Who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that they will return to Him.
Sahih International
Grammar, phrase by phrase
ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ
(Who are certain)
Root ظنن — to think, suppose, assume; to be certain, conviction · 69 times in the Quran
ٱلَّذِينَword 1
Relative Pronoun · اسم موصولA relative pronoun is a word like 'who' or 'which' that hooks a whole describing sentence onto whoever or whatever it points to. ٱلَّذِينَ · 'Those who' is the masculine plural form — 'those who' — used when it points to a group of people. Its shape is fixed: this word never changes its ending to show its job in the sentence. L5 · R13
Adjective · صفةAn adjective is a describing word that comes after its noun. ٱلَّذِينَ, with the clause it carries, follows 'the humble ones' and describes them, agreeing with them as many, masculine, and definite; its own written shape is fixed. L7 · R1
يَظُنُّونَword 2
Verb · فعلA verb is a word for an action or happening that is always tied to a time — past, present/future, or a command. يَظُنُّ is an action unfolding now: 'believe', from the root ظنن: to think, suppose, assume; to be certain, conviction. L1 · R7
Present Tense Verb · فعل مضارعA present-tense verb describes an action happening now or still to come, and it is recognized by its opening letter — one of the four present-tense prefixes أ ن ي ت. يَظُنُّ opens with exactly such a letter: 'believe', from the root ظنن: to think, suppose, assume; to be certain, conviction. L8 · R3
The Five Verbs · الأفعال الخمسةThe Five Verbs are the five present-tense shapes whose ending closes with the letter ن — يَفْعَلَانِ, تَفْعَلَانِ, يَفْعَلُونَ, تَفْعَلُونَ, تَفْعَلِينَ. يَظُنُّونَ is one of them: its ending ونَ keeps that closing ن, and for these five shapes the kept ن is itself the grammar-sign that the verb stands in its plain, ordinary mood. L10 · R10
Doubled Verb · فعل مضاعفA doubled verb is one whose second and third root letters are the same letter, written once with the shaddah ـّ — the small w-shaped doubling mark. The root of يَظُنُّونَ is ظنن, its two ن's folded into the single نُّ carrying that shaddah ـّ. L24 · R10
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word for 'I / you / he' that cannot stand alone — it is glued onto the end of another word, and each form carries within it exactly who is meant. ونَ · 'them/their' is fastened to the tail of the verb here — يَظُنُّونَ — naming the one who did the action. L3 · R6
Doer (Fa'il) · فاعلThe doer is the one performing the action, so it stands in the nominative — the doer's form, usually shown by a ḍammah ـُ, a small curl above the last letter. The و in the ending ونَ of يَظُنُّونَ is that doer, 'they'; on this attached pronoun the shape is fixed, so no ḍammah appears, but the role it fills is the nominative one. L9 · R4
Ibn Jarir said: "The Arabs call certainty as well as doubt, Zann" — a subject and its opposite sharing one name; here it means they are certain.
Ibn Kathir (abridged), on 2:46
أَنَّهُم مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ رَبِّهِمْ
(…that they will meet their Lord)
Root لقي — to meet, encounter, to cast or throw · 146 times in the Quran
Root ربب — Lord, Sustainer, Nourisher, Regulator, Perfector · 980 times in the Quran
أَنَّهُمword 3
Accusative Particle (إنّ) · حرف مشبه بالفعلأَنَّ 'that' — carrying the doubling shaddah ـّ, a small w-shaped mark — is a particle of the family حرف مشبه بالفعل that introduces the content of knowing or believing, mid-sentence, with the same grammar as إِنَّ: it pushes its topic into the accusative, the fathah ـَ form, while the comment stays nominative. Here it opens WHAT they are certain of. L15 · R4
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word glued onto the end of another word; glued to a particle, it is governed by that particle. The ending هُم on أَنَّهُم stands for 'they' — the topic أَنَّ speaks about, held in the accusative role, the fathah ـَ form; the pronoun's written shape is fixed, so no fathah appears. L3 · R6
مُّلَـٰقُوا۟word 4
Noun · اسمA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. مُّلَٰقُوا۟ names such a thing: 'will meet', from the root لقي: to meet, encounter, to cast or throw. L1 · R6
Masculine Noun · اسم مذكرArabic treats every noun — every naming word — as grammatically 'he' or 'she'. مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ carries no feminine marker — no ة at its end, no final ى, no اء — so it takes the default and is treated as 'he': a masculine noun. L2 · R3
Plural Noun · جمعA plural noun refers to three or more. The sound masculine plural carries its role in its ending — ـُونَ for the nominative (the 'subject form', with the ḍammah ـُ sound), ـِينَ for the accusative and genitive (the 'object' and 'of' forms); مُّلَٰقُوا۟ carries the ـُو of that ending, its ن dropped because the word is chained to 'their Lord' in an 'of' pairing: 'meeters OF their Lord'. L2 · R6
Nominative · مرفوعThe nominative is the standing a word takes as the comment about a topic, usually shown by a ḍammah ـُ — a small curl above the last letter. For this kind of plural the nominative shows itself instead as the ending ـُونَ, here with its ن dropped for the 'of' chain, leaving ـُوا۟. It is the comment about أَنَّ's topic 'they', and the comment keeps this nominative standing in its own right. L2 · R10
Active Participle · اسم فاعلAn active participle is a naming word built from a verb's root to name the doer of the action; for the derived verb families it begins with مُـ. مُّلَٰقُوا۟ begins with exactly that مُـ, built from the root لقي (to meet): 'ones who will meet'. L11 · R3
رَبِّهِمْword 5
