LessonsSupplementary Practice 29 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Infiṭār and Sūrat al-InshiqāqQuiz

إِنَّهُ ظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ يَحُورَ ۞ بَلَى إِنَّ رَبَّهُ كَانَ بِهِ بَصِيرًا
He thought he would never return; yes indeed, his Lord always saw him. (84:14–15)

“Lan yaḥūra” negates a future return within that person's mistaken belief; it is not a judgment endorsed by the Qurʾānic speaker. Balā reverses the negative assertion and affirms return. Translating it as a simple “no” would invert its function.

“Inna rabbahu kāna bihi baṣīran” gives an emphatic answer: the person was never outside divine sight. Fronting bihi brings the person under discussion into focus, though such fronting does not prove a technical restrictive construction in every instance.

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Al-Inshiqāq: denial of return and its refutation

Supplementary Practice 29 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Infiṭār and Sūrat al-Inshiqāq

إِنَّهُ ظَنَّ أَنْ لَنْ يَحُورَ ۞ بَلَى إِنَّ رَبَّهُ كَانَ بِهِ بَصِيرًا
He thought he would never return; yes indeed, his Lord always saw him. (84:14–15)

“Lan yaḥūra” negates a future return within that person's mistaken belief; it is not a judgment endorsed by the Qurʾānic speaker. Balā reverses the negative assertion and affirms return. Translating it as a simple “no” would invert its function.

“Inna rabbahu kāna bihi baṣīran” gives an emphatic answer: the person was never outside divine sight. Fronting bihi brings the person under discussion into focus, though such fronting does not prove a technical restrictive construction in every instance.