Arabic vocabulary
أَمْرmatter
How to say “matter” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
Example sentences
اشْتَدَّ الْجِهَادُ وَصَعُبَ الأَمْرُ بِخِلافِ جِهَادِ الْكُفَّارِ
The struggle becomes intense and the matter becomes difficult, unlike the struggle against the disbelievers.
الأَمْرُ — the matter. al- = 'the'; amr means 'matter, affair'; the '-u' ending marks it as the subject.
From: Resisting Temptation →ومع كل فجرٍ جديد، اجعل نيتك أوّل عملك، وابتسم سرًّا حين تنتصر على نفسك في أمر صغير؛
With each new dawn, make your intention your first action, and smile secretly when you overcome yourself in a small matter.
أَمْرٍ — a matter. 'amr' = 'matter, affair'. No 'al-', so 'a matter'.
From: Small Daily Habits →مالم يُخرجهُ ذَلِكَ إِلَى إِسْقَاط الْأَمر وَالنَّهْي وَالثَّوَاب وَالْعِقَاب والوعد والوعيد
As long as it does not lead him to dismiss command and prohibition, reward and punishment, promise and warning.
الْأَمْرِ — command. The second half of that 'of' pairing — what is being annulled — so it sits in the genitive. It opens a run of matched opposites (command and prohibition, reward and punishment, promise and threat) all governed by that one 'annulment of'.
From: Worship God Alone →الذِّكرُ النافعُ يجمعُ ثلاثةَ أمور
Beneficial remembrance encompasses three aspects:
أُمُورٍ — aspects. 'matters, aspects', genitive plural counted by 'three'. A broken plural; after numbers three to ten the thing counted goes plural and genitive like this.
From: Words That Nourish the Heart →تقول لا إلهَ إلا الله فتقطعُ تبعيّةَ القلب لِما سوى الله، ثم تُترجمها فعلًا تُقدِّم أمرَه على رغبتك
You say: 'There is no god but Allah' and cut the heart's dependency on anything besides Allah, then translate it into action: you prioritize His command over your desire.
أَمْرَهُ — His command. 'His command' — 'amr' with 'His' attached, accusative as the object given precedence. The 'His' points to God.
From: Remembrance That Reshapes the Heart →لله سُبْحَانَهُ على عَبده أَمر أمره بِهِ
To Allah, glory be to Him, belongs a command He has given to His servant.
أَمْرٌ — a command. This is the actual subject, 'a command', held back to the end after the fronted 'belongs-to-God' predicate. Indefinite and in the '-u' ending, it is what God has as His due; Arabic delays the subject like this to spotlight the predicate first.
From: Accepting God's Decree →وَبَيْنَهُمَا أُمُورٌ مُشْتَبِهَاتٌ لَا يَعْلَمُهُنَّ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ النَّاسِ،
and between them are doubtful matters, which many people do not know.
أُمُورٌ — matters. A broken plural, 'matters', the subject held back after the fronted 'between them'. Indefinite and in the '-u' ending, it introduces a third, in-between category.
From: The Lawful, the Forbidden, and the Grey →وإن كان مما لا يدرك بالاجتهاد كالأمور التي طريقها النقل وتفسير الألفاظ اللغوية فلا يجوز الكلام فيه إلا بنقل صحيح من جهة المعتمدين من أهله
And if it is not reachable through juristic effort, like matters of transmission and linguistic interpretation, then speaking on it is not allowed except with authentic transmission from trusted authorities.
كَالْأُمُورِ — like matters. The 'ka-' opens examples — 'such as the matters...' — the broken plural narrowed by the relative clause next: matters whose only road is transmission.
From: Quran Interpretation and Debate →وربما أدى الأمر بالشاعر إلى التجاوز إلى الكفر،
And perhaps it leads the poet to go so far as to disbelief,
الْأَمْرُ — the matter. This is the subject of 'leads', nominative — 'the matter / affair' of poetry-making. It is what drives the poet toward the bad end. Its plain ending marks it as the doer.
From: Sincere Preaching →وفاسق الكتبة إليه المنتهى في السرق وعاقبة أمرهم وبيلة من الضرب والمصادرة والفقر
And the dissolute scribes reach the pinnacle of theft, and their final outcome is disaster with beatings, confiscation, and poverty.
أَمْرِهِمْ — of their matter. This completes 'the outcome of their affair', with attached '-hum' = 'their', in the genitive as owner. The pronoun ties the end-result to the corrupt scribes. So 'how their business ends up'.
From: Intention in Islam →السابع أن رد الماء إلى الاحليل أو الصلب بعد خروجه منه غير معروف ولا هو أمر معتاد جرت به القدرة وإن كان مقدورًا للرب تعالى
The seventh is that returning water to the urethra or backbone after it has departed is neither known nor a usual occurrence allowed by power, even if it is something the Lord Almighty can do.
أَمْرٌ — an occurrence. This noun 'a thing/occurrence' is the predicate of 'nor is it a thing', indefinite, in the plain ending. It is described by the adjective and relative clause that follow, characterizing the returning as an unusual matter.
