ذَٰلِكَ

A word which means “that.” It is a demonstrative pronoun indicating something far away. It is masculine and singular. While it may mean something nearby (such as the English demonstrative pronoun “this”) it is more accurately translated to “that” because of the components of the word. Let’s look at these components in more detail. 

First, we have the demonstrative base, which is ذَ. In some instances, this might be written as ذَا.

Then, we have the lām of farness or the lām of distance (in Arabic Lām al-buʿd), which is a demonstrative particle that indicates remoteness or distance in time or space. This is represented as لِ in the word. 

Then, we have the suffix pronoun of كَ which means “you” and is masculine and singular. 

Altogether, this more accurately translates to “that.” 

ٱلَّذِينَ

This is a relative pronoun that is often translated to “those who.” 

We have ال which turns the word into a definite pronoun: “the ones who.” 

Then we have the demonstrative base which is ذي. 

Then we have the ending ين which indicates the masculine plural. 

ٱو۟لـٰٓ

What are demonstrative bases in Arabic (also known as demonstrative roots)?