لَيْسnot in Arabic

Example sentences

• لَيْسَ هُوَ عملا بالجوارح يشق عَلَيْك معاناته

  It is not an action of the limbs that causes you hardship in its endeavor.

  لَيْسَ — It is not. This is the special 'is not' that negates an equational sentence while acting like a verb: it puts its subject in the subject case and throws its predicate into the accusative. Here it denies that the matter is bodily 'work'.

  From: Repentance and Resolve →

• وَلَيْسَ للجوارح فِي هذَيْن نصب وَلَا تَعب

  And for the limbs, there is no toil or hardship in these two tasks.

  وَلَيْسَ — And there is not. The verb-like 'is not' here negates existence, 'there is no...'. Combined with the 'for' phrase that follows it yields 'the limbs have no...', Arabic's way of saying someone lacks something.

  From: Repentance and Resolve →

• وأما من كان ليس من أهله لكونه غير جامع لأدواته فحرام عليه التفسير

  As for those who are not qualified, because they do not possess the tools, interpretation is forbidden for them.

  لَيْسَ — are not. A special verb meaning simply 'is not.' Where most negation uses a particle, Arabic has this whole verb for denying a state — 'he is not [of its people].' It is the flat 'not' at the heart of the description.

  From: How Scholars Read Scripture →