السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

We’re still talking about grammatical followers of a word that come after it and follow it in status.  We’ve done النَّعْت (The adjective).  Now we’re going to look at the عَطْف (conjunction), starting with some particles that are used to join between words in a sentence:

ِحُرُوْف العَطْف (The particles of conjunction)

ِوَحُرُوْفُ العَطْفِ عَشْرَةَ، وَهِيَ: الْوَاوُ، وَالْفاءُ، وَثُمَّ، وَأَوْ، وَأَمْ، وَإمّا، وَبَلْ، وَلا، وَلَكِنْ، وَحَتَّى فِيْ بَعْضِ المَواضِعِ

And the particles of conjunctions are 10.  They are the letters و (waw) and ف (fa), ثُمَّ (thumma), أَوْ (aw), أَمْ (am), إمّا  (immaa), بَلْ (bal), لا (laa), لَكِنْ (laakin), and حَتّى (hattaa) – in some situations

The word عَطْف (‘atf ) in the normal sense means “to incline to something”.  If you say عَطَفَ فُلانٌ عَلى فُلانٍ (“Somebody had ‘atf for somebody”), it means that he inclined toward him and had affection for him.

In grammar, they’re two kinds of ‘atf :

1. عَطْف البَيانِ (‘atf al-bayaan) – This is an explanatory addition that either clarifies the meaning (if after a definite noun) or restricts the meaning (if after an indefinite noun).  It has to match what it’s following in status
   • جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبُوْكَ (“Muhammad, your father, came”) – محمدٌ is a definite noun (it’s a proper name) in the state of raf’ because it’s the doer of جاء (“came”).   To make it clear exactly who you mean by “Muhammad”, you follow up with أبوُكَ (“your father”).  Your addition also has to be in raf’ so you useو (like how we show raf’ for the Five Nouns )
   • مِنْ ماءٍ صَدِيْدٍ (“from water, festering water“) – ماءٍ (“water”) is an indefinite noun in jarr because of the particle مِنْ before it.  To restrict the meaning of this water, the word صََدِيدٌ (“pus”) comes after it.
2. عَطْف النَسْقِ (‘atf al-nasq) – This is a grammatical follower that is connected to what it’s following by putting one of the حروف العطف (connective particles) in between, and there are 10 of these particles:
   1. و (“and”) – Gives the most general way to join between things.  In جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ وَعَلِيٌّ (“Muhammad and Ali came”), the و is used to combine two things that with each other.  If one comes before the other, و can be used, but it does not imply ordering.  جاءَ زَيْدٌ وَ خالِدٌ could mean that Zaid came first or that Khalid came first.  You can assume that they both came, but not who came first.
      • When mentioning two things, and one is more important or concerning, it’s appropriate to start with that, as in جاءَ السَيَّدُ وَعَبْدُهُ (“The master and his slave came”)
   2. فَ (“immediately after”) – Used to give ordering and immediate follow up.  قَدِمَ الْفُرْسانُ فَالْمُشاةُ would mean “The calvary arrived, then the foot soldiers”, with no gap in between
   3. ثُمَّ (“a while after”) – Used to give ordering with a delay in follow up.  When talking about when prophets were sent we could say أَرْسَلَ اللهُ مُوْسَى ثُمَّ عِيْسَى ثُمَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَلَيْهِمُ السَّلامُ (“Allah sent Moses, then Jesus, then Muhammad, peace be upon them”) using ثُمَّ between them because of the interval between their prophethoods
   4. أَوْ (“or”) – Can be used for several meanings, including:
      • تَخْيِيْر (Giving a choice between options without allowing them together).  An example would be تَزَوَّجُ هَنْدًا أَوْ أُخْتَها (“Marry Hind or her sister”).  One can marry Hind or her sister, but not both
      • إباحَة (Giving feasible options, along with allowing them together).  For example, ادْرُسِ الْفِقْهَ أَوِ النَحْوَ (“Study fiqh [Islamic law] or grammar”), but  there’s nothing wrong with taking both together
      • شَكّ (doubt) – If you’re not sure which of two people arrived, you’d say قَدِمَ زَيْدٌ أَوْ عَمْروٌ (“Zayd or ‘Amr arrived”)
      • تَحْيِيْر (causing confusion) – You know the answer to someone’s question, but you use “or” to confuse them.  If someone asks مَنِ الذِيْ قَدِمَ؟ (“Who is the one who arrived?”) and you know the answer but want to confuse him, you’d reply with زَيْدٌ أو عَمْروٌ (“Zaid or ‘Amr”)
   5. أَمْ (“or”) – Used to seek a specific answer after using أ for a question
      • Simply using أ makes a yes/no question.  If you ask أدَرَسْتَ الْفِقْهَ  (“Did you study fiqh?”), they would simply give a yes or no.
      • Using أم makes it a multiple choice question. أدَرَسْتَ الْفِقْهَ أَمِ النَّحْوَ (“Did you study fiqh or grammar”) is not a yes/no question.  It’s expecting an answer like دَرَسْتُ الفِقْهَ (“I studied fiqh”) or دَرَسْتُ النَحْوَ (“I studied grammar”)
      • It can also work like بَلْ (“rather”), in some situations.  I’m not going into that level of detail here because we’re focusing on the grammatical effect these particles have, but here’s an example for you:
