IBN UTHAYMEEN TAFSEER :

Grammar & Rhetoric: How Sentence Structure Elevates Meaning

The commentary draws out incredible linguistic tools used in these verses to highlight key spiritual lessons:

A. Repetition for Honor

In Verse 5, Allah repeats the demonstrative pronoun ‘Ula’ika’ ($أُولَٰئِكَ$):

﴿أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾

“Those are upon guidance from their Lord, and those are the successful.”

Why repeat the word “Those”? In classical Arabic rhetoric ($بَلَاغَة$), repeating $أُولَٰئِكَ$ serves to elevate their status and emphasize that ultimate success ($الْفَلَاح$) belongs exclusively to them.

B. The Separator Pronoun ($ضَمِير\text{ }الْفَصْل$)

In the phrase ﴿وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾, the word ﴿هُمُ﴾ is inserted between the subject and the predicate. Grammatically, this is a Damīr Al-Fasl. It serves three major purposes:

  • Emphasis ($التَّأْكِيد$): Reinforces the reality of their success.

  • Exclusivity ($الْحَصْر$): Limits true ultimate success to the Muttaqīn alone.

  • Clarification: Ensures the word that follows ($الْمُفْلِحُونَ$) is read as the Predicate ($خَبَر$), not a mere descriptive adjective ($صِفَة$).

 

 

The Sentence Structure in Question

The verse in Surah Al-Baqarah (2:5) reads:

$$\text{﴿وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾}$$

  • ﴿أُولَٰئِكَ﴾ (‘Ulā’ika): Demonstrative pronoun = Subject ($مُبْتَدَأ$) (“Those…”)

  • ﴿هُمُ﴾ (Hum): Separator pronoun = $ضَمِير\text{ }الْفَصْل$ (“they / it is they…”)

  • ﴿الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾ (Al-Mufliḥūn): Definite noun = The Successful

Case 1: What if ﴿هُمُ﴾ WAS NOT THERE? (Omitted)

If the verse simply read ﴿وَأُولَٰئِكَ الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾ (wā’ulā’ika al-mufliḥūn):

    ﴿أُولَٰئِكَ﴾                    ﴿الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾
  Subject (Definite)              Definite Noun
         │                              │
         └──────────────┬───────────────┘
                        ▼
          In standard Arabic grammar:
    Definite + Definite = ADJECTIVE (صفة)

The Grammatical Problem:

In Arabic grammar, when a definite noun follows a demonstrative pronoun (like ‘Ulā’ika), the default assumption is that the second word is a descriptive adjective ($صِفَة$) or an apposition ($بَدَل$), NOT the main predicate ($خَبَر$) that finishes the thought.

What it would mean:

  • The sentence becomes an incomplete clause: “Those successful people…”

  • The listener is left hanging, waiting for the predicate: “Those successful people… what about them?”

  • To make it a complete sentence without hum, the word Al-Mufliḥūn would have to drop its definite article ($ال$) and become indefinite: ﴿وَأُولَٰئِكَ مُفْلِحُونَ﴾ (“Those are successful people”). But making it indefinite weakens the statement—it would mean they are just some generic group of successful people among many.

Case 2: What happens WHEN ﴿هُمُ﴾ IS INCLUDED? (The Actual Quranic Text)

By inserting ﴿هُمُ﴾ between two definite nouns, Allah places a wall/separator ($فَصْل$) between them:

  ﴿أُولَٰئِكَ﴾              ﴿هُمُ﴾             ﴿الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾
    Subject            Separator Pronoun          PREDICATE (خبر)
  (Demonstrative)        (Damīr Al-Faṣl)       (Forced to be the main
                                                statement, not a description)

The Significance of Doing It (Including ﴿هُمُ﴾):

  1. It Locks Al-Mufliḥūn as the Predicate (خَبَر$):

    The pronoun acts as a grammatical “stop sign.” It tells the reader: “Stop treating the next word as a descriptive modifier. The next word is the core message and conclusion of the sentence.”

    Translation: “And those—they are the successful.”

  2. It Creates Absolute Exclusivity ($الْحَصْر\text{ }وَالاِخْتِصَاص$):

    In Arabic rhetoric, placing a separator pronoun between a subject and a definite predicate limits the quality exclusively to that subject. It doesn’t just say they are successful; it implies only they are the truly successful ones. Everyone else who lacks their qualities (the 5 traits of Taqwa mentioned in verses 3–4) is excluded from real, ultimate success.

  3. It Keeps the Definite Article ($ال$):

    By keeping the (Al-) on Al-Mufliḥūn, it refers to The Ultimate, Complete Success (success in this life and the Hereafter), rather than just a partial or temporal success.

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