LessonsSupplementary Practice 23: Comparative Rhetorical Study of Sūrat al-Masad and al-IkhlāṣQuiz

هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
He is Allah, uniquely One. (112:1)

One recognized parse treats huwa as the subject, Allāh as its predicate, and aḥad as a second predicate. Another understands huwa as a pronoun of the matter (ḍamīr al-shaʾn), with 'Allāhu aḥad' functioning as the explanatory sentence. Both affirm divine oneness, although they assign different syntactic roles to the pronoun.

Under the pronoun-of-matter reading, the following clause unfolds a matter of special importance; the alternative emphasizes direct predication. One should not conceal the grammatical alternatives.

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Huwa Allāhu aḥad: the pronoun and predication

Supplementary Practice 23: Comparative Rhetorical Study of Sūrat al-Masad and al-Ikhlāṣ

هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
He is Allah, uniquely One. (112:1)

One recognized parse treats huwa as the subject, Allāh as its predicate, and aḥad as a second predicate. Another understands huwa as a pronoun of the matter (ḍamīr al-shaʾn), with 'Allāhu aḥad' functioning as the explanatory sentence. Both affirm divine oneness, although they assign different syntactic roles to the pronoun.

Under the pronoun-of-matter reading, the following clause unfolds a matter of special importance; the alternative emphasizes direct predication. One should not conceal the grammatical alternatives.