7: Where is the predicate of *kana* in the saying of Allah the Exalted: "So how was My punishment and My remembrance"? And why was the *ra* kasrah?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Where is the predicate of *kana* in the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Qamar 54:16] And why was the *ra* kasrah?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : *Kana* is complete and has no predicate. If the answer were "His punishment was severe," then the answer to "So how was My punishment and My remembrance" would be "His punishment was severe."
The student: It is incomplete.
The Shaykh : So, the answer to an incomplete question is incomplete. The answer to an incomplete question is incomplete. Now, you said it is complete. If it were complete, its answer would require *kana* to be complete. But now, the answer requires *kana* to be incomplete. So,
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, no. Now, if someone asked you, "How was the punishment of Allah?" What would you say? "His punishment was severe." If so, it is not incomplete; it is not complete, I mean.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No.
The student: The predicate of *kana* is *kayfa*...
The Shaykh : Correct. The predicate of *kana* is *kayfa*, but it was placed before *kana* because it is an interrogative, and interrogatives take precedence. And why was *nadhra* kasrah?
The student: To indicate the addition of the first-person pronoun *ya* in *nadhra*.
The Shaykh : Because its original form is *nadhri*, but the *ya* was lightened by deleting the *ya* for the sake of lightness. That is complete. Good.
And how [severe] were My punishment and warning.
فكيف كان عذابي ونذرThe student: ...
The Shaykh : *Kana* is complete and has no predicate. If the answer were "His punishment was severe," then the answer to "So how was My punishment and My remembrance" would be "His punishment was severe."
The student: It is incomplete.
The Shaykh : So, the answer to an incomplete question is incomplete. The answer to an incomplete question is incomplete. Now, you said it is complete. If it were complete, its answer would require *kana* to be complete. But now, the answer requires *kana* to be incomplete. So,
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, no. Now, if someone asked you, "How was the punishment of Allah?" What would you say? "His punishment was severe." If so, it is not incomplete; it is not complete, I mean.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No.
The student: The predicate of *kana* is *kayfa*...
The Shaykh : Correct. The predicate of *kana* is *kayfa*, but it was placed before *kana* because it is an interrogative, and interrogatives take precedence. And why was *nadhra* kasrah?
The student: To indicate the addition of the first-person pronoun *ya* in *nadhra*.
The Shaykh : Because its original form is *nadhri*, but the *ya* was lightened by deleting the *ya* for the sake of lightness. That is complete. Good.