Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

The twentieth letter of the alphabet: called فَآءٌ [and فَا]. (TA.) It is one of the letters termed مَهْمُوسَة [or non-vocal, i. e. pronounced with the breath only, without the voice], and of those termed شَفَوِيَّة [or labial]: (TA:) it is a radical letter, and not augmentative: (TA in باب الالف الليّنة:) sometimes it is substituted for ث; thus in the conjunction ثُمَّ, as in the saying جَآءَ زَيْدٌ فُمَّ عَمْرٌو [“Zeyd came, then ʼAmr”]; and in الثُّومُ, “the well-known herb so called [?],” for which they say الفُومُ; and in الجَدَثُ, “the grave,” or “sepulchre,” for which they say الجَدَفُ, but using for the pl. أَجْدَاثٌ, and not أَجْدَافٌ, accord. to IJ, (MF, TA,) [unless, app., by poetic license, for] the latter pl. is used by Ru-beh. (R and TA in art. جدف.)

فَ is a particle having no government: (Mughnee,* Ḳ,* TA:) or it governs a mansoob aor.; as in the saying, مَا تَأْتِينَا فَتُحَدِّثَنَا [Thou dost not come to us, that thou mayest talk to us]; (Mughnee, Ḳ, TA;) accord. to some of the Koofees; (Mughnee;) but the truth is, that the aor. is here mansoob by أَنْ, meant to be understood, (Mughnee, TA,) as is said by MF, and the like is said by J, (TA,) though the أَنْ in this case is necessarily suppressed: (I’Aḳ p. 295:) and it is said (Mughnee, Ḳ, TA) by Mbr (Mughnee) to govern the gen. case in the saying [of Imra-el-Ḳeys],

* فَمِثْلِكِ حُبْلَى قَدْ طَرَقْتُ وَمُرْضِعٍ *

[Many a one like thee, even such as was pregnant, have I visited by night, and such as was suckling]; but the truth is, that what here governs the gen. case is رُبَّ, meant to be understood; (Mughnee, TA;) like as it often is in the case of وَ, as is said in the Lubáb. (TA.)

It occurs used in three manners; in one whereof it is an adjunctive to an antecedent, and denotes three things:

one of these is order; and this is of two sorts; relating to the meaning, as in قَامَ زَيْدٌ فَعَمْرٌو [Zeyd came, and after him ʼAmr]; and relating to a verbal statement, which is an adjoining of an explicit clause to an implicit antecedent, as in the saying [in the Ḳur ii. 34] فَأَزَلَّهُمَا ٱلشَّيْطَانُ عَنْهَا فَأَخْرَجَهُمَا مِمَّا كَانَا فِيهِ [And the Devil caused them both to slip, or fall, from it (i. e. from Paradise), and ejected them from that state of enjoyment in which they were]: (Mughnee, Ḳ:*)

the second thing that it denotes when used as an adjunctive to an antecedent is proximate sequence, and this is in everything [i. e. in every case] according to the estimate thereof; (Mughnee, Ḳ;*) [meaning, according to the relative, or comparative, estimate of the time implied; for, as is said in an explanation of the words thus rendered, in a marginal note in my copy of the Mughnee, “the long period is sometimes esteemed short by comparison;” or it may be defined as a particle denoting sequence in a case in which is an uninterrupted connection between two events;] one says تَزَوَّجَ فُلَانٌ فَوُلِدَ لَهُ [Such a one took a wife, and, in uninterrupted connection with his doing so, a child was born to him,] when there did not intervene between the two events aught save the period of gestation, (Mughnee, Ḳ,*) and so if it were a period protracted [beyond the usual length]; and you say دَخَلْتُ البَصْرَةَ فَبَغْدَادَ [I entered El-Basrah, and, in uninterrupted connection with my doing so, Baghdád,] when you did not stay in El-Basrah nor between the two towns: and this sequence is not necessarily implied by the ف that denotes causality; as is shown by the correctness of one's saying إِنْ يُسْلِمْ فَهُوَ يَدْخُلُ الجَنَّةَ [If he become a Muslim, he will consequently enter Paradise]; the delay between the two events [by death, &c.] being well known: (Mughnee:)

