أَلَّاthat not

Example sentences

• قَالَتْ تَسْتَأْهِلُ أَلَّا أَرْحَمَكَ

  She said, "You deserve that I withhold my mercy from you."

  أَلَّا — that not. This is a contraction of the particle that introduces a 'that...' clause with a negative, fusing 'that' and 'not' into one word. It does double duty: it opens the clause naming what he deserves and negates the verb inside it, while also throwing that verb into its subjunctive shape. So it both subordinates and negates at once.

  From: A Night of Reckoning →

• يَنْبَغِيَ أَلَّا يَقْصُرَ الإِنسَانُ فِي رِعَايَةِ حَقِّهِ

  One should not be negligent in safeguarding his right.

  أَلَّا — not to. A fusion of the particle 'that' with the negator 'not', meaning 'that ... not'. Its grammatical job is to introduce the obligation's content as a negative aim and to switch the verb after it into its subjunctive, goal-oriented shape. So it both negates and changes the following verb's ending.

  From: Honoring Parents →