Note on "alaysa"(أَلَيْسَ)-sam
Note on "alaysa"(أَلَيْسَ)-sam All instances in the text appear in the notes. "alaysa" 6:30, 6:53, 11:78, 11:81, 29:68, 39:32, 39:36, 39:37, 39:60, 43:51, 46:34, 75:40, 95:8. The translators frequently seem to miss a part of its function. They render it as a bare negative interrogative: Is this not the truth? (Either a or b could have been the truth. It happens to be a and we all agree.) However, the contexts show that its role in the argument is more subtle. There is an element of correction of a misplaced assumption or misconception: Is then this not the truth? (You had thought a was the truth, but actually it was b, and b is hereby demonstrated, in fact, to be the truth.) Of course, depending on context the first reading performs the same function as the second. However, with the added then the emphasis remains constant, and there is perceptible tipping of an argument in favour of the point being made by means of a requisite rhetorical flourish. (Google ...