[or, accord. to J,] the adjunctive ف occurs in three cases, in the first of which it denotes order and proximate sequence with association; you say, ضَرَبْتُ زَيْدًا فَعَمْرًا [I beat Zeyd, and next ʼAmr]: (Ṣ: [the second and third of these cases will be mentioned in the course of this art:])

and it is said to occur sometimes in the sense of ثُمَّ, (Mughnee, Ḳ,* TA,*) denoting conjunction in an absolute manner, with delay; (TA;) as in the saying [in the Ḳur xxiii. 14] ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا ٱلنُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْمُضْغَةَ عِظَامًا فَكَسَوْنَا ٱلْعِظَامَ لَحْمًا [Then we made the sperm a lump of clotted blood, then we made the lump of clotted blood a bit of flesh, then we made the bit of flesh bones, then we clothed the bones with flesh]: (Mughnee, Ḳ, TA:)

and sometimes in the sense of وَ, (Mughnee, Ḳ,* TA,*) denoting conjunction in an absolute manner, without order; (TA;) as in the saying (of Imra-el-Ḳeys, TA), بَيْنَ الدَّخُولِ فَحَوْمَلِ [as though meaning Between Ed-Dakhool and Howmal]; (Mughnee, Ḳ, TA;) the right reading of which is asserted by Aṣ to be with وَ; but it is replied that the implied meaning is بَيْنَ مَوَاضِعِ الدَّخُولِ فَمَوَاضِعِ حَوْمَلِ [amidst the places of, or pertaining to, Ed-Dakhool, and the places of, or pertaining to, Howmal; the former places and the latter being contiguous; and we may therefore understand these words as relating to an antecedent command to pause]; this phrase being allowable like the saying جَلَسْتُ بَيْنَ العُلَمَآءِ فَالزُّهَّادِ [I sat amidst the learned men and the devotees]: it has been said that مَا is here suppressed before بَيْنَ, and that فَ is used in the place of إِلَى; but this usage of فَ is strange: (Mughnee:)

the third thing that it denotes when used as an adjunctive to an antecedent is relation to a cause: (Mughnee, Ḳ,* TA:*) this is the second of the three cases mentioned by J, who says, (TA,) it is when what precedes it is a cause of what follows it; and it denotes adjunction and proximate sequence without association; as in the sayings ضَرَبَهُ فَبَكَى [He beat him, and he consequently wept,] and ضَرَبَهُ فَأَوْجَعَهُ [He beat him, and consequently pained him,] when the beating is the cause of the weeping and of the pain: (Ṣ, TA:) used in this manner, i. e. to denote relation to a cause, it is generally such as adjoins a proposition, as in [the saying in the Ḳur xxviii. 14] فَوَكَزَهُ مُوسَى فَقَضَى عَلَيْهِ [And Moses struck him with his fist, and consequently killed him]; or a qualificative, as in [the saying in the Ḳur lvi. 52-54] لَآكِلُونَ مِنْ شَجَرٍ مِنْ زَقُّومٍ فَمَالِئُونَ مِنْهَا ٱلْبُطُونَ فَشَارِبُونَ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ ٱلْحَمِيمِ [Shall surely be eating from trees of Zakkoom, and consequently filling therefrom the bellies, and drinking thereon of hot water]. (Mughnee, Ḳ.)

Another manner in which it is used [the second of the three manners before mentioned (Mughnee)] is as a connective of an apodosis, i. e., of the complement of a conditional clause, (Mughnee,* Ḳ,* TA,) when this is of a kind not fit to be itself conditional, i. e., to be a protasis. (Mughnee.) It is thus used when the complement is a nominal proposition; as in [the saying in the Ḳur vi. 17] وَإِنْ يَمْسَسْكَ بِخَيْرٍ فَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ [And if He cause good to betide thee, He is able to do everything]: (Mughnee, Ḳ, TA:) this is the third of the three cases mentioned by J, who says, (TA,) this is when it is used for the purpose of inception, in the complement of a conditional clause; as in the saying إِنْ تَزُرْنِى فَأَنْتَ مُحْسِنٌ [If thou visit me, thou wilt be a welldoer]; in which what follows فَ is a new proposition, grammatically independent of what precedes it, one part thereof governing another; for أَنْتَ is an inchoative, and مُحْسِنٌ is its enunciative; and the proposition has become a complement by means of the ف: (Ṣ, TA:)

