قَواطِعُobstacles

Example sentences

• القلب عارف، والقواطع كثيرة

  The heart is knowledgeable, and the obstacles are many.

  والقَواطِعُ — and the obstacles. The wa- joins a second verbless sentence, and the noun is its subject, 'the obstacles', made definite by 'the' and standing in the subject case. As a plural it gathers all the hindrances about to be described as many.

  From: A Sound Heart Knows →

• فهذه قواطع تحول بين القلب وبين معرفته

  These obstacles stand between the heart and its understanding.

  قَواطِعُ — obstacles. This is the predicate naming what 'these' are, a plural meaning 'obstacles', so it stands in the subject case to match the demonstrative. Without 'the' it is indefinite; its plural shape has a special form that limits the case ending.

  From: A Sound Heart Knows →

• فإذا أراد العبد أن يصلح قلبه، فليقطع هذه القواطع،

  If the servant wants to repair his heart, let him cut these obstacles,

  القَواطِعَ — obstacles. The thing being cut, so it carries the object ending that Arabic adds to a noun receiving the action. It also takes 'the', making it a specific, known set of obstacles rather than just any.

  From: A Sound Heart Knows →