سَلَفِearly predecessors

Example sentences

• كَمَا قَالَ بَعْضُ السَّلَفِ عَلَيْكَ بِطَرِيقِ الْحَقِّ،

  As some of the early predecessors said, adhere to the path of truth.

  السَّلَفِ — the early predecessors. This noun completes the 'of' pairing with 'some' before it: 'some of the predecessors'. As the owned half it takes the genitive ending, and its definite al- (assimilating into the sun letter) makes it the known early generations. The two nouns side by side carry the 'of' with no separate word.

  From: Choosing Good Companions →

• قَالَ بَعْضُ السَّلَفِ

  Some of the pious predecessors said:

  السَّلَفِ — the pious predecessors. This noun is the owning second half of the 'of' pairing, 'some of the pious predecessors', and so takes the genitive shape. Bound to the head 'some', it supplies whose subset is meant, the partitive completed with no separate word for 'of'.

  From: Patience Under Decree →