Explanation of the words of Ibn Malik (may Allah have mercy on him): "And some of the proper names have upon them the definite article *** for the hint of what was transmitted from them."
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And for this reason, he said:
"And some of the proper names have upon them the definite article *** for the hint of what was transmitted from them":
"Some of the proper names": His statement "some of the proper names" indicates that it is not all proper names, but only some of them.
"have upon them the definite article": That is, the alif and lam. If we consider the alif in his statement "the definite article" to be for the dual, or if we consider it for generality, meaning the generality of the meter, then the intended meaning is: entered, that is, the definite article. That is, some proper names have the alif and lam entered into them, and we say that it is superfluous. Why do we say it is superfluous? Because it did not convey definiteness; its presence or absence is the same. So it did not convey definiteness because it entered upon a proper name, thus making it superfluous. But why is it added? He said:
"for the hint of what was transmitted from them": That is, they enter it so that the listener can catch a glimpse of what this proper name was transmitted from. Do you understand, Sa'd?
The student: No, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Huh?
The student: No, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes, because you are almost asleep.
The student: No, no.
"And some of the proper names have upon them the definite article *** for the hint of what was transmitted from them":
"Some of the proper names": His statement "some of the proper names" indicates that it is not all proper names, but only some of them.
"have upon them the definite article": That is, the alif and lam. If we consider the alif in his statement "the definite article" to be for the dual, or if we consider it for generality, meaning the generality of the meter, then the intended meaning is: entered, that is, the definite article. That is, some proper names have the alif and lam entered into them, and we say that it is superfluous. Why do we say it is superfluous? Because it did not convey definiteness; its presence or absence is the same. So it did not convey definiteness because it entered upon a proper name, thus making it superfluous. But why is it added? He said:
"for the hint of what was transmitted from them": That is, they enter it so that the listener can catch a glimpse of what this proper name was transmitted from. Do you understand, Sa'd?
The student: No, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Huh?
The student: No, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes, because you are almost asleep.
The student: No, no.