Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 508
B AR Ā H Ī N-E-A H M ADIY YA — PART F IV E 508 die a natural death’. I have already said that a peerless Im a m of the Arabic language, against whom no one has room for argument, namely ‘All a mah Zamakhshar i, 1 ٭ similarly interprets the verse ْيِّنِا َكْيِّفَوَتُم [ inn i mutawaff i ka ] as اِنِّی ْ مُمِیْتُك َ حَتْف َ اَنْفِك [‘O ‘ I s a , I will cause you to die a natural death’]. The word حتف means ‘death’ in the Arabic lexicon while the word انف means ‘nose’, and it has been a long-standing belief among the Arabs that a person’s soul leaves through the nose. This is why they termed natural death as حتف انف. In the Arabic language, the proper use of the word توفّی [ tawaff i ] is to connote natural death, whereas when someone dies by being killed, the word قتل [ qatl ] is employed. This usage is not hidden from anyone who knows Arabic. Of course, it is a common rule among Arabs that a word that is meant for a specific occasion in its original form, is applied in a dif- ferent sense after establishing the context—that is, its application is widened. But when such a different context does not exist, then it is necessary that the word should be used in its original sense. Hence when ‘All a mah Zamakhshar i, with reference to the verse ْيِّنِا َكْيِّفَوَتُم , writes 2 اِنّی متوفیك حتف انفك i. e. ‘O ‘ I s a , I will cause you to die a natural death,’ the ‘All a mah has not merely considered the original use of the word توفّی [ tawaff i ]; rather, by considering the verse3 ما قتلوہ یقینا , and the verse ما قتلوہ وما صلبوہ , he determined that the context required that the word متوفّیك [ mutawaff i ka —‘will cause you to die a natural death’] must necessarily be used in its original meaning. That is, in this context it 1. ٭ Let it be clear that I have named Zamakhshar i as ‘All a mah and Im a m only on account of his command over the linguistic art. There is no doubt that this person had great mastery over Arabic dialects, including their usage, content, literary and non-literary usage, eloquent and colloquial expressions, and the differences between synonyms. Also, he was well-versed in their character- istics, structures, old and new words, rule of syntax, and eloquence. He was the Im a m and ‘All a mah of the time in all the above, and not in anything else. (Author) 2. Scribe’s error. The word متوفیك should be مُمِیتك. [Publisher] 3. S u rah an-Nis a ’, 4:158. [Publisher]