        • In the ayah  أَمْ تَأْمُرُهُمْ أَحْلَامُهُم بِهَٰذَا ۚ أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ (“Or do their minds command them to [say] this, or are they a transgressing people?” ) [52:32], we could treat the second أم like it’s بلْ and translate accordingly: “… rather they are a transgressing people”)
   6. إِمّا (“either/or”) – it’s similar to أو (“or”)
      • فَشُدُّوا الْوَثَاقَ فَإِمَّا مَنًّا بَعْدُ وَإِمَّا فِدَاءً (“then secure their bonds, and either [confer] favor afterwards or ransom [them]” – 47:4)
      • تَزَوَّجْ إِمّا هِنْدًا وَإمّا أُخْتَها (“Marry either Hind or her sister”)
      • There is a debate about this one.  In short, it’s probably not one of the actual particles of conjunction, but I’m including it here because the author of الآجُرومِيَّة considered it so and for the sake of completeness.
   7. بَلْ (“rather/instead”) – Used for إضراب (turning away) from what you’ve said and applying it to something else.  Two conditions for بَلْ are (1) only a single word (no sentences or semi-sentences) can come after it and (2) you cannot use it after a question.  For example:
      • In ما جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ بَلْ بَكْرٌ, you say ما جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ (“Muhammad didn’t come”) and then follow up with بَلْ بَكْرٌ (“rather, Bakr [didn’t come]”)
      • You say قَدِمَ زَيْدٌ (“Zayd arrived”), then follow up with بَلْ عَمْروٌ (“rather, ‘Amr [arrived]”)
      • In both of these, you cancel what you said about the first person and then apply it to the second one
   8. لا (“not”) – a conjunctive particle that negates for what’s after it the same thing you declared for what’s before it.
      • In جاءَ بَكْرٌ لا خالِدٌ (“Bakr came, not Khalid”), you say جاءَ بَكْرٌ (“Bakr came”) and then you negate that Khalid came simply by adding لا خالِدٌ
   9. لكِنْ (“but”) – pronounced “laakin”.  You confirm what’s said before it and confirm the opposite for what’s after it.  It has to come after a negation (“no/not”) or a prohibition (“Don’t…!”), and only a single word must be after لكن, not a sentence or semi-sentence
      • In لا أُحِبُّ الْكُسالى لكِنْ الْمُجْتَهِدِيْنَ (“I don’t love lazy people, but [I do love] hard workers”) – You confirm that “I don’t love lazy people” by saying لا أُحِبُّ الكُسالى.  Then you confirm the opposite (“I do love…”) for hard workers by adding لكِنْ الْمُجْتَهِدِيْنَ (“but [I do love]  hard workers”).  الكُسالى is in nasb because it’s the object of أُحِبُّ, so its follower المُجْتَهِدِيْنَ also has to be in nasb (with a ي instead of و).
        • لكن came after negation لا, and there is only one word after it (المُجْتَهِدِيْنَ)
   10. حَتّى (“up to including/even”), in some places
       • it’s used for gradualization (what you said is applied, a little at a time) and giving an endpoint
         •  يَمُوْتُ النّاسُ حَتَّى الْأنْبِياءُ (“People will die, even the prophets”)
       • If what’s after حَتّى is a sentence we say that حَتّى is for starting purposes (ابْتّدائية) and is not for عطف.  It’s used to start a sentence and the mubtada’ will come after it and be in raf’.
         • جاءَ أًصْحَابُنا حَتَّى خَالِدٌ حاضِرٌ (“Our companions came, even Khalid is present”)
       • حَتّى is one of the particles of jarr, so sometimes it will put the word after it in jarr as in حَتَّى مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ (“Until the emergence of dawn”)
       • So, in some contexts حتى comes for ‘atf (and the word after حتى will be a grammatical follower of what’s before it), in others it will come to put the word after it in jarr and yet others إبْتِداء (particle of inception, and the word after it is in raf’ as the beginning of a sentence).  That’s why we say “some situations” when we mention حَتّى.
       • This example illustrates the three types of حتى (hattaa):  أكلتُ السمكةَ حتى رأسها (“I ate the fish up to or up to including its head”)
         • If we read رأسِها with kasrah on the س, then  حتى is a particle of jarr, and it would mean the fish was eaten up to, but not including the head.  The meaning would be “I ate the fish, up to the head”
         • If we read رأسَها with fathah, حَتَّى is a conjunctive particle and because السَمكَةَ is in nasb as the object of eating, رأسَ will also have nasb, with a fathah on it, and the meaning is that the fish was eaten, including the head.  The meaning would be: “I ate the fish, even the head”
         • If we read رَأسُها with a dhammah and with raf’ it is حَرْف إبْتِداء (particle of inception), it would be the start of a separate sentence.  رَأسُه  is the mubtada’ of the new sentence and its omitted khabar is assumed as:  مأكولٌ  (“eaten”, i.e. even the fish’s head was eaten).  The meaning of it all would be be two sentences: “I ate the fish.  Even the head [was eaten]”

[Read more…] about العَطْف (Conjunctions)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

When we talked about نَعْت (description) in النَّعْت (The adjective) we mentioned definite and indefinite nouns a lot because we were trying to show how the نَعْت (description) and the مَنْعُوْت (what you are describing) have to match in being definite or indefinite.

