In Ibn Malik's statement, "In the case of 'The best of speech is that I praise,'" is this an example or a fourth instance where both options are permissible?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Shaykh, what about... "And this applies consistently *** in the case of 'The best of speech is that I praise'" Is this, Shaykh, an example or... I did not understand?
The Shaykh : No, this is an example.
The questioner : An example of what?
The Shaykh : An example of the fact that if "in" (inna) occurs in a case like this example, then both options are permissible for it. You say: "The best of speech is that I praise."
The questioner : Is there, I mean, a rule or criterion, or is it limited to this example?
The Shaykh : It is correct to say, for example, "The best of speech is that I praise Allah," or "The harshest of speech is that I strike Zayd with a stick."
The questioner : I understood...
The Shaykh : No, "striking" is not correct, because the hamza cannot be broken after "striking." What can be broken is "speech": "The best of speech," "The harshest of speech," "The finest of speech," and the like. Yes.
The Shaykh : No, this is an example.
The questioner : An example of what?
The Shaykh : An example of the fact that if "in" (inna) occurs in a case like this example, then both options are permissible for it. You say: "The best of speech is that I praise."
The questioner : Is there, I mean, a rule or criterion, or is it limited to this example?
The Shaykh : It is correct to say, for example, "The best of speech is that I praise Allah," or "The harshest of speech is that I strike Zayd with a stick."
The questioner : I understood...
The Shaykh : No, "striking" is not correct, because the hamza cannot be broken after "striking." What can be broken is "speech": "The best of speech," "The harshest of speech," "The finest of speech," and the like. Yes.