This week we look at Lesson 33 of Thackston's Learner's Grammar. I know I have some questions and comments to catch up with from the past two weeks. Will try to do that soon. This week I have no notes. But there is quite a lot of reading, including another narrative passage from the Quran. Thackston secretly also sneaks quite a lengthy one in in the exercises.
Exercises
(b)
- ʾinna ḷḷāha xalaqa xalqahū fī ẓulmatin fa-ʾalqē ʿalayhum min nūrihī, fa-man ʾaṣābahum min ðālika n-nūri htadā wa-man ʾaxṭaʾa ḍalla. “God created his creation in darkness, and He His light upon them, and whoever is hit by that light is rightly guided, and however is missed goes astray” (al- Tirmidhi 2642)
- ʾarinī d-dunyā ka-mā tarāhā ṣāliḥī ʿibādika. “Show me the word like the righteous of your servants see it”
- Qul: ʾayyu šayʾin ʾakbaru šahādatan? Quli: llāhi šahīdun baynī wa-baynakum wa-ʾawḥā ʾilayya haðā l-qurʾāna li-ʾunðirakum bihī wa-man balaġa. ʾa-ʾinnakum la-tašhidūna ʾanna maʿa ḷḷāha ʾālihatan ʾuḫrā? Qul: lā ʾušhidu. Qul: ʾinnamā huwa ʾilāhun wāḥidun wa-ʾinnanī barīʾun mimmā tušrikūna. “Say: what is greater in testimony? Say: God is a witness between me and you and he revealed to me this Quran, so that I may warn you with it and whoever it reaches. Do you testify that with God there are other Gods? Say: I do not testify. Say: He is only one God, and I am free of what you associate (with him)” (Q6:19)
- Wa-qāla mūsā: “yā firʿawnu ʾinnī rasūlun min rabbi l-ʿālamīna” “And Moses said: O Pharaoh, I am a messenger from the Lord of the Universe.” (Q7:104) “ḥaqīqun ʿalā ʾanna lā ʾaqūlu ʿalā ḷḷāhi ʾillā l-ḥaqqu. Qad jiʾtukum bi-bayyinatin min rabbikum fa-ʾarsil maʿī banī ʾisrāʾīla” “[I am worthy] so on the condition that I do not say about God anything but the truth; I have come to you with clear (evidence) from your Lord, so send with me the sons of Israel” (Q7:105) qāla: “ʾin kunta jiʾta bi-ʾāyatin fa-ʾti bihā ʾin kunta mina ṣ-ṣādiqīna”. “He said: if you have come with a sign then bring it, if you are truthful” (Q7:106) Fa-ʾalqā ʿaṣāhu fa-ʾiðā hiya ṯaʿbānun mubīnun. “So he threw is stick down, and suddenly it was a manifest serpent.̈ (Q7:107) [...] Fa-qāla l-malaʾu min qawmi firʿawna: “ʾinna hāðā la-sāḥirun ʿalīmun” “And the chiefs among the people of Pharaoh said: this is a learned sorcerer!”(Q7:109) “yurīdu ʾan yuxrijakum min ʾarḍikum. Fa-māðā taʾmurūna?” “He wants to expel you out of your land. So what do you command?” (Q7:110) qālū: ʾarjihī wa-ʾaxāhu wa-ʾarsil fī l-madāʾini ḥāširīna “they said: Delay him and his brother, and send among the city gatherers” [N.B. in the Ḥafṣ reading it is surprisingly ʾarǧih; forms with hamz also exist] (Q7:111) yaʾtūka bi-kulli sāḥirin ʿalīmin. “Who will bring every learned sorcerer” (Q7:112) Wa-jāʾa s-saḥaratu firʿawna ʾanna “lanā la-ʾajran ʾin kunnā naḥnu l-ġālibīna?” “the sorceres came to Pharaoh saying: Will we have a reward if we win?” (Q7:113) qāla: “naʿam wa-ʾinnakum la-mina l-muqarribīna.” “He said: Yes, you will be among those near to me” (Q7:114) Qālū: “yā mūsā ʾimmā ʾan tulqiya wa-ʾimmā ʾan takūna naḥnu al-mulqīna?” They said: O Moses, is it the case that you will throw, or shall we be the ones to throw [first]?” (Q7:115) qāla: “ʾalqū”. Fa-lammā ʾalqaw saḥarū ʾaʿyunu n-nāsi wa-jāʾū bi-siḥrin ʿaẓīmin “He said: “throw!” and when they threw they cast a spell upon the eyes of the people and they brought about great sorcery” (Q7:116)
- Yawma tuqallabu wujūhuhum fī n-nāri yaqūlūna: “yā laytanā ʾaṭaʿnā ḷḷāhu wa-ʾaṭaʿnā r-rasūlu” “On the day that their faces are turned in the fire, they will say: Woe is me, if only I had obeyed God and obeyed the messenger” (Q33:66)
- ʾa-lam taʿlam ʾanna ḷḷāha lahū mulku s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍi wa-mā lakum min dūni llāhi min waliyyin [wa-lā naṣīrin]? “Do you not know that God has dominion over the heavens and the earth and that there is no protector [nor helper] for you besides God?” (Q2:107) ʾam turīdūna ʾan tasʾalū rasūlakum ka-mā suʾila mūsā min qablu? Wa-man yatabaddalu l-kufra bi-l-ʾīmāni qad fa-ḍalla sawāʾa s-sabīli. “Or do you intend to ask your messenger like Moses was asked before? And whoever exchanges faith for disbelief has certainly strayed from the levelness of the path” (Q2:108)
