LessonsRhetorical States of Verbal Complements: Omission, Mention and PreposingQuiz

«اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ» (al-ʿAlaq 96:1)
Read in the name of your Lord who created.

Here “bi-smi rabbika” follows “iqraʾ” and connects reading with the Lord’s name. In related rhetorical analysis, attention to a complement depends on what the discourse most importantly asks the hearer to do or recognize.

The passage is relevant to discussion of formulas such as “bi-smi Allāh,” whose understood verbal governor may be placed differently in analysis. Word order must be assessed together with the governing action and the communicative purpose.

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The prominent complement in “Read in the name”

Rhetorical States of Verbal Complements: Omission, Mention and Preposing

«اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ» (al-ʿAlaq 96:1)
Read in the name of your Lord who created.

Here “bi-smi rabbika” follows “iqraʾ” and connects reading with the Lord’s name. In related rhetorical analysis, attention to a complement depends on what the discourse most importantly asks the hearer to do or recognize.

The passage is relevant to discussion of formulas such as “bi-smi Allāh,” whose understood verbal governor may be placed differently in analysis. Word order must be assessed together with the governing action and the communicative purpose.