أَيُّO

Example sentences

• وقيل له أي العيش خير؟

  He was asked, 'What is the best state of living?'

  أَيُّ — what. This is a question-word 'which', and it is the front half of 'which of the living', a possessive-style pairing with the noun after it. It opens the direct question.

  From: Moderation in Medicine →

• قال رجل يا رسول الله، أي الناس أحق مني بحسن الصحبة؟

  A man said, 'O Messenger of Allah, which of the people is most deserving of my good companionship?'

  أي — which / who. An interrogative, 'which', opening the question and heading an 'X of Y' pair, 'which of the people'. It asks for one to be picked out of a defined group.

  From: Honoring Your Mother →

• بَيِّنًا تَجْرِي بِرَاكِبِهَا عَثَرَتْ بِهِ أَيُّ عِثَارٍ،

  Clearly, it was running with its rider, it stumbled on it—what a stumble.

  أَيُّ — what a. An exclamatory word, 'what a ...!', that heads a possessive link with the noun after it to voice amazement — 'what a stumble'. It forces the following noun into the genitive and carries the emphatic, wondering force of the line. It expresses awe at the scale of the fall.

  From: This World Is Short →

• قَالَ لِخَدِيجَةِ أَيُّ خَدِيجَةُ مَا لِيَ،

  He said to Khadijah, "O Khadijah, what is the matter with me?"

  أَىْ — O. A calling word, the 'O' used to address someone directly, that flags the next noun as the one being spoken to. Its whole job is to open a direct address.

  From: The Night of Revelation and Consolation →

• أَيُّ رَجُلٍ فِيكُمْ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ سَلَامٍ

  Which man among you is Abdullah ibn Salam?

  أَيُّ — which. A question-determiner 'which' that opens an identifying inquiry and governs the noun after it. It asks the listeners to pick out one individual, setting up 'which man... is the one named'.

  From: What Was Created First →

• فَقَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ أَيُّ حَدِيثٍ فَأَخْبَرَتْهَا

  So Aisha said, "Which report?" So she told her.

  أَيُّ — which. This is the question word 'which', asking the listener to single out one item from a set. It leads a 'which ___?' question and binds tightly to the noun after it, on which it depends for its sense.

  From: Aisha Cleared of Slander →

• أَيُّ يُقَلِّلُ تَشَاغُلَكُمْ بِالنَّوَافِلِ ؛

  That is, it reduces your preoccupation with the supererogatory acts.

  أَيُّ — that is. An explanatory particle 'that is / meaning', used to restate or clarify what was just said. It introduces a paraphrase of the previous point, signalling that what follows spells out the same idea in plainer terms.

  From: Sincerity in Prophetic Knowledge →

• يُقَالُ تَيِّمُ اللَّهِ أَيُّ عَبْدٌ لِلَّهِ فَالْمُتَيِّمُ الْمُعَبَّدُ لِمَحْبُوبِهِ

  It is said, 'Enamored of God,' that is, 'servant of God.' So the enamored becomes a worshipper for his beloved.

  أَيُّ — that is. This small word signals a restatement: what comes next renames or explains what came before, the way English uses 'that is' or 'meaning'. It does not add new content; it flags that the upcoming noun is a gloss on the previous phrase, steering the reader to read them as equivalents.

  From: Faith and Worship →

• أَيُّ يَرُدُّكَ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلَى أَنفُسِكَ

  Or will Satan turn you back to your self?

  أَيُّ — or. A particle opening the line with a sense of 'or/is it that', framing what follows as a pointed rhetorical question. It sets up an alternative being weighed against the contrast just drawn between Satan's and God's promises.

  From: Charity and Stinginess →

• فقال في خطبته أيها الناس القوي فيكم الضعيف عندي حتى آخذ منه الحق،

  So in his speech, he said: 'O people, the strong among you is weak to me until I take the right from him,

  أَيُّهَا — O. An attention-word that, with an implied call-particle, opens direct address to a crowd, 'O you'. It is used because the noun it summons carries 'the', which the bare call-particle cannot attach to directly.

  From: Obedience to God and Authority →