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أَمَّا ذ is a conditional and partitive and corroborative particle; and is sometimes written أَيْمَا, by the change of the first م into ى. (Mughnee, K.) ― -b2- It is used as a conditional particle in the words of the Kur [ii.24], فأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَيَقُولُونَ مَا ذَا أَرَادَ اللّٰهُ بِهذَا مَثَلاً [For as for those who have believed, they know that it is the truth from their Lord; but as for those who have disbelieved, they say, What is it that God meaneth by this as a parable?]. (Mughnee,* K,* TA.) That it denotes a condition is shown by the necessary occurrence of ف after it; for if this ف were a conjunction, it would not be prefixed to the enunciative; and if it were redundant, it might be dispensed with; but it may not be dispensed with except in a case of necessity in poetry or in a case of an ellipsis. ― -b3- In most cases, (Mughnee, K,) it is used as a partitive, (S, Mughnee, K,) implying the meaning of a condition; (S; [in which it is mentioned with أَمَا;]) and thus it is used in the passage of the Kur cited above; (Mughnee;) and in the following exs. [in the Kur xviii. 78 and 79 and 81], أَمَّا السَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَاكِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ فِى البَحْرِ and وَأَمَا الْغُلَامُ فَكَانَ أَبَوَاهُ مُؤْمِنِينَ and وأَمَّا الْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغلَامَينِ يَتَيمَيْنِ [As for the ship, it belonged to poor men who worked on the sea . . . and as for the boy, his two parents were believers . . . and as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys]. (Mughnee, * K, * TA.) [It is a partitive also in the phrase أَمَّابَعْدُ, which see in art. بعد.] ― -b4- Few have mentioned its use as a corroborative: (Mughnee:) it is thus used in the phrase أَمَّا زَيْدٌ فَذَاهِبٌ [Whatever be the case, or happen what will or what may, or at all events, Zeyd is going away], when you mean that Zeyd is inevitably going away, and determined, or decided, upon doing so: (Z cited in the Mughnee, and K:) therefore Sb explains it as meaning, in this case, مَهْمَا يَكُنْ مِنْ شَىْءٍ [whatever be the case, &c., as above, or, in some instances, happen what would or what might]; thereby showing it to be a corroborative, and to have a conditional meaning: (Z cited in the Mughnee: [and the same explanation of it is given, with a similar ex., in the S, in art. امو:]) the فَ, in this case, is transferred from its proper place before the inchoative, and put before the enunciative. (I 'AK p. 306.) Ks says that أَمَّا is used in commanding and forbidding and announcing: you say, أَمَّا اللّٰهَ فَاعْبُدْ [Whatever be the case, or happen what will, &c., God worship thou]: and أَمَّا الخَمْرَ فَلَا تَشْرَبْهَا [i. e. أَمَّا الخَمْرَ فَلَا تَشْرَبْهَا (as is shown in the case of a similar ex. in the Mughnee, though you may say أَمَّا الخَمْرُ فَلَا تَشْرَبْهَا, without an ellipsis, like as you say أمَّا ثَمُودُ فَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ as well as أَمَّا ثَمُودَ, in the Kur xli. 16, accord. to different readers,) Whatever be the case, &c., wine (drink not), drink not thou it]: and أَمَّا زَيْدٌ فَخَرَجَ [Whatever be the case, &c., with respect to other things, Zeyd has gone forth; or whatever be the case with respect to others, as for Zeyd, he has gone forth]: whereas إِِمَّا [which see in the next paragraph] is used in expressing a condition and in expressing doubt and in giving option and in taking option. (T.) ― -b5- [IHsh says that in his opinion,] in the phrase أَمَّا العَبِيدَ فَذُو عَبِيدٍ, thus heard, with العبيد in the accus. case, the meaning is, مَهَما ذَكَرْتَ [&c., i. e. Whenever thou mentionest the slaves, he is a possessor of slaves: but I would rather say that the meaning is, أَمَّا ذِكْرُكَ العَبِيدَ, &c., i. e. as for thy mentioning the slaves, &c.]: and so in similar phrases which have been heard. (Mughnee.) -A2- Distinct from the foregoing is أَمَّا in the saying in the Kur [xxvii. 86], أَمَّا ذاكُنْتُمْ تَعمَلُونَ [Or rather, what is it that ye were doing?]: for here it is a compound of the unconnected أَمْ and the interrogative مَا (Mughnee.) -A3- So too in the saying of the poet, “ أَبَا خُرَاشَةَ أَمَّا أَنْتَ ذَا نَسفَرٍ
فَإِنَّ قُوْمِىَ لَمْ تَأكُلْهُمُ الضَّبُعُ
” [O Aboo-Khurásheh, because thou wast possessor of a number of men dost thou boast? Verily, my people, the year of dearth, or of sterility, hath not consumed them]: for here it is a compound of the أَنْ termed مَصُدَرِيَّة [which combines with a verb following it to form an equivalent to an inf. n.] and the redundant مَا: أَمَّا أَنْتَ is for لِأَنْ كُنْتَ; the preposition and the verb are suppressed for the sake of abridgment, so that the pronoun [تَ in كُنْتَ] becomes separate; and مَا is substituted for the verb [thus deprived of its affixed pronoun], and the ن [of ان] is incorporated into the م [of ما]. (Mughnee.) [See another reading of this verse voce إِِمَّا; and there also, immediately after, another ex. (accord. to the Mughnee) of أَمَّا used in the manner explained above. See also أَنْ as a conditional particle, like إِِنْ.] -A4- Also i. q. إِِمَّا, q. v. (Mughnee, K.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.
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