To keep it straight, all nouns are either definite or indefinite.  First the definite nouns:

The kinds of definite nouns

وَالْمَعْرِفَةُ خَمْسَةُ أشْياء: الِاسْمُ المُضْمَرُ نَحْوُ أَنَا وَأَنْتَ وَالِاسْمُ العَلَمُ نَحْوُ زَيْدٌ وَمَكَّةُ, وَالاسْمُ المُبْهَمُ نَحْوُ هّذا وَهَذِهِ وَهَؤُلاءِ وَالسْمُ الَّذِيْ فِيْهِ الأَلِفُ وَاللامُ نَحْوُ: الرَجُلُ وَالْغُلامُ, وَما أُضِيْفَ إلى وَاحِدٍ مِنْ هَذِهِ الأرْبَعَةِ

… and the definite noun is [one of] five things: The pronoun, like أنا (“I”) and أنْتَ (“you”), the proper noun, like زَيْدٌ (Zayd) and مَكَّةُ (Makkah), the vague pronoun, like هَذا (“this”), هَذِهِ (“this [f.]”) and هَؤُلاءِ (“these”), the noun that has ال in it, like الرَجُلُ (“the man”) and الْغُلامُ (“the boy”), and whatever is mudhaaf to one of these four.

The definite noun is a word that is used for a specific entity or entities, and there are five kinds of definite nouns (with the explanation to follow):

1. The pronoun
2. The proper name
3. The demonstrative pronoun
4. A noun that has ال added to the beginning of it
5. Whatever has been added to one of these to make an Idhafah (the possessive phrase)

الاسْم المُضْمَر (The pronoun)

It’s a noun that’s used to refer to the first, second or third person.  We already mentioned it here when we did the mubtada’ and khabar, so it should be familiar to you by now.  It can come for the:

• 1st person
  1.  أنا – “I”
  2. نَحْنُ – “we”
• 2nd person
  1. أنْتَ – “you”
  2. أنْتِ – “you (f.)”
  3. أَنْتُمَا – “you both”
  4. أَنْتُمْ – “you all”
  5. أَنْتُنَّ – “you all” for females
• 3rd person
  1. هُوَ – “he”
  2. هِيَ – “she”
  3. هُمَا – “they both”
  4. هُمْ – “they all”
  5. هُنَّ – “they all” for females

الاسْم العَلَم (The proper noun)

It’s a name used to identify a specific entity.  You don’t need to bring something that refers to the 1st/2nd/3rd person (me/you/him, etc.) to identify who or what you mean.

It can be male like مُحَمَّدٌ (“Muhammad”) or female like فاطِمَةُ (“Fatimah”).

It can also be a specific place like مَكَّة (Makkah) or animal like القَصْواءُ (the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم’s camel)

 

الاسْم الْمُبْهَم (The demonstrative pronoun)

They are two kinds of demonstrative pronouns: [Read more…] about Definite and Indefinite Nouns

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

Today we’re going to start looking at التَابِعُ لِلْمَرْفُوْعِ (the grammatical follower of a word that’s in raf’).

There are four kinds of grammatical followers  (i.e. they come after a word and follow it in status).

This post is going to cover the نَعْت, and the rest will come in later sections إنْ شاء الله

 

باب النَعْتِ (The chapter on the adjective)

النَعْتُ: تَابِعٌ لِلْمَنْعُوْتِ فِيْ رَفْعِهِ وَنَصْبِهِ وَخَفْضِهِ, وَتَعْرَيْفِهِ وَتَنْكِيْرِهِ, قَامَ زَيْدٌ الْعَاقِلُ, وَرَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا الْعَاقِلَ وَمَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ الْعاقِلِ

The adjective is a follower of the described word in its raf’, nasb and jar and in its being a definite and indefinite noun. [You would say]:  قَامَ زَيْدٌ الْعَاقِلُ (“Zayd, the intelligent, stood”), رَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا الْعَاقِلَ (“I saw Zayd, the intelligent”), and مَرَرْتُ بِزَيْدٍ الْعاقِلِ (“I passed by Zayd, the intelligent”).

The word نَعْتُ (na’t) means “a description”, and the word it’s describing is called the مَنْعُوْت (the “described word”).  We can say it’s like an adjective in English except that in Arabic, it will come after the word it’s describing, and not necessarily right after it.  “A big house” would be “بَيْتٌ كَبِيْرٌ” (Which is بَيْتٌ – “house”, followed by كَبَيْرٌ – “big”).

