سَائِلasking

Example sentences

• قَالَ مَا الْمَسْئُولُ عَنْهَا بِأَعْلَمَ مِنْ السَّائِلِ

  He said, 'The one being asked does not know more about it than the one asking.'

  السَّائِلِ — the one asking. The yardstick of the comparison, 'the one asking', built from an active participle so it names the doer of the asking. With al- ('the') it is definite, and after 'than' it sits in the (genitive) ending. It closes the equation: questioned and questioner know the same.

  From: When Gabriel Came to Teach →

• ثُمَّ انْطَلَقَ، فَلَبِثْتُ مَلِيًّا، ثُمَّ قَالَ يَا عُمَرُ أَتَدْرِي مَنْ السَّائِلُ؟

  Then he departed, and I stayed for a long period. Then he said: 'O Umar, do you know who the questioner was?'

  السَّائِلُ — the questioner. The noun completing the embedded question, 'the questioner', built from an active participle so it names the one who does the asking. With al- ('the') it is definite and stands in the nominative as the answer-slot the 'who' points to. The participle pattern is what turns 'ask' into 'one who asks'.

  From: When Gabriel Came to Teach →