Arabic vocabulary
How to say “evil” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
التقوى ههنا، ويشير إلى صدره بحسب امرئ من الشر أن يحقر أخاه المسلم،
Taqwa is here, 'and he pointed to his chest.' It is enough of a sin for a person to belittle his Muslim brother.
الشَّرِّ — sin. This noun carries 'the' and stands as the object of the preceding preposition, taking the ending that role requires. Within the 'enough of evil that...' frame it names the category being measured.
From: Avoid Envy and Suspicion →وينذرهم شر ما يعلمه لهم،
and warn them of the worst he knew for them.
شَرَّ — of the worst. This is 'worst of' as the first half of a pairing with the relative 'what' that follows, 'the worst of what...'. The possessor-form pairing supplies the 'of', and it is the second object of 'warns', naming what they are warned about; the bad-most idea sits inside this one word.
From: A Prophet Warns His People →وَقَوْلُهُمْ احْذَرْ شَرَّ مَنْ أَحْسَنْتَ إِلَيْهِ، مَذْكُورٌ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى وَمَا نَقَمُوا إِلَّا أَنْ أَغْنَاهُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ
And their saying: 'Beware of the evil of the one you did good to' is mentioned in His saying: 'And they resented it only because Allah and His Messenger had enriched them from His bounty.'
شَرَّ — the evil. This is 'evil, harm' heading a possessive pairing with what follows, 'the evil of the one...'. As the object of the command 'beware' it takes the accusative ending, and the owned part follows in the genitive. It names what to guard against.
From: When Scripture Answers Proverbs →اعْلَم يَا أخي أَن العَبْد إِذا اعْتصمَ بِحَبل السُّلْطَان الْمَخْلُوق سلم من شَرّ الظَّالِمين
Know, my brother, that if a servant clings to the rope of the created ruler, he is safe from the evil of the oppressors.
شَرِّ — the evil. This noun is the first half of an 'of' pairing and is owned by the word that follows it: the evil of the oppressors. Being the front of such a chain, it carries no 'the' of its own and leans on its owner for definiteness.
From: Ten Daily Supplications →وكل الله بِهِ ملكا يذود عَنهُ شَرّ الشَّيْطَان
Allah appoints an angel for him to ward off the evil of Satan.
شَرَّ — the evil. This noun is the thing warded off and stands in the object form as the receiver of the action. It also fronts an 'of' pairing with the next word.
From: Ten Daily Supplications →قال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ما ملأ ابن آدم وعاء شرا من بطنه،
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: A human fills no container worse than his stomach.
شَرًّا — worse. This is a comparative 'worse', in the object case as a description of the vessel, and it leads into a 'than' phrase. It ranks this vessel against all others.
From: The One-Third Rule →وَأَنَّهُ شَرُّهُمْ
And that he is the worst of them.
شَرُّهُمْ — the worst of them. A noun on the 'worst/most-evil' pattern carrying a '-hum' (of them) fused at the end, giving 'the worst of them'. The suffix forms a possessive 'of the group', so the superlative ranks him at the bottom of all people. It is the predicate of the 'that he is...' clause, completing his self-abasing view.
From: On Reason and Temptation →قَالَ أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاَللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ، وَتُؤْمِنَ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ
He said: 'It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in predestination, its good and its bad.'
وَشَرِّهِ — and its bad. An 'and' joining the matching counterpart, 'and its bad', with the same '-its' pointing back to predestination. The 'and' pairs it with 'its good' so the two cover both sides of the one thing. The possessive ending again reaches back to the earlier noun, not the nearest one.
From: When Gabriel Came to Teach →OpenArabic teaches words like شَرّ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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