Now, there are two kinds of na’t:

1. نَعْت حَقِيْقِيّ (“true description”) – Used for an attribute in the described entity
   • جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ الْعاقِلُ (“Muhammad, the intelligent, came”) – العاقِلُ describes مُحَمَّدٌ
2. نَعْت سَبَبِيّ (“causal description”) – The attribute isn’t actually in who/what we’re describing, but is in something else related to it.  This “something else” is the real reason why we’re mentioning the trait (intelligence, beauty, size, etc.) and is called the sabab (cause).  This sabab will have a pronoun going back to the مَنْعُوْت
   • جَاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ الْفاضِلُ أبُوْهُ (“Muhammad, whose father is honorable, came”) – We are describing Muhammad, but his father (أبُوْهُ)  is the sabab for why we’re saying الْفَاضِلُ (“the honorable”).   The pronoun هُ (“his”) in أبُوْهُ refers back to مُحَمَّدٌ

[Read more…] about النَّعْت (The adjective)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

We’ve seen how a جُمْلُة اسْمِيَّة (nominal sentence) will have a subject called the مُبْتَدَأ (mubtada’) and some information about that subject called the خَبَر (khabar), along with the fact that they are both going to be in the state of رَفْع (raf’).  These are the third and fourth of the 7 types of nouns in رَفع.

We’ll look at the the fifth and sixth of these seven together, because they both come under the heading of “cancellers of the mubtada’ and khabar” (which we’ll get to in just a moment):

• “the ism of كانَ” and its siblings
• “the khabar of إِنَّ” and its siblings

كانَ and إنَّ are two of the influences that can come and cancel the original rule of a nominal sentence (that the mubtada’ and khabar are both in raf’) and replace it with something else, and that’s what we’re going to look at more closely now:

نَوَاسِخُ الْمُبْتَدَأِ وَالْخَبَرِ (Influences that cancel the mubtada’ and khabar)

بابُ العَوامِلِ الدَاخِلَةِ عَلَى الْمُبْتَدَأِ وَالْخَبَرِ, هِيَ ثَلاثَةُ أشْياء: كانَ وَأَخَواتُها وَإِنََ وَأَخَواتُها وَظَنَنْتُ وَأَخَواتُها

The chapter of the influences that come before the mubtada’ and khabar, and they are three things: َكان (“was”) and its sisters, إنَّ (“indeed”) and its sisters and ظَنَنْتُ (“I thought”) and its sisters.

The rule for the mubtada’ and khabar is that they will both be in raf’ (i.e. they will have a dhammah or one of its substitutes on the end).  Three influences that change that rule:

1. One that puts the mubtada’ in raf’ and the khabar in nasb – the كانَ family of verbs
   • e.g. كانَ الْجَوُّ صافِيًا (“the air was pure”) –> the fathah on صافِيًا shows the nasb
   • The mubtada’ of كَانَ is the fifth of the seven reasons why a noun will be in raf’
2. One that puts the mubtada’ in nasb and the khabar in raf’ – the إنَّ family of particles
   • e.g. إنَّ اللهَ عَزِيْزٌ حَكِيْمٌ (“Indeed, Allah is the Mighty, the Wise”) – اللهَ has a fathah
   • The the khabar of إّنَis is the sixth reason why a noun will be in raf’
3. One that puts both the mubtada’ and khabar in nasb – the ظَنَنْتُ family of verbs
   • e.g. ظَنَنْتُ الصَدِيْقَ أخًا (“I thought the friend to be a brother”) – both words have a fathah on them
   • Not related to why a noun will be in raf’, but mentioned for the sake of completeness

These influences are called النَواسِخ (“the cancellers”), because they cancel the original rule for which state the mubtada’ and khabar will be in and bring a new rule.

Let’s take a closer look at each family of these cancellers…

كانَ وَأخَواتُها (The كانَ family)

فَأمّا كانَ وَأخَواتُها, فَإنَّها تَرْفَعُ الِاسْمَ وَتَنْصِبُ الْخَبَرَ وَهِيَ: كانَ وَأَمْسَى وَأَصْبَحَ  وَأَضْحَى وَظَلََ وَبَاتَ وَصَارَ وَلَيْسَ وَما زَالَ وَما انْفَكَّ وَمَا فَتِئَ وَما بَرِحَ وَما دَامَ, وَما تَصَرَّفَ مِنْها نَحْوُ كانَ وَيَكُونُ وَكُنْ وَأًصْبَحَ وَيُصْبِحُ وَأًصْبِحْ. تَقُوْلُ كانَ زَيْدٌ قائِمًا وَلَيْسَ عَمْرٌو شاخِصًا وَما أشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ

As for كان and its sisters, they put the noun (اسْم) in a state of raf’ and the khabar in nasb – and they are:

• َكَان (“was [in general]”)
• أَمْسَى (“was in the afternoon or evening”/”became”)
• َأَصْبَح (“was in the morning”/”became”)
• أَضْحَى (“was in the late morning”/”became”)
• ظَلَّ (“was during the daytime”)
• َبَات (“was during the nighttime”)
• َصَار (“became”)
• َلَيْس (“is not”)
• َمَا زَال (“continued”/”was still”)
• مَا انْفَكّ (“continued”/”was still”)
• َمَا فَتِئ (“continued”/”was still”)
• َمَا بَرِح (“continued”/”was still”)
• َمَا دَام (“as long as”/”for the duration”)

as well as what conjugates from them into the present tense and command forms like كَانَ – يَكُوْنُ – كُنْ (“was” – “is/will be” – “Be!”) and أَصْبَحَ – يُصْبِحُ – أَصْبِحْ [“was” – “is/will be” – “Be!” (all in the morning)]

You say: كَانَ زَيْدٌ قائمًا (“Zayd was standing”) and لَيْسَ عَمْرٌو شاخِصًا (“‘Amr is not present/going”) and what is similar to that.

The first group that cancels the mubtada’ and khabar is كانَ and its siblings (other verbs that have the same effect).  The effect they have is:

• They come before the mubtada’ and remove its raf’ and give it a new raf’
• The mubtada’ is then renamed as “the ism of كانَ”
• The khabar is nasb-ized and renamed as “the khabar of كانَ”

So we don’t have a mubtada’ and khabar anymore.  Instead, we will have كان, its ism and its khabar.

This division has 13 verbs in it, and I give the you the past tense form below.  The first 7 can be used in the past, present or command forms.  The others are limited, as some can only be used in the past and present tense forms and some only in the past tense form:

1. كانَ – this means the khabar is a description of the ism in the past, and this description could stop being true as in كانَ مُحَمَّدٌ مُجْتَهِدٌ (“Muhammad was a striver”), or continuous as in وَكانَ رَبُّكَ قَدِيْرًا (“And your Lord has always been capable”)
2. أمْسَى – the ism takes on the description in the khabar in the مَساء (evening), as in أَمْسَى الجَوُّ بَارِدًا (“The air got cold in evening”)
3. أصْبَحَ – the ism takes on the description in the khabar in the صَباح (morning), as in أصْبَحَ الْجَوَّ مُكْفَهِرًّا (“The air became cloudy in the morning”)
4. أضْحَى – the ism takes on the description in the khabar in the ضُحُى (late morning), as in أَضْحَى الطَالِبُ نَشِيْطًا (“The student became active in the late morning”)
5. ظَلَّ – the ism takes on the description in the khabar in the daytime, as in ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدًّا (“His face darkened in the day”)
6. بَاتَ – the ism takes on the description in the khabar in the nighttime, as in بَاتَ مُحَمَّدٌ مَسْرُوْرًا (“Muhammad became happy at night”)
7. صَارَ – the ism changes to the condition mentioned in the khabar, as in صاَرَ الطِيْنُ إبْرِيْقًا (“The clay became a pitcher”)
8. لَيْسَ – Negates the khabar for the ism in the present, as in لَيْسَ مُحَمَّدٌ فَاهِمًا (“Muhammad is not understanding”).  This can only be used in the past tense form
9. ما زَالَ –  This and the next three all mean that the khabar holds true for the ism for as long as the situation calls for, as in مَا زَالَ إبْراهِيْمُ مُنْكِرًا (“Ibrahim continued to censure”).
   • To cancel the mubtada’, these four need a negation, question word, or prohibition before them
   • They can only be used in their past tense and present tense forms, not the command form
10. مَا انْفَكَّ
11. ما فَتِئَ
12. مَا بَرِحَ  – as in ما بَرِحَ عَلِيٌّ صَدِيقا مُخْلِصًا (“Ali was still a sincere friend”)
13. مَا دَامَ – also used to mean that the khabar sticks to the ism with the meaning  of “as long as”, as in لا أعْذِلُ خاَلِدًا مَا دُمْتُ حَيًّا (“I will not blame Khalid as long as I’m alive”).
    • It always comes with ما before it.  The stronger opinion is that it can only be used in the past tense (you won’t see the present tense يَدُوْمُ used)

إِنَّ وَأخَوَاتُها (The إِنَّ family)

وَأَمَّا إِنَّ وَأَخَوَاتُهَا فَإنََهَا تَنْصِبُ الِاسْمَ وَتَرْفَعُ الْخَبَرَ, هِيَ إِنَّ وَأَنَّ وَلَكِنَّ وَكَأَنَّ وَلَيْتَ وَلَعَلَّ.  تَقُوْلُ إِنَ زَيْدًا قَائِمٌ وَلَيْتَ عَمْرًا شَاخِصٌ وَمَا أَشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ, وَمَعْنَى إِنَّ وَأَنَّ التَوْكِيْدُ, لَكِنَّ لِلِاسْتِدْراكِ, وَكَأّنَّ لِلتَشْبِيْهِ, وَلَيْتَ لِلتَمَنِّيْ, وَلَعَلَّ لِلتَرَجِّيْ وَالتَوَقُعِ

As for إنَّ and its sisters, they nasbi-ize the ism and raf’-ize the khabar – and they are:

• إِنَّ (“indeed”/”verily”)
• أَنَّ (“that”)
• لَكِنَّ (“but”/”however”)
• كَأَنَّ (“as if”)
• َلَيْت (“if only”)
• لَعَلَّ (“hopefully”)

You say: إنّ زَيْدًا قائمٌ (“Indeed, Zayd is standing”) and لَيْتَ عَمْرًا شاخِصٌ (“If only ‘Amr is present/going”) and what is similar to that.

