26

So eat, of the dates, and drink, from the rivulet, and [let] your eye be comforted, by the child ('aynan, '[your] eye', a specification derived from the subject of the verb, in other words [what is meant is] li-taqarra 'aynuki bihi, 'that your eye may be comforted by him') that is, let it [your eye] be at peace and not covet any other than him; and if (immā: the nūn of the conditional particle in is here assimilated with the extra mā) you [happen to] see (tarayinna: the third consonantal root [the yā']⁴ and the second [the hamza] have been omitted, with the [fatha] vowel therein transferred to the [first consonant] the letter rā', and a kasra vowel applied to the yā' of the [feminine] person, because of two unvowelled consonants coming together) any human being, and should he ask you about your child, then say, “I have vowed to the Compassionate One a fast, that is to say, an abstention from speaking of his affair and from [speaking to] any other humans - which is indicated by [the following statement]), so I will not speak to any human today”', that is, after [saying] this.