So That You May Be Reminded

The article deals with the usage and meanings of laʿalla in the Qurʾān. By the norms of Qurʾānic vocabulary laʿalla is a common word. It occurs 129 times, being rare in early material, and then rising to a peak in later Meccan and early Medinan material before tailing off. One would expect a particle that occurs so many times to be clearly understood. This is not so, mainly, because examples have normally been looked at individually rather than as a group. In addition, scholars of Arabic are overwhelmingly predisposed to think of laʿalla as meaning ‘perhaps’, its meaning in the ʿarabiyya. However, commentators, grammarians and lexicographers have always allowed that in the Qurʾān, laʿalla does not bear the single meaning of ‘perhaps’. The inevitable conclusion is that the haphazard treatment of. The inevitable conclusion is that the haphazard treatment of laʿalla needs correction. It is with this in mind that the article examines all the occurrences and their contexts as a group. By doing this, striking and,  significant patterns emerge.