أَلَمْwas not

Example sentences

• ألم نَجعَلُ الأرضَ كِفاتا، أحياءً وأمواتا

  Have We not made the earth a repository, for the living and the dead?

  أَلَمْ — Have not. This is a question-marker fused with a negation, forming 'have We not...?', a rhetorical question that expects the listener to agree. The two pieces together turn a denial into an affirmation through the form of a question, a frequent style in scripture-like address.

  From: Death and Decree →

• ثُمَّ قَالَ أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلرَّحِيلِ

  Then he said, "Is it not time to depart?"

  أَلَمْ — is it not. Two pieces fused: a question-marker 'a-' that turns the line into a query, plus the negator 'lam' that makes a present-shaped verb mean a negated past. Together they form a prodding 'is it not [yet] time', expecting agreement. The 'lam' also clips the following verb's ending into its special shape.

  From: A Night with the Prophet →

• أَلَمْ تَرَ مَا قَالَ لِي سَعْدٌ

  Have you not seen what Sa'd said to me?

  أَلَمْ — Have you not. A questioning prefix fused with the past-negator 'lam' — together 'did you not...?'. The 'lam' part flips a present verb into a negated past and forces it into the clipped (jussive) ending; the question-prefix makes it a rhetorical challenge.

  From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →

• قَالَ أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ مَا قَالَ سَعْدُ بْنُ عُبَادَةِ

  He said, "Did you not know what Sa'd ibn Ubadah said?"

  أَلَمْ — did you not. Two pieces: the question particle 'is/did?' fused with lam, the negation that pulls a verb into the past. Together they form a rhetorical 'did you not...?', and the lam part forces the following verb into its clipped shape; the tone expects agreement.

  From: Conquest of Mecca Account →