اللَّيْلِof the night

Example sentences

• فَلَمَّا كَانَ آخِرَ اللَّيْلِ ذَهَبَ سُكْرِيُ،

  As the night drew to a close, my drowsiness left.

  اللَّيْلِ — of the night. The al- makes this definite, and it is the owned, second half of 'the end of the night', so it sits in the genitive the first term forces on it. The two nouns butt together with no word for 'of'; the case ending tells you the night is what the 'end' belongs to.

  From: A Night of Reckoning →

• فَكَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ يَصْبِرُ عَلَى مُكَابَدَةِ قِيَامِ اللَّيْلِ فِي الْحَرِّ وَالْبَرْدِ

  Many people endure the hardship of standing in prayer at night in heat and cold.

  اللَّيْلِ — the night. The definite 'the night', closing the 'of' pairing as the owner ('the standing of the night'), and giving the whole phrase its definiteness. As the owner term it takes the genitive ending. The al- marks 'the' with no separate word.

  From: Patience and the Human Self →

• وَقَدْ بَقِيَ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ بَقِيَّةٌ

  And part of the night still remained.

  اللَّيْل — the night. Marked definite by the attached 'al-' ('the'), and pulled into the genitive ending because the preposition just before it governs it. It is the larger whole that the 'remainder' is a piece of, so it answers 'a part of WHAT'.

  From: Seeking Refuge from the Devil →