is الدنيا (ad-duniya) in the arabic sentence واضرب لهم مثل الحياة الدنيا regarded as na'at (an adjective)?

Question

In the Madinah Arabic Course videos, the lecturer says that the word الدنيا in the above is na'at (adjective) for مثل.Isn't الحياة mudaf ilaihi (possessed noun) for مثل and الدنيا is mudaf ilaihi (possessed noun) for الحياة?But then, why is الدنيا mansoob (accusative case)? Is it mabni (non-declinable)?

Answer 1

الدنيا is the نعت for حياة not َمَثَل. You are correct, الحياة is the مضاف إليه for مثل, but الدنيا is a نعت for the الحياة and it is not accusative, it is مجرور (genitive) because it has to follow الحياة and الحياة is مضاف إليه مجرور. Because the word dunya ends in an alef md it has what is called a كسرة مقدرة meaning that it grammatically carries the كسرة but does not actually display it and it is not pronounced as such.