الحَال (The condition)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله,

The 5th of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب is the حال (condition/situation).

الحالُ هُوَ: الاسْمُ، المَنْصُوْبُ، المُفَسِّرُ لِما انْبَهَمَ مِنَ الهَيْئاتِ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: “جاءَ زَيْدٌ راكِباً” وَ”رَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ مُسْرَجاً” وَ”لَقِيْتُ عَبْدَ اللهِ رَاكِباً” وَما أشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ

The حال (condition) is a nasb-ized noun that clarifies what is vague about situations, like your saying: جاءَ زَيْدٌ راكِباً (“Zayd came riding”), رَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ مُسْرَجًا (“I rode the horse, saddled”), لَقيْتُ عَبْدَ اللهِ راكِبًا (“I met Abdullah riding”) and what resembles that.

The word حال (haal) refers to what kind of state something is in, whether good or bad.  In grammar, it is:

1. a noun
   • can be an outright noun  like  جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ ضاحِكًا (“Muhammad came laughing”)
   • or it can be a sentence that’s re-interpreted to be a noun
     • جَاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ يَضْحَكُ (“Muhammad came laughing”) – the verb يَضْحَكُ (“he laughs”) could be understood as ضاحِكًا (“one who laughs”).
       • Remember: a verb by itself is a complete sentence (with an action and doer together in one), so this isn’t cheating.  If you replace the verb’s built-in doer by putting a doer after it, then you can’t use it as a haal
     • جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ مَعَهُ أخُوْهُ (“Muhammad came, with him his brother”) – مَعَهُ أخُوْهُ (“with him is his brother”) could be understood as مُصاحِبًا لِأخِيْهِ (“accompanying his brother”)
2.  in nasb  – it cannot be in raf’ or jarr
3.  clarifies what is vague about a situation – It explains what’s hidden or undisclosed regarding the traits, whether of intelligent beings or not
   • It can arise from the فاعِل (doer) of the action – In جاءَ زَيْدٌ راكِباً (“Zaid came riding”), راكِباً (“riding”) explains how Zayd came
   • It can arise from the مَفْعُوْل بِهِ (direct object) – In رَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ مُسْرَجاً (“I rode the horse, saddled”), مُسْرَجًا (“saddled”) describes how the horse was as it was being ridden
   • It can arise from both together – In لَقيْتُ عَبْدَ اللهِ راكِبًا (“I met Abdullah riding”), راكِبًا (“riding”) describes how both the speaker (the one who met) and Abdullah (the one who was met) were when they met
   • It can arise from the khabar of a nominal sentence – In أنْتَ صَدِيْقِيْ مُخْلِصًا (“You are my friend, sincere”), مُخْلِصًا (“sincere”) describes what kind of friend you are
   • It can arise from a word that has been jarr-ized by one of the حُرُوْفُ الجَرّ (The particles of jarr) – In مَرَرْتُ بِهِنْدٍ راكِبَةً (“I passed by Hind, riding”), راكِبَةً describes the situation Hind was in when she was passed by
   • It can arise from a word that is in jarr because it is mudhaaf ilayh (if you’ve forgotten what that is, see here)  – In أَنِ اتَّبِعْ مِلَّةَ إبراهِيْمَ حَنِيْفًا (“To follow the religion of Abraham, inclining to the truth” [16:123]), the word إبراهِيمَ is in jarr because مِلَّةَ (“religion”) was added to it,  with a fathah instead of a kasrah because it’s a non-Arab name.  حَنِيْفًا describes the circumstance of Ibrahim عليه السلام was in
   • The approximate way to explain the حال is that it answers the question كَيْفَ (“how?”), as in “How did Zayd come?”, “How was Abdullah’s situation as you met him?”, “How is my friendship with you?” and so on

شُرُوْطُ الحالِ وَشُرُوْطُ صاحِبِها (Pre-conditions for the haal and the word that it belongs to)

There are certain rules for that the حال and the word that it arises out of have to obey, as follows:

ًوَلا يَكُوْنُ الحالُ إلا نَكِرَةً، وَلا يَكُوْنُ إلا بَعْدَ تَمامِ الْكَلامِ، وَلا يَكُوْنُ صاحِبُها إلا مَعْرِفَة

The haal is always indefinite and is only after the completion of the speech, and the companion word to which it belongs is always definite

The haal must be indefinite.  If it comes in a phrase and looks like it’s a definite noun, you re-interpret it with an indefinite meaning.  If we say جاءَ الأمِيْرُ وَحْدَهُ (“The leader came by himself”), the word وَحْدَهُ is definite because it is mudhaaf to a definite noun but we’d re-interpret it as an indefinite noun with the same meaning (مُنْفَرِدًا – “individually”).

The original rule is that the حال comes after the sentence is complete (i.e. the verb has it doer and the mubtada’ of a nominal sentence has its khabar).  That means that if you were to remove the حال in all the example sentences above, you’d find that they’d still be valid and full sentences.

Sometimes, however, you have to put the حال at the beginning of the sentence like when it’s an اسم استفهام (question word), as in كَيْفَ قَدِمَ عَلِيٌ؟  (“How did Ali come as?”).  The word كَيْفَ (how) is a question word inquiring about Ali’s situation as he came, and it’s not allowed to defer a question word from the beginning of a sentence.

The صاحِب الحال (word that the condition arises from) has to be a definite noun unless something comes that allows it to be an indefinite noun.

ِAn example of when it’s allowed for the صاحب الحال to be indefinite is when the حال comes before it.  In لِمَيَّةَ مُوْحِشًا طَلَلٌ يَلُوْحُ كأنََهُ خِلَلٌ (“Mayyah has ruins, desolate / that loom as if they were engraved skins”), مُوْحِشًا (gloomy/desolate) is a حال comes before the word ٌit belongs to, طَلَل (ruin/trace).

Something else that allows an indefinite صاحب الحال is when its meaning is restricted due to being part of an idhaafah or being described by a نَعْت (adjective).

An example of an idhaafah from the Quran [41:10], فِيْ أرْبَعَةِ أيَّامٍ سَواءً (“In four days, equal”).  سَواءً (“equal”) belongs to the indefinite noun أرْبَعَة (“four”), which is okay because أربعة is mudhaaf to أيّام (“days”).

An example of an adjectival phrase is نَجَّيْتَ يا رَبِّ نُوْحاً وَاسْتَجَبْتَ لَهُ فِيْ فُلكٍ ماخِرٍ فِي الْيَمِّ مَشْحُوْناً (“You, my Lord, saved Noah and responded to him / in a ship plowing through the sea, loaded up”).  It’s acceptable for مَشْحُوْناً (“laden”) to belong to the indefinite noun فُلك (“ship”) because the ship is described as ماخرٍ (“plowing”).

From the Quran

• ًرَبِّ ارْحَمْهُما كَما رَبَّيانِيْ صَغِيْرا (“My Lord have mercy on them both like they raised me [when I was] small“) [17:24]
• جاءَكَ يَسْعى (“He came to you running“) [80:8] – The حال is a sentence
• تَرَكُوْكَ قائماً (“They leave you standing“) [62:11] – In which state did they leave you? Standing
• وَيَنْقَلِبُ إلى أهْلِهِ مَسْرُوْراً (“And he’ll return to his people, happy“) [84:9]
• Sometimes a حال will be expressed using  واو حالِيَةَ (A و used for the حال) followed by a sentence.  For example لا تَقْرَبُوْا الصَّلاةَ وَأنْتُمْ سُكارى (“Don’t go near to the prayer while you are intoxicated“) [4:43].
  • Remember وَ doesn’t always mean “and”!

 

Questions

1. What does the word حال mean, in normal usage and in the sense of grammar?
2. Can a حال arise from mudhaaf ilayh?
3. What are the rules that the حال has to follow?
4. What rules does the صاحب الحال (the word that the condition belongs to) have to follow?

Until next time, السلام عليكم

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