عَجَبٌ surprise in Arabic

لَيْسَ الْعجب من مَمْلُوك يتذلل لله ويتعبّد لَهُ،

It is not surprising for a servant to humble himself before Allah and worship Him,

العَجَبُ surprising

al- = 'the'; ajab means 'wonder, surprise'; the '-u' ending marks it as the subject ('the wonder is not…').

From Seeds and Streams of Deeds

إِنَّمَا الْعجب من مَالك يتحبب إِلَى مَمْلُوكه بصنوف إنعامه،

Indeed, the wonder is of a Master who endears Himself to His servant with various kinds of His favors,

العَجَبُ the wonder

al- = 'the'; ajab means 'wonder, surprise'; the '-u' ending marks it as the subject.

From Seeds and Streams of Deeds

إِنَّمَا الْعجب من قَوْله يُحِبهُمْ

The true wonder is from His saying, 'He loves them.'

الْعَجَبُ the astonishment

The topic, nominative ('-u'), definite — 'the wonder [is]…'. What 'innama' restricts.

From The Path to God's Love

لَيْسَ الْعجب من فَقير مِسْكين يحب محسنا إِلَيْهِ

It is not astonishing from a poor, needy person to love one who is kind to him.

الْعَجَبُ the astonishment

The subject of 'is not', nominative ('-u'), definite. What is denied to be the wonder.

From The Path to God's Love

إِنَّمَا الْعجب من محسن يحب فَقِيرا مِسْكينا

The true wonder is that a kind one loves a poor, needy person.

الْعَجَبُ the astonishment

The topic, nominative ('-u'), definite — 'the wonder [is]…'. What 'innama' restricts.

From The Path to God's Love

ياعجبا من يُغطي عين ضوء الشَّمْس فِي نصف النَّهَار

How amazing is one who covers the eye of the sun's light at midday!

عَجَبًا amazing

The '-an' ending is the giveaway that this is an exclamatory accusative: after the cry of wonder, the noun for 'astonishment' is set in the object case, an idiom meaning roughly 'how astonishing!' English needs a whole frame ('how amazing is...') for what Arabic does with one ending.

From The Prophet's Refuge in the Cave

فإذا تذكر الإنسان مبدأ أمره ومنتهاه، زال عنه العجب والغرور،

Thus, when a person remembers his origin and end, his vanity and arrogance disappear,

العَجَبُ vanity

The subject of 'departs', named after the verb, its 'the' marking self-amazement as a known failing. It is the thing that lifts off the man once he reflects.

From A Path to Mercy

وَلَيْسَ الْعَجَبُ أَنْ يَغْلِبَ، إِنَّمَا الْعَجَبُ أَنْ يُغْلَبَ

It is not surprising that one should prevail; what is surprising is that one should be overcome.

الْعَجَبُ the surprise

A noun made definite by al- ('the wonder/surprise'), here the subject of the 'is not' verb. With no spoken 'is', the sentence works as 'the surprise is not...', and this noun is what the later 'that'-clause will turn out to be or not be.

From Guarding the Heart from Heedlessness

وَلَيْسَ الْعَجَبُ أَنْ يَغْلِبَ، إِنَّمَا الْعَجَبُ أَنْ يُغْلَبَ

It is not surprising that one should prevail; what is surprising is that one should be overcome.

الْعَجَبُ the surprise

The same definite noun 'the surprise' repeated, now the subject of the second half. The repetition is deliberate parallelism, setting the real surprise (being overcome) against the non-surprise (prevailing) stated before.

From Guarding the Heart from Heedlessness