Arabic Verb is past form but used as present form due to habitual and ever truth.

 

Alright — let’s unpack Qur’ān 42:37 in detail, with special focus on غَضِبُوا and why a past verb is conveying a present/continuous sense here.

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1. The verse in Arabic

وَالَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَائِرَ ٱلۡإِثۡمِ وَٱلۡفَوَٰحِشَ وَإِذَا مَا غَضِبُوا۟ هُمۡ يَغۡفِرُونَ
“And those who avoid the major sins and immoralities, and when they become angry, they forgive.”

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2. Structure of the verse

The verse describes traits of the believers:

1. They avoid (يَجْتَنِبُونَ) major sins (كَبَائِرَ الإِثْم) and shameful acts (الفَوَاحِش).

2. When anger overtakes them (غَضِبُوا), they respond with forgiveness (هُم يَغْفِرُونَ).

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3. About غَضِبُوا

Morphology

• غَضِبُوا = past verb (فعل ماضٍ)
  Root: غ ض ب = “anger”
  Form: 3rd person masculine plural → "they became angry."

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4. Why a past form is used for present/general meaning

This is a common Qur’ānic and classical Arabic rhetorical device.
Even though غَضِبُوا is past tense grammatically, in context it does not mean "once, in the past, they got angry."
Instead, it’s describing a habitual or characteristic reaction in real life.

This happens when:

1. Past tense is used for certainty — it presents the event as if it has already happened, to give a sense of inevitability or regularity.
   → “Whenever they get angry” = when such a case occurs (as it surely does in life)...

2. Conditional clauses:
   Here وَإِذَا مَا غَضِبُوا = and whenever they become angry…

   • The particle إِذَا often takes a past verb to refer to future or present events when it means “whenever / when”.

   • The past form after إِذَا actually signals a repeated or habitual action.

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5. Parallel in Arabic usage

Example in everyday Arabic:

• إذا جاء الصيف سافرنا إلى البحر
  Literal: “If summer came, we traveled to the sea.”
  Real meaning: “Whenever summer comes, we travel to the sea.”
  → Past tense verbs, but the meaning is habitual/present.

In Qur’ān:

• إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡفَتۡحُ (110:1)
  “When the victory of Allah comes…” → future event, but verb in past form.

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6. Meaning here

So وَإِذَا مَا غَضِبُوا هُم يَغْفِرُونَ means:

“And whenever they become angry, they (habitually) forgive.”

The past form غَضِبُوا is grammatically past, but here it functions like the English present simple (“become angry”), because:

• It is in a conditional clause introduced by إِذَا.

• The context is a description of character traits, not a one-time event.

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✅ Final refined meaning of Qur’ān 42:37:

“And those who avoid the major sins and immoral acts, and whenever anger overtakes them, they (choose to) forgive