LessonsSupplementary Practice 26 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Qāriʿah and Sūrat al-TīnQuiz

DeviceLocationEffect
Repeated nounAl-qāriʿah, mā al-qāriʿahAwe and focus
Magnifying questionWa-mā adrākaSuspense and gravity
Descriptive similesPeople and mountainsMaking the scene visible
Division into outcomesFa-ammā … wa-ammāTwo contrasting destinations

Calling both occurrences of mā adrāka simply 'repetition' leaves out their different discourse targets. First the question magnifies the event itself, then it magnifies the fate of one of the two groups. Similar words can therefore perform contextually differentiated functions.

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Repetition versus clarification in al-Qāriʿah

Supplementary Practice 26 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Qāriʿah and Sūrat al-Tīn

DeviceLocationEffect
Repeated nounAl-qāriʿah, mā al-qāriʿahAwe and focus
Magnifying questionWa-mā adrākaSuspense and gravity
Descriptive similesPeople and mountainsMaking the scene visible
Division into outcomesFa-ammā … wa-ammāTwo contrasting destinations

Calling both occurrences of mā adrāka simply 'repetition' leaves out their different discourse targets. First the question magnifies the event itself, then it magnifies the fate of one of the two groups. Similar words can therefore perform contextually differentiated functions.