kilā and kiltā (the masculine and feminine forms of “both”), and the fact that their expression kilāhumā qā’im (“Both of them are standing”), with a singular predicate, does not establish that kilā is singular, as the Basran grammarians maintained. Rather, it is genuinely dual. They used a singular predicate only to indicate that standing is being predicated of each one individually. We have explained this sufficiently.

Section

The fourth approach: The noun being qualified has been omitted, and its adjective has taken its place. It is as though He said, “Indeed, Allah’s mercy is something near to those who do good,” or “a kindness near,” or “a beneficence near,” and so forth. Such omission is frequent. One example is the poet’s saying:

She stood weeping over his grave:
“Who will care for me after you, O ‘Āmir?
You have left me a lonely stranger in the house;
Humbled is he who has no helper.”

The meaning is: “You left me a person, or a human being, living in estrangement.” Otherwise, she would have said, “You left me ghurba (estranged).” Another poet said:

“Had you asked me, in days of ease,
To part from you, I would not have refused—for you are a friend.”

He meant: “You are a person, or a human being, who is a friend.”

Sībawayh adopted this approach when explaining their use, in reference to a woman, of hā’id and tāmith (“menstruating”), and tāliq (“divorced”). He said: “It is as though they said, ‘a menstruating being,’ using shay’ hā’id or shay’ tāmith.” This approach, too, is weak for three reasons.

First: Omitting the noun being qualified and putting its adjective in its place is appropriate only under two conditions. The adjective must be distinctive, so that it is known to apply specifically to that particular noun and no other.

The second condition is that the adjective must have become predominantly used on its own to designate the noun it qualifies. Examples include “the righteous,” “the wicked,” “the learned,” “the ignorant,” “the God-fearing,” “the messenger,” “the prophet,” and similar expressions whose adjectives are predominantly used without the nouns they qualify. Indeed, those nouns are scarcely ever mentioned alongside them. An example is the Most High’s saying:

“Indeed, the righteous will be in bliss, and indeed, the wicked will be in Hellfire.”