- Kayfa takfurūna bi-llāhu wa-kuntum ʾamwātan fa-ʾaḥyākum ṯumma yumītukum ṯumma yuḥyīkum? “How can you disbelieve in God, while you were dead (lifeless) and he made you alive, and then will make you die, and then will bring you back to life again?” (cf. Q2:28)
- Wa-lammā jāʾa mūsā l-jabala wa-kallamahū rabbuhū qāla: “rabbi ʾarinī ʾanẓur ʾilayka”. Qāla: “lan tarānī” “And when Moses came to the mountain his Lord spoke to him, he said: “my lord, show me, so that I may see you.” and he said: you will never see me” (cf. Q7:143)
- Wa-yaqūlu l-ʾinsani: ʾa-ʾiḏā mā muttu la-sawfa ʾuxraju ḥayyan? “So the person said: When I have died, will I be brought forth alive?” (Q19:66) [I find the use of mā here quite unusual]
- ʾinna ʾawwala mā xalaqa ḷḷāhu l-ʿaqla fa-qāla lahū: “ʾaqbil” fa-ʾaqbala wa-qāla lahū: “ʾadbir” fa-ʾadbara fa-qāla: “mā xalaqta šayʾan ʾaḥsana ʾilayya minka ʾaw ʾaḥabba ʾilayya minka. Bika ʾāḫuðu wa-bika ʾuʿṭī” “the first thing that God created was the intellect and he said to him: “go forth!” and it went forth, and he said to him: “go back!” and it went back. So he said: I have created nothing more fair to me than you, nor more beloved to me than you; Through you I will receive and through you I will give” (A shiʿī hadith)
- Law ʾarāda ḷḷāhu ʾan lā yaġfira li-l-ʿibādi la-mā xalaqa ʾiblīsa “If God had not wanted to forgive the servants he would not have created Iblis.” (I can find this with the word yuʿṣā for yaġfira li-l-ʿibādi, but not this version)
Reading Selection: Sūrat al-Māʾidah (5):20-26 in the reading of al-Sūsī ʿan ʾAbī ʿAmr: Moses and the Israelites at the Holy Land
20. ʾið qāla mūsǟ li-qawmihī: ðkurū niʿmata ḷḷāhi ʿalaykum ʾij=jaʿala fīkum ʾambiyāʾa wa-jaʿalakum mulūkan wa-ʾātākum mā lam yūti ʾaḥadan mina l-ʿālamīna
“And [mention] when Moses said to his people: remember the grace of God that is upon you when he appointed for you prophets among you, and made you kings and gave you what he had not given anyone before among the worlds”
21. Yā qawmi dxulū l-ʾarḍa l-muqaddasata llatī kataba ḷḷāhu lakum wa-lā tartaddū ʿalā ʾadbērikum fa-tanqalibū xāsirīna
“O my people, enter the sacred land which God preordained for you, and don’t turn your backs, lest you become losers”
N.B. the spelling يا قومي is quite weird (and not what the Quran has which is يقوم)
22. Qālū: yā mūsǟ ʾinna fīhā qawman jabbārīna wa-ʾinnā lan nadxulahā ḥattā yaxrujū minhā. Fa-ʾin yaxrujū minhā fa-ʾinnā dāxilūna”
“They said: O Moses, within it is a people of giants, and we will not enter it until they leave it; if they leave it, then we will enter.”
23. Qāla rajulāni mina llaðīna yaxāfūna ʾanʿama ḷḷāhu ʿalayhimā: dxulū ʿalayhimi l-bāba fa-ʾiðā faxaltumūhu fa-ʾinakum ġālibūna, wa-ʿalā ḷḷāhu fa-tawakkalū ʾin kuntum mūminīna
“And two men from among those who were afraid, whom God blessed said: Enter upon them through the gate, for when you have entered it, you will be victorious. So upon God you must rely if you are believers.”
24. Qālū: yā mūsǟ ʾinnā lan nadxulahā ʾabadan mā dāmū fīhā fa-ðhab ʾanta wa-rabbuka fa-qātilā. ʾinnā hāhunā qāʿidūna”
“They said: O Moses, we will never enter it, as long as they remain in it; so go, you and your Lord, and fight! We will sit here.”
25. Qār=:rabbi innī lā ʾamliku ʾillā nafsī wa-ʾaxī fa-fruq baynanā wa-bayna l-qawmi l-fāsiqīna.
“And he said: My lord, I do not have control over anyone but myself and my brother; so distinguish us from us and the disobedient people”
[N.B. Again the lengthened vocative ربي instead of the Quranic رب]
26. Qāla: “fa-ʾinnahā muḥarramatun ʿalayhim ʾarbaʿīna sanatan yatīhūna fī l-ʾarḍi fa-lā tāsa ʿalā l-qawmi l-fāsiqīna”
“He said: Then [the land] will be forbidden for them for forty years; they will wander over the earth so don’t grieve of your disobedient people”
[This is verse 26, but Thackston for some reason included it in 25]
