‘= A relative particle linked to what follows, as in the divine statement “lā tathrība ‘alaykumul-yawma” (“no reproach is upon you today”), because ‘alaykum is not grammatically annexed to tathrīb, since it functions as a predicate. An analogous case is reported in the poem of Abū Ṭālib, where khayr is the shortened form of khayyir—similar to hayyin and mayyit—and in the revelation “khayrātun ḥisān” (Ar-Raḥmān 55:70), khayrāt is a contraction of khayyirāt. His phrase “mimman” relates to an elided element, as if he had said, “lā khayra akhyar mimman khaṣṣahu Allāh” (“there is no better one than he whom Allah chose”); since khayr akhyar are two synonymous forms, omission avoids the burden of repetition—just as in “walakinna al-birra man āmana billāh” (“but righteousness is [for] those who believe in Allah,” Q 2:177) and “al-ḥajju ashhurun ma‘lūmātun” (“Hajj is [in] well-known months,” Q 2:197)—the weight of repeating a word twice on the tongue is thus lifted. Another possible explanation is that dropping the tanwīn preserves the word’s original form: khayran min Zayd essentially means “akhyar min Zayd,” and likewise sharr min fulan originally ašar on the af‘al pattern—the hamzah having been dropped for ease. The af‘al pattern is indeclinable, so when the hamzah is omitted it becomes declinable and takes tanwīn; if one regards the tanwīn as non-omitted, out of attention to the root form, it is not unlikely that the tanwīn would then be dropped in this way—an explanation further supported by poetic necessity. QED. (1) In manuscript H: “laṣaqtum … la rā‘iyat al-sha‘b.” Al-Suhaylī (Rawḍ, 2/111) explains “karāghiyyat al-saqb” as referring to the young of the she-camel that Qidār had hamstrung; its offspring wailed braghā’an, and everything that has a voice perished at that moment, leading to the destruction of Thamūd. Arabs thus took this as a proverb for any ruin. End. (2) In manuscript H: “wa taqta‘ū anāṣirana” (“and you cut off our clan lines”). (3) In Al-Asās (Aleppo ed.): “hādhā fayʾu al-muslimīn wa Ḥalab asyāfuhum; wa dhāqu Ḥalab amruhum”—“this is the spoils of the Muslims, and Ḥalab are their swords; they tasted the trial of their affair,” i.e., its hardship. In the Sīrah of Ibn Hishām it appears as “jalaba” with a jīm. (4) “al-ʿizzā’ ”: severity or hardship arising from illness, death, or other causes (root: ʿazza). (5) Al-Suhaylī (Rawḍ, 2/111) on “bil-qasāsiyya al-shihāb”: it refers to swords, attributing them to Qasās—a Banu Asad iron mine—and Qiyām is the mountain where the mine lies. In the Ṭ manuscript and the Sīrah it reads “wa ayyad utirrat” (“and it was severed”). The reading given here is from manuscript H. (6) “al-nusūr al-takhm”: literally “the black-nosed eagles,” i.e. those with dark foreheads. The author of al-ʿAyn notes that al-takhm denotes the dark spot at the tip of the nose (Rawḍ, 2/111). (7) “al-ḥijārāt”: the districts or quarters (singular ḥijra, “region” or “area”). (Al-Lisān: ḥijr.)