💯 Miscellaneous benefits from Yemen
18 January 2022 • 2.6K views
BENEFIT 63: The difference between مَيْتٌ (with a sukoon on the yaa) and مَيِّتٌ (with a shaddah on the ya)
Sheikh Abū Bilāl mentioned the following benefit in one of the tafsīr classes:
Mayyit (مَيِّتٌ) is used in reference to a living creature that is awaiting death. We see this meaning clearly in Allāh's saying while addressing His Messenger ﷺ:
{إِنَّكَ مَیِّتࣱ وَإِنَّهُم مَّیِّتُونَ}
“You ˹O Prophet˺ will certainly die, and they will die too.”
[Sūrah Az-Zumar 30]
Meanwhile, Mayt (مَيْتٌ) refers to a lifeless, dead body. This word has been used in reference to dead earth:
{وَءَایَةࣱ لَّهُمُ ٱلۡأَرۡضُ ٱلۡمَیۡتَةُ أَحۡیَیۡنَـٰهَا وَأَخۡرَجۡنَا مِنۡهَا حَبࣰّا فَمِنۡهُ یَأۡكُلُونَ}
“There is a sign for them in the dead earth: We give it life, producing grain from it for them to eat.”
[Sūrah Yā-Sīn 33]
One way to differentiate between the two is to memorise the following lines of poetry:
وَتَسْأَلُـني تَفْسيرَ مَيـْتٍ وَمَيِّتٍ * فَدونَكَ ذا التفسـيرُ إنْ كنتَ تَعْقِلُ
You ask me concerning the meaning of mayt and mayyit * before you is the meaning - if you understand
فَمَنْ كانَ ذا روحٍ فَذلِكَ مَـيِّتٌ * وَما الـمَيْتُ إلاَّ مَنْ إلى القَبْرِ يُحْمَلُ
If it's in reference to someone with a soul, then he is mayyit * while the mayt is merely one who is carried to the grave
An easier way to differentiate between the two is to look at the middle letter; the Yaa. If the Yaa is saakin, that means it has no harakah (motionless) - i.e. Dead. But if the yaa has a harakah (Kasrah in this case), that means it has motion - I.e. Still alive.
NOTE:
the sheikh ḥafidhahullāh noted that the above difference is something أغلبي, i.e. it remains true in most cases, so there are exceptions.
An exception is the saying of Allāh:
{أَوَمَن كَانَ مَیۡتࣰا فَأَحۡیَیۡنَـٰهُ وَجَعَلۡنَا لَهُۥ نُورࣰا یَمۡشِی بِهِۦ فِی ٱلنَّاسِ كَمَن مَّثَلُهُۥ فِی ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ لَیۡسَ بِخَارِجࣲ مِّنۡهَاۚ كَذَ ٰلِكَ زُیِّنَ لِلۡكَـٰفِرِینَ مَا كَانُوا۟ یَعۡمَلُونَ}
“Can those who had been dead, to whom We gave life and a light with which they can walk among people, be compared to those in complete darkness from which they can never emerge? That is how the misdeeds of the disbelievers have been made appealing to them.”
[Sūrah Al-An'ām 122]
Here 'Mayt' does not refer to someone who is literally dead, but rather a figurative death.