مَسْأَلَةٌ matter in Arabic
مَسْأَلَةٌ is how you say “matter” in Arabic.
Root س أ ل s-ʾ-l. noun (verbal noun / maṣdar). masʾalah.
Arabic
English
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Meaning of matter in Arabic
- a question, issue, or matter the common extended sense — a point put forward for inquiry, discussion, or judgment
- the act of asking, inquiring, or requesting the original sense: مسألة is one of the verbal nouns of سَأَلَ 'to ask', alongside سُؤَالٌ
Example sentence
ونكتة الْمَسْأَلَة أَنَّهُ لَا يرى ربه إِلَّا محسنا، وَلَا يرى نَفسه إِلَّا مسيئا
And the essence of the matter is that he sees his Lord as nothing but good, and himself as nothing but wrong.
الْمَسْأَلَةِ of the matter
al- = 'the'; masala means 'the question, the matter' — the 'of…' word: 'of the matter'.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
مسألة is the verbal noun of سَأَلَ ('to ask, inquire'); its familiar modern sense of 'a matter, issue, or question' (e.g. a point of law or a problem to be worked out) develops from this original meaning of the act of asking.
Words from the same root
- سَأَلَ to ask, question, inquire of someone
- سُؤَالٌ a question; the act of asking (verbal noun paired with مسألة)
- سَائِلٌ one who asks; an asker or petitioner
- مَسْؤُولٌ one who is asked
- تَسَآءَلُوا they asked, or begged, one another
- أَسْأَلَ to fulfil someone's request or need
More example sentences
وقد نهى النبي ﷺ عن أغلوطات المسائل
And the Prophet ﷺ prohibited intricate questions.
المَسَائِلِ of questions
Genitive owner of 'trick-questions' — 'the legal questions, issues'; broken plural of 'mas'ala'; deliberately knotty posers.
وبينهم اختلاف شديد في مسائل مزمنة،
and among them there is severe disagreement on longstanding issues,
مَسَائِلَ issues
Genitive after the preposition, this is a broken plural ('issues / problems') reshaped from its singular, and it belongs to the no-nunation 'diptote' class, so its ending stays bare. It names the long-disputed topics.
وما يذكره أصحاب أحمد في مسائل الخلاف إن إيجاب هذه الأذكار من مفردات أحمد عن الثلاثة؛
And what the followers of Ahmad mention in issues of disagreement: making these remembrances obligatory is unique to Ahmad, apart from the three others.
مَسَائِلِ issues
A plural noun sitting just after the preposition 'in', so it takes the genitive ending that the preposition demands. It is also the first half of another 'of' pairing with 'disagreement' that follows, giving 'issues of disagreement'.
Common questions
- How do you say "matter" in Arabic?
- مَسْأَلَةٌ (masʾalah).
- What does مسألة literally mean?
- It is the verbal noun of سأل, 'to ask' — literally 'the asking, inquiring, or requesting' — which extended to mean a question, issue, or matter.
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).