرِفُ أَنَّ الْأَصْنَامَ حِجَارَةٌ.
وَ كَانَ يَعْرِفُ أَنَّ الْأَصْنَامَ لَا تَتَكَلَّمُ وَ لَا تَسْمَعُ.
وَ كَانَ يَعْرِفُ أَنَّ الْأَصْنَامَ لَا تَضُرُّ وَ لَا تَنْفَعُ.
وَ كَانَ يَرَى أَنَّ الذُّبَابَ يَجْلِسُ عَلَى الْأَصْنَامِ فَلَا تَدْفَعُ.
وَ كَانَ يَرَى الْفَأْرَ يَأْكُلُ طَعَامَ الْأَصْنَامِ فَلَا تَمْنَعُ.
وَ كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ يَقُوْلُ فِيْ نَفْسِهِ: لِمَاذَا يَسْجُدُ النَّاسُ لِلْأَصْنَامِ؟
وَ كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيْمُ يَسْأَلُ نَفْسَهُ: لِمَاذَا يَسْأَلُ النَّاسُ الْأَصْنَامَ؟
Following on directly from our last lesson, now that we know full sentences can occupy slots and don't reflect the grammatical state of the slot they are occupying, we can now proceed with the analysis of this sentence.
First, how many words do we have from كان until the end?
We have our 3 main portions, فعل ناقص; then, Ibraheem is the اسم كان, with everything else being خبر كان.
This means we have so far seen 2 places out of the 22 where a sentence can occupy the slot. خبر was the first (زَيْدٌ ذَهَبَ), and now خبر كان. This makes sense, as كان enters a جملة إسمية, and the مبتدأ becomes اسم كان, while the خبر becomes خبر كان and is made منصوب. By the same logic, can you think of another of the 22 places that a sentence could therefore occupy?
Now we shift our focus to the خبر كان which is a جملة فعلية. We clearly have a فعل which is يَرَى, a فاعل which is a hidden هو, and a مفعول به. The question is, is the مفعول به from النَّاسَ until the end or is it just النَّاسَ with يَسْجُدُوْنَ onwards being something else?
Let's think about this. What is Ibraheem AS seeing? Is he seeing the people and that's it, or is he seeing the people and their prostration to their idols together? It's the latter. The seeing combines the two, and what he is actually seeing is the people in a particular state. He is seeing them in the state of prostration to the idols. If he saw them at another time, he might see them in a different state. He might see them sleeping, in which case he is seeing them in the state of their sleep. So what we have is a حال (Circumstantial Adverb/State), and a ذو الحال (Dhul Haal - the one with the state). It is the النَّاسَ that is possessing the state, so it is the ذو الحال, and the state is يَسْجُدُوْنَ لِلْأَصْنَامِ, the state of prostrating to the idols. We now have everything we need to complete the tarkeeb of this sentence. Have a go on your own before taking a look.
Take a close look at أَنَّ الْأَصْنَامَ حِجَارَةٌ. Does it remind you of anything?
We have a كان, with Ibraheem being the اسم كان and a full sentence يَعْرِفُ أَنَّ الْأَصْنَامَ حِجَارَةٌ coming as the خبر كان. Going a layer deeper, the خبر كان is made up of a فعل which is يَعْرِفُ, a hidden هو pronoun which is the فاعل, and everthing from أنّ onwards is مفعول به.
Now, from our question above, you know that أْلْأَصْنَامُ حِجَارَةٌ((The idols are stone)) is a جملة إسمية. Now we will tell you that a sentence is not something that can occupy the slot of مفعول به. The purpose of the أنّ is to take the sentence and water it down to a phrase, which can occupy the slot of مفعول به. As a result, أْلْأَصْنَامُ حِجَارَةٌ((The idols are stone))→ أَنَّ الْأَصْنَامَ حِجَارَةٌ((that idols are stone/the fact that idols are stone))
Try to do tarkeeb of this sentence on your own before looking below. You have everything you need to do another 100% analysis.
لَا is a particle of negation. It is often used to negate a مضارع verb whereas مَا is usually used to negate the ماضي.
What is the top level breakdown of this sentence?
To see how we handle something like لَا in tarkeeb (since it has no grammatical effect), let's take the example:
The لَا تَتَكَلَّمُ is all coming as خبر إن. When we zoom into the next layer, we ignore the لَا completely as it would change nothing grammatically if we removed it. The meaning would obviously change, but تَتَكَلَّمُ would remain exactly as it is with a hidden هِيَ inside. Speaking of which, هِيَ is the 3rd person singular feminine pronoun, the counterpart to the 3rd person singular masculine هو. But why did we pull out هِيَ instead of هو?
In the previous three lines, what conjugation number are the verbs?
Notice here طَعَامَ الْأَصْنَامِ is مضاف مضاف إليه and therefore only طَعَامَ reflects the نصب with Fathah due to the phrase being مفعول به for يَأْكُلُ. The الْأَصْنَامِ is مضاف إليه which is fixed on جرّ.
And with that, this passage is complete. Remember that we will try to teach new concepts in each lesson, but we will not teach you everything in a passage. Some things will be left unexplained to prevent overwhelming you, but you will eventually cover everything.
Summary
- حال describes the state of an entity, either the فاعل or the مفعول به, at the time of the فعل occurring. The state is called the حال, and the entity whose state is described is called the ذو الحال, which literally means "Possessor of State."
- Some slots from the 22 places are smaller than others and cannot occupy a full sentence. مفعول به is one of those slots. As a result, the particle أنّ enters a جملة إسمية and reduces it to a phrase that can then occupy the مفعول به slot.
- أنّ is a sister of إنّ. These particles are called الْحُرُوْفُ الْمُشَبَّهَةُ بِالْفِعْلِ (particles which resemble the verb) and also إِنَّ وَ أَخَوَاتُهَا (Inna and her sisters). They all work in the same way grammatically as إنّ in that they take a مبتدأ and make it منصوب and a خبر and maintain its رفع.
- The pronoun هِيَ is the 3rd person singular feminine pronoun, the counterpart to the 3rd person singular masculine pronoun هو.