LessonsDefiniteness of the Subject with al-: Reference, Essence and Exhaustive InclusionQuiz

وَأَخَافُ أَنْ يَأْكُلَهُ الذِّئْبُ
I fear that a wolf may devour him.

Here «الذِّئْبُ» need not designate one individually identified wolf known in advance. The fear concerns an animal of that kind that might attack. Thus a noun grammatically marked as definite can function through mental familiarity without specific external identification.

This is a standard illustration of mental reference with al- (لام العهد الذهني). Reading it as exhaustive inclusion would wrongly suggest that all wolves collectively perform the action, something the context does not require.

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Mental reference in the expression al-dhiʾb

Definiteness of the Subject with al-: Reference, Essence and Exhaustive Inclusion

وَأَخَافُ أَنْ يَأْكُلَهُ الذِّئْبُ
I fear that a wolf may devour him.

Here «الذِّئْبُ» need not designate one individually identified wolf known in advance. The fear concerns an animal of that kind that might attack. Thus a noun grammatically marked as definite can function through mental familiarity without specific external identification.

This is a standard illustration of mental reference with al- (لام العهد الذهني). Reading it as exhaustive inclusion would wrongly suggest that all wolves collectively perform the action, something the context does not require.