قِلَّةِscarcity

Example sentences

• مُرِيدًا لِسُلُوكِ طَرِيقٍ مُرَافِقُهُ فِيهَا فِي غَايَةِ الْقِلَّةِ وَالْعِزَّةِ،

  seeking to follow a path whose companion in it is in the utmost scarcity and honor,

  الْقِلَّةِ — scarcity. A definite noun completing the 'utmost of' pair, 'the extreme of scarcity', genitive as the owner. The pairing means the companions on this road are vanishingly few. It is the first of two qualities, paired with honour, that the lonely path's fellowship has.

  From: Choosing Good Companions →

• وَلَا تَسْتَوْحِشْ لِقِلَّةِ السَّالِكِينَ،

  And do not be discouraged by the small number of those who follow the path.

  لِقِلَّةِ — because of the small number of. The li- here gives the reason ('because of'), the cause-marking use of this versatile preposition. The noun it rides is 'fewness' and heads an 'of' pairing with the travellers named next. So li- both states why one should not despair and governs the whole 'small number of...' phrase into the genitive.

  From: Choosing Good Companions →