# Types of ال



## mehrilo

So far I know there are some 13 types of _al. ال.    that 12 of them  can be seen in the following verses
Would you please  tell me their English and Arabic terms:

عملوا الصالحات (2:25

فعصی فرعون الرسول( 73:15

الیوم اکملت لکم (5:3

لقد رضی الله عن المومنین... الشجر
( 48:18)

جعلنا من الما کل شی حی (21:30

آن الانسان لفی خسر( 103:2

انت الرجل

السابقون السابقون. (56:10
من اهل المدینه (9:101
لغلامین یتیمین فی المدینه(18:82
الذی جعل لکم. (2:22

ال in الذی is زاید can we call it decorative
In  السابقون is relative can we call it nominal /relative _al
How about the rest?


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## Ali Smith

If memory serves, there are four types of لام التعريف:

الزائدة
للجنس
للعهد الذهني
للعهد الخارجي

I believe the one in إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ is للجنس, but I am not sure.


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## Usalman

t's for jins because it's talking about all of mankind.


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## zj73

Sometimes a man named Numan will be called النعمان. What kind of "al" is that and what is its purpose?


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## mehrilo

I think it is زائد decorative


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## Mahaodeh

Ali Smith said:


> If memory serves, there are four types of لام التعريف:
> 
> الزائدة
> للجنس
> للعهد الذهني
> للعهد الخارجي
> 
> I believe the one in إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ is للجنس, but I am not sure.


The three types are
الجنسية 
العهدية
لبيان الحقيقة
الزائدة


mehrilo said:


> I think it is زائد decorative


Yes, in this case it’s زائدة.


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## Ali Smith

Actually, there are two basic types of ال:

1. اسمي
2. حرفي

The former (اسمي) has the meaning of الذي، التي، اللذان, etc. and is prefixed to an اسم فاعل or اسم مفعول. However, there is one condition: the اسم فاعل or اسم مفعول must not be derived from a stative verb. Thus, الكابر's ال is not اسمي, because the root كَبُرَ يَكْبُرُ is stative.

The latter (حرفي) is of two types: زائد and غير زائد. The former (زائد) is only added to make the following word sound nice. It serves no other purpose.

The latter (غير زائد) is of four types:

1. جنسي
2. استغراقي
3. للعهد الخارجي
4. للعهد الذهني

The first type (جنسي) refers to a general concept, not an instance of it. Thus, in the saying الرجل خير من المرأة both الs are referring to general concepts, not instances. Another example is وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ "And we have made of water everything living".

The remaining three types (استغراقي، للعهد الخارجي، and للعهد الذهني) are used when referring to an instance/instances, not a general concept. The first of them (استغراقي) is used when referring to all the instances of a general concept. Thus, in the Qur'an it says إن الإنسان لفي خسر. Here all the instances of إنسان are intended. Another example is يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ ۚ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا "For man was created weak".

The second (للعهد الخارجي) is used when referring to a specific instance/instances. Thus, in إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ رَسُولًا شَاهِدًا عَلَيْكُمْ كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ رَسُولًا (15) فَعَصَىٰ فِرْعَوْنُ الرَّسُولَ  the ال is for العهد الخارجي because الرسول is referring to a specific instance of the concept رسول, namely the messenger who is mentioned in the preceding verse: كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ رَسُولًا. Other examples are إذ هما في الغار "When they were in the cave" and جاءني هذا الرجلُ "This man came to me" and الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ "Today I have completed for you your religion".

The third (للعهد الذهني) is used when referring to an unspecified instance/instances. Thus, in

قَالُوا يَا أَبَانَا مَا لَكَ لَا تَأْمَنَّا عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَنَاصِحُونَ (11) أَرْسِلْهُ مَعَنَا غَدًا يَرْتَعْ وَيَلْعَبْ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ (12) قَالَ إِنِّي لَيَحْزُنُنِي أَن تَذْهَبُوا بِهِ وَأَخَافُ أَن يَأْكُلَهُ الذِّئْبُ وَأَنتُمْ عَنْهُ غَافِلُونَ

the word الذئب does not refer to a specific instance of the concept ذئب.

However, the ال added to a proper noun (عَلَم), such as حارِث or فَضْل or نُعْمان falls into a separate category. Some people regard it as زائد but this is incorrect, for if it were زائد it would not change the meaning.


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## WadiH

I don't get the difference between جنسي and استغراقي.

I also don't see a change in meaning between نعمان and النعمان if both are used as proper names.


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## Ali Smith

Wadi Hanifa said:


> I don't get the difference between جنسي and استغراقي.
> 
> I also don't see a change in meaning between نعمان and النعمان if both are used as proper names.


