Interrogation (al-Istifhām): Particles, Conception, Assent and Rhetorical Uses

Read-only question overview. Answers and scoring remain inside authenticated learner attempts.

• What is the primary technical purpose of istifhām?
• Which interrogative may seek either identification or assent?
• In “A-ʿAlī musāfir am Khālid?”, what is unknown?
• What kind of answer does “A-sāfara ʿAlī?” call for?
• In “A-anta faʿalta hādhā am Yūsuf?”, what element is at issue?
• What does connected am do in an identification question?
• What is characteristic of disconnected am?
• What does “Hal jāʾa ṣadīquka?” seek?
• Why is “Hal al-ʿanqāʾ mawjūdah?” an example of simple hal?
• What sort of answer does “Mā al-ʿasjad?” require?
• What does man seek in “Man fataḥa Miṣr?”
• What do “Matā jiʾta?” and “Matā tadhhab?” show?
• What feature of ayyān is especially evident in “Ayyāna yawm al-qiyāmah”?
• What does “Kayfa anta?” ask?
• Which response appropriately answers “Ayna tadhhab?”
• What does annā mean in “Yā Maryam, annā laki hādhā”?
• In “Kam kitāban qaraʾta?”, what is the role of kitāban?
• What does “Ayy al-kitābayn qaraʾta?” ask?
• What is the rhetorical force in “Sawāʾun ʿalayhim a-andhartahum am lam tundhirhum”?
• What does interrogation convey in “Hal jazāʾu al-iḥsān illā al-iḥsān”?
• What is expressed by “A-ghayra Allāhi tadʿūn” rather than a genuine information request?
• What is the rhetorical force of “Fa-hal antum muntahūn”?
• What is awakened by “Hal adullukum ʿalā tijārah tunjīkum ...”?
• What is the rhetorical purpose of ayna in “Fa-ayna tadhhabūn”?
• In its literal interrogative use, hal equally asks for identification and assent.
• Matā can ask about the time of a past event.
• Annā always means only “from where.”
• Interrogative kam in “Kam kitāban qaraʾta?” seeks a number.
• “Man dhā alladhī yashfaʿu ʿindahu illā bi-idhnih” conveys magnification.
• Interrogative form can never convey a command, prohibition, or threat.