Editing Openai/6947f938-c5ac-800f-a335-68acb875307e (section)

=== Assistant: You’re quoting Qur’an 2:178, and your question is specifically about the grammar naḥw / iʿrāb of the construction, espe… ===
You’re quoting Qur’an 2:178, and your question is specifically about the grammar (naḥw / iʿrāb) of the construction, especially:

: 

Below is a clean grammatical breakdown, step by step.

==== : ====

This establishes qiṣāṣ as the topic.

What follows is not a full sentence, but a clarifying appositional construction (badal / bayān) explaining how qiṣāṣ is applied.

==== ### ====

===== - Noun =====
* Marfūʿ (nominative) → ḍamma
* Function: Badal bayān / explanatory apposition to al-qiṣāṣ
* Meaning: the free person

Why marfūʿ?
* It follows al-qiṣāṣ, which is marfūʿ as the نائب فاعل (passive subject) of kutiba.
* The apposition matches its case.

===== - bi- (بِ) = preposition =====
* al-ḥurr = noun
* Majrūr (genitive) because of bi
* Meaning: for / by / in exchange for the free (person)

📌 Key point
This is a جارّ ومجرور متعلق بمحذوف (a prepositional phrase attached to an omitted verb), understood as:

: 

The verb is omitted for rhetorical concision (ḥadhf).

==== Each following phrase mirrors the same grammatical structure: ====

===== - al-ʿabdu → marfūʿ (conjoined to al-ḥurru) =====
* bil-ʿabdi → majrūr (bi + noun)

===== - al-unthā → marfūʿ (conjoined) =====
* bil-unthā → majrūr

This is perfect syntactic parallelism, reinforcing legal precision.

==== This is NOT: ====
* a شرط (conditional)
* a حصر (restriction)
* a preference statement

It IS:
* Bayān (clarification)
* Tafsīl (legal specification)
* Elliptical legal formula

The verse describes the principle of equivalence in qiṣāṣ, not social hierarchy.

==== Pattern used: ====

: 

This is a classical Arabic legal idiom, meaning:

: 

Comparable to:
* النفس بالنفس
* العين بالعين

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==== I can: ====
* parse the entire verse word-by-word (full iʿrāb)
* explain why later jurists debated this wording
* compare it with later verses that expand qiṣāṣ

Just tell me which direction you want to go.