From: Ten Proofs of Resurrection →وهو سبحانه إنما يستدل على أمر واقع ولا بد إما قد وقع ووجد أو سيقع
And He, glorified be He, uses evidence only for an actual matter that must have either already occurred or will occur.
أَمْرٍ — an actual matter. This noun lacks 'the' and ends in the two-dot mark that signals an indefinite noun, so it means 'a matter', some matter, not a known one. Arabic shows indefiniteness by this ending rather than by a separate word like English 'a'.
From: Ten Proofs of Resurrection →ثم أخبر سبحانه أنه تنزيل من رب العالمين وذلك يتضمن أمورًا
Then Allah informed that it is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds, which entails several things:
أُمُورًا — several things. A plural noun 'matters/things', indefinite, standing as the object of 'entails'. Its object ending marks it as what is contained; its indefiniteness leaves the number open before the list specifies them.
From: God's Eternal Word →ونقل فكرته في مجاري الخلق والأمر
And he directed his thoughts through the courses of creation and command.
وَالْأَمْرِ — and command. An 'and' fused to a noun 'command/affair', a second owning noun joined to the chain, 'and command'. It stands in the owner form, pairing the realm of creation with the realm of divine command.
From: Proof in All Creation →أي إن كان نطقكم حقيقة وهو أمر موجود لا تمارون فيه ولا تشكون
Meaning, if your speech is a reality, which is something you do not dispute or doubt.
أَمْرٌ — something. An indefinite noun 'a thing/matter', the predicate of 'it is', 'it is something'. Its subject-form ending marks it as the predicate; the adjective that follows will sharpen it.
From: Proof in All Creation →وقد رأيت ما آل أمره إليه من الحط عليه، والهجر والتضليل والتكفير والتكذيب بحق وبباطل،
And I have seen what his affair came to of criticism against him, abandonment, accusations of misguidance and disbelief, and denial, both rightly and wrongly,
أَمْرُهُ — his situation. This noun, his affair, is the subject of 'came to', in the nominative, with the possessor attached pointing back to the man being discussed. The suffix tracks whose affair it is, so it reads 'his situation came to'.
From: Unity Over Partisanship →عجبت لمن يعجب بصورته وينسى مبدأ أمره
I am amazed at the one who admires his appearance and forgets his origins.
أَمْرِهِ — his matter. A noun 'affair/matter' with an attached 'his' fused on, closing the 'beginning of his affair' pair. It is the owner in the chain, and the possessor is carried wholly by that ending.
From: A Path to Mercy →فإذا تذكر الإنسان مبدأ أمره ومنتهاه، زال عنه العجب والغرور،
Thus, when a person remembers his origin and end, his vanity and arrogance disappear,
أَمْرِهِ — his matter. A noun 'affair' with an attached 'his' fused on, closing the 'beginning of his affair' pair as the owner. The possessor rides on the suffix alone.
From: A Path to Mercy →فالعاقل من يتفكر في أول أمره وآخره، فيستحي من الله تعالى أن يعصيه،
The wise one is he who reflects on his beginning and his end, and feels shy before Allah to disobey Him,
أَمْرِهِ — his matter. A noun 'affair' with an attached 'his' fused on, closing the 'first of his affair' pair as the owner. The possessor rides on the suffix.
From: A Path to Mercy →فالعاقل من يملك نفسه عند الغضب، ويكظم غيظه، ويتذكر عاقبة الأمر
The wise person is one who controls himself when angry, suppresses his rage, and recalls the consequences.
ٱلْأَمْرِ — the affair. The owning noun closing the 'outcome of the matter' pair. Its 'the' makes the phrase definite, naming the affair as what that outcome belongs to.
From: Restraining Anger →ترى الرجل يقدم على أمر يظن فيه لذة أو منفعة، فينغمس فيه،
You see a man rushing into something he thinks brings pleasure or benefit, and he immerses himself in it,
أَمْرٍ — something. The object of the preposition, so it takes the possessive case, and with no 'the' it stays indefinite, 'some matter'. Its indefiniteness is what lets the following verb describe it without a relative word.
From: Think Before You Act →فَكيف لَا يسلم المستعيذ بِاللَّه من الشَّيْطَان وَالْملك يذود عَنهُ بِأَمْر الْملك الديَّان
So how can the one who seeks refuge with Allah not be safe from Satan, while the angel wards him off by the command of the Sovereign, the Just?
بِأَمْرِ — by the command. The attached particle governs the next noun into the prepositional form and ties the warding to its authorization: it marks by what it is done. That noun also opens an 'of' pairing with the word after it.
From: Ten Daily Supplications →واستكفائه ذلك الأمر واستتار في الغار،
And his seeking help for that matter and his concealment in the cave,
الأَمْرَ — task. This noun is the object of the action-noun 'seeking-sufficiency-for', so it sits in the object form, the thing he sought help with. The 'the' makes it the specific, defined matter.
From: Trust in God →إلا أنه لم يكشف لك كل الأمر،
However, it did not disclose to you the whole matter.
الأَمْرِ — matter. A definite noun, 'the matter', the owned half of 'all the matter', carrying the owned-by ending. It is what the totality word measures, the whole affair that was not fully revealed.
From: Gaps in a Collection of Pious Lives →
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