its negation with even greater force. In his view, therefore, it negates the predicate whether it is used negatively or affirmatively. Thus, he considers “Zayd hardly stood up” a stronger negation than “Zayd did not stand up.” His argument is that, when negated, this verb of approximation denies even approaching the action, which is more emphatic than merely denying the action itself. When used affirmatively, it indicates that its subject approaches the action expressed by its predicate, which implies that the action has not occurred.

He explained such examples as the saying of Allah Most High:

“So they slaughtered her, though they had almost failed to do so.” [2:71]

And statements such as “I reached you, though I hardly managed to reach you,” and “I escaped unharmed, though I hardly managed to escape,” by treating each as two distinct statements: “I did such-and-such after having been nowhere close to doing it.” The first establishes that the action occurred; the second indicates that the person had not been close to doing it, but had despaired of it. They are thus two statements intended to convey two distinct points.

A fourth group distinguished between its past and future forms. When used affirmatively, it indicates approaching the action, whether in the past or future form. When negated, however, its future form negates both the action and approaching it, as in His saying, “He can hardly see it.” Its past form, by contrast, entails affirmation, as in His saying, “So they slaughtered her, though they had almost failed to do so.”

These, then, are four approaches taken by grammarians to this expression.

The correct view is that it is a verb indicating approximation and follows the same rules as other verbs. The negation of its predicate is not conveyed by its wording or its established lexical meaning, for it was not coined to express that negation. Rather, the negation is inferred from the necessary implications of its meaning: if it indicates approaching an action, the action has not occurred, and is therefore negated by implication.

When used negatively within a single statement, it negates approximation, as when you say: “An idler hardly ever prospers,” “A miser hardly ever attains leadership,” or “A coward hardly ever rejoices,” and similar expressions.

When used in two statements, however, it indicates that the action occurred after having been nowhere close to occurring, as Ibn Mālik explained.