wa inna la moosi'oona EXACTLY means the following in English:
and we certainly are expanding.
moosi'oon, outside that sentence, means expanders.
But to answer your question, moosi'oon is always a noun (male plural), inside and outside that sentence, but inside that sentence it is EXACTLY equivalent to the english translation I shown you.
it's how we use the continuous present in Arabic, to refer to the future. (like it is in English)
For example, in english you say:
I'm leaving tomorrow. (continuous present form used to refer to the future)
Je pars, demain. <-- french: the verb does not change.
inni rahel ghadan <-- Arabic: rahel is a noun (male single) but used here to give the same effect as in English above.
Hello again, sorry to drag things back to page 1 (i haven't been here in a while), but I wonder if this search for an example of the active participle refering to a past action is unnecessary (though still helpful no doubt). I wonder if debunker is correct in the above quote that it can't simply mean expanders in 51:47 (maybe I've misunderstood what he is saying)? Does anyone know if he is right in saying it doesn't just mean the doer of the verb as it does elsewhere but here must be taken literally as expanding (like how kaatibun can mean writer or writing
http://www.answers.com/topic/participle#Arabic )? Many other translators are quite happy to translate it as "expanders" or words to that effect such as "makers of things ample" (
http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/51/47/default.htm).
If I search google for
site:http://corpus.quran.com nominative masculine plural active participle
I see examples of the same structure eg 44:12 "Lo! We are believers" (innā mu'minūna). A nominative masculine plural (form IV) active participle like in 51:47.
or 9:100 wal-sābiqūna "and the forerunners" nominative masculine plural active participle
In 2:236 the genitive (since it follows a preposition) of the same word (masculine plural (form IV) active participle) as in 51:47 refers to the wealthy.
Topic: The expanding universe