إِنَّ and أنَّ are for emphasis and corroboration لَكِنَّ is for setting something straight, كأنَّ is for comparison, لَيْتَ is for expressing a wish (تَمَنِّي) and لَعَلَّ is forexpressing a hope (تَرَجِّي) or expectation (تَوَقُّع).

The second group that cancels the mubtada’ and khabar is إِنَّ and its siblings, and their effect is:

• They come before the mubtada’ and give it nasb
• The mubtada’ is then renamed as “the ism of إِنَّ”
• The khabar  has its raf’ renewed and is named as “the khabar of إِنَّ”

Instead of having a mubtada’ and khabar, we will have إِنَّ, its ism and its khabar.  This family has 6 members, all of them particles:

1. إِنَّ (inna) – this and أّنَّ are for emphasis (تَوْكِيْد), which is means that you are strengthening the relationship between the mubtada’ and khabar
   • إِنَّ أَباكَ حاضِرٌ (“Indeed, your father is present”)
2. أَنّ (anna)
   • عَلِمْتُ أّنََ أَبَاكَ مُسَافِرٌ (“I knew that your father is a traveler”)
3. لَكِنَّ (laakinna) – this is used for اسْتِدْرَاك (to set something straight).  To correct a misunderstanding that could arise, you follow up what you said with something else that negates what someone might think is true or confirms what someone might think is false because of it
   • For example: مُحَمَّدٌ شُجاعٌ وَلَكِنَّ صَدِيْقَهُ جَبانٌ (“Muhammad is brave, but his friend is a coward”)
4. كَأّنَ (ka-anna) – This is used to make a comparison (تَشْبِيْه) between the mubtada’ and khabar
   • كَأّنَّ الْجَارِيَةَ بَدْرٌ (“As if the servant girl is a full moon”)
5. لَيْتَ (layta) – Expresses a wish (تَمَنِّيْ) for something that’s impossible or only happens with difficulty
   • لَيْتَ الشَبَابَ عَائِدٌ (“If only youth were returning”)
6. لَعَلَّ (la’alla) – Expresses hope (تَرَجِّيْ) of something possible to happen or dreading (تَوّقُّع) something disliked
   • لَعَلَّ اللًهَ يَرْحَمُنِيْ (“Hopefully Allah will have mercy on me”)
   • لَعَلَّ الْعَدُوَّ قَرِيْبٌ مِنّا (“Perhaps the enemy is near us”)

ظَنَنْتُ وَأَخَوَاتُها (The ظَنَنْتُ family)

وَأمّا ظَنَنْتُ وَأَخَوَاتُهَا فَإِنَّهَا تَنْصِبُ الْمُبْتَدَأَ وَالْخَبَرَ عَلَى أنَّهُمَا مَفْعُوْلَانِ لَهَا, وَهِيَ ظَنَنْتُ وَحَسِبْتُ وَخِلْتُ وَعَزَمْتُ وَرَأَيْتُ وَعَلِمْتُ وَوَجَدْتُ وَاتَّخَذْتُ وَجَعْلتُ وَسَمِعْتُ. تَقُوْلُ ظَنَنْتُ زَيْدًا قَائِمًا وَرَأَيْتُ عَمْرًا شَاخِصًا وَما أَشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ

As for ظَنَنْتُ and its sisters, they put the mubtada’ and the khabar in the state of nasb, as they are two objects of it, and they are:

• ظَنَنْتُ (“I thought”)
• حَسِبْتُ (“I reckoned/supposed/deemed”)
• خِلْتُ (“I supposed/imagined/deemed”)
• زَعَمْتُ (“I claimed”)
• رَأَيْتُ (“I regarded/viewed/consider”)
• عَلِمْتُ (“I knew”)
• وَجَدْتُ (“I found”)
• اتَّخَذْتُ (“I took/assumed”)
• جَعَلْتُ (“I made/made into”)
• سَمِعْتُ (“I heard”)

You say ظَنَنْتُ زَيْدًا قَائِمًا (“I thought Zayd to be standing”) and خِلْتُ عَمْرًا شَاخِصًا (“I imagined ‘Amr to be present/going”) and what is similar to that.

