2 Time, condition, question 5 / 12

« أَلَمْ تَرَ »: "Have you not seen"

Established rule 2 examples 1 min

The question « أَلَمْ تَرَ » is in the perfect: it is always translated "Have you not seen", whether followed by أَنَّ (a fact: "Have you not seen that …") or by إِلَىٰ (a group of people: "Have you not seen those …").

The question in لَمْ bears on the past: it does not ask "Do you not see?", but "Have you not seen?": the reader is referred to what he has already had before his eyes.

It is construed in two ways:

with أَنَّ, about a fact: « أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ », "Have you not seen that God knows what is in the heavens" (58:7);
with إِلَىٰ, about a group: « أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ نُهُوا۟ عَنِ ٱلنَّجْوَىٰ », "Have you not seen those who were forbidden secret talk" (58:8).

In sura 58 the question opens several blocks in succession (58:7, 58:8, 58:14): it structures the sura. The 33 sentences concerned are rendered the same way.

In the text

Example 58:7

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ

“Have you not seen that God knows what is in the heavens”

With أَنَّ: a fact.

Example 58:8

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ نُهُوا۟ عَنِ ٱلنَّجْوَىٰ

“Have you not seen those who were forbidden secret talk”

With إِلَىٰ: a group of people.

In the text

In the same theme