Explanation of the words of Ibn Malik (may Allah have mercy on him): "And the substitute for the one containing the hamzah follows *** a hamzah, like: Is this Asa'id or Ali?"
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The Shaykh :"And the substitute for the one containing the hamzah follows *** a hamzah":
The one containing the hamzah, what is the one containing the hamzah? Every noun that indicates interrogation. So his saying: "the one containing the hamzah": what is meant? Which hamzah? The hamzah of interrogation. And the noun containing the hamzah is the interrogative noun. Its substitute follows a hamzah, for example?
"Like: Is this Asa'id or Ali",
Is this Asa'id or Ali? If you said: Who is this, Sa'id or Ali? We would say: this is not correct except on the assumption of the hamzah. Take the letter ya, O Mustafa. So then: Is this Asa'id or Ali? You must answer with the hamzah, Asa'id or Ali. Do you have it? Hmm?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Is it bread or meat? Yes, that works. "What did you buy, a book or a shirt?", perfect. So then: everything that is a substitute for an interrogative noun, it is obligatory that the hamzah follow it.
Grammatical analysis: "Who is this": "Who" is an interrogative noun, a subject (mubtada') built on sukun in the position of nominative, and "this" is a demonstrative noun built on sukun in the position of nominative as the predicate (khabar) of the subject. The hamzah is for interrogation. "Sa'id" is a substitute for "this," meaning a substitute for whom? Hmm?
The student: Who is this.
The Shaykh : It is not a substitute for "who," because he says: a substitute for the one containing the hamzah. And the one containing the hamzah, as I told you, is the interrogative noun. "Sa'id" is a substitute for "who," and "and" is a conjunction, and "Ali" is conjoined to "Sa'id."
The one containing the hamzah, what is the one containing the hamzah? Every noun that indicates interrogation. So his saying: "the one containing the hamzah": what is meant? Which hamzah? The hamzah of interrogation. And the noun containing the hamzah is the interrogative noun. Its substitute follows a hamzah, for example?
"Like: Is this Asa'id or Ali",
Is this Asa'id or Ali? If you said: Who is this, Sa'id or Ali? We would say: this is not correct except on the assumption of the hamzah. Take the letter ya, O Mustafa. So then: Is this Asa'id or Ali? You must answer with the hamzah, Asa'id or Ali. Do you have it? Hmm?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Is it bread or meat? Yes, that works. "What did you buy, a book or a shirt?", perfect. So then: everything that is a substitute for an interrogative noun, it is obligatory that the hamzah follow it.
Grammatical analysis: "Who is this": "Who" is an interrogative noun, a subject (mubtada') built on sukun in the position of nominative, and "this" is a demonstrative noun built on sukun in the position of nominative as the predicate (khabar) of the subject. The hamzah is for interrogation. "Sa'id" is a substitute for "this," meaning a substitute for whom? Hmm?
The student: Who is this.
The Shaykh : It is not a substitute for "who," because he says: a substitute for the one containing the hamzah. And the one containing the hamzah, as I told you, is the interrogative noun. "Sa'id" is a substitute for "who," and "and" is a conjunction, and "Ali" is conjoined to "Sa'id."