or, (Ḳ,) secondly, (Mughnee,) the complement may be a verbal proposition, like the nominal, and it is one of which the verb is aplastic; as in [the saying in the Ḳur xviii. 37 and 38] إِنْ تَرَنِ أَنَا أَقَلَّ مِنْكَ مَالًا وَوَلَدًا فَعَسَى رَبِّى أَنْ يُؤْتِيَنِ [If thou seest me to be possessing less than thou in respect of wealth and children, it may be that my Lord may give me]; and [the saying in the Ḳur ii. 273] إِنْ تُبْدُوا ٱلصَّدَقَاتِ فَنِعِمَّا هِىَ [If ye make apparent the alms, very good, as a thing, is it, i. e. the doing so]: (Mughnee, Ḳ:)

or, (Ḳ,) thirdly, (Mughnee,) the verb of the complement may be one belonging to a new proposition, grammatically independent of what precedes it, as in [the saying in the Ḳur iii. 29] إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللّٰهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى [If ye love God, follow ye me]: (Mughnee, Ḳ:)

or, (Ḳ,) fourthly, (Mughnee,) the verb of the complement may be a pret., as to the letter and as to the meaning; either properly, as in [the saying in the Ḳur xii. 77] إِنْ يَسْرِقْ فَقَدْ سَرَقَ أَخٌ لَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ [If he steal, a brother of his hath stolen before]: or tropically, as in [the saying in the Ḳur xxvii. 92] وَمَنْ جَآءَ بِٱلسَّيِّئَةِ فَكُبَّتْ وُجُوهُمُمْ فِى النَّارِ [And whoever shall have done that which is evil, their faces are inverted in the fire of Hell], this [latter] verb being used as though signifying what has already happened to denote the certain assurance of the event's happening: (Mughnee, Ḳ:*)

fifthly, when the ف is coupled with a particle relating to futurity; as in [the saying in the Ḳur v. 59] مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِى ٱللّٰهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ [Whoever of you revolteth from his religion, God will bring a people whom He loveth]; and in [the saying in the Ḳur iii. 111] وًمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلَنْ تُكْفَرُوهُ [And what ye do of good, ye shall not be denied the reward of it]: (Mughnee: omitted in the Ḳ; as is also what here next follows:)

sixthly, when the ف is coupled with a particle to which is peculiarly assigned the first place in a proposition, as in the saying,

* فَإِنْ أَهْلِكْ فَذِى حَنَقٍ لَظَاهُ *

* عَلَىَّ يَكَادُ يَلْتَهِبُ ٱلْتِهَابَا *

[a verse similar in itself, and probably in its sequel (which is not quoted), to one by Rabee'ah Ibn-Makroom (in Ḥam p. 29), app. meaning And if I perish, many a one having rage in his bosom, whose fire kindled against me almost flames with a vehement flaming; فَذِى حَنَقٍ being for فَرُبَّ ذِى حَنَقٍ]; for رُبَّ is meant to be understood, and to it peculiarly belongs the first place in the proposition: (Mughnee:)

the ف must also be used when the complement of a conditional clause is imperative; as in the saying إِنْ أَكْرَمَكَ زَيْدٌ فَأَكْرِمْهُ [If Zeyd treat thee with honour, treat thou him with honour]: or prohibitive; as in the saying إِنْ يُكْرِمْكَ زَيْدٌ فَلَا تُهِنْهُ [If Zeyd treat thee with honour, treat not thou him with contempt]: or negative, either by means of لَنْ [as in an ex. above] or by means of مَا; as in the saying إِنْ أَكْرَمْتَ زَيْدًا فَمَا يَهِينُكَ [If thou treat Zeyd with honour, he does not treat thee with contempt]: (TA:)

when the verb of that complement is an aor., affirmative, or negative by means of لَا, the ف may be introduced or omitted: in the former case you may say إِنْ تُكْرِمْنِى فَأُكْرِمُكَ meaning فَأَنَا أُكْرِمُكَ [i. e. If thou treat me with honour, I will treat thee with honour]; and you may say إِنْ تُكْرِمْنِى أُكْرِمْكَ [which is the more usual] if you do not make it [i. e. اكرمك] the enunciative of a suppressed inchoative [i. e. of أَنَا]: and in the case of the negative by means of لا you may say إِنْ تُكْرِمْنِى فَلَا أُهِينُكَ [If thou treat me with honour, I will not treat thee with contempt; and you may omit the ف as is more usual]: (TA:)

and sometimes the ف is suppressed in the case of necessity in verse [on account of the metre]; as in the saying,

