And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth," they say, "We are but reformers."
Sahih International
Grammar, phrase by phrase
وَإِذَا
(And when)
وَإِذَاword 1
Resumptive Particle · حرف استئنافA resumptive وَ begins a fresh statement rather than adding a plain item. Here it opens a new scene about the hypocrites — what happens when they are told not to spread corruption. L14 · R1
Time Adverb · ظرف زمانA time adverb is a word that anchors a sentence to the time its action happens. إِذَا means 'when', pointing to a repeated occasion: 'and when it is said to them…'. L16 · R7
قِيلَ لَهُمْ
(…it is said to them,)
Root قول — to say, speak, tell · 1,722 times in the Quran
قِيلَword 2
Verb · فعلA verb is a word for an action tied to a time. قِيلَ names an action — saying — from the root قول, to say and speak. L1 · R7
Past Tense Verb · فعل ماضٍA past tense verb describes an action already completed. قِيلَ speaks of a saying already made: 'it was said'. L8 · R1
Weak Verb · فعل معتلA weak verb has a و or ي among its root letters that can turn into a long vowel. From the root قول, the middle و here surfaces as the long ī sound of قِيلَ, disguising the root. L24 · R4
Passive Voice · المبني للمجهولA passive voice verb hides who did the action by changing its inner vowels. قِيلَ is the passive of قَالَ 'he said' — 'it is said', without naming who says it. L11 · R4
لَهُمْword 3
Preposition · حرف جرA preposition is a little helper word that relates one thing to another. The prefix لَ means 'to'; joined to هُمْ 'them' it gives 'to them' — the ones addressed. L4 · R2
Detached Pronoun · ضمير منفصلA detached pronoun is a standalone word for 'they', 'you', 'I', and the like. هُمْ is 'them' here, joined after the preposition لَ to say 'to them'. L3 · R2
لَا تُفْسِدُوا۟
(…"Do not cause corruption)
Root فسد — to spread corruption, cause ruin, corrupters · 50 times in the Quran
لَاword 4
Prohibition Particle · لا الناهيةThe prohibition لَا means 'do not!' — it commands someone not to act, and trims the verb after it down to the jussive (a sukūn ـْ, or a dropped نَ for a 'they/you all' form). Here it forbids: 'do not spread corruption'. L17 · R6
تُفْسِدُوا۟word 5
Verb · فعلA verb is a word for an action tied to a time. تُفْسِدُ names an action — spreading corruption, causing ruin — from the root فسد, to corrupt and ruin. L1 · R7
Present Tense Verb · فعل مضارعA present tense verb opens with one of the four prefixes أ ن ي ت. تُفْسِدُوا۟ opens with تُ, a 'you all' form; under the prohibition لَا it becomes the command 'do not corrupt'. L8 · R3
Jussive Mood · الفعل المجزومThe jussive is a present-tense verb whose ending is cut down because a particle stands before it; for a 'you all' form this shows by the dropped final نَ. The prohibition لَا has trimmed تُفْسِدُونَ down to تُفْسِدُوا۟, the نَ gone — the mark of the jussive here. L10 · R9
The Five Verbs · الأفعال الخمسةThe Five Verbs are the five present shapes ending in نَ, where that نَ itself shows the mood: kept for the plain mood, dropped after a word like the prohibition لَا. تُفْسِدُوا۟ has lost its نَ, so it stands trimmed by that لَا. L10 · R10
Form IV Verb · أَفْعَلَA Form IV verb adds a hamzah to the front of the root and in the present shows a ḍammah ـُ on the opening letter (تُـ). تُفْسِدُوا۟ carries that ḍammah ـُ on its تُ, the mark of this form: to spread corruption. L12 · R7
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word glued onto another word. The وا۟ ending on تُفْسِدُوا۟ is such a suffix, standing for 'you all' — those told not to corrupt. L3 · R6
Doer (Fa'il) · فاعلThe doer is the one performing the action, so it stands in the nominative — the 'subject form', usually shown by a ḍammah ـُ, a small curl written above the final letter. The وا۟ ending on تُفْسِدُوا۟ is that doer, 'you all' — those addressed with the command; on this attached pronoun the shape is fixed, so no ḍammah appears, but the role it fills is the nominative one. L9 · R4
'Do not spread corruption on the earth' was explained as disbelief and acts of disobedience; whoever disobeys Allah on the earth, or bids that He be disobeyed, has spread corruption on it.
