Pre islamic arabic with structure of in-------illa

 pre islamic arabic with structure of in-------illa

ChatGPT said:

Aha — you’re asking now about the structure with إنْ … إلّا in pre-Islamic Arabic.

This is actually a very old restrictive formula. Grammarians call it أسلوب القصر بـ(إنْ … إلّا). It means:

“nothing but / only”

Just like ما … إلّا or لا … إلّا.

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📜 Pre-Islamic Examples (إنْ … إلّا)

1. From Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā (Muʿallaqa)

وإنْ هو إلّا ذِكرى لِذي نُهًى
“It is nothing but a reminder for the one of reason.”

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2. From ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād

إنْ هي إلّا أَحلامٌ تَطاوَلَها السُّرى
“They are nothing but dreams lengthened by the night.”

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3. From Labīd ibn Rabīʿa

إنْ كلُّ ما مَلكتْ يدايَ لَفانٍ … وإنْ هُوَ إلّا شَأنُ ذي دَولٍ
“Everything my hands have owned will vanish … it is nothing but the affair of one with fortune.”

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4. From al-Aʿshā

إنْ نحنُ إلّا في زمانٍ تَكاثَرتْ … صُروفُهُ حتى غَدتْ لا تُطاقُ
“We are in nothing but an age whose turns have multiplied until they can no longer be borne.”

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5. From Imruʾ al-Qays (Dīwān)

إنْ هي إلّا سُطورٌ في صَفائحَ … تُتلى، فيَبقى ذِكرُها للأواخِرِ
“They are nothing but lines on tablets … recited so that their memory remains for later generations.”

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🔑 Notes

• The formula إنْ … إلّا is exactly parallel in meaning to ما … إلّا.

• Grammarians like Sībawayh and later Ibn Hishām noted that both forms were current in eloquent Jāhilī usage.

• The Qurʾan continues this idiom:

  • إنْ هذا إلّا سِحرٌ مُبين (Yūnus 10:2) → “This is nothing but clear magic.”

  • إنْ أنتم إلّا بشرٌ مثلُنا (Ibrāhīm 14:10) → “You are nothing but humans like us.