استغراقي refers to all the instances of a concept. E.g. يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ ۚ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا "For man was created weak".  
جنسي refers to the concept, not to its instances. E.g. الأناة من الله or أهلك الناسَ الدينارُ الدرهمُ or كَمَثَلِ الْحِمَارِ يَحْمِلُ أَسْفَارًا 

النعمان is used to emphasize that the person named Nu'man resembles blood in some way (remember that نُعْمان means 'blood'). Similarly, if someone's name is Hasan you may call him الحسن if you wish to emphasize that he is beautiful/good, for حَسَن was originally an adjective meaning 'beautiful/good'. Similarly, if a person's name is Fadhl you may call him الفضل if you wish to emphasize that he is excessive in some respect, because فَضْل means 'to exceed'.

However, if you simply want to call someone by his name ignoring his name's etymology, you will not prefix ال to it.


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## WadiH

Ali Smith said:


> استغراقي refers to all the instances of a concept. E.g. يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُخَفِّفَ عَنكُمْ ۚ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا "For man was created weak".
> جنسي refers to the concept, not to its instances. E.g. الأناة من الله or أهلك الناسَ الدينارُ الدرهمُ or كَمَثَلِ الْحِمَارِ يَحْمِلُ أَسْفَارًا



Still seems to me that جنسي already encompasses استغراقي, i.e. استغراقي is just a subset of جنسي.



Ali Smith said:


> النعمان is used to emphasize that the person named Nu'man resembles blood in some way (remember that نُعْمان means 'blood'). Similarly, if someone's name is Hasan you may call him الحسن if you wish to emphasize that he is beautiful/good, for حَسَن was originally an adjective meaning 'beautiful/good'. Similarly, if a person's name is Fadhl you may call him الفضل if you wish to emphasize that he is excessive in some respect, because فَضْل means 'to exceed'.
> 
> However, if you simply want to call someone by his name ignoring his name's etymology, you will not prefix ال to it.



These are all proper names referring to a specific individual, some of which happen to have ال in them and some don't, but they both remain proper names.  Maybe you could argue that an ال version of the name is 'stronger', but in terms of definiteness/indefiniteness the ال is not adding anything.


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## zj73

What about in وكان الإنسان كفورا?


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## Ali Smith

zj73 said:


> What about in وكان الإنسان كفورا?


This and وَكَانَ الْإِنسَانُ قَتُورًا seem to exhibit the استغراقي type of ال.


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## Abbe

According to al-Qurtubi its either ahd or jins 

al-Qurtubi
{ وكان الإنسان كفورا} الإنسان هنا الكافر. وقيل : وطبع الإنسان كفورا للنعم إلا من عصمه الله؛ فالإنسان لفظ الجنس.​


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## Ali Smith

Well, yes, it doesn’t refer to _all_ people, so it can’t be إستغراقي.

But does it make sense for it to be للجنس? Does it refer to a concept rather than instances of the concept?


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## Abbe

It refers to mankind in general, just like you mentioned in your earlier post. Men (in general/as a species) are stronger than women. This is generally true but it doesnt apply to every single man and women


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## Ali Smith

Abbe said:


> It refers to mankind in general, just like you mentioned in your earlier post. Men (in general/as a species) are stronger than women. This is generally true but it doesnt apply to every single man and women


Thanks. So, when you use لام التعريف للجنس you're speaking in general. So, when the Qur'an says

إن الإنسان لكفور

it means that _most_, but not necessarily _all_, humans are ungrateful. Is that what is meant by للجنس?


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## 𒍝𒊑𒈾 𒂵𒉿𒀉

Ali Smith said:


> Thanks. So, when you use لام التعريف للجنس you're speaking in general. So, when the Qur'an says
> 
> إن الإنسان لكفور
> 
> it means that _most_, but not necessarily _all_, humans are ungrateful. Is that what is meant by للجنس?


Yes, that's correct.


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## zaw

No, al-jins means "all of the category".


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## Mahaodeh

Ali Smith said:


> Thanks. So, when you use لام التعريف للجنس you're speaking in general. So, when the Qur'an says
> 
> إن الإنسان لكفور
> 
> it means that _most_, but not necessarily _all_, humans are ungrateful. Is that what is meant by للجنس?


No, it means _all_ humans are كفور.


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## Abbe

وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَحْيَاكُمْ أوجدكم من العدم ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ بعد أن أحياكم، ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ بعد موتكم، ليجازي المحسن بإحسانه، والمسيء بإساءته، إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ أي: جنسه، إلا من عصمه الله لَكَفُورٌ لنعم الله، كفور بالله، لا يعترف بإحسانه، بل ربما كفر بالبعث وقدرة ربه

See also
وقليل من عبادي الشكور


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## Ali Smith

Mahaodeh said:


> No, it means _all_ humans are كفور.


But are all humans actually كفور ‘very ungrateful’?


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## Romeel

Ali Smith said:


> But are all humans actually كفور ‘very ungrateful’?


very ungrateful* for God*

ويقول تعالى: إن الإنسان *لربه *لكنود

He attributes *God's grace* to other creatures


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