Ibn Kathir (abridged), on 2:11
فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ
(…on the earth,")
Root ارض — earth, land, ground · 461 times in the Quran
فِىword 6
Particle · حرفA particle is a small helper word with no meaning standing alone; it takes no ending and does not name or act. فِى is such a helper word here. L1 · R8
Preposition · حرف جرA preposition is a little helper word that relates one thing to another and pulls the noun after it into the genitive ending. فِى means 'in' or 'on', marking where the corruption is forbidden: 'on the earth'. L4 · R1
ٱلْأَرْضِword 7
Definite Article · أل التعريفThe prefix ٱلْ means 'the' — one specific, known thing. Here it marks أَرْض as 'the earth', the whole known earth. L2 · R9
Noun · اسمA word that accepts the prefix ٱلْ ('the') is a noun — a naming word. This word carries that prefix and names a thing, 'the earth', from the root ارض, earth and land. L1 · R1
Feminine Noun · اسم مؤنثA feminine noun is a naming word Arabic treats as grammatically 'she'. أَرْض shows no visible feminine mark such as a ة, yet Arabic treats it as feminine — one of the words simply known to be so. L2 · R2
Genitive · مجرورThe genitive is the ending a naming word takes after a preposition, shown by a kasrah ـِ — a small slanted stroke below the letter. Because أَرْض stands right after the preposition فِى 'on', it carries that kasrah ـِ: فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ. L2 · R12
So far: “And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth,"”
قَالُوٓا۟
(…they say,)
Root قول — to say, speak, tell · 1,722 times in the Quran
قَالُوٓا۟word 8
Verb · فعلA verb is a word for an action tied to a time. قَالُ names an action — saying — from the root قول, to say and speak. L1 · R7
Past Tense Verb · فعل ماضٍA past tense verb shows who did the action by an ending on the base. With وٓا۟ 'they' added, قَالُوٓا۟ means 'they said' — their reply to being told not to corrupt. L8 · R2
Weak Verb · فعل معتلA weak verb has a و or ي among its root letters that can turn into a long 'ā' sound. From the root قول, the middle و surfaces as the long ā of قَالُوٓا۟, hiding the root letter. L24 · R4
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word glued onto another word. The وٓا۟ ending on قَالُوٓا۟ is such a suffix, standing for 'they' — the ones who said it. L3 · R6
Doer (Fa'il) · فاعلThe doer is the one performing the action, so it stands in the nominative — the 'subject form', usually shown by a ḍammah ـُ, a small curl written above the final letter. The وٓا۟ ending on قَالُوٓا۟ is that doer, 'they' — the ones who said it; on this attached pronoun the shape is fixed, so no ḍammah appears, but the role it fills is the nominative one. L9 · R4
إِنَّمَا
(…"We are but)
إِنَّمَاword 9
Accusative Particle (إنّ) · حرف مشبه بالفعلإِنَّ is the emphasis particle 'indeed' (carrying the doubling shaddah ـّ) that normally pushes its topic into the accusative — the ending usually shown by a fathah ـَ, a small slanted stroke above the final letter. Here, though, the little مَا glued to it blocks that push, so the topic after it keeps its plain nominative ending, the ḍammah ـُ — and the pair إِنَّمَا comes to mean 'only'. L15 · R2
Preventive Mā · ما الكافةThe preventive مَا is the مَا glued onto إِنَّ that blocks its pull toward the accusative (the fathah ـَ ending, a small slanted stroke above the final letter), so the noun after إِنَّمَا keeps its nominative ḍammah ـُ — the small curl above the final letter — and the meaning narrows to 'only / nothing but'. So the hypocrites claim they are 'only reformers'. L20 · R17
نَحْنُ
(…we)
نَحْنُword 10
Detached Pronoun · ضمير منفصلA detached pronoun is a standalone word for 'I', 'we', 'you', 'they'. نَحْنُ is the standalone word 'we', the topic of their claim: 'we are only reformers'. L3 · R2
Subject (Mubtada') · مبتدأThe subject is the noun a sentence talks about — its topic — and it stands in the nominative, the 'topic form' usually shown by a ḍammah ـُ, a small curl written above the final letter. نَحْنُ 'we' is that topic here — a pronoun keeps one fixed shape, so no ḍammah appears, but the role it fills is the nominative one; because the مَا of إِنَّمَا blocks any push into another ending, it simply stays that plain nominative topic, and 'reformers' is what is said about it. L6 · R2
مُصْلِحُونَ
(…reformers.")
Root صلح — to be good, right, sound; to act rightly; to amend, reform; to reconcile · 180 times in the Quran
مُصْلِحُونَword 11
Noun · اسمA noun is a naming word. مُصْلِحُونَ names a group — 'reformers, peacemakers' — from the root صلح, to be sound and to set right, to reconcile. L1 · R6
Masculine Noun · اسم مذكرArabic treats every naming word as grammatically 'he' or 'she'. This word carries no feminine marker such as a ة at its end, so it falls to the default and is treated as 'he': a masculine noun. L2 · R3
Plural Noun · جمعA plural noun refers to three or more. The masculine sound plural in the nominative adds the ending ـُونَ. مُصْلِحُونَ ends in ـُونَ, so it names the many 'reformers'. L2 · R6
Nominative · مرفوعThe nominative is the ending a naming word takes when it completes what is said about the topic; for this kind of plural that ending is ـُونَ. مُصْلِحُونَ carries that ـُونَ ending in its own right, as the comment made about 'we': 'we are reformers'. L2 · R10
Predicate (Khabar) · خبرThe predicate is the part that tells you something about the topic, in the nominative ending. The topic was نَحْنُ 'we'; مُصْلِحُونَ is what is claimed about them — that they are reformers — standing nominative in its own right. L6 · R3
Active Participle · اسم فاعلAn active participle is a naming word built from a verb's root to name the one who does the action. Built from the root صلح (to set right, reconcile), مُصْلِحُونَ names the doers — those who set things right, 'reformers'. L11 · R3
By 'We are only reformers' they mean, 'We seek to befriend both parties — the believers and the disbelievers — and to have peace with both,' or 'to make amends between the believers and the People of the Book.'
Ibn Kathir (abridged), on 2:11
So far: “And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth," they say, "We are but reformers."”