The third group that cancels the mubtada’ and khabar is ظَنَنْتُ and its siblings.  They come before the mubtada’ and the khabar and give both of them nasb.  The mubtada’ is then renamed as the مَفْعُوْل أوَّل (” first object”), and the khabar is the مَفْعُوْل ثَانٍ (“second object”).  So, instead of having a mubtada’ and khabar, we will have ظَنَنْتُ and its two objects, both of which are in nasb.  This family has 10 members, all of them verbs.  Below are their past tense forms, conjugated for “I” as the doer (noted by تُ at the end):

1. ظَنْنْتُ (“I thought”), as in ظَنَنْتُ مُحَمَّدًا صَدِيْقًا (“I thought Muhammad to be a friend”)
2. حَسِبْتُ (“I reckoned/supposed/deemed”), as in حَسِبْتُ المَالَ نَافِعًا (“I supposed the wealth to beneficial”)
3. خِلْتُ (“I supposed/imagined/deemed”), as in خِلْتُ الحَدِيْقَةَ مُثْمِرَةً (“I imagined the garden to be fruitful”)
4. زَعَمْتُ (“I claimed”), as in زَعَمْتُ بَكْرًا جَرِيْئًا (“I claimed Bakr was bold”)
5. رَأَيْتُ (“I regarded/viewed/considered”), as in رَأَيْتُ إبْرَاهِيْمَ مُفْلِحًا (“I considered Ibrahim successful”)
6. عَلِمْتُ (“I knew”), as in عَلِمْتُ الصِدْقَ مُنْجِيًا (“I knew truthfulness to be a rescuer”)
7. وَجَدْتُ (“I found”), as in وَجَدْتُ الصَلاحَ بابَ الخَيْرِ (“I found propriety to be the door of goodness”)
8. اتَّخَذْتُ (“I took/assumed”), as in اتَّخَذْتُ مُحَمَّدًا صَدِيْقًا (“I assumed Muhammad to be a friend”)
9. جَعَلْتُ (“I made/made into”) as in جَعَلْتُ الذَهَبَ خاتَمًا (“I made the gold into a ring”)
10. سَمِعْتُ (“I heard”), as in سَمِعْتُ خَلِيْلًا يَقْرَأُ (“I heard Khaleel reciting”)

Usages of the ظَنَنْتُ family

• ظَنْتُ – حَسِبْتُ – خِلْتُ – زَعمْتُ: used when the speaker believes the khabar is most likely to be true
• رَأيْت – عَلِمْتُ – وجَدْتُ: used when the speaker is certain that khabar is true
• اتَّخَذْتُ and جَعَلْتُ: used when changing or moving something between states
• سَمِعْتُ: It’s associated with the act of listening.  Some of the scholars lean to the view that it would make more sense to say that the khabar is in nasb not because it’s a second object of a verb, but because it’s a circumstance or condition (حَال) associated with it.  The discussion on the reasons for why a noun will be in nasb comes in a later section إن شاء الله

Note 1: The ظَنَنْتُ family  has nothing to do with the 7 reasons why a noun will be in raf’, but actually relates to a reason why a noun would be in nasb (i.e. it’s a detail of a verb besides the doer).

Note 2: If you stripped the canceller out from all the example sentences I’ve given, you’d still be left with a regular sentence that makes sense.  For example, ظَنَنْتُ مُحَمَّدًا صَدِيْقًا (“I thought Muhammad to be a friend”) was just مُحَمَّدٌ صَدِيْقٌ (“Muhammad is a friend”).  All that you did is add  ظَنَنْتُ for the meaning of speculation, which then made changes in the endings.

From the Quran

Below is a page from the Quran (4:122-127) with some highlighted cancellers of the mubtada’ and khabar.  I give you the original mubtada’ and khabar for each sentence so that you can see how these cancellers behaved on them (based on what we’ve explained above).

 

Canceller	Family	Original mubtada’	Original khabar
لَيْسَ	كَانَ	هُوَ (embedded in لَيْسَ) “He”	مُتَعَلِّقٌ] بِأمَانِيِّكُمْ] “[associated] with your wishful thoughts
يَجِدْ	ظَنَنْتُ	وَلِيٌّ مِنْ دُونِ اللهِ “ِA protector besides Allah”	لَهُ “for him”
اتَّخَذَ	ظَنَنْتُ	إبْرَاهِيْمُ “Ibrahim”	خَلِيْلٌ “an intimate friend”
كانَ	كَانَ	اللهُ “Allah”	بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُحِيْطٌ “of all things, aware”
إِنَّ	إِنَّ	اللهُ “ِAllah”	كَانَ بِهِ عَلِيْمًا “He has been knowing of it”
كانَ	كَانَ	هُوَ (embedded in كانَ) “He”	بِهِ علِيْمٌ “knowing of it”