* مَنْ يَفْعَلِ ٱلْحَسَنَاتِ ٱللّٰهُ يَشْكُرُهَا *

[Whoso doth those deeds that are good, God will recompense them, i. e., the deeds], (Mughnee, Ḳ,) meaning فَٱللّٰهُ: (Ḳ:) or, (Mughnee, Ḳ,) accord. to Mbr, who disallows this even in verse, (Mughnee,) the right reading is

* مَنْ يَفْعَلِ الخَيْرَ فَالرَّحْمٰنُ يَشْكُرُهُ *

[Whoso doth that which is good, the Compassionate will recompense it]; (Mughnee, Ḳ;) and it is absolutely disallowable: (Ḳ:) or it occurs in chaste prose, (Mughnee, Ḳ,*) accord. to Akh; (Mughnee;) and hence the saying [in the Ḳur ii. 176] إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا ٱلْوَصِيَّةُ لِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ [If he leave wealth, the legacy shall be to the two parents and the nearer of other relations]; and the trad. respecting that which one has picked up, or taken, of property that has been dropped, فَإِنْ جَآءَ صَاحِبُهَا وَإِلَّا ٱسْتَمْتِعْ بِهَا [And if the owner thereof come, restore thou it to him; and if not, or otherwise, benefit thyself by it]: (Mughnee, Ḳ:)

when the verb of the complement of a conditional clause is a pret. as to the letter but future as to the meaning intended [yet not importing certainty, so that it is not like the saying in the Ḳur xxvii. 92, cited above], the ف may not be prefixed to it; as in the saying إِنْ أَكْرَمْتَنِى أَكْرَمْتُكَ [If thou treat me with honour, I will treat thee with honour]: and likewise when it is pret. as to the [proper] signification but [an aor. as to the letter and] future as to the meaning intended; as in the saying إِنْ أَسْلَمْتَ لَمْ تَدْخُلِ النَّارَ [If thou become a Muslim, thou wilt not enter the fire of Hell]. (TA.)

And as the ف thus connects the apodosis with its protasis, so it connects the like of the apodosis with the like of the protasis; as in the saying اَلَّذِى يَأْتِينِى فَلَهُ دِرْهَمٌ [Who comes, or shall come, to me, for him is, or shall be, a dirhem]: by its being introduced in this case, one understands what the speaker means, that the obligation to give the dirhem is a consequence of the coming: otherwise the saying would be ambiguous. (Mughnee.) Thus also it occurs after a clause commencing with the conditional particle أَمَّا, q. v. (Mughnee in art. أَمَّا;, &c.)

It also occurs in the cases here following, prefixed to an aor., which is mansoob by means of أَنْ, meant to be understood, (Ṣ, TA, and I’Aḳ p. 295,) but necessarily suppressed: (I’Aḳ ibid.:)

thus in the complement of a command; (Ṣ, TA, and I’Aḳ p. 296;) as in اِئْتَنِى فَأُكْرِمَكَ [Come thou to me, that I may treat thee with honour]: (I’Aḳ ibid.:) [and] you say زُرْنِى فَأُحْسِنَ إِلَيْكَ [Visit thou me, that I may do good to thee]; (Ṣ, TA;) to which J adds, you do not make the visiting to be the cause of the doing good; what you [would] say being, it is of my way to do good always; but [there seems be an omission here in the copies of the Ṣ, for, as] IB says, if you make أُحْسِن to be marfooa, [not mansoob,] saying فَأُحْسِنُ إِلَيْكَ, [the meaning is, for I will do good to thee, for] you do not make the visiting to be the cause of the doing good: (TA:) the demand, however, in this and similar cases, must not be indicated by a verbal noun, nor by an enunciative; for when it is so indicated, the aor. must be marfooa; as in صَهْ فَأُحْسِنُ إِلَيْكَ [Be silent, then I will do thee good]; and in حَسْبُكَ الحَدِيثُ فَيَنَامُ النَّاسُ [The discourse is sufficient for thee, so the people shall sleep]: (I’Aḳ p. 296:)

also in the complement of a prohibition; (Ṣ, and I’Aḳ p. 296;) as in لَا تَضْرِبْ زَيْدًا فَيَضْرِبَكَ [Beat not thou Zeyd, for he may beat thee, or lest he beat thee]: (I’Aḳ ibid.:)

