LessonsSupplementary Practice 25 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat az-Zalzalah and Sūrat al-ʿĀdiyātQuiz

وَقَالَ الْإِنْسَانُ مَا لَهَا
And the human being says: What has happened to it? (99:3)

Mā is interrogative; lahā refers to the earth’s condition. Following the violent shaking and the emergence of burdens, the question expresses a naturally arising response of bewilderment. Its effect is wonder and alarm, not merely the request for ordinary information.

Al-insān can function generically for humankind. The rhetorical portrait does not require every individual to pronounce precisely the same words; the verse captures the human response to the extraordinary event.

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The astonished question: mā lahā?

Supplementary Practice 25 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat az-Zalzalah and Sūrat al-ʿĀdiyāt

وَقَالَ الْإِنْسَانُ مَا لَهَا
And the human being says: What has happened to it? (99:3)

Mā is interrogative; lahā refers to the earth’s condition. Following the violent shaking and the emergence of burdens, the question expresses a naturally arising response of bewilderment. Its effect is wonder and alarm, not merely the request for ordinary information.

Al-insān can function generically for humankind. The rhetorical portrait does not require every individual to pronounce precisely the same words; the verse captures the human response to the extraordinary event.