LessonsPractice 7: Ellipsis, Preposing and Contextual Meaning in Qur’anic ExpressionQuiz

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ
You alone we worship.

Iyyāka is the accusative independent pronoun placed before naʿbudu. The grammatical observation is object preposing; the communicative reading is prominently restricted devotion to the divine addressee. Those claims have different evidential bases.

Naʿbuduka could also report worship directed toward You, but the fronted object makes exclusivity more salient in the actual verse. Comparing two grammatical forms exposes a rhetorical choice without suggesting that the ordinary order is itself incorrect.

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Three layers of preposing

Practice 7: Ellipsis, Preposing and Contextual Meaning in Qur’anic Expression

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ
You alone we worship.

Iyyāka is the accusative independent pronoun placed before naʿbudu. The grammatical observation is object preposing; the communicative reading is prominently restricted devotion to the divine addressee. Those claims have different evidential bases.

Naʿbuduka could also report worship directed toward You, but the fronted object makes exclusivity more salient in the actual verse. Comparing two grammatical forms exposes a rhetorical choice without suggesting that the ordinary order is itself incorrect.