Noun · اسمA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. رَبِّ names such a thing: 'their Lord', from the root ربب: Lord, Sustainer, Nourisher, Regulator, Perfector. L1 · R6
Masculine Noun · اسم مذكرArabic treats every noun — every naming word — as grammatically 'he' or 'she'. رَبِّهِمْ carries no feminine marker — no ة at its end, no final ى, no اء — so it takes the default and is treated as 'he': a masculine noun. L2 · R3
Genitive · مجرورThe genitive is the ending a noun (a naming word) takes as the owner in an 'of' phrase, marked by a kasrah ـِ — a small slanted stroke written below the letter. مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ and رَبِّهِمْ form such a pair, 'will meet their Lord', and as the owner-word of that pair, رَبِّ carries exactly that kasrah ـِ on its own final letter — just before the small piece fastened to the word's end. L2 · R12
Possessive (Idafa) · مضاف إليهArabic says 'of' by chaining two nouns — two naming words — directly together: مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ رَبِّهِمْ reads 'will meet — their Lord'. The second word of such a chain, the owner, always takes the genitive — the after-'of' ending, shown by a kasrah ـِ, a small slanted stroke written below the letter — and رَبِّ carries exactly that kasrah ـِ on its own final letter, just before the small piece fastened to the word's end. L5 · R5
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word for 'their' glued onto the end of another word. The ending هِمْ on رَبِّهِمْ stands for 'them': 'THEIR Lord'. L3 · R6
They know that they will be gathered and face their Lord on the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Kathir (abridged), on 2:46
So far: “Who are certain that they will meet their Lord”
وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَٰجِعُونَ
(…and that they will return to Him.)
Root رجع — to return, bring back, turn back · 104 times in the Quran
وَأَنَّهُمْword 6
Conjunction · حرف عطفThe prefix وَ at the front of وَأَنَّهُمْ is a conjunction — a small joining word meaning 'and' — linking what follows to what came before; the word it joins in must stand in the same grammatical case as its partner before the joint — the same role in the sentence, even when the two words write that case with different endings. L4 · R4
Accusative Particle (إنّ) · حرف مشبه بالفعلأَنَّ 'that' — carrying the doubling shaddah ـّ, a small w-shaped mark — is a particle of the family حرف مشبه بالفعل that introduces the content of knowing or believing, pushing its topic into the accusative, the fathah ـَ form, while the comment stays nominative. Here it opens the second thing they are certain of. L15 · R4
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word glued onto the end of another word; glued to a particle, it is governed by that particle. The ending هُمْ on وَأَنَّهُمْ stands for 'they' — the topic أَنَّ speaks about, held in the accusative role, the fathah ـَ form; the pronoun's written shape is fixed, so no fathah appears. L3 · R6
إِلَيْهِword 7
Particle · حرفA particle is a small helper word of one to three letters that works like glue — it connects or adjusts other words rather than naming something or describing an action, and it can never be the one a sentence is about. إِلَيْ · 'to/toward' is such a helper. L1 · R9
Preposition · حرف جرA preposition is a little helper word that relates one thing to another; Arabic keeps a short list of them — small words like فِي 'in', مِنْ 'from', and عَلَىٰ 'on'. إِلَيْ · 'to/toward' is one of these relation-words. L4 · R2
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word for 'me / us / them' that cannot stand alone — it is glued onto the end of another word, and each form carries within it exactly who is meant. هِ · 'him/his' hangs on the little relation-word in إِلَيْهِ, governed by the word it is fastened to. L3 · R6
رَٰجِعُونَword 8
Noun · اسمA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. رَٰجِعُونَ is such a naming word: 'will return', from the root رجع: to return, bring back, turn back. L1 · R6
Masculine Noun · اسم مذكرArabic treats every noun — every naming word — as grammatically 'he' or 'she'. Even as a plural, رَٰجِعُونَ carries no feminine marker — no ة at its end, no final ى, no اء — so it takes the default and is a masculine noun; its ending is the 'sound' plural ending Arabic reserves for masculine nouns. L2 · R3
Plural Noun · جمعA plural noun refers to three or more of something. The sound masculine plural carries its role in its ending — ـُونَ for the nominative (the 'subject form', with the ḍammah ـُ sound), ـِينَ for the accusative and genitive (the 'object' and 'of' forms); رَٰجِعُونَ closes with exactly such an ending: not one, but a whole group. L2 · R6
Nominative · مرفوعThe nominative is the standing a word takes as the comment about a topic, usually shown by a ḍammah ـُ — a small curl above the last letter. For this kind of plural the nominative shows itself instead as the ending ـُونَ, which رَٰجِعُونَ carries: it is the comment about أَنَّ's topic 'they', and the comment keeps this nominative standing in its own right. L2 · R6
Active Participle · اسم فاعلAn active participle is a naming word built from a verb's root on the pattern فَاعِل to name the doer of the action. رَٰجِع is built on that pattern from the root رجع (to return): one who returns. L11 · R1
'And that unto Him they are going to return' — their affairs are all subject to His will, and He justly decides what He wills. Since they are certain they will be returned to Allah and be reckoned, it is easy for them to perform the acts of obedience and refrain from the prohibitions.
Ibn Kathir (abridged), on 2:46
So far: “Who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that they will return to Him.”