لا

Core meaning

Particle of negation: it denies a fact, forbids an act or excludes a whole category.

Uses

1. لَا + imperfect → "not", "neither … nor" : denies the fact, present or to come.

   • «لَا تَأْخُذُهُۥ سِنَةٌۭ وَلَا نَوْمٌۭ» — "Neither somnolence nor sleep seizes Him" (2:255)

2. لَا + jussive → "do not" (prohibition) : forbids the act to the one addressed.

   • «لَا تُفْسِدُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ» — "Do not sow corruption on the earth" (2:11)

3. لَا + indefinite noun → "no", "none" : excludes the whole category; followed by إِلَّا, it lets only one remain.

   • «لَا رَيْبَ» — "no doubt possible" (2:2)
   • «ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ» — "God, there is no deity but Him" (2:255)

Evidence from the text

Before an indefinite noun, the particle denies not a fact but a whole class: "no doubt possible" (2:2) rules out every doubt, and "there is no deity but Him" (2:255) empties the category before the exception leaves a single name in it.

Before the jussive, the same particle becomes a prohibition: "Do not sow corruption on the earth" (2:11). Before the imperfect, it simply denies the fact, and is repeated to deny each term: "Neither somnolence nor sleep seizes Him" (2:255).

Distinctions

• ما — denies above all the perfect or a whole clause, whereas لَا denies the imperfect, forbids, and excludes a category