Have you not considered the assembly of the Children of Israel after [the time of] Moses when they said to a prophet of theirs, "Send to us a king, and we will fight in the way of Allāh"? He said, "Would you perhaps refrain from fighting if battle was prescribed for you?" They said, "And why should we not fight in the cause of Allāh when we have been driven out from our homes and from our children?" But when battle was prescribed for them, they turned away, except for a few of them. And Allāh is Knowing of the wrongdoers.
Sahih International
أَلَمْ
alam
Did not
Word breakdown
أَ
Harf · Interrogative particle?
لَمْ
Harf · Negative particledid not
Grammar rules
أَلَمْ (Did not) is a negation word — it makes the next word negative, like "not" or "no".
We add "not" or "no" to negate what follows.
Lesson 19 · Negation & Exceptionsأَلَمْ (Did not) marks a question — it turns the sentence into a question.
We rearrange the English into question form.
Lesson 17 · Questions & Prohibition