أنفىto prevent more

Example sentences

• فَمِنْ ذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُمْ الْقَتْلُ أَنْفَى لِلْقَتْلِ، مَذْكُورٌ فِي قَوْلِهِ وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ

  Among them their saying: 'Killing prevents killing' is mentioned in His saying: 'And there is for you in legal retribution [saving of] life.'

  أَنْفَى — prevents more. This is a comparative form, 'more deterring of, more apt to ward off'. Arabic builds the comparative by reshaping the root into a fixed pattern rather than adding a word like 'more', so the single word carries the 'more X' sense. It is the predicate of the proverb.

  From: When Scripture Answers Proverbs →