Book 2, chapter 3 كَمْ طَالِباً في فَصْلِكُمْ يَا عَلِيُّ؟ The use of kum and not ka here, is allowed. Using the plural form of the Damiir (pronoun) here, is determined by the context and by the meaning the speaker wishes to convey. So when the speaker wishes to reflect the meaning of non-ownership or non-authority on the part of the listener, then he/she would use the plural form of the pronoun even when addressing one person. That is, when something that is common and shared between more than one person – like a classroom, a house, a school, a mosque etc, – then Arabic allows us to use “kum” to reflect this aspect of sharing, and of non-ownership even if we are speaking to just one person. So in the dialogue-line you quote: كَمْ طَالِباً في فَصْلِكُمْ يَا عَلِيُّ؟ Here, Ali is a student. He neither owns the class, not has authority in it - such as a teacher has. The class is shared amongst other students. That is why the dialogue says: في فَصْلِكُمْ - and not: في فَصْلِكَ - as it better suits the situation and context. Using kum here, also reflects that the speaker is enquiring about Ali as well as the rest of his fellow class-mates. This is understood by Ali who responds accordingly and says: في فَصْلِنَا (in our class) and not: في فَصْلِي (in my class) ----------------------------------- Our respected Shaykh provided the following two examples to strengthen the point further: When we speak to a child, we would use the singular form of the pronoun when we ask, for example: مَا اسْمُكَ؟ ‘What is your name?’ But when we ask the child about something common to him and others, we would use the plural form of the pronoun when we enquire, for example: أَيْنَ بَيْتُكُمْ؟ ‘Where is your house?’ Finally, regarding the salaam and saying to an individual Muslim: السلام عليكم Then our Shaykh said that we use “kum” here and not “ka/ki” etc, in order to include and extend our salaams, to the Noble Angels (as you know, we have two recording Angels with us. Other Angels also attend to us - alayhimu l-Salaatu wa l-salaam). Insha Allaah, I hope this reply clarifies your doubts. May Allaah reward our Shaykh with the best reward and continue to benefit us with his knowledge. Wassalaamu ‘alaikum (moderator)
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 09:08:39 +0000
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