انن

Core meaning

Particle of affirmation: it sets the sentence that follows as an established fact. As أَنَّ, it makes that fact the object of a saying or a knowing ("that"); as إِنَّمَا, it restricts it ("only").

Uses

1. إِنَّهُۥ, إِنَّا, وَإِنَّ, فَإِنَّ → "indeed" : simple affirmation, with or without a suffixed pronoun.

   • «إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ صِدِّيقًۭا نَّبِيًّۭا» — "he was a veracious man, an informant" (19:56)
   • «إِنَّا مَعَكُمْ» — "We are indeed with you" (2:14)

2. وَإِنَّهُۥ, إِنَّا … لَـ → "surely" : affirmation doubled by the particle لَـ on the predicate.

   • «وَإِنَّهُۥ لَلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ» — "it is surely the truth from your Guardian" (2:149)
   • «إِنَّا لَنَرَىٰكَ فِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ» — "We see you surely in manifest error" (7:60)

3. أَءِنَّا, أَءِنَّكَ, أَئِنَّكُمْ → "really" : affirmation put in question: one asks whether what seems established truly is.

   • «أَءِنَّكَ لَأَنتَ يُوسُفُ» — "Is it really you, Youssof?" (12:90)
   • «أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَشْهَدُونَ أَنَّ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ ءَالِهَةً أُخْرَىٰ» — "Do you really bear witness that there are, with God, other deities?" (6:19)
   • «أَءِنَّا لَمَبْعُوثُونَ» — "shall we really be raised?" (37:16)

4. إِنَّمَا, فَإِنَّمَا → "only" : affirmation that excludes all else.

   • «إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ» — "We are only making things sound" (2:11)
   • «إِنَّمَآ أَمْرُهُمْ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ» — "Their matter rests only with God" (6:159)

5. أَنَّ, أَنَّا, بِأَنَّ → "that", "because" : the affirmed fact becomes the object of a verb, or the cause of what precedes.

   • «نَبِّئْ عِبَادِىٓ أَنِّىٓ أَنَا ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ» — "Inform My obedient ones that it is I, the Most-Forgiving, the Benevolent" (15:49)
   • «ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ يَكْفُرُونَ بِـَٔايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ» — "That is because they used to disown the signs of God" (2:61)

6. كَأَنَّهُمْ, كَأَنَّمَا → "as if", "like" : the fact is set as an appearance.

   • «كَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ» — "as if they did not know" (2:101)
   • «كَأَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌۭ مُّسَنَّدَةٌۭ» — "they are like propped-up pieces of wood" (63:4)

Evidence from the text

The particle appears where a thing is disputed. From 2:11-14 on, those with two faces say "We are only making things sound" and, alone with their own, "We are indeed with you, we are only mocking"; the text answers them with the same particle: "Is it not so: it is indeed they who are the corrupters" (2:12). Affirmation stands against affirmation.

It is graded. Alone, it gives "indeed"; with لَـ on the predicate, "surely"; preceded by the question hamza, it casts doubt on what was held as established, "really". This is the question of those who deny being raised: "When we are dead, earth and bones, shall we really be raised?" (37:16, also 13:5, 17:49, 79:10). In 12:90, all three join in the question of the brothers who recognize Youssof: "Is it really you, Youssof?".

Distinctions

• أ_استفهام — the question hamza, prefixed to إِنَّ to put it in doubt
• ان — إِنْ, the light particle that sets a case without asserting it
• ما — the particle which, joined to إِنَّ, forms إِنَّمَا

See also

انا ("I", often preceded by إِنِّى)