LessonsAl-Dhikr wa al-Hadhf: Rhetorical Purposes of Mention and OmissionQuiz

مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ
Your Lord has neither forsaken you nor become displeased. (Al-Ḍuḥā 93:3)

The first verb, “waddaʿaka,” explicitly carries the object pronoun “-ka.” The second, “qalā,” has the same intended object in meaning, but that pronoun is omitted. The underlying sense can be expressed as “wa-mā qalāka,” while the verse retains the cadence of its ending.

Maintaining cadence and matching verse endings can motivate omission. The prior object pronoun and direct address identify the addressee, so the pronoun is omitted without loss of reference.

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Omission 7: preserving assonance or cadence

Al-Dhikr wa al-Hadhf: Rhetorical Purposes of Mention and Omission

مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ
Your Lord has neither forsaken you nor become displeased. (Al-Ḍuḥā 93:3)

The first verb, “waddaʿaka,” explicitly carries the object pronoun “-ka.” The second, “qalā,” has the same intended object in meaning, but that pronoun is omitted. The underlying sense can be expressed as “wa-mā qalāka,” while the verse retains the cadence of its ending.

Maintaining cadence and matching verse endings can motivate omission. The prior object pronoun and direct address identify the addressee, so the pronoun is omitted without loss of reference.