حَصًىstones

Example sentences

• مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَعْمَلُ لِلرِّيَاءِ وَالسُّمْعَةِ كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي يَمْلَأُ كِيسَهُ حَصًى،

  'The example of one who acts for showing off and seeking praise is like the example of one who fills his bag with stones,

  حَصًى — with stones. A bare noun, the stuff the bag is filled with, standing without 'the' to mean stones in general. Its ending marks it as the direct object the filling-verb acts upon.

  From: Empty Fasting, Empty Prayer →

• فَإِذَا فَتَحَهُ قُدَّامَ الْبَائِعِ فَإِذَا هُوَ حَصًى،

  and when he opens it in front of the seller, he finds it is only stones,

  حَصًى — stones. A bare indefinite noun, 'stones', serving as the predicate of a verbless sentence, 'it is stones'. Arabic needs no 'is' here; juxtaposing subject and predicate states the equation, and the missing 'the' keeps it general.

  From: Empty Fasting, Empty Prayer →