LessonsSupplementary Practice 28 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Aʿlā and Sūrat al-GhāshiyahQuiz

وَالَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَىٰ ۞ فَجَعَلَهُ غُثَاءً أَحْوَىٰ
Who brought forth the pasture, then made it dark, dry stubble. (87:4–5)

“Brought forth” depicts the pasture flourishing; “then made it” shows its later condition. The pronoun -hu returns to “pasture,” binding two stages to one subject.

The transition from growth to withering offers a vivid contrast with few words. “Chaff” and “dark” are not redundant synonyms: the first describes the withered material and the second its appearance. The rhetorical economy lies in the ordered image, not in omitting a necessary part of it.

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Pasture and chaff: a changing scene

Supplementary Practice 28 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Aʿlā and Sūrat al-Ghāshiyah

وَالَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَىٰ ۞ فَجَعَلَهُ غُثَاءً أَحْوَىٰ
Who brought forth the pasture, then made it dark, dry stubble. (87:4–5)

“Brought forth” depicts the pasture flourishing; “then made it” shows its later condition. The pronoun -hu returns to “pasture,” binding two stages to one subject.

The transition from growth to withering offers a vivid contrast with few words. “Chaff” and “dark” are not redundant synonyms: the first describes the withered material and the second its appearance. The rhetorical economy lies in the ordered image, not in omitting a necessary part of it.