• لَيْسَ – The ism is the pronoun embedded inside لَيْسَ (i.e. هُوَ – “he/it”), which refers back to the entrance into paradise mentioned in the aayah before this one. The meaning would be “His entering Paradise is not linked to your wishes”.  The implied khabar مُتَعَلِّقًا would have a fathah on it if wasn’t dropped
• يَجِدْ – This is the present tense form of وَجَدَ and has a sukoon on it because it was put into jazm by the particle لَمْ before it.
  • Yes, if the khabar is a particle of jarr along with a jarr-ized noun, it’s allowed to put it ahead of the mubtada’!
  • يَجِد  makes both parts of the sentence as its objects, and the meaning of يَجِدُ لَهُ مِنْ دُوْنِ اللهِ وَلِيًّا (“He finds a protector other than Allah for him”) is negated using لَمْ
• اتَّخَذَ – The doer of this verb is ُالله because it’s after it and in raf’.  The sentence means “Allah took Ibrahim as an intimate friend”, with both parts now in nasb as objects of the verb اتَّخَذَ
• كانَ – The sentence changed to mean that “Allah has always been, of all things, encompassing”, with the khabar in nasb (using fathah)
• إنَّ – comes to emphasize that Allah has been knowing of whatever good we do
• كانَ – comes again to add a continuous meaning to Allahs knowledge of the good we’ve done

Questions

1. How many divisions are there for the cancellers of the mubtada’ and khabar?
2. What effect does the َكان family have?
3. What effect does the إنَّ family have?
4. What meanings do كَأّنَّ and لَيْتَ add?
5. What does الاسْتِدْرَاك mean?
6. What does التَرّجِّيْ mean?
7. What does التَوَقُّع mean?
8. What effect does the ظَنَنْتُ family have?
9. Break down these sentences
   • لَيْتَنِيْ مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَذا (“If only I had died before this”).  قَبْلَ is a tharf that means “before”
   • لَعَلِّيْ أبْلُغُ الْأسْبابَ (“Perhaps, I will reach the ways”)

Until next time, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

-Mustafa

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السلام عليكم ورحمة الله,

We’ve talked about the two of the seven reasons why a noun will be in رفع (raf’).  Today we’re going to talk about two more at the same time, because they come together.  They are called the مُبْتَدَأ (mubtada’) and the خَبَر (khabar).

When you have a جُمْلة فِعْلِية (a verbal sentence), the sentence will start with a fi’l (verb) and will have a doer (or its substitute) after the verb or inside it.  In other words:

Verb (فِعْل) + Doer (فاعِل) + Object (مَفُعُوْل) = Verbal sentence (جُمْلَة فعْلِيَّة) 

Now, instead of starting with a verb, if you start with a noun, it’s not a verbal sentence anymore.  It’s called a nominal sentence (جُمْلَة اسْمِيَّة) because it starts with a noun.  The structure would be:

Beginning (مُبْتَدَأ) + Information (خَبَر) = Nominal sentence (جُمْلَة اسْمِيَّة)

To illustrate further, I’ll give you two sentences with the same information that are built completely differently from each other, both telling us that “Muhammad rejoiced”.  One starts with a verb, and the other starts with a noun.

• فَرِحَ مُحَمَّدٌ – Verb followed by its doer.  This is the normal way to express it.
• مُحَمَّدٌ فَرِحَ – It gives us the same information, but stresses that it’s Muhammad who rejoiced.  We cannot say that ٌمُحَمّد is the doer of فَرِحَ because we have learned that the doer always comes after the verb.  Instead we say that مُحَمَّدٌ is the mubtada’ (subject/topic of the sentence), and that فَرِحَ (“he rejoiced”) is the khabar (the information or news about that subject).

Having said that, the definition of the mubtada’ and khabar:

المُبْتَدَأُ: هُوَ السْمُ المَرْفُوْعُ العَارِيْ عَنِ الْعَوَامِلِ اللَفْظِيَّةِ, وَالْخَبَرْ الاِسْمُ الْمَرْفُوْعُ الْمُسْنَدُ إِلَيْهِ, نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ “زَيْدٌ قائِمٌ وَ”الْزَيْدَانِ قَائِمَانِ” وَالزَيْدُوْنَ قَائِمُوْنَ

The mubtada’ is the raf’-ized noun that is bare of any utterable influences, and the khabar is the raf’-ized noun that refers back to it, like your saying زَيْدٌ قائِمٌ (“Zayd is standing”),  الْزَيْدَانِ قَائِمَانِ (“The 2 Zayds are both standing”), and الزَيْدُوْنَ قَائِمُوْنَ (“The Zayds are all standing”).

So, three things to remember for a mubtada’:

1. It’s a noun (so it can’t be a verb or particle)
2. It’s in raf’ (so it can’t be in nasb or jarr)
3. Nothing is affecting it, such as:
   • a verb before it that would make it the doer, or
   • some special verb from the كانَ family before it .  In that case, it wouldn’t be a mubtada’ anymore.  It would be called the ism of كان instead (there is a whole section on that later)

As for the khabar:

1. It’s also a noun,
2. also in raf’,
3. that refers back to the mubtada’ and is carried by it, so that the sentence is complete

Let’s look a very basic nominal sentence:

مُحَمَّدٌ حاضِرٌ (“Muhammad is present”)
حاضِرٌ Khabar (“present”)	مُحَمّدٌ Mubtada’ (“Muhammad”)

[Read more…] about The مُبْتَدَأ and the خَبَر