يَسْأَلask

Example sentences

• ولو أن إنسانًا جاع فلم يأكل، أو احتاج فلم يسأل، أو عري فلم يلبس، فمات دخل النار،

  And if a person goes hungry and does not eat, or is in need and does not ask, or is unclothed and does not dress, and dies, he enters the Fire,

  يَسْأَلْ — he asks. This present-tense verb sits in its cut-off (jussive) shape because of the preceding past-negator, with its 'he' subject built in, together meaning 'he did not ask'. The mood change carries the negated past.

  From: Trust in God →

• من جاع فلم يسأل حتى مات دخل النار

  Whoever goes hungry and does not ask until he dies, enters the Fire.

  يَسْأَلْ — he asks. Although it looks like a plain present-tense verb, the negating particle just before it has forced it into its shortened jussive ending and pulled its meaning into the past, so it reads 'did not ask'. The clipped final consonant, not a separate vowel, is the trace of that particle.

  From: Trust in God →