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What is the difference between "أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَةً" (a limited number of days) and "أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَاتٍ" (a limited number of days) in Surat Al-Baqarah?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Al-Razi mentioned that if a noun is masculine, the original form for its plural adjective is with the letter 'ta' (ت), and if it is feminine, the original form for its plural adjective is with 'alif' and 'ta' (ات). The occurrence of 'alif' and 'ta' for a singular masculine noun is rare, and the verses in the Qur'an came in this manner. As for Al-Suyuti, he said that Ibn Jama'ah believed the difference between the two verses is due to the fact that those who said it were two groups of Jews: one group said seven days, and the other said forty days. Thus, the verse in Al-Baqarah might refer to the second group, as it used the plural of abundance, while the verse in Al 'Imran refers to the first group, as it used the plural of scarcity.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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