and in the complement of a prayer; as in رَبِّ ٱنْصُرْنِى فَلَا أُخْذَلَ [My Lord aid me, so that I may not be left helpless]: (I’Aḳ ibid.:)

and in the complement of an interrogation; (Ṣ, and I’Aḳ p. 296;) as in هَلْ تُكْرِمُ زَيْدًا فَيُكْرِمَكَ [Wilt thou treat Zeyd with honour, that he may treat thee with honour?]: (I’Aḳ ibid.:)

and in the complement of a petition with gentleness; (Ṣ, and I’Aḳ p. 296;) as in أَلَا تَنْزِلُ عِنْدَنَا فَتُصِيبَ خَيْرًا [Wilt thou not alight at our place of abode, that thou mayest obtain good?]: (I’Aḳ ibid.:)

and in the complement of a demanding with urgency the performance of an action; as in لَوْلَا تَأْتِينَا فَتُحَدِّثَنَا [Wherefore dost thou not come to us, that thou mayest talk to us?]: (I’Aḳ p. 296:)

and in the complement of an expression of wish; as in لَيْتَ لِى مَالًا فَأَتَصَدَّقَ مِنْهُ [Would that I had wealth, that I might give alms thereof]: (I’Aḳ ibid.:)

and in the complement of an expression of hope, in like manner as in the case next before mentioned, accord. to the Koofees universally; as in the saying in the Ḳur [xl. 38 and 39] لَعَلِّى أَبْلُغُ ٱلْأَسْبَابَ أَسْبَابَ ٱلسَّمٰوَاتِ فَأَطَّلِعَ [May-be I shall reach the tracts, or the gates, the tracts, or the gates, of the heavens, so that I may look], accord. to one reading: (I’Aḳ p. 298:)

and in the complement of a negation, (Ṣ, and I’Aḳ p. 295,) i. e., of a simple negation; as in مَا تَأْتِينَا فَتُحَدِّثَنَا [Thou dost not come to us, that thou mayest talk to us; a saying mentioned before, in the first of the remarks on this particle]. (I’Aḳ ibid.)

It is also prefixed as a corroborative to an oath; as in فَبِعِزَّتِكَ [which may be rendered Now by thy might, or nobility,, &c.], and فَوَرَبِّكَ [Now by thy Lord]. (TA.)

The third manner in which it is [said to be] used is when it is redundant, so that its being included in a saying is like its being excluded: but this usage is not affirmed by Sb: Akh allows its being redundant in the enchoative, absolutely; mentioning the phrase أَخُوكَ فَوُجِدَ [as though meaning Thy brother, he has been found; but هٰذَا is app. meant to be understood, so that the phrase should be rendered, fully, this is thy brother, and he has been found]: Fr and El-Aalam and a number of others restrict its being allowable to the cases in which the enunciative is a command, as in the saying,

* وَقَائِلَةٍ خَوْلَانُ فَٱنْكِحْ فَتَاتَهُمْ *

and in the saying,

* أَنْتَ فَٱنْظُرْ لِأَىِّ ذَاكَ تَصِيرُ *

or a prohibition, as in the saying زَيْدٌ فَلَا تَضْرِبْةُ; but those who disallow its being so explain the first of these three exs. by saying that the implied meaning is هٰذِهِ خَوْلَانُ, [so that the saying should be rendered, fully, Many a woman is there saying, This is Khowlán (the tribe so named), therefore marry thou their young woman; and in like manner the implied meaning of the third ex. is هٰذَا زَيْدٌ فَلَا تَضْرِبْهُ This is Zeyd, therefore do not thou beat him;] and the implied meaning of the second ex. is اُنْظُرْ فَٱنْظُرْ, [so that the saying should be rendered, fully, Look thou, and look to what result thereof thou wilt eventually come,] the former انظر being suppressed, and its implied pronoun, أَنْتَ, expressed: the saying

* وَإِذَا هَلَكْتُ فَعِنْدَ ذٰلِكَ فَٱجْزَعِى *

[meaning And when I perish, on the occasion thereof manifest thou impatience, or grief,, &c., the second ف being redundant,] is an instance of poetic license. (Mughnee.)

[As a numeral, ف denotes Eighty.]