Explanation of the words of Ibn Malik (may Allah have mercy on him): "And the ḥāl, if it is made definite in form, believe *** that its indefiniteness is in meaning, like 'you alone' in 'you exerted yourself.'"
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The Shaykh :"And the ḥāl, if it is made definite in form, believe *** that its indefiniteness is in meaning, like 'you alone' in 'you exerted yourself'"
"The ḥāl, if it is made definite in form": The author seems to be saying: The ḥāl cannot be anything but indefinite, but has a scholar preceded this with a rule?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : No, no rule was mentioned, but the rule is derived from this: the ḥāl cannot be anything but indefinite. "Zayd came riding," "The rain fell heavily," "Did you buy a garment?"
The student: New.
The Shaykh : No, new. "I bought the garment patched," no... okay, but sometimes the ḥāl comes as definite, so what do we do? He says: "If it is made definite in form, believe that its indefiniteness is in meaning." The grammarians make their matter easy; when something from the language comes to you that contradicts the rule, you interpret it simply. So, if a ḥāl comes to you as definite, and you have established the principle that the ḥāl cannot be anything but indefinite, what do you do? He says:
"Believe that its indefiniteness is in meaning"
Interpret it as indefinite.
"Like 'you alone' in 'you exerted yourself'"
What Allah willed! Pay attention to this, you young students. "You alone," if your companion exerted himself, you did. "You alone exerted yourself": "Exerted yourself" is a command verb, and the subject is necessarily hidden, estimated to be "you," right? Is it necessarily hidden or permissibly hidden?
The student: Obligatorily.
The Shaykh : Necessarily, because everything estimated to be "you" or "I" or "we" is necessarily hidden. Okay, "you alone" is a ḥāl of the subject of "exerted yourself," even though "alone" is a compound noun and the "you" is the object of the preposition.
- Silence -
To a pronoun, and the object of the preposition is the pronoun... so how do we say in such a case? Even though it is required that the ḥāl be indefinite, we say: The matter is simple. Interpret "you alone" to mean: "alone." "You exerted yourself alone." If you interpret it to mean "alone," it becomes indefinite. So, the rule we took, the fourth one, is it the fourth or not?
The student: Yes, it is the fourth.
The Shaykh : The fourth.
"The ḥāl, if it is made definite in form": The author seems to be saying: The ḥāl cannot be anything but indefinite, but has a scholar preceded this with a rule?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : No, no rule was mentioned, but the rule is derived from this: the ḥāl cannot be anything but indefinite. "Zayd came riding," "The rain fell heavily," "Did you buy a garment?"
The student: New.
The Shaykh : No, new. "I bought the garment patched," no... okay, but sometimes the ḥāl comes as definite, so what do we do? He says: "If it is made definite in form, believe that its indefiniteness is in meaning." The grammarians make their matter easy; when something from the language comes to you that contradicts the rule, you interpret it simply. So, if a ḥāl comes to you as definite, and you have established the principle that the ḥāl cannot be anything but indefinite, what do you do? He says:
"Believe that its indefiniteness is in meaning"
Interpret it as indefinite.
"Like 'you alone' in 'you exerted yourself'"
What Allah willed! Pay attention to this, you young students. "You alone," if your companion exerted himself, you did. "You alone exerted yourself": "Exerted yourself" is a command verb, and the subject is necessarily hidden, estimated to be "you," right? Is it necessarily hidden or permissibly hidden?
The student: Obligatorily.
The Shaykh : Necessarily, because everything estimated to be "you" or "I" or "we" is necessarily hidden. Okay, "you alone" is a ḥāl of the subject of "exerted yourself," even though "alone" is a compound noun and the "you" is the object of the preposition.
- Silence -
To a pronoun, and the object of the preposition is the pronoun... so how do we say in such a case? Even though it is required that the ḥāl be indefinite, we say: The matter is simple. Interpret "you alone" to mean: "alone." "You exerted yourself alone." If you interpret it to mean "alone," it becomes indefinite. So, the rule we took, the fourth one, is it the fourth or not?
The student: Yes, it is the fourth.
The Shaykh : The fourth.