Explanation of the words of Ibn Malik (may Allah have mercy on him): "And the news of the restricted subject is always brought forward, as we have nothing but following Ahmad."
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : The fourth location:
"And the report of the restricted subject is always to be placed first, *** as for us, following Ahmad is all we have":
This means that when the report is restricted to the subject, it is obligatory to place it first; that is, if the report is restricted to the subject, the subject must be placed last. For example: "As for us, following Ahmad is all we have", meaning Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Here, "ma" is a negative particle, "lana" is a preposition and its object, connected to a deleted word which is the fronted report, "illa" is a particle of restriction, "ittiba'" is the subject, raised by the nominative case with a dammah on its end, and it is a mudaf (possessor), while "Ahmad" is the mudaf ilayh (possessed), in the genitive case due to the relationship, and its sign of the genitive is a fathah in place of the kasrah because it is a name that does not take the kasrah (non-declinable), and the reason it is non-declinable is its being a proper name and its having the form of a verb.
Now: "As for us, following Ahmad is all we have": Here you say that it is obligatory to place the subject last, why? Because it is restricted within it. The rule is: "That which is restricted within must be placed last", and it is the same whether the restriction is by "illa" or by any other method of restriction, even if you said, "It is only following Ahmad that we have," the subject must be placed last and the report first.
"As for us, following Ahmad is all we have": The author (may Allah have mercy on him) has finished discussing the order between the subject and the report.
Let us review what came before: The original rule for the subject and the news is that it is permissible to bring the news forward before the subject. This is the original rule. Sometimes it is impossible to bring the news forward, and sometimes it is impossible to bring the subject forward. All of this is mentioned in the words of the author (may Allah have mercy on him).
"And the report of the restricted subject is always to be placed first, *** as for us, following Ahmad is all we have":
This means that when the report is restricted to the subject, it is obligatory to place it first; that is, if the report is restricted to the subject, the subject must be placed last. For example: "As for us, following Ahmad is all we have", meaning Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Here, "ma" is a negative particle, "lana" is a preposition and its object, connected to a deleted word which is the fronted report, "illa" is a particle of restriction, "ittiba'" is the subject, raised by the nominative case with a dammah on its end, and it is a mudaf (possessor), while "Ahmad" is the mudaf ilayh (possessed), in the genitive case due to the relationship, and its sign of the genitive is a fathah in place of the kasrah because it is a name that does not take the kasrah (non-declinable), and the reason it is non-declinable is its being a proper name and its having the form of a verb.
Now: "As for us, following Ahmad is all we have": Here you say that it is obligatory to place the subject last, why? Because it is restricted within it. The rule is: "That which is restricted within must be placed last", and it is the same whether the restriction is by "illa" or by any other method of restriction, even if you said, "It is only following Ahmad that we have," the subject must be placed last and the report first.
"As for us, following Ahmad is all we have": The author (may Allah have mercy on him) has finished discussing the order between the subject and the report.
Let us review what came before: The original rule for the subject and the news is that it is permissible to bring the news forward before the subject. This is the original rule. Sometimes it is impossible to bring the news forward, and sometimes it is impossible to bring the subject forward. All of this is mentioned in the words of the author (may Allah have mercy on him).