Journal of Islamic Studies > Volume 25, No. 1, 2013

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs in Relation to Allah’s Acts from Religious and Grammatical Perspectives / Suoliman Ibn-Mohamed Al-Dobikhy

This research explores the meanings of the terms “transitive” and “intransitive” in relation to Allah’s acts, and if Shari’ah
specialists and grammarians agree on the meanings, with special reference to the views of Ibn-Taymiyah and Ibn-Alqayyim. The research
follows both inductive and deductive approaches.The research has reached significant findings. On the one hand, Ibn-Taymiyah and Ibn-
Alqayyim’s understanding of “transitive” verbs in relation to Allah’s acts is limited in comparison with that of grammarians; these define a
verb as “transitive” if its effect passes on by itself, without a preposition, to the “object”. So, the verb can be transitive grammatically, but not
so in relation to Allah’s acts. The term “transitive” in relation to Allah’s acts refers to what Allah does and its effect passes on to His
creatures, such as the verbs expressing acts of “khalq” (creation,, “ihsān” (charity/doing things well,, “ihyā’a” (giving life, and “imātah”
(terminating life,. When Allah acts, but His act is not passed on to His creatures, the related verb is defined as “intransitive” even if it is
grammatically defined as “transitive” – e.g. the Arabic verbs “jā’a” and “atā”. On the other hand, Ibn-Taymiyah and Ibn-Alqayyim’s
understanding of “intransitive” is broader than that of grammarians – defined as that whose effect does not pass on to the “object” without a
preposition; it may accommodate some “transitive” verbs. Thus, what is intransitive for both scholars is intransitive for grammarians, as in
the Arabic verbs “nazala” and “istawā”, and it can be transitive as in the Arabic verbs “jā’a” and “atā”. The two scholars consider a verb to
be “intransitive” if its effect does not pass on from Allah to His creatures. The research recommends that Shari’ah terms be independent of
corresponding terms in other disciplines till serious efforts are made to scrutinize related meanings so that confusion and misunderstanding
can be avoided