LessonsAl-Ta‘rif wa al-Tankir: Rhetorical Functions of Definiteness and IndefinitenessQuiz

إِنَّ الَّذِي سَمَكَ السَّمَاءَ بَنَى لَنَا بَيْتًا
Indeed, the One who raised the sky built a house for us.

A relative clause describing an extraordinary act can magnify the subject even before the main predicate arrives. “The One who raised the sky” evokes tremendous agency through the content of the clause.

Magnification is produced by what the relative clause communicates. A bare name could identify the referent but would not foreground this particular ground for esteem.

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Magnifying the subject of an action

Al-Ta‘rif wa al-Tankir: Rhetorical Functions of Definiteness and Indefiniteness

إِنَّ الَّذِي سَمَكَ السَّمَاءَ بَنَى لَنَا بَيْتًا
Indeed, the One who raised the sky built a house for us.

A relative clause describing an extraordinary act can magnify the subject even before the main predicate arrives. “The One who raised the sky” evokes tremendous agency through the content of the clause.

Magnification is produced by what the relative clause communicates. A bare name could identify the referent but would not foreground this particular ground for esteem.