وَمَاand what

Example sentences

• كَدْتَ تُحْرِقُ الْأَرْضَ وَمَا عَلَيْهَا بِنَارِكَ،

  You almost burned the earth and what is on it with your fire.

  وَمَا — and what. This fuses the coordinating wa- ('and') with a 'what' word used here not as a question but as 'that which': 'and what(ever) is...'. So the wa- adds a second object to the burning, and the 'what' opens a 'that which is on it' phrase. Together they extend the threat from the earth to everything on it.